News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
SpaceX IPO earns millions for US Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler By Reuters
WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler multiplied the value of her investment in Elon Musk's SpaceX after she was nominated for the job, earning millions of dollars from the company's record initial public offering, a Reuters review of her financial disclosures showed. Loeffler invested between $1 million and $5 million as of January 3, 2025, in xAI, Musk's AI and social media firm that has since merged with SpaceX, according to a required financial disclosure submitted before she became SBA's administrator. Later in 2025, Loeffler invested again in SpaceX and xAI between $1 million and $5 million, according to a separate financial disclosure covering her investments for all of 2025 that she signed on May 14, 2026. Reuters obtained the form from the SBA on June 12. Loeffler's second investment has not been previously reported. Two independent government ethics attorneys agreed with Reuters' assessment of Loeffler's disclosure. Cabinet members use ranges to declare the value of their assets on their required financial disclosure forms, and they do not disclose the dates of their investments before taking office. SpaceX is a military contractor for the U.S. government. Federal law prohibits cabinet members from participating in decisions involving a company in which they have a financial interest. Public records do not show a financial relationship between SBA and xAI or SpaceX. xAI was not included on the public list of AI tools used by SBA employees in 2025. Loeffler and her team did not respond to multiple requests for comment about her SpaceX investment. VALUE OF SPACEX INVESTMENT SOARS Loeffler's bet on SpaceX paid off. The company priced the biggest-ever U.S. IPO on June 12, valuing the space, satellite and AI provider at $1.77 trillion. Her first investment in xAI would have been worth between $7 million and $2.6 billion on the day of the IPO, depending on the exact amount she invested and the date she made it, said Franco Granda, analyst at data provider PitchBook. The second investment would have been worth between $2.2 million and $25.4 million that day, he said. The earlier the investment, the more it would have been worth at the IPO, he said. xAI's valuation increased by more than 7,000% between its first investment round and January 5, 2025. SpaceX's valuation more than doubled in 2025. At least 10 Trump administration officials listed investments in SpaceX or xAI on their 2025 financial disclosure forms. None of those officials works for the Defense Department. Billionaire Musk, a former Trump adviser, is the founder and CEO of SpaceX. Loeffler initially invested in xAI via a private placement, according to her disclosure form. Private placements are typically open to select individuals and institutions with significant financial resources. Loeffler is a wealthy businesswoman. She was the founding chief executive at Bakkt, a bitcoin trading platform, and spent 16 years working at Intercontinental Exchange, the firm that owns the New York Stock Exchange, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is married to Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher. Loeffler briefly represented Georgia in the Senate. The SBA helps entrepreneurs start and build their small businesses, according to the agency website. It connects business owners with lenders and funding to help them recover from natural disasters, among other responsibilities. The Senate confirmed Loeffler as SBA administrator on February 19, 2025.
Needham raises SpaceX stock price target to $250 on AI, Starship By Investing.com
Investing.com - Needham raised its price target on SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) to $250 from $200 while maintaining a Buy rating on Tuesday. The upgrade comes as shares trade at $136, near their 52-week low of $135.52, following an 8.2% decline over the past week. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears undervalued at current levels, potentially offering investors an attractive entry point. The firm cited the company's release of Grok 4.5 on July 8, SpaceX's first AI model built for coding and agentic work. The model was trained on Cursor developer data and has received strong reviews on third-party AI benchmarks. Needham noted the model does not quite match leading models from Anthropic or OpenAI but puts SpaceXAI back on track after Elon Musk said in March the company had to completely rebuild its AI program. SpaceX announced its Starship flight 13 is scheduled to launch as early as July 16. The flight will deliver 20 full-size Starlink V3 test units to orbit and advance Ship and Booster re-usability. Needham said AI model performance and Starship success to orbit are key unlocks for the company's total addressable market. The firm raised its price target on increased confidence in execution. InvestingPro data reveals analysts predict the company will turn profitable this year, with 13 additional ProTips available to subscribers. In other recent news, flyExclusive, Inc. has completed its acquisition of aviation assets from Jet.AI. This transaction includes Jet.AI's Jet Card members, two HondaJets, one Citation CJ4, and three future Citation CJ3 delivery positions valued at approximately $4.1 million. Additionally, flyExclusive gained approximately $6.1 million in securities through indirect ownership of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. shares and about $5.3 million in cash. Meanwhile, SpaceX has received significant attention from analysts. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on SpaceX with an "outperform" rating and set a price target of $230. Stifel reiterated a "Buy" rating with a $190 price target, highlighting the upcoming Starship Flight 13 launch. Raymond James also reiterated a "Strong Buy" rating with an $800 price target, noting a significant reduction in the time between recent Starship flights. Deutsche Bank released an analysis suggesting that SpaceX could achieve cost parity between orbital and terrestrial data centers by the early 2030s. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.
Wall Street warms to SpaceX ahead of Nasdaq 100 inclusion By Reuters
By Purvi Agarwal and Rashika Singh July 7 (Reuters) - SpaceX's addition to the Nasdaq 100 on Tuesday is expected to unleash billions in passive buying, as brokerages kick off coverage of the $2 trillion-plus rocket and satellite company with broadly bullish views. The company joins the index just 15 days after its stock market debut on June 12 - among the fastest inclusions ever - thanks to the Nasdaq's revised rules for newly listed companies looking to enter widely tracked benchmarks. Its debut in the tech-heavy index is set to create another source of demand for its shares as index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the Nasdaq 100 will need to buy shares to match the benchmark's new composition. Active managers who track the index closely may also adjust their positions. Many retail investors prefer investing in funds to diversify their holdings. Over $587 billion is benchmarked in funds tracking the Nasdaq 100, including Invesco's QQQ and QQQM, which will now have to make room for SpaceX. J.P. Morgan estimated last month that SpaceX's addition to the index could draw $4.3 billion in passive inflows. QUIET PERIOD ENDS Investors are awaiting a wave of reports from Wall Street brokerages making their first attempt to value SpaceX as a publicly traded company, applying traditional valuation metrics to a business that's largely been assessed by investors' belief in Musk's long-term bets. The industry-mandated quiet period ends for analysts at banks that underwrote the blockbuster IPO - led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan. Both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs started coverage on the stock on Tuesday with their top ratings, with Morgan Stanley dubbing the company "AI's final frontier." "We see the company as well-positioned to scale its differentiated advantages across space, connectivity, and AI," Goldman analysts said, betting each market has the potential to become a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity over a five-year-plus horizon. Brokerages RBC, Bernstein, and Stifel also initiated coverage with their top ratings, betting on the success of Starship, SpaceX's next-generation rocket that is designed to be fully reusable. "The Starship is the flywheel that powers SpaceX's ambitions," RBC analysts said. Earlier this month, Oppenheimer became the first to initiate coverage with an "outperform" rating. INVESTORS BET ON AI CAPABILITIES Investors are betting SpaceX can evolve into a hyperscale AI infrastructure provider in the near term, using cash generated to fund the development of Grok as it takes on OpenAI's GPT models and Anthropic's Claude. They also see significant room for Starlink to expand its dominance in satellite communications, while much of the company's longer-term ambitions depend on the successful development of its next-generation Starship rocket. However, not everyone is bullish on SpaceX. Morningstar analysts pegged the company's valuation at about $780 billion, citing uncertainty around its AI business, including xAI and social media platform X. With a market capitalization of $2.1 trillion, SpaceX is the sixth-largest U.S. company, and CEO Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. FTSE Russell added the stock to its U.S. indexes last month, with funds such as iShares Russell 1000 ETF already giving investors a piece of the biggest IPO in U.S. history. However, S&P Global declined to create a similar fast-track process for the benchmark S&P 500 in June, and it is expected to take at least a year before SpaceX joins the world's most widely tracked index. SpaceX shares have gained more than 6% since their debut in their short ride marked by post-IPO volatility.
