June 11 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX raised the $75 billion it targeted in a hotly awaited IPO on Thursday, selling shares at a fixed price of $135 that valued the space, satellite and AI company at $1.77 trillion.
The largest ever IPO cements SpaceX's status as one of the world's most valuable companies. Its shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday.
Here are some comments on the IPO:
MARK KLEIN, CEO AND PRESIDENT OF SURO CAPITAL:
"The IPO parade, which now looks like it's turning into a stampede, has been coming for a while. You could argue there were flickers of it as early as last year, but it never fully materialized into a broad wave of companies. SpaceX is going to be the bellwether."
NANCY TENGLER, CEO AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER OF LAFFER TENGLER INVESTMENTS:
"From our perspective, it is definitely an AI company, but we're focused on the benefits, scale, and cost reductions that could come from building data centers in space and from making Starship fully reusable. They're not there yet. They're saying the second half of 2026, but that would be a game changer in our view.
"And then they've got the profit generator in Starlink. The TAM on that business is pretty compelling, and I think they're only scratching the surface."
JOHN BELTON, PORTFOLIO MANAGER OF GABGX AT GABELLI FUNDS:
"SpaceX is the ultimate growth stock. I think this is a company with significant growth potential ahead of it. It's definitely going to be a long-term story, and I think it will take time for the stock to find its footing in the public markets. But there are a lot of exciting opportunities ahead."
JAY WOODS, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST AT FREEDOM CAPITAL MARKETS:
"What we've seen with many high-profile IPOs is an initial surge in price followed by a period where investors give some of those gains back. I think that's the most likely scenario here as well."
"My concern is that retail investors who receive allocations may not take profits soon enough and could get hurt if the stock pulls back. More importantly, investors who missed the IPO may chase the stock in the secondary market after a significant run-up, and historically those investors tend to be the most vulnerable if momentum reverses."
MATT KENNEDY, SENIOR STRATEGIST AT RENAISSANCE CAPITAL, A PROVIDER OF IPO-FOCUSED RESEARCH AND ETFS:
"Normally I'd say that pricing at the expected terms doesn't indicate a ton of enthusiasm, but this may be the exception. Here we just don't know. Sure, an upsizing or downsizing would have given us a signal. But the company set a single proposed price, and stuck with it."
"We don't know what kind of demand is behind that number, or will appear tomorrow, so I wouldn't feel comfortable guessing. Also, this is already a complex offering, so changing the price would have been a significant hurdle. It's true they could have changed the share offering more easily. But it fits the "take it or leave it" ethos of the terms."
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
