Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
SPCX · Nasdaq
Next quarter
Consensus is $0.30 EPS for Dec 2026 across 9 estimates, ranging $0.07 to $0.50.
SPCX Sep 2026
- 250.00%
- +7.79%
- $0.10
- $0.35
- —
- $14.57B
Reported results
- $14.57B
- 62.42%
- $2.79B
- 19.15%
- $4.40B
- $0.35
Highlights
- Revenue and EPS: Q3 FY2026 revenue was $14.575 billion, up 161% year over year and 87% sequentially; diluted EPS of $0.35 beat the $0.10 consensus by 250%.
- Profitability: Operating income was $2.791 billion versus losses of $273 million a year ago and $143 million in Q2; net income was $4.404 billion versus losses of $1.054 billion and $541 million, respectively.
- SI drove the step-up: Super Intelligence revenue rose to $7.560 billion from $813 million a year earlier and $2.561 billion in Q2, led by cloud and infrastructure agreements, Cursor and Grok adoption.
- SI profitability and investment: SI reported $431 million of operating income, versus operating losses in both comparison periods, and $4.953 billion of segment Adjusted EBITDA; the latter adds back $1.217 billion of acquisition-related share-based compensation and $2.473 billion of depreciation and amortization.
- Connectivity growth: Revenue increased 69% year over year to $5.248 billion, with operating income up 99% to $2.367 billion. Starlink consumer subscribers reached 13.6 million, up 1.6 million sequentially, while monthly ARPU was $69.
- Heavy infrastructure spending: Q3 capex was $19.593 billion, including $16.444 billion in SI. For the first nine months, capex of $48.069 billion exceeded operating cash flow of $13.097 billion.
- Starship milestone: SpaceX completed its first orbital Starship flight and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, which the company says add approximately 10 times the downlink capacity of a Falcon 9 Starlink launch.
- Cursor acquisition: Cursor closed on August 14 at an implied equity value of $60 billion; GAAP purchase consideration was $42.474 billion, and Cursor contributed $608 million of revenue from closing through quarter-end.
- Liquidity and backlog: September 30 cash and cash equivalents were $51.294 billion and marketable securities were $38.561 billion. Backlog was $62.959 billion, with approximately 67% expected to be recognized within one year.
Analysis
SpaceX delivered a sharp acceleration in Q3 FY2026: revenue of $14.575 billion was up 161% year over year and 87% sequentially, while diluted EPS of $0.35 exceeded the $0.10 consensus. Operating income swung to $2.791 billion from losses in both Q3 last year and Q2; net income reached $4.404 billion, versus losses of $1.054 billion and $541 million, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA was $8.809 billion, up from $2.169 billion a year ago. The scale of the earnings improvement reflects a major change in the business mix, but reported net income also benefited from non-operating items, including a $561 million unrealized gain on The Boring Company investment and a $390 million income-tax benefit.
The print was chiefly about SI’s rapid ramp and the capital required to support it. SI revenue reached $7.560 billion, including $7.022 billion of solutions and infrastructure revenue, as cloud agreements, Cursor and Grok contributed; the segment moved to $431 million of operating income, though acquisition-related compensation and infrastructure spending remain material. Connectivity added a second source of growth, with revenue up 69% year over year and operating income nearly doubling, while subscriber gains outweighed lower ARPU versus last year. Meanwhile, Q3 capex reached $19.593 billion and nine-month capex substantially exceeded operating cash flow. Starship’s first orbital flight and delivery of V3 satellites marked an operational milestone, alongside a larger disclosed launch pipeline.
SI revenue and margins
SI was the quarter’s largest growth driver, contributing $7.560 billion of revenue, about 52% of the company total. Revenue rose 195% sequentially and 830% year over year, with solutions and infrastructure revenue at $7.022 billion versus $359 million a year ago. Management attributed the increase to newly activated and expanded cloud services agreements, Cursor, and stronger Grok and X subscription adoption. Advertising revenue was $538 million, up from $454 million a year earlier but below its $813 million Q2 total SI revenue was not; the comparison is segment-wide, while advertising itself was $367 million in Q2.
- Operating result: SI recorded $431 million of operating income, compared with losses of $1.722 billion a year ago and $1.257 billion in Q2.
- Adjusted EBITDA: SI segment Adjusted EBITDA was $4.953 billion. This non-GAAP measure adds back $2.473 billion of depreciation and amortization, $821 million of share-based compensation and $1.217 billion of acquisition-related share-based compensation, among other items.
- Compute buildout: Nameplate compute reached 1.7 GW, versus 1.4 GW in Q2 and 0.6 GW a year ago. SI capex was $16.444 billion in Q3 and $39.995 billion for the first nine months.
- Customer concentration: One SI customer represented 34.5% of consolidated Q3 revenue; another customer represented 16.6% across all three segments.
Connectivity and Starlink
Connectivity supplied a more established recurring-growth engine: revenue rose 69% year over year to $5.248 billion and 22% sequentially. Consumer revenue was $3.121 billion, up 57% year over year, while enterprise and government revenue reached $2.127 billion, up 91%, with aircraft activations and broader adoption supporting demand. Operating income increased to $2.367 billion from $1.190 billion a year ago; segment Adjusted EBITDA was $3.499 billion, up 82%.
- Subscribers and ARPU: Starlink consumer subscribers grew to 13.6 million from 7.2 million a year earlier and 12.0 million in Q2. Monthly ARPU was $69, up from $66 sequentially but down from $83 a year ago, reflecting international expansion and lower-priced plans.
- Enterprise reach: Starlink was installed on more than 3,800 aircraft at quarter-end, and the company reported hundreds of thousands of additional enterprise subscribers outside its consumer-subscriber metric.
- Mobile spectrum: On October 8, after quarter-end, SpaceX agreed to acquire a nationwide portfolio of up to 14 MHz of paired 800 MHz spectrum to advance Starlink Mobile. Closing is expected in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory and customary conditions.
Capital intensity and cash
The quarter’s growth came with a substantial infrastructure bill. Capital expenditures totaled $19.593 billion in Q3, including $16.444 billion in SI, $1.606 billion in Space and $1.543 billion in Connectivity. For the first nine months, capex was $48.069 billion against operating cash flow of $13.097 billion, with the SI buildout the largest component. At September 30, cash and cash equivalents were $51.294 billion and marketable securities were $38.561 billion. The IPO contributed $85.675 billion of net proceeds during the first half, so the quarter-end liquidity position reflects financing as well as operating cash generation.
Space and Starship
Space revenue was $1.767 billion, up 6% year over year and 84% sequentially, as launch-services revenue rose to $1.130 billion on a more favorable customer mix. The segment completed 12 customer launches, including NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission, and generated $357 million of segment Adjusted EBITDA; GAAP operating income was approximately breakeven at a $7 million loss. Starship R&D continued to weigh on the segment: research and development expense rose 44% year over year to $1.225 billion, and nine-month Space operating losses were $1.211 billion.
- Flight milestone: Starship completed its first orbital flight and delivered 26 Starlink V3 satellites to the constellation. SpaceX said the payload represented approximately 10 times the downlink capacity added by a Falcon 9 Starlink launch.
- Launch activity: SpaceX recorded 35 total launches in Q3, including 12 customer and 23 internal launches, and put 476 metric tons into orbit.
- Pipeline and facilities: The company cited new commitments for three NASA ISS Crew missions, 18 National Security Space Launch missions, three commercial Starfall missions and a Starship lunar payload. It also announced plans for a Louisiana spaceport, with the first launch targeted for 2029.
Cursor acquisition
SpaceX completed its Cursor acquisition on August 14, extending its strategy to connect compute infrastructure, models and applications. The transaction was based on an implied equity value of $60 billion, while GAAP purchase consideration was $42.474 billion, largely in SpaceX shares. Separately, $23.376 billion of equity awards tied to post-acquisition service is treated as compensation, not purchase consideration, and is subject to future forfeitures. Cursor contributed $608 million of revenue from closing through September 30; the filing says its contribution to net income cannot be separated because the business was integrated into ongoing operations. The acquisition also added $36.646 billion of preliminary goodwill and $5.3 billion of acquired intangible assets.
Tesla combination review
The filing disclosed that SpaceX’s board formed a special committee to evaluate a potential combination with Tesla, and Tesla’s board formed a special committee as well. SpaceX said no determination had been made; any transaction would require further approvals, including from its special committee, board and controlling shareholder. The company cautioned that there is no assurance an agreement will be reached or a transaction completed.
