By Al Root
Sometimes the stock market can feel odd.
Solidion, a Dallas-based advanced battery technology company, on Monday announced plans to buy SpaceX stock, establishing shares as a "strategic treasury asset on the Company's balance sheet," according to a news release.
In other words, Solidion is taking some of its cash and choosing to hold SpaceX stock.
That announcement sent shares of Solidion, which has a market value of about $140 million based on fully diluted shares outstanding, up 14.3% in premarket trading at $14.10 a share. Shares closed on Friday at $12.34.
The gains didn't last. Shares closed down 22.1% at $9.61. Investors, initially excited, began to think more closely about the decision.
Solidion isn't necessarily creating value with its plan. It will be trading cash for SpaceX stock at the same value. Still, investors, or traders, are pleased with the idea.
"The allocation reflects the Company's conviction that SpaceX represents a generational asset," reads part of Solidion's news release. "SpaceX's Starship, Falcon, and Starlink programs represent some of the most demanding environments for next-generation battery technology — and the energy density, thermal performance, and safety characteristics required for aerospace applications are precisely the challenges Solidion's silicon anode, graphene-enhanced, and bipolar solid-state battery technologies are engineered to address."
Graphene is an incredibly strong form of carbon. In the case of Solidion, it can enhance the amount of energy a battery can store.
Solidion management added that they will be "opportunistic" in SpaceX purchases. It plans to buy low. That isn't always easy for even the most experienced investors and traders.
The purchase is another sign of how the SpaceX IPO and initial trading have dominated the stock market lately.
Solidion is apparently getting in before indexation. SpaceX enters the Nasdaq-100 on July 7. That will generate a few billion worth of passive buying by funds tracking the index.
Shares of the rocket and AI company maker gained 7.2% in Monday trading, closing at $164.19, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
SpaceX stock has had a volatile start. Shares traded as high as $225.64. The post-IPO low is $147.11, which is still higher than the $135 IPO price.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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