Piper Sandler initiated coverage of SpaceX on Thursday, assigning a Neutral rating and a price target of $156. The brokerage cited idiosyncratic near‑term headwinds that could limit upside, specifically staged lock‑up expirations and uncertainty surrounding a potential acquisition of SpaceX by Tesla. Piper Sandler said it remains comfortable with a multi‑year thesis for SpaceX, noting that the company’s capital‑expenditure program could easily consume tens, if not hundreds, of billions of US dollars annually. The $156 target is derived from a 20‑times 2031 EV/EBITDA multiple discounted at 15 %.
Analyst Alexander Potter also launched coverage of the broader space sector, issuing an Overweight rating on AST SpaceMobile with a $100 price target and a Neutral rating on Rocket Lab (RKLB) with an $83 price target. While Piper Sandler views SpaceX and Rocket Lab as probably the best‑positioned rocket builders over a multi‑year horizon due to the challenges of building reusable rockets and the cost advantages of vertical integration, it does not consider either SPCX or RKLB to be cheap on a one‑year basis. The firm prefers AST SpaceMobile because of a more palatable valuation and a clearer path to EBITDA upside.