SpaceX Q3 2026 earnings: revenue and profit beat estimates

October 20, 2026 · Published October 22, 2026

SpaceX topped Wall Street's revenue and profit estimates for Q3 2026, turning a year-ago loss into a multibillion-dollar quarterly profit as its Starlink and AI-computing businesses both grew fast.

Key takeaways

• Both revenue and earnings per share came in well above Wall Street’s forecasts, and the company swung from a loss a year earlier to a multibillion-dollar quarterly profit — notable since SpaceX only went public earlier in 2026.
• Growth is now coming from two different businesses: Starlink satellite internet and a newer AI-computing business. The AI business has grown fast enough that it now accounts for roughly half of total revenue, though Starlink still contributes more to actual profit.
• Starlink kept expanding, with revenue from the connectivity business up roughly 69% from a year earlier as the service added subscribers and launched in more countries.
• The Starship rocket flew its first mission that directly generated revenue, delivering a batch of newer Starlink satellites to orbit. Management said the next Starship test flight, planned for November, will attempt to recover both the booster and upper stage.
• Spending stayed heavy: the company put about $19.6 billion into capital projects during the quarter and signaled Q4 spending could run $35-40 billion, as it keeps building out satellite and computing infrastructure.
• The gap between a strong gross margin and negative operating and net margins over the past year shows why: SpaceX’s core business is profitable before overhead, but heavy investment in R&D and infrastructure has outweighed profit on a trailing 12-month basis, even though this particular quarter turned profitable.
• A roughly $63 billion order backlog points to continued demand for the company’s services in coming quarters.
• Management said SpaceX and Tesla have each set up committees to explore a possible merger of the two companies, though no terms have been agreed.

Q3 2026 in context

Figures for the quarter ended Sep 2026 and the quarter ended Sep 2025, as reported to the SEC.

How the stock took it

SpaceX closed at $147.96 on Oct 19, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $159.31 on Oct 21, 2026, the first session after it — +7.7% across the report.

Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.

Fundamentals

Financial history →

Sources: company report · TechCrunch · Crowdfund Insider · Reuters