Legendary Investor Grantham Criticizes SpaceX: The Market is Chasing "The Most Outrageous Investment Story in History"

Odaily reported that Jeremy Grantham, renowned investor, co-founder, and chief investment strategist at GMO, stated that the market might look back on the SpaceX listing in 50 years with a sense of "mockery," calling it "the most outrageous IPO in human history."

Grantham believes that SpaceX’s grand vision of "making humanity a multi-planetary species," coupled with the market’s current strong enthusiasm for the company, could be viewed by investors in the future as excessive optimism. "Everyone is lining up to tell you to buy the most outrageous IPO in human history. 50 years from now, people will quote paragraphs from the prospectus and laugh about it," he said.

Since SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100, it has garnered significant institutional attention, but its stock price has faced pressure recently. Currently, SpaceX’s stock is down about 7% from its one-month high, hovering around $150, only slightly above its IPO target price of $135.

Wall Street institutions are divided on SpaceX’s future valuation. Morgan Stanley reportedly has given it a $300 price target, while Goldman Sachs analysts estimate a target of around $205. JPMorgan Chase believes that Elon Musk’s goal of achieving $1 trillion in revenue by 2031 is "theoretically achievable" but would require extremely strong execution capabilities.

Grantham also pointed out that one of SpaceX’s biggest risks is its heavy reliance on Musk’s personal leadership. He noted that Musk holds approximately 82% of the voting control, which serves as both a key driver of SpaceX’s culture and innovation capability, and a source of risk related to governance structure and leadership changes.

However, Grantham acknowledged that SpaceX’s inclusion in the Nasdaq index could generate additional buying pressure. He said that as a large amount of funds tracking the Nasdaq index are forced to allocate to SpaceX stock, market demand may exceed supply, thereby pushing the stock price up.

Nevertheless, he believes that in the long run, SpaceX still faces significant challenges. If the valuation logic for the company ultimately holds, the future world could undergo drastic changes driven by the development of artificial intelligence and automation technologies. Conversely, if expectations fail to materialize, this IPO would also become a landmark event in financial history. (Fortune)