SpaceX positioned as “foundational enabler” of space economy, BofA says Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock
SpaceX Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) just picked up a bullish new voice on Wall Street as Bank of America initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $235 price objective.
The bank’s analysts argue SpaceX has outgrown its roots as a rocket launcher to become the backbone of the entire space economy.
Analysts said SpaceX has evolved from a launch company into what they called the foundational enabler of the space economy, pointing to the company’s reusable launch technology and proliferated space applications as key competitive advantages. BofA said these moats are laying the groundwork for Starship and future applications to drive another paradigm shift in space capabilities.
The bank highlighted SpaceX’s ability to convert its launch and manufacturing capabilities into recurring, market-leading applications businesses, most notably Starlink. Analysts described this as a flywheel effect, where launch capacity enables space applications, those applications generate cash flow, and the resulting cash flows fund further infrastructure investment.
BofA said Falcon and Starship launch economics remain the primary drivers behind SpaceX’s ability to build high-margin application layers in orbit, even though this dynamic is not directly reflected in the company’s financials due to its accounting structure.
Central to BofA’s thesis is whether Starship can reach the reliability, launch cadence and cost economics needed to unlock SpaceX’s next phase of growth. The bank said much of the company’s long-term opportunity, including Starlink v3 deployment and future compute infrastructure, hinges on Starship achieving full reusability.
If successful, BofA estimates launch costs could fall by an order of magnitude while capacity expands significantly. Delays in that timeline would push back many of SpaceX’s future growth vectors.
Analysts also pointed to SpaceX’s orbital compute ambitions as a source of differentiated upside, framing the initiative as representative of broader option value tied to the company’s launch moat, vertical integration and manufacturing scale.
BofA said SpaceX’s entry into AI infrastructure and applications markets gives it an opportunity to apply its space positioning to fast-growing, competitive sectors, with other emerging space applications offering additional long-term value contingent on Starship’s success.