SpaceX Stock Soars 8% After First-Ever Quarterly Profit; Musk Says Tesla Merger “Would Be a Good Idea”
SpaceX stock rocketed higher on Wednesday, surging nearly 8% to lead the Nasdaq 100 after the space, AI and social-media company reported its first-ever quarterly profit as a public company. Elon Musk supercharged the rally by telling investors that the SpaceX and Tesla boards had formed committees to discuss a merger — and that combining the two giants “would be a good idea.”
The blockbuster results provided the jolt Wall Street needed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the major indexes to a higher close on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 posting its third straight day of gains, as strong earnings from SpaceX and AI server maker Super Micro Computer revived the battered artificial-intelligence trade.
SpaceX Stock: First-Ever Quarterly Profit Details
SpaceX shares (SPCX) jumped after the company announced it had posted its first profit as a public company, according to Reuters. The milestone marks a turning point for Musk’s rocket and satellite business, which has historically poured every dollar into Starship development, Starlink expansion and its ambitious AI infrastructure bets.
Investors had been bracing for another heavy-spending quarter, and the surprise profit sent SpaceX stock up nearly 8% on the session, per Investopedia’s markets recap. The Motley Fool reported the stock climbed more than 10% at its peak during Wednesday’s session, while crypto-data aggregator KuCoin logged a 9.97% gain. However you slice it, it was the single biggest driver of the day’s market action.
The profit lands at a moment when SpaceX is spending furiously on AI data centers and its social-media platform, and Musk has been blunt that the AI race is a winner-take-most game. Turning a quarterly profit while keeping that spending pace signals, to the market at least, that the bet is starting to pay.
Musk Floats a SpaceX-Tesla Merger
If the profit was the spark, the merger talk was the accelerant. Musk said the SpaceX and Tesla boards had formed committees to discuss a potential merger, adding that combining the two companies would be “a good idea,” per Reuters.
The comment immediately lifted Tesla stock as well, which rose almost 3.5% ahead of its own quarterly results due after the market close on Wednesday. A SpaceX-Tesla combination would unite the world’s most valuable rocket company, the biggest EV maker, a leading satellite-internet network, a major social-media platform and Musk’s AI ambitions under one roof — arguably the most ambitious corporate merger ever proposed.
Whether regulators would ever allow such a behemoth is another question entirely, but for a market starved of good news on the AI trade, the mere possibility was enough to set off a rally.
Wall Street Wednesday: The Numbers
Major U.S. indexes closed higher on Wednesday, led by big gains for tech stocks on another busy day of earnings reports, according to Investopedia. The tech-focused Nasdaq gained 1.1%, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%, and the benchmark S&P 500 added 0.6%. Wednesday marked the third straight day of gains for the S&P 500.
The rally was powered almost entirely by the AI trade’s revival:
- SpaceX (SPCX): up nearly 8% on its first-ever quarterly profit and merger talk.
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI): surged 9% — among the S&P 500’s top gainers — after the AI server maker forecast quarterly revenue and profit margin above Wall Street estimates.
- Dell Technologies: jumped 4%+ as the AI-server trade caught fire.
- Tesla (TSLA): up almost 3.5% ahead of its earnings report.
- Nvidia (NVDA): gained 2.5%, lifting the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF about 1%.
Not every earnings report was a winner. Netflix shares fell more than 5%, AT&T retreated 6.5% to pace the S&P 500’s decliners, Abbott Laboratories dropped 2%, and Philip Morris International pulled back 1.5%, per Investopedia. Meta Platforms and IBM both reported after the close.
AI Trade Back From the Dead?
The reports appeared to provide some reassurance to investors who have been worried about the sustainability of massive spending on AI buildouts and their profitability, Reuters noted. The technology sector had been hammered just last week by a selloff in AI-linked stocks, with data-center operator CoreWeave at the center of the storm.
“The SpaceX news pushes back on some of the investor worries about AI,” Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones, told Reuters. He added the reports will not “answer all the questions investors have on returns on AI investments, but it’s a good start.”
Marc Dizard, chief investment officer at Huntington Bank, called it “a positive technology story for almost anyone that is somewhat involved in the artificial intelligence ecosystem,” adding that “the technology market reaction has been a reaffirmation that the artificial intelligence trade is still intact.”
What It Means for Investors
Strong earnings from SpaceX reinvigorated the AI trade on Wednesday, dampening recent jitters around the sustainability of massive capital outlays and the time it may take to generate returns, the Motley Fool noted. That shift helped technology-heavy indexes outperform as high-growth hardware and semiconductor leadership came back into focus.
However, one company’s earnings — even blockbuster ones — do not mean AI caution is over. Wall Street remains divided on how much of this is a bubble, and volatility is likely to continue as megacap valuations stay elevated and more Big Tech names report. For long-term investors, it is more important than ever to be discerning about which AI stocks are in the portfolio.
Gold edged up 0.18% to $4,132.42 while the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 5.11% as of late morning, the Fool reported — a classic risk-on-but-hedged posture from a market that wants to believe the rally but remembers last week’s selloff.
SpaceX Stock Price History: A Volatile 2026
The SpaceX stock price has been on a roller-coaster ride all year. Just weeks ago, an LB Daily News markets report noted that SpaceX stock was sitting roughly 35% below its 2026 highs ahead of the third-quarter results, as investors fretted over the company’s breakneck AI data-center spending and the broader tech selloff. Wednesday’s profit announcement flips that narrative on its head.
Unlike most mega-cap tech names, SpaceX stock does not trade on hype alone anymore — the company now has actual launch revenue, a profitable satellite-internet business in Starlink, and, as of this quarter, a bottom line in the black. That combination is why analysts say SpaceX stock could keep outperforming if the AI trade holds.
Still, SpaceX stock remains one of the most sentiment-driven tickers on Wall Street. A single Musk post can move it several percent in minutes, and the proposed Tesla merger — however preliminary — adds a fresh layer of speculation. Bulls argue that SpaceX stock is pricing in the future of space, AI and robotics in one ticker; bears counter that the valuation already assumes perfection.
For now, the tape belongs to the bulls. With SpaceX stock leading the Nasdaq 100, Super Micro’s blowout forecast, and the S&P 500 on a three-day winning streak, Wednesday was the kind of session that reminds investors why they stay in the market — and why SpaceX stock remains the most-watched name in it.
What’s Next: Tesla and Meta Earnings
All eyes now turn to the rest of the earnings calendar. Tesla reported after Wednesday’s close — with the stock already up 3.5% on merger hopes — and Meta Platforms and IBM also released results after the bell. Their numbers will decide whether Wednesday’s SpaceX stock-led rally becomes a durable rebound or just another one-day wonder in a jittery market.
Read Investopedia’s full October 21 markets recap here.
Illustrations: AI-generated symbolic editorial images for LB Daily News.
