SpaceX is coming. The company filed its S-1, plans to start marketing to investors on June 4, and could price as early as June 11 or 12 under the ticker SPCX on the Nasdaq. It is looking to raise up to seventy-five billion dollars — which would make it the largest IPO in American history. The reported valuation is around one-point-eight trillion dollars, which is already the most valuable company ever to go public.
Here is the thing: most retail traders will not get a piece of the SpaceX IPO at a good price. The institutional allocation will be enormous. By the time it opens for trading, the premium will already be baked in. The smarter play, for traders who want space sector exposure before the hype peaks, is the names that are already public and that move when SpaceX moves. Those stocks have been giving back gains today after some overnight valuation noise and a Blue Origin launch anomaly that rattled the sector. That kind of pullback, heading into the biggest IPO week in a generation, is worth paying attention to.
Here are three space stocks I am watching right now.
3 Space Stocks to Watch in September
|
Stock Ticker |
Company |
Performance (YTD) |
|---|---|---|
| NASDAQ: RKLB |
Rocket Lab Corporation |
|
| NASDAQ: ASTS |
AST SpaceMobile Inc. |
|
| NASDAQ: LUNR |
Intuitive Machines Inc. |
These three are not the same kind of trade. One is the most fundamentally grounded space infrastructure company available to public market investors. One is the direct-to-cell satellite story that SpaceX is actually competing against. And one is the commercial lunar company that almost nobody outside the space world knows, which is exactly the kind of setup worth finding before the SpaceX IPO puts every space name under the spotlight.
- RKLB — Real revenue, real backlog, real contracts — and down today on someone else’s problem
- ASTS — Direct-to-cell satellites, down hard today because Blue Origin’s anomaly affects one of their launch partners, not their actual technology
- LUNR — Lunar logistics, NASA-backed, targeting EBITDA positive this year — the least-known name with the most institutional momentum behind it
These are not stocks I am necessarily buying. These are stocks I am watching.
Want the full AI and space watchlist? See my 10 Top AI Penny Stocks for September 2026 here.
Here are the three I am watching most closely heading into SpaceX IPO week.
Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ: RKLB) — The Most Fundament ally Grounded SpaceX Alternative
My first pick is Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ: RKLB).
If you wanted to own SpaceX five years ago and could not, Rocket Lab is the closest public equivalent that actually exists. The company launches rockets, builds satellites, and is systematically expanding into every part of the space infrastructure stack. In the first quarter of this year, Rocket Lab posted record revenue above two hundred million dollars — up sharply from a year ago — with a backlog of two point two billion dollars and two billion dollars in liquidity to execute on it. Management guided Q2 revenue to two hundred twenty-five to two hundred forty million dollars, well ahead of what analysts were expecting. CFRA reiterated a Strong Buy rating and raised its twelve-month price target to a hundred dollars. Read the full RKLB story on StocksToTrade.
The reason to look at it today specifically: RKLB is down roughly thirteen percent in today’s session on Blue Origin spillover. Blue Origin had a New Glenn anomaly, which rattled the entire space sector on sentiment. This has nothing to do with Rocket Lab’s business. Its Electron rockets have a strong success record. Its Neutron heavy-lift rocket is targeting a Q4 2026 first launch. Its contracts span US Space Force, NASA, Anduril hypersonics, and a thirty-million dollar HASTE program. A thirteen percent drop on unrelated sector news in a name with this kind of fundamental momentum is the kind of thing I pay attention to.
The risk is the valuation. Rocket Lab does not make money yet and trades at a meaningful premium to revenue. That premium is justified only if the growth trajectory continues — and the backlog suggests it will. The fifty-two-week range runs from the low twenties to just under a hundred dollars. Today’s dip puts it well off its highs.
Technically, the mid-sixty to low-seventy dollar area is where the stock has been finding support after pullbacks this year. That is the level to watch. A hold there and the SpaceX IPO tailwind heading into June 11 is the setup.
AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) — The Direct-to-Cell Satellite Story Getting Hit by Blue Origin Noise
My second pick is AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS).
ASTS is down about fifteen percent today and it is worth understanding exactly why. Blue Origin — not ASTS — had a New Glenn rocket anomaly. The connection is that Blue Origin is one of several launch partners that ASTS has agreements with for deploying its BlueBird satellite constellation. When a launch partner stumbles, traders assume the worst about launch timelines. That is the sell. Whether it is the right sell is a different question.
The ASTS fundamental story has not changed. The company is building the world’s first space-based cellular broadband network that connects directly to ordinary smartphones without any special equipment. No app. No satellite phone. Just your regular phone, getting broadband from orbit. Commercial agreements with over fifty mobile operators representing nearly three billion potential subscribers — AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone — are real and signed. The FCC has approved the technology. The question has always been the deployment timeline, which is what the Blue Origin news touches. But ASTS has SpaceX as another launch partner. The dependency on Blue Origin is not absolute. The stock is up four hundred and thirty-seven percent over the past year. Today’s dip is the sector, not the story.
The risk is that any further launch partner issues could push the constellation deployment timeline out, which would delay the revenue inflection that the valuation is built on. At a market cap above thirty billion dollars, ASTS needs to execute.
The low-seventy-dollar area is the first support zone I watch. If the stock holds there and the Blue Origin news does not escalate into a broader ASTS-specific delay announcement, the setup into SpaceX IPO week is there. Lose seventy on volume and I want to see the selling dry up before re-engaging.
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Intuitive Machines Inc. (NASDAQ: LUNR) — The Lunar Logistics Company Most Traders Have Not Found Yet
My third pick is Intuitive Machines Inc. (NASDAQ: LUNR).
LUNR is the least-known name on this list and that is the opportunity. In 2025, Intuitive Machines landed the first commercial spacecraft on the moon — the first time that had happened since the Apollo program. That is not a press release. That is a real operational milestone that most traders have never heard of. The company now has nine hundred and forty-three million dollars in backlog from NASA lunar cargo contracts and defense programs, 2026 revenue guidance up to one billion dollars, and a target of reaching EBITDA profitability this year. The second major lunar mission — IM-3 — is planned for the second half of 2026.
The SpaceX IPO creates a specific tailwind for LUNR that is different from the other two names. SpaceX’s own S-1 filing emphasizes AI and satellite infrastructure as its primary growth areas — the lunar economy is mentioned but is not the headline. That means LUNR is a pure-play on the lunar theme that SpaceX does not directly compete with. When institutional money starts flowing into space sector ETFs ahead of the SpaceX listing, LUNR is one of the first names those funds reach for. It is already in ARKX with meaningful weight.
The risk is execution. A lunar mission failure would be devastating for sentiment. Cash burn remains significant even with the strong backlog. And the stock has already gained two hundred and seventy-three percent over the past year — there is overhead supply.
The key level to watch is whatever support the stock finds on today’s pullback from the space sector noise. LUNR tends to move in step with ASTSte/RKLB/" data-stock="RKLB">RKLB and ASTS on sector sentiment days. A stabilization here with the SpaceX IPO on June 11 or 12 as the forward catalyst is the setup worth watching.
Bottom Line
The SpaceX IPO is the biggest financial event in the space sector since SpaceX itself was founded. The stocks that benefit most are the ones already built on the same themes — launch, satellites, and lunar infrastructure — with real revenue and real backlog behind them.
- RKLB — Down thirteen percent today on unrelated Blue Origin noise. Record Q1 revenue, two-point-two billion dollar backlog, Q2 guidance above estimates. This is the most fundamentally grounded space name you can buy right now while waiting for SpaceX.
- ASTS — Down fifteen percent on the same Blue Origin anomaly. The direct-to-cell technology has FCC approval and agreements with over fifty operators. The sentiment hit is real but the story is not broken. Watch seventy dollars as support.
- LUNR — The lunar logistics company that actually landed on the moon in 2025. Nine hundred million in NASA backlog, EBITDA target this year, and a pure-play on the lunar economy that SpaceX does not directly compete with. The least-known name with the most institutional momentum.
The SpaceX IPO window opens June 4 and could price June 11. That is the calendar. Trade the setups, not the hype.
If you’re watching the defense tech and space sector heat up ahead of the SpaceX IPO, I put something together you’ll want to see. My Pre-IPO SpaceX Playbook breaks down how to position before the biggest IPO in history prices, including the one space stock I think has the most upside when it happens and a scanner that ranks the hottest space names by profit potential. Take a look at the SpaceX Playbook here.
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