Australians desperate to snag a piece of Elon Musk’s SpaceX have been driven by massive “FOMO”, a leading stock picker believes.
Australians desperate to snag a piece of Elon Musk’s SpaceX have been driven by massive “FOMO”, a leading stock picker believes.
The leading rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence business is expected to go public on June 12 on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
One way Australian investors can purchase their slice of SpaceX is through Pengana Capital’s Private Equity Trust on the ASX.
Pengana co-founder Russell Pillemar said that investors seeing the company’s projected valuation lift to about US$1.8 trillion ($2.5t) has boosted interest in the stock.
“There’s been a bit of a FOMO (fear of missing out) experience happening here as people have seen subsequent rounds of SpaceX being marked up at a rapid, rapid rate,” Mr Pillemar told SkyNews.com.au.
“People have started calling and asking how can we get exposure, where does this exist etc. and that’s ramped even more so as they’ve come to the initial public offering.”
Musk’s SpaceX will be available for public purchase from next month. Picture: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File
Its valuation has lifted to US$1.8t from US$800b in late 2025 and from the significantly smaller US$33b valuation in 2019.
Meanwhile, Australian retail investors are expected to raise up to $1b for SpaceX’s initial public offering.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s CommSec – the nation’s largest retail trading platform – has also been appointed one of the retail brokers for SpaceX.
Investors hoping for exponential returns enjoyed by early buyers of other major tech stocks have been warned to limit their expectations.
This comes as those who invested in companies like Tesla or Nvidia ten years ago would have seen the stocks skyrocket about 2,900 per cent and 21,000 per cent respectively.
Mr Pillemar said SpaceX’s already-high value while going public makes this a different situation.
The company is seeking a US$1.8t valuation. Picture: AP Photo/Eric Gay
“This is very different, and I think investors need to be aware of that,” he said.
“When you come into SpaceX, be aware that the huge amounts of money have already been created, and it’s difficult to take a $2 trillion company and create rapid value accretion from that.
“It doesn’t mean it’s not a good investment – I think it’s a great investment – but if you’re looking to create rapid value creation, it’s probably too late to do that.”
SpaceX generated almost US$19b in revenue last year after a rapid expansion of its satellite internet service Starlink.
It is looking to raise about US$75b for its IPO, which could potentially make it one of the largest stock offerings ever.
Nigel Green, CEO of global financial advisory giant deVere Group, said the company’s launch could test how excited investors still are for AI and tech assets.
“Markets are about to discover whether investor appetite for AI and tech is as deep as many assume,” Mr Green said in a statement.
“SpaceX alone is seeking one of the largest valuations ever attached to a newly public company.”
He also questioned the massive market capitalisation SpaceX was seeking which he argued would be difficult to maintain.
“Markets are being asked to place an extraordinary valuation on a business that continues to invest aggressively and burn significant amounts of cash in pursuit of future growth,” Mr Green said.
“At close to $1.8 trillion, investors are effectively pricing in years of success before much of that profitability has arrived.”
