LIVE: Watch SpaceX report earnings for the first time since IPO

SpaceX heads into its first earnings report as a public company with its stock already under serious pressure.

Since trading began on June 12, the company has lost more than $500 billion in market value, leaving many retail investors nursing heavy losses after buying into Elon Musk’s rocket company at the first opportunity. The shares have now fallen for four straight weeks and sit more than 50% below their intraday high.

The early disappointment is drawing comparisons with Facebook’s 2012 IPO. Facebook also struggled after listing and kept falling for months before bottoming at less than half its offering price.

The only difference is the magnitude. The first day on the stock market resulted in a valuation of about $100 billion for Facebook, which is just one-fifth of what SpaceX has wiped out so far.

SpaceX will report after the closing bell on Tuesday, two weeks after Tesla’s results received a poor response from Wall Street. Investors were concerned about rising costs, negative free cash flow and Elon’s cautious comments about how quickly Tesla could expand its Robotaxi service.

The report also follows quarterly updates from major technology companies, where spending on artificial intelligence became one of the biggest issues for investors.

A lot is on the line for the company that is still worth more than $1 trillion. SpaceX went public through the biggest IPO ever and immediately began rising, only to quickly run out of steam. Its share price ended the day Monday around $115, about half its all-time high.

Wall Street remains broadly optimistic despite the selloff. The average analyst price target suggests the shares could more than double and eventually move beyond their previous peak. Targets tracked by Visible Alpha range from $170 to $800, although some forecasts outside the service are more bearish.

SpaceX’s valuation is based primarily on its AI business and not on its rockets and well-known launches. In its presentation prior to its initial public offering, the company stated that AI constituted 93% of its total market potential worth $28.5 trillion.

Analysts expect second-quarter revenue to rise 68% to $6.85 billion. The company’s loss is projected to widen to 19 cents per share, compared with 10 cents per share a year earlier.

It is estimated that such growth will come mainly from the earnings of its AI business unit, which is expected to grow by 175% to above $2 billion.

The company has started renting out space from its data centers to Alphabet, Anthropic, and Reflection AI companies. These contracts will generate a total of $28 billion annually, representing more than 60% of the AI business’ projected 2027 revenues.