SpaceX Profit Hits $4.4B as Sales Top Estimates

Bloomberg Podcasts reported SpaceX posted third quarter revenue of about $14.58 billion, topping expectations of $12.87 billion, with net income of $4.4 billion well ahead of the $1.8 billion estimate.

Update, Oct 21, 00:46 UTC · via Bloomberg Podcast

Bloomberg Podcasts reported that capital expenditures came in at 19.59 billion against an estimate of 19.6 billion and that profit on an EPS basis was 35 cents a share ahead of estimates of 15 cents a share. The outlet noted that a big bulk of that spending "gets depreciated over a longer time horizon".

Bloomberg Podcasts also reported that the retail investor question "when will SpaceX merge with Tesla" was question number two by votes but investor relations did not put it in front of management. The outlet said SpaceX now makes up "more than threequarters of his net worth" according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and that president Gwyn Shotwell had said "we're going to try and take customers from T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T" about direct to cell connectivity.

The outlet said the company earned 35 cents a share against a 15 cent forecast in only its second quarter as a public company, while capital expenditures landed at $19.59 billion, essentially in line with the $19.6 billion expected. A reporter on the update said the bulk of that capex is depreciated over a longer horizon, which explains how profit could sharply outperform even with heavy spending, and noted revenue strength across AI, connectivity and space.

The Tesla merger question loomed but never reached management.

The host asked about a potential SpaceX and Tesla combination, and the reporter said the question of when SpaceX will merge with Tesla was the number two most upvoted retail investor question submitted in advance, as it had been last quarter, but investor relations did not put it to management and sellside analysts on the call did not ask it. He added that SpaceX has become the main driver of Elon Musk's wealth since its IPO, now more than three quarters of his net worth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while executives Gwyn Shotwell and Brett Johnson handle day to day operations, and that Shotwell had roiled telecom shares last quarter by saying SpaceX would try to take customers from T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T with direct to cell connectivity. The outlet also discussed Musk's post on X about giving a share of SpaceX to every child in America next year via the Trump Accounts program, saying Musk had met with administration officials for about 18 months and was swayed after seeing 70 million auto account setups, roughly matching the 72 to 73 million eligible children in census data.

Bloomberg Intelligence global head of aerospace, defense and airline analysis George Ferguson said profitability flowed through stronger than expected in both the connectivity and AI businesses, with Starlink showing economies of scale as revenue grew without a similar rise in costs. He said that scalability helps explain the push to buy more spectrum and terrestrial assets to fix indoor coverage and position a fuller carrier offering, which the company calls SpaceX Mobile, though no business model details were codified in the press release.

Beyond the transcript, CNBC noted connectivity operating income nearly doubled to $2.37 billion, a figure not detailed in the clip, while Starlink expanded to more than 3,800 equipped aircraft. Ferguson said Falcon 9 remains a capable, reusable workhorse for NASA missions but the more important launch story is Starship, which he called larger, fully reusable and higher volume, and Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley has flagged the next Starship launch as a valuation catalyst. For now the company's ambitions for orbital data centers and a scaled direct to cell constellation both hinge on Starship reaching rapid, economical reuse and higher cadence, pending clarity on heat shield performance and turnaround times.