Beat the Wall Street Rush: How Everyday Investors Can Buy SpaceX Stock Right Now

Key Points
SpaceX is projected to go public later this year.
There are three ways investors can get exposure to SpaceX shares before the IPO.
At its reported valuation target, SpaceX stock looks very expensive right now.
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One of the world's most sought-after private companies is rumored to be making its public markets debut this calendar year. After remaining private for over two decades, Elon Musk's SpaceX is expected to go public at a market valuation of $1.5 trillion or higher. This would make it one of the 10 most valuable companies in the world by market cap.
The company dominates the spaceflight market and recently merged with xAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up that also owns the company formerly known as Twitter. Unless we enter a major bear market, there will likely be strong demand for SpaceX when it goes public later this year through an initial public offering (IPO).
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Did you know you can get exposure to SpaceX stock as an individual investor today? That's right, there are three ways investors can get an indirect piece of the SpaceX pie. Here are the three methods, the one with the most direct exposure, and whether indirectly investing in SpaceX before the IPO is a smart move for your portfolio.
Three avenues, but one that gets the best direct exposure
Due to its various investment rounds over the years, SpaceX has many shareholders waiting for a public market debut. These include Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS), and the Ark Venture Fund (NASDAQMUTFUND: ARKVX).
Alphabet invested in SpaceX back in 2015, and it is estimated that the technology giant owns around 7% to 8% of the business pre-IPO, which could be worth over $100 billion. While this is a small slice of the technology giant with a market cap of over $2 trillion, it could be a nice way to create value for shareholders, and investors are not solely betting on SpaceX while buying Alphabet.
A more direct way to invest may be through the Ark Venture Fund, which holds SpaceX as its largest holding and allocates 18% of its fund to it. By investing in the Ark Venture Fund, retail investors can access a wide range of hot start-ups, including Anthropic and Databricks, as well.
However, the stock with the most direct exposure to SpaceX is EchoStar. EchoStar is a struggling telecommunications company that sold some of its spectrum to SpaceX in a cash-and-stock deal last year. At the time of the deal, EchoStar was granted approximately $11 billion in SpaceX stock. However, since then, SpaceX's valuation has increased by 3 or 4 times, which could put EchoStar's stake at over $30 billion, making up the majority of its market capitalization. This makes EchoStar the best way for retail investors to get direct exposure to SpaceX stock today, allowing them to capture the potential upside of the IPO with as close to direct ownership as possible.
Should you invest in SpaceX before its IPO?
The next question any investor should ask is whether they should be investing in SpaceX stock in the first place.
According to reporting, SpaceX's revenue was just over $15 billion in 2025, and growing quickly due to its Starlink satellite internet service (which spurred the EchoStar deal). I have no doubt that SpaceX can continue growing quickly if it raises tens of billions of dollars through an IPO, spends upfront to launch more satellites, and even explores building space-based data centers for AI.
What investors truly need to think hard about is whether buying a capital-intensive business with $15 billion in revenue at a market value of over $1.5 trillion is worth it. That is a price-to-sales ratio (P/S) of 100, which would put SpaceX at one of the most expensive valuations for a large-cap company in history. Sure, it is generating more revenue now from xAI, but that is coming with massive losses as the start-up looks to increase capital spending to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.
SpaceX is a fascinating business with a huge opportunity ahead. However, don't think you need to chase this stock and buy it right at the IPO. If you are interested in owning shares, stay patient. It is likely that a better buying opportunity will present itself in a few years.
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Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.