Citi NYSE:C initiated coverage of SpaceX NASDAQ:SPCX with a Buy rating and a $200 price target, implying roughly 25% upside by year-end, while sketching a longer-term path to $900 or more contingent on Starship deployment at scale. The bank described SpaceX as sitting at "the beginning of a particularly catalyst-rich 2-3 years" and identified connectivity and AI as the two dominant markets the company is uniquely positioned to capture. Citi derived its $200 target by averaging three valuation methodologies, calling it a milestone on the path to the higher figure rather than a ceiling. SpaceX shares are down 1.76% in premarket.
The initiation lands on the day SpaceX joins the Nasdaq 100, which JPMorgan (JPM) last month estimated could funnel $4.3 billion in passive inflows into the stock. Several other Wall Street brokerages initiated coverage alongside Citi with broadly bullish outlooks. Citi's core thesis rests on what it calls unrivaled launch capabilities and extreme vertical integration, cost and throughput advantages it argues no competitor can replicate in the foreseeable future.
The long-term $900+ scenario requires Starship to deploy successfully at scale, which Citi flagged as a key execution risk alongside regulatory exposure across each business vertical.