SpaceX Drops 14.7% as Starship Test Aborts
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- SpaceX (SPCX) fell 14.7% after its 13th Starship test flight was automatically aborted seconds before liftoff in mid-July 2026, with multiple Raptor engines failing to ignite.
- The abort lands just weeks after SpaceX's record-breaking IPO and on the heels of its addition to the Nasdaq-100, where heavy short interest and looming insider lockup expirations have sharpened the valuation debate.
- Even with the launch setback, SpaceX rolled out separate commercial wins — inflight Wi-Fi deals with Cebu Pacific and Indigo Partners, an ispace lunar-cargo agreement, and the Grok 4.5 launch — which the source says are unlikely to be materially affected by a single scrubbed test.
- Simply Wall St Community fair value estimates for SpaceX span from under US$1 to nearly US$239 per share, reflecting sharply divided views on what the company is actually worth against the stock's slide.
- Core near-term concerns in the source are SpaceX's elevated valuation, limited cash runway, and the scale of spending required to reach the profitability analysts expect within three years.
Why it matters: A Starship engine failure seconds before liftoff erased 14.7% of SpaceX's value in a single session, crystallizing execution risk for shareholders who bought into the IPO at premium pricing. With Nasdaq-100 inclusion already attracting heavy short interest and lockup expirations looming, any further Starship delays now translate directly into balance-sheet pressure on a company the source flags for limited cash runway and three-year profitability targets.
