Markets
markets
Matt Phillips

SpaceX valuation chatter lifts satellite stocks

Satellite stocks rose early Monday, riding a wave of excitement about recent reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s satellite startup, SpaceX, is shooting for an $800 billion valuation as it launches a secondary share sale.

EchoStar and Rocket Lab rose, partly in response to the report.

William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma wrote that the valuation news has positive implications for owners of satellite spectrum rights.

If the reported valuation is ultimately achieved, it would be a mark-to-market moment suggesting that traditional satellite spectrum rights are worth more than the market had previously assumed.

That likely explains some of EchoStar’s outperformance on the day. As a legacy provider of satellite-based television services — such as Dish Network — it is a large owner of that spectrum, and has recently been an opportunistic seller of those assets, including to AT&T and SpaceX.

But the market doesn’t seem to like the implications for AST SpaceMobile, which has been trying to build up its portfolio of spectrum rights to compete as a seller of space-based services directly to consumers.

Higher spectrum right prices mean AST will have to cough up more cash as it competes with a Musk-controlled, $800 billion satellite gorilla.

SpaceX to Offer Insider Shares at Record-Setting $800 Billion Valuation

William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma wrote that the valuation news has positive implications for owners of satellite spectrum rights.

If the reported valuation is ultimately achieved, it would be a mark-to-market moment suggesting that traditional satellite spectrum rights are worth more than the market had previously assumed.

That likely explains some of EchoStar’s outperformance on the day. As a legacy provider of satellite-based television services — such as Dish Network — it is a large owner of that spectrum, and has recently been an opportunistic seller of those assets, including to AT&T and SpaceX.

But the market doesn’t seem to like the implications for AST SpaceMobile, which has been trying to build up its portfolio of spectrum rights to compete as a seller of space-based services directly to consumers.

Higher spectrum right prices mean AST will have to cough up more cash as it competes with a Musk-controlled, $800 billion satellite gorilla.

More Markets

See all Markets
markets
Luke Kawa

Marvell sinks after Benchmark cuts company, saying that it lost its Amazon custom chip design business

Over the past two trading days, Marvell Technology has faced vexing questions about its relationship with its top two custom chip hyperscaler customers.

Shares are tumbling, down 9% as of 10:21 a.m. ET.

Late last week, The Information reported that Microsoft, its second-biggest custom chip buyer, was in talks to shift that business from Marvell to Broadcom.

Now, Benchmark analyst Cody Acree thinks that Marvell’s largest custom chip customer, Amazon, has done the same, writing that “we now have a high degree of conviction that the company has lost both Amazon’s Trainium3 and 4 designs to its Taiwanese competitor, Alchip.”

Acree downgraded Marvell to “hold” from “buy,” recommending that investors take profit after its post-earnings bounce.

(Harlan Sur at JPMorgan, for what it’s worth, does not believe this is the case, pointing to Marvell’s acquisition of Celestial AI as providing key technology that aligns the company with Amazon’s future chip design needs.)

During the conference call that followed earnings, Sur asked Marvell CEO Matt Murphy about its role with Amazon chips going forward.

“What I would say, which is incorporated into our numbers, is that our product transition from where we are today with our lead XPU customer to the next one is baked into all the numbers I gave you. And yes, I got the backlog, and I got the orders, and we got great visibility there,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s answer was not quite definitive, according to Acree, who thinks that Marvell’s revenue forecast is being “driven by expected continued Trainium2 volumes and a Kuiper low-earth orbit engagement and not the successful transition to Trainium3 designs that many on the sell-side have concluded.”

markets
J. Edward Moreno

Structure Therapeutics posts mid-stage weight-loss pill data in line with Eli Lilly rival

Structure Therapeutics soared in early trading after it reported mid-stage results for its weight-loss pill that were roughly in line with Eli Lilly’s competing product.

The San Francisco-based biotech reported that patients lost roughly 11.3% of their body weight on a lower dose of the pill, aleniglipron, in a mid-stage study. That puts it roughly in line with Lilly’s competing pill, orforglipron, and slightly below Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy.

Both Lilly and Novo’s pills are awaiting regulatory approval and are expected to go to market next year. While the weight-loss numbers were encouraging, Structure’s pill did report higher rates of side effects like nausea and vomiting.

Investors have been closely watching drugmakers’ once-daily pills, which could replace the weekly injections currently on the market. While pills tend to be less effective than shots, they are less expensive to manufacture than prefilled injection pens and are more inviting to squeamish patients.

Warner Brothers To Put Itself Up For Sale

Paramount launches hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery at $30 per share, trying to upend Netflix deal

Paramount is taking its Warner Bros. Discovery purchase effort straight to shareholders.

Max Knoblauch3h
markets
Max Knoblauch

Rivian, Lucid, and Tesla all downgraded by Morgan Stanley on tougher EV market

US EV makers are seeing red in premarket trading on Monday, following a fresh downgrade from Morgan Stanley. Lucid, Rivian, and Tesla shares were all trading lower in early hours.

Analyst Andrew Percoco downgraded Rivian from “equalweight” to “underweight” and dropped his price target to $12 — 33% below the stock’s price as of Friday’s close. Percoco wrote that Rivian faces a host of upcoming headwinds, fueled by slowing adoption amid the end of the EV tax credit. According to Morgan Stanley, Rivian’s lower-priced R2 SUV could cannibalize demand for its other vehicles.

The firm also downgraded Lucid to “underweight,” slashing its price target to $10 from a previous target of $30. The new figure would represent an all-time low for the luxury EV maker. Percoco highlighted the potential for further dilution for Lucid investors given the company’s cash needs.

Morgan Stanley downgraded Tesla from “overweight” to “equalweight,” citing high AI expectations, but the bank bumped its price target to $425.

markets
Luke Kawa

CoreWeave tumbles after announcing $2 billion convertible debt offering

Shares of CoreWeave tumbled in early trading after the company announced plans to raise $2 billion through the sale of convertible senior notes due in 2031 in a private offering.

The deal includes an option to boost the sale to $2.3 billion. Some portion of the capital raised will be used to enter into capped call transactions designed to limit potential dilution in the event the stock rises enough that noteholders convert their holdings to shares, and the remainder of the funds will be used for general corporate purposes.

While much of the focus on AI credit risk has centered on Oracle, CoreWeave hasn’t been immune from fixed-income jitters. Its existing 2030 and 2031 notes, which carry coupons of 9.25% and 9%, respectively, saw significant selling pressure from early October through late November.

It’s also been viewed as a less than pristine customer by credit investors. Investors demanded a higher coupon for Applied Digital’s bond offering compared to similar offerings by Terawulf and Cipher, in part because those companies are being backstopped by Alphabet, while Applied Digital is relying on CoreWeave as its key tenant.

A month ago, the company announced that it had increased its revolving credit facility to $2.5 billion, from $1.5 billion, to provide “enhanced flexibility” and “support its growth initiatives.”

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.
©2025 Sherwood Media, LLC