Aug 5 - Retail investors returned to SpaceX shares on Wednesday, stepping in after the stock tumbled following the company's inaugural earnings release as a public company.
Data from Vanda Research showed small traders purchased a net $22.7 million of SpaceX stock in the first hour of trading, marking the third-largest first-hour inflow in the 37 trading sessions since the firm listed. "This tells us that retail dip-buying has not stepped back after the earnings sell-off - they’ve become even more opportunistic," Vanda Research said in the note.
The pace of buying observed on Wednesday suggested the day could become the second-biggest for retail net purchases since listing, if the early momentum continued. That would place it behind June 16, when retail net buying reached $144.6 million. Since the company’s June 12 IPO, priced at $135 per share, SpaceX had not recorded a day of net retail selling.
Shares of the rockets-to-AI company plunged as much as 12.9% following the earnings report amid investor concern over how long the profitable Starlink unit could sustain funding for expensive AI initiatives. Despite the decline, trading activity was robust: more than $10.5 billion of SpaceX stock had changed hands as of 11:47 a.m. ET, per LSEG-compiled data.
Vanda Research also identified SpaceX as the most purchased U.S. stock among retail investors on Wednesday, followed by chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices. AMD shares were last down 6.5% after releasing their quarterly results.
Context and market reaction
Retail interest in SpaceX has remained persistent since the IPO, with Wednesday’s early-session buying underscoring a willingness among individual investors to buy into pullbacks. The heavy turnover in SpaceX shares on the session reflected both the price volatility after earnings and the high level of investor attention.
Takeaway
Wednesday’s action highlighted a bifurcated market response: substantial retail buying in the face of institutional or broader-market concern about the sustainability of Starlink-funded investments in AI, producing sizable intraday volume and notable price movement.