SpaceX shares rise as JPMorgan bullish on AI progress supporting valuation

Space Exploration Technologies Corp shares rose on Tuesday. JPMorgan reiterated its Overweight rating and $240 price target on the stock, noting progress in SpaceX's AI ambitions and the company's recent acquisition of Cursor.

SpaceX shares show upward momentum. What is driving SPCX shares higher?

JPMorgan sees Cursor deal and Grok progress building SpaceX's AI case

JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth said Tuesday that SpaceX's AI roadmap is becoming clearer, with confidence in Grok rising since the company closed its acquisition of Cursor on August 14. Cursor's annualized revenue base is approaching $4 billion, with about three-quarters coming from commercial customers, and JPMorgan views this mix as an asset for attracting enterprise clients and providing fresh training data for future Grok models.

Early signs suggest the data is already having an impact. Grok 4.6, launched earlier this month, improved by 5 percentage points on the AI analytics intelligence index versus its predecessor, despite arriving just one month after Grok 4.5, placing it second only to Anthropic's two most advanced models on the overall leaderboard.

JPMorgan said pairing that performance with pricing below competitors should broaden the model's appeal among developers and enterprises. The firm also noted added capabilities on top of Grok, including Grok Bot, a recently launched beta product built around autonomous agents that can execute tasks within the apps and websites employees already use.

Looking ahead, JPMorgan expects SpaceX to keep up a rapid release cadence, with Grok 4.7 potentially arriving as early as early September and Grok 5 following in December.

These AI developments help explain JPMorgan's valuation. Starting from projected 2028 earnings per share of $7.02, the firm applies a multiple of roughly 34x to arrive at its $240 target, arguing the premium is justified given SpaceX's leadership across launch vehicles, satellites, and artificial intelligence.

SpaceX launch momentum continues

Separately, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on Tuesday at 5:33 a.m. Eastern Time carrying 29 Starlink broadband satellites, continuing its routine deployment cadence.

SpaceX also announced plans to build a new high-cadence launch facility in Louisiana, dubbed Starbase Louisiana, describing the site as critical infrastructure to support more frequent Starship missions in the future.

SPCX price action

SpaceX shares were up 2.70% at $138.65 at the time of writing on Tuesday.