SpaceX reported $14.6 billion in third-quarter revenue Tuesday after options had priced a roughly 6% earnings-related share move, according to CNBC, with two IPO lockup releases approaching.
Revenue rose 161% from a year earlier, and the company posted $4.4 billion in net income, reversing a year-earlier loss of $1.1 billion. Capital spending reached $19.6 billion, up from $6.9 billion a year earlier. The results followed heavy second-quarter spending, when its Super Intelligence segment alone recorded $15.828 billion in capital expenditures.
The roughly 6% move implied by options before the release was less than half the 13% decline after SpaceX’s first earnings report as a public company in August, CNBC reported, citing Cboe LiveVol data. An implied move reflects the size of a price change priced into options before an event, not its direction or the change that ultimately occurs.
Trading ahead of Tuesday’s report leaned toward calls, which give holders the right to buy shares at a specified price. Of the 1.1 million SpaceX options contracts traded Monday, 665,000 were calls, and more calls were bought than sold, CNBC reported, citing Cboe LiveVol. Total volume was 20% above the 30-day average.
Outstanding calls and puts were roughly balanced, but call contracts had led trading volume over the preceding week, CNBC reported, citing Barchart data. CNBC also reported that shares had gained 60% in the two months after the August selloff, then fallen as much as 19% during the two weeks before Tuesday’s results.
The most active call expiring Friday carried a $170 strike price and required about a 14% share-price rise, CNBC reported, citing SpotGamma data. A call expiring at month-end with a $190 strike traded at $0.40 and required a 29% rise to break even, the report said.
The next lockup release is scheduled for Oct. 22. SpaceX’s IPO prospectus sets a separate release 135 days after its June 11 date, placing it on Oct. 24; Oct. 26 is the next trading day. CNBC reported that the two tranches together cover more than 1.6 billion shares. Holders become eligible to sell when restrictions expire, though eligibility does not establish that they will do so. CNBC said September releases had no discernible effect on the share price.
