Deepwater’s Munster Waves Off SPCX Dip: Starship Orbit Is ‘Double And Quadruple’ News

• SpaceX’s 14th Starship test lifted off from Starbase, Texas, and put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time on Monday. 
• One of the six engines on Ship 41 shut down during the climb, prompting the company to bring it back earlier than planned. 
• Munster framed the day as “double and quadruple good news.”

Gene Munster, managing partner and co-founder of Minneapolis-based Deepwater Asset Management, said on Monday that SpaceX’s first orbital Starship flight was a bigger milestone than the stock reaction implied.

Writing on X after the launch, he added that even investors who expected a good outcome were “underappreciating the significance” of the mission.

SPCX shares closed down about 2%.

SpaceX’s Latest Starship Mission

SpaceX’s 14th Starship test lifted off from Starbase, Texas, and put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. All 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites on board were released and later confirmed as operating. That was the first operational payload ever flown on Starship.

It was not a clean flight. One of the six engines on Ship 41 shut down during the climb. SpaceX still completed the burn that put the vehicle into orbit, then cut the mission short. The plan had been about 10 hours and six loops around Earth. After the engine problem, the company brought the ship home after about three hours and a controlled splashdown in the Pacific.

Munster’s Two Numbers

Munster framed the day as “double and quadruple good news.” First, “with the help of some rounding,” Starship is about twice the size of Falcon Heavy. Getting a rocket that large into orbit, he said, is a milestone because it should let SpaceX put satellites up cheaper and faster.

Second, Starlink speeds “should about 4x with V3,” the first of which reached orbit on Monday. He said new pricing tiers are coming and that the average Starlink download should rise from about 150 Mbps to about 600 Mbps.

SpaceX has said each V3 satellite is built for far more capacity than the smaller V2 Mini birds flown on Falcon 9, and that a full Starship load can add as much network capacity as many Falcon 9 missions. Monday’s flight carried 26 of a possible 60.

How Did SPCX Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around SPCX stock improved from ‘bearish’ to ‘neutral’ over the past 24 hours, while message volume rose from ‘normal’ to ‘high’ levels.

“Short-term price action may still be influenced by profit-taking and broader market sentiment, but from a fundamental perspective, today’s development represents a clearly positive operational catalyst,” a Stocktwits user wrote.

“Starship came through,” another wrote.

The stock ended Monday’s session at about $145, higher than its IPO price of $135 but below its all-time high near $226. 

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