NATIONAL NEWS

SpaceX turns a profit after a string of losses as its satellite and computer leasing businesses soar

Oct 20, 2026, 1:49 PM

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of four launches from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of four launches from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux

(AP Photo/John Raoux)

NEW YORK (AP) — SpaceX reported a bigger quarterly profit than expected Tuesday as its satellite communications operations and its business of leasing computing power to other companies boomed.

The company, run by Elon Musk, posted net income in the three months through September of $4.4 billion, or 35 cents per share. That’s more than double what Wall Street expected, and reverses a loss from the year-earlier period. Revenue soared to $14.6 billion, up 161%.

The results for the newly public company were a sharp break from the pattern of losses going back more than a year.

The newly public company’s results marked a sharp break from more than a year of losses.

The stock rose 2.2% in after-hours trading.

Shares had been under pressure over concerns that SpaceX was spending too much on major projects to compete with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The company said capital expenditures totaled $19.6 billion last quarter, nearly triple the figure from a year earlier.

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