SpaceX's first report card beats everywhere it counts

@SpaceX delivered a commanding debut as a public company, reporting $7.8 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 92% year-on-year and roughly $1 billion ahead of Wall Street's consensus estimate of approximately $6.9 billion. Adjusted EBITDA nearly tripled to $3.5 billion, well above the $2 billion analysts had pencilled in.

Starlink carries the business

Starlink now has 12 million subscribers, doubling from a year earlier and up 17% from the first quarter. The connectivity segment drove 55% of total sales, cementing its role as the company's primary cash engine. The connectivity business remained SpaceX's primary profit generator, with its operating profit increasing 79% year-on-year to $1.656 billion. CFO Bret Johnsen credited margin expansion "led by our new AI compute agreements." Johnsen said on the earnings call that the company is on pace to reach $100 billion in annualized recurring revenue by the end of the year, and noted that in the first few weeks of the current quarter, SpaceX has contracted an additional $6.7 billion of cloud services revenue "over a six month period that begins ramping starting in October."

The company has had 78 launches year-to-date and Starlink now serves 167 countries. SpaceX's total backlog stood at $47.5 billion at the end of the quarter.

Big beats, bigger bills

The losses are equally supersized. The company reported a net loss of $541 million, or 9 cents a share, a marked improvement from a $1 billion loss a year ago. Capital expenditures jumped more than sixfold from a year earlier to $18.37 billion in the second quarter, with most of that, $15.83 billion, directed toward AI. The AI segment's operating loss was $1.257 billion, though adjusted EBITDA for the unit turned positive to $1.146 billion.

The market's verdict was split. Shares closed up 9.43% at $125.33 on the day of the report before dropping roughly 6% after hours during the earnings call. Approximately 912 million shares are set to become eligible for public trading on August 6, with an additional approximately 319 million shares unlocked roughly one week thereafter, adding an overhang on the $1.65 trillion company. One metric deserving scrutiny is average revenue per user, which fell from $86 a month to $66 a month year-on-year, and the decline is not a one-off. Management has said it expects ARPU to keep sliding as Starlink expands into international and lower-priced markets.

Digital assets, which include the company's Bitcoin ($BTC) holdings, were $1.1 billion at the end of the quarter, down from $1.6 billion in the previous quarter.

Sources:
CNBC: SpaceX Q2 2026 Earnings Live Updates
Fortune: SpaceX Revenue Surges 92% to $7.8 Billion
Benzinga: SpaceX Q2 Highlights