CNBC’s Jim Cramer said he is cautious on SpaceX’s upcoming initial public offering, but pointed to three near-term catalysts that could materially sweeten the investment case.
“Purely from the numbers, it’s very difficult to justify giving SpaceX a $2 trillion valuation,” the “Mad Money” host said, referencing a reported valuation target.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is expected to begin trading on June 12, released its IPO prospectus last week. The filing showed a business generating less than $20 billion in annual revenue while posting steep losses as it invests heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure and its Starship rocket program.
“At $2 trillion, SpaceX would be trading at roughly 100 times trailing twelve months sales, which is crazy expensive” Cramer said.
When determining whether the company deserves this lofty valuation, Cramer said investors should focus on near-term developments that could improve growth and profitability.
The first catalyst, according to Cramer, is Starship, SpaceX’s next-generation reusable rocket. The company completed its 12th test of Starship on Friday; there were no people or cargo for customers. However, in its prospectus, SpaceX said it expects Starship is to begin payload delivery in the second half of 2026.
“If SpaceX can really make that deadline, then it’ll be a major boon for their slowing space division,” he said.
Cramer also highlighted SpaceX’s new compute deal with AI startup Anthropic. Under the agreement, Anthropic will pay SpaceX roughly $1.25 billion per month through 2029 to lease computing capacity from the company’s Memphis data centers.
The “Anthropic deal alone dramatically changes the economics of the AI division, potentially transforming it from a money-pit to a money-maker,” Cramer said. Last year, the AI division generated just $3.2 billion in revenue, but it could see an incremental $15 billion in revenue per year starting almost immediately.
Cramer’s third catalyst to watch is SpaceX’s deal with AI coding startup Cursor. SpaceX said the partnership will combine Cursor’s coding tools with SpaceX’s computing infrastructure to improve AI products such as Grok and potentially develop new enterprise offerings. The agreement also gives SpaceX the option to acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion.
A potential acquisition of Cursor “would boost xAI’s status amongst the leading AI labs,” Cramer argued.
Even with those opportunities, Cramer said investors should remain disciplined as excitement builds around the IPO. He urged investors to weigh SpaceX’s current fundamentals, realistic near-term opportunities, and valuation before rushing into the stock.
“Historically, it’s rarely paid to bet against Elon Musk, but at the same time, SpaceX is far from perfect and the stock’s almost certainly going to be expensive,” he said. “Even if you want to own it, you might not want to buy it right away, but then again, that depends on where they price the deal.”
