SpaceX set to release its first earnings report as a public company. Here's what to look for.

SpaceX is set to issue its first earnings report as a public company on Tuesday, offering a detailed look at how the rocket, satellite and AI provider is faring after its ballyhooed initial public offering in June. 

SpaceX shares have sputtered after initially soaring following the transaction, the largest IPO in U.S. history. The company's stock price rose in Tuesday morning trading, gaining $5, or 4.4%, to $119.53. Still, that represents an 11% decline from its IPO price of $135 per share and a 47% plunge from its intraday high of $225.64 on June 16.

SpaceX is scheduled to release its financial results on Tuesday after the close of stock market trading at 4 p.m. ET. That report will be followed by a call with Wall Street analysts at 4:30 p.m., in which company founder and CEO Elon Musk is expected to answer questions.

"Wall Street analysts will focus on the hard numbers, but retail investors will be influenced by some of the sound bites" during the earnings call, Jay Ritter, an IPO expert and professor at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business, told CBS News in an email.

Here are three things to watch for when SpaceX releases its first earnings report. 

Is revenue growth strong?

Investors will look at the pace of SpaceX's revenue growth. The company booked $18.7 billion in revenue last year, but suffered a net loss of more than $4.9 billion, according to a regulatory filing. 

For the second quarter ended June 30, SpaceX is expected to report a net loss of $1.9 billion, according to a FactSet survey of analysts. Losses for the first half of 2026 could top $5 billion, although some analysts think SpaceX could show strong growth in the second half of the year and even eke out a profit. 

Melissa Otto, head of Visible Alpha research at S&P Global, forecasts $6.9 billion in revenue in the second quarter, driven by its Starlink broadband satellite network. Gains from the connectivity business will help offset operating losses in the company's space exploration and AI segments, she said in an analysis.

Analysts will focus in particular on Starlink's subscriber growth and revenue. Nicolas Owens, an equity analyst at Morningstar covering SpaceX, expects subscriber growth of 93% in 2026, compared with 229% in 2025.

Musk is also likely to be asked about the timeline for testing SpaceX's Starship rockets, which NASA hopes to use to put astronauts on the moon again; his plans for its satellite network; and the prospects of putting solar-powered data centers in orbit.

SpaceX launched its 13th Starship rocket in late July, with the company targeting a landing on the moon in 2028. For now, however, no Starship has been put into Earth orbit.

Is the AI business on the right track?

Another major question is whether SpaceX's massive investment in artificial intelligence shows signs of paying off. In other words, can its AI business start to generate the revenue necessary to justify the company's $1.4 trillion valuation?

In the first three months of 2026, SpaceX's AI segment had revenue of $818 million, according to a securities filing. The division is focused on scaling AI compute infrastructure by sending data centers to space and enhancing the performance of Grok, the AI chatbot developed by xAI that SpaceX bought in February.

Investors will also assess SpaceX's quarterly AI revenue for clues on how fast the business could grow. That includes plans for Cursor, the AI coding startup that SpaceX recently acquired, and how it figures into Grok's future, Ritter said.

"If SpaceX can grow this part of its business, it could be an important source of revenue in the next few years, along with Starlink and terrestrial data centers," he said in an email.

Can the stock regain momentum? 

SpaceX's first earnings report could affect its short-term stock price, which has slumped in part due to investor concerns about the company's AI investment.

While investors will undoubtedly pay attention to the numbers in the earnings report, Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co., said sentiment will largely hinge on the tone and vision Musk sets during the earnings call.

"Investors are betting much more on the future, and SpaceX needs to give them near-term [targets] that they can hit to show the success, because the stock is based on the longer-term vision," he told CBS News.

Another key test for the stock will come on Thursday, when more than 911 million SpaceX shares worth roughly $100 billion will be released as the lockup period ends. 

Short sellers have already made more than $8 billion betting against Elon Musk's rocket company, driving the stock price down, according to Ritter. However, some investors are expected to shift into buying mode when the lockup period expires, reducing volatility in the shares.

"Some of them will become buyers this week, soaking up shares that existing shareholders will be allowed to sell," he said. "This short covering will reduce the drop that otherwise will be occurring on Thursday."