Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTSelena Maranjian, The Motley FoolSun, September 6, 2026 at 9:53 PM GMT+2 3 min readSpace Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX), commonly referred to as SpaceX, got an initial share price bounce when it IPO'd due to enthusiasm about what it might do over the years to come -- such as building orbital data centers. It's also an Elon Musk company, which draws a lot of interest. (Tesla has averaged annual gains of 39% over the past decade.)You might be wondering whether you should buy shares yourself or just forget about it.Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »I myself am forgetting about it, but every investor is different, so it's worth learning more and making your own decision. Here are some considerations.Image source: Getty Images.Why you might buy SpaceXHere are reasons for buying:Some Wall Street analysts are bullish on it. The stock recently traded around $150 per share (as of Sept. 3), and the average one-year price target from analysts is $222, roughly 48% higher.SpaceX is a leader in space launches, and its Starlink leads in satellite communications. Those are areas with plenty of growth potential. It also has an artificial intelligence (AI) platform.It's already growing. Its second quarter featured revenue up 92% year over year to $7.8 billion.Why you might forget SpaceXThose may be some compelling reasons to buy, but here are some reasons to pass on SpaceX:While revenue is up, its bottom line is red, with a second-quarter net loss of $541 million. (That's an improvement from the year-earlier loss of $1 billion.)Its valuation is steep. There are no earnings, so there's no price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. But the price-to-sales ratio is a steep 65, and the forward-looking P/E ratio was recently 194. There's no margin of safety here. If the company fumbles, the stock could fall sharply.More than a billion early investors' shares will be "unlocked" in September and October, allowing them to be sold -- which could send shares downward.Think it through for yourself and do some more research. I'm steering clear based on what I'm seeing.Should you buy stock in Space Exploration Technologies right now?Before you buy stock in Space Exploration Technologies, consider this:The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Space Exploration Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info