NASA wants a base on the Moon, and Wall Street is suddenly buying the trip there. Space stocks are surging for a second session as SpaceX (SPCX) and seven other companies line up for lunar delivery work worth up to $10 billion.
NASA named the eight winners on November 7 at the Kennedy Space Center. Alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin are three smaller public companies, Intuitive Machines (LUNR), Firefly Aerospace (FLY), and Voyager Technologies (VOYG).
For these three, the price is out of this world. Their combined value is about $8.5 billion, less than the contract cap, although each still has to win missions one by one.
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is NASA’s way of recruiting private companies to transport cargo to the Moon. The new 10-year version covers larger landers, and NASA increased the value of the original contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion. Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said the company is “excited to be part of this next evolution of CLPS.”
“We are building the Moon base mission by mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the agency’s statement.
Rocket Lab (RKLB) is not on NASA’s list, but jumped ahead by reporting its third-quarter results after Monday’s close. The stock is on pace for a two-day gain of nearly 30%, its third highest price in two years, according to Yahoo Finance calculations.
Space stocks are up from last week’s post-election low, up about 25% to 60% since the Nov. 5 close, with Firefly leading the way. SpaceX is on track for its best two-day performance in a month, while the Nasdaq (^IXIC) has gained about 4%.
The rebound follows a brutal stretch. An average of nine space stocks more than doubled this year on May 28, two weeks before SpaceX’s June 12 debut, and then gave it all back. The group is now down for 2026.
SpaceX is a different story. Wall Street views it less as a moon trucker and more as an AI cloud, competing with neoclouds — companies like CoreWeave (CRWV) that lease AI computing power — and with hyperscalers, cloud giants like Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT).
On Monday, SpaceX added more than $100 billion in market value, more than the roughly $90 billion the 16 other U.S.-listed space stocks are worth together. NASA’s 10-year moon pot is about a tenth of that daily gain.
The next read on the rest of the group will be Monday evening, when Rocket Lab reports and updates investors on Neutron, its largest rocket targeted for first flight this quarter.
Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman believes SpaceX’s biggest opportunity is returning to Earth. Speaking on Yahoo Finance’s “Market Hang” show on October 30, he said: “They could come out next year being not only the largest neocloud, but also the largest hyperscaler.”
In-house AI tools helped analyze interview transcripts, research, and write this article. Humans reviewed, edited and fact-checked the material before publication.
Follow Jared Blikre on X @SPYJared or email him at jaredblikre@yahooinc.com.
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