NEW YORK , Investors in Elon Musk’s space company will get a chance to question him Tuesday after SpaceX releases its first quarterly earnings report since going public.
SpaceX shares have fallen by half from their June peak as investors worry Musk may have oversold them on the company’s future prospects. They are also bracing for volatile trading as some company insiders get the opportunity to sell shares after the expiration of a lockup provision later in the week.
Musk is likely to face questions about when he expects to finish testing SpaceX’s giant Starship rockets, which NASA hopes to use to return astronauts to the moon. He may also be asked about his plans for the company’s satellite network and the prospects of putting football-field-sized data centers in orbit.
Given persistent rumors of SpaceX possibly merging with Musk’s Tesla car company, he may also face questions about that potential tie-up, though he is likely to provide few details. Neither company has confirmed plans for a combination, and Musk has previously parried questions by noting securities regulations bar him from discussing the issue.
SpaceX is losing money rapidly, with net losses for the first half of this year expected to exceed the $5 billion in losses reported for all of last year. Some analysts have projected a strong rebound for the rest of the year that would return the company to profitability.
For the second quarter ended June, SpaceX is expected to report a net loss of $1.9 billion, or 23 cents a share, according to a FactSet survey of analysts.
SpaceX insiders were barred from selling shares in the public offering in June, but that restriction begins to ease on Thursday, when more than 900,000 shares become available for trading. The release will more than double the amount currently available for trading. The prospect has weighed on the shares, which closed Monday at $114.46, down from both the June peak of $225 and the IPO price of $135.
The lockup release is the first of several tranches of stock that will be freed to trade over the next several months.
After an abandoned launch, the Starship rocket successfully deployed satellites in orbit during a test late last month. Future tests could include trying to use giant arms at its Starbase launching site in Texas to grab the rocket and its booster upon its hovering return to Earth.
SpaceX’s satellite communication business, Starlink, is a big cash generator for the company, with contracts around the world. The company also runs a money-losing AI business, known for its Grok tool, as well as the social media platform X, the renamed Twitter.