Oppenheimer analyst Tim Horan defended his $250 price target on SpaceX, projecting a $10 trillion valuation within five years.
"The company we think has doubled their valuation in the last six months by entering the AI market, and we think they're going to continue to do incredibly creative things," Horan, satellite and AI infrastructure analyst at Oppenheimer, said on CNBC Monday.
SpaceX shares traded at $162.86 Tuesday, up 5.34% from the prior session but below the five-day volume-weighted average near $181. The stock debuted at $192.50 before sliding to $158. Horan's $250 target implies roughly 54% upside from current levels. Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet unit, already serves 12 million subscribers across 164 countries and Horan values it at $1 trillion, with hundredfold capacity expansion ahead.
Without Starship achieving reliable operational cadence, SpaceX's entire Starlink expansion thesis and Horan's $10 trillion long-term call collapse, the analyst said. SpaceX acquired xAI in early 2026, folding Grok and its X-platform integration into the company as a core business pillar. Horan described AI as a $25 trillion addressable market and said SpaceX is the only vertically integrated company positioned to attack every segment.
Horan said SpaceX is making its own solar panels and plans to build a chip fabrication facility that would produce five times the volume of chips the entire world currently manufactures. The vertical integration thesis — spanning launch, satellite communications, AI models, chip manufacturing and solar energy — underpins his conviction that SpaceX can capture value across multiple technology markets simultaneously.
The $250 price target places SpaceX among the most aggressively valued companies in the public markets. For context, a $10 trillion market capitalization would make SpaceX worth roughly the combined GDP of Germany and Japan.
The call signals that Oppenheimer views SpaceX as a multi-industry conglomerate rather than a pure-play launch provider. Investors will watch Starship's next test flight and Starlink's subscriber growth trajectory as the key catalysts for validating Horan's thesis.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.