US space stocks rise on SpaceX IPO hype

May 27 (Reuters) – Shares of U.S. space companies continued to climb on Wednesday, extending their recent rally as investors bet that rocket company SpaceX‘s mammoth market listing could force Wall Street to fundamentally rethink how it values the space economy.

The Elon Musk-led company last week took the wraps off its filing for an initial public offering (IPO), which showed how the rocket maker is betting its future on transitioning into an AI powerhouse.

“SpaceX going public has acted as a lens to focus the investment community on space travel and related support systems,” said Peter Andersen, founder at Andersen Capital Management.

“So it doesn’t surprise me that investors are starting to look at the entire sector and (space) stocks have gained more attention than usual.”

Shares of Rocket Lab inched 0.1% higher and Planet Labs rose 2.5%, following gains of about 14% each in the last two sessions, while Intuitive Machines jumped 8.5%.

Publicly traded companies could benefit from renewed investor attention if SpaceX succeeds in sustaining the massive valuation it is eyeing, which is based largely on expectations of long-term infrastructure dominance and future growth rather than near-term earnings.

Poised to become the first trillion-dollar U.S. market debut, the listing could immediately cement SpaceX as one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded firms.

It could also have sweeping implications for other listed space companies, many of which have struggled to sustain premium valuations despite growing demand for satellite communications, launch services and defense-related off-planet infrastructure.

Exchange-traded funds tracking the aerospace sector, including Ark Space & Defense Innovation ETF, shed 0.7% on Wednesday, after having climbed more than 7% since SpaceX unveiled its filing last week.

Roundhill Space and Technology ETF dipped 0.5%, while Procure Space ETF gained 0.6%.

ETF managers and space-focused investors expect the IPO to draw new capital into the sector from generalist funds that have historically avoided such businesses because of their small size, volatility or limited liquidity.

Space-related stocks also drew heavy interest from retail investors on Wednesday, with firms including Momentus, Redwire and Sidus Space among the top 10 trending tickers on retail investor forum Stocktwits.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Akash Sriram in New York; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)