SpaceX stock is on the rise again: What’s behind the rocket and AI company’s October rally?

Shares of SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) have been on an upward trend during the month of October, hitting peaks not witnessed since June when the rocket and AI company made its debut on the Nasdaq. The stock soared by over 18% in the last week, closing at $171.09 on Monday, a rise higher than its IPO closing price of $160.95 for the first time in three months.

The stock's resurgence isn't due to SpaceX's generally unimpressive performance on the market; instead, it's attributed to a few key factors. One of the main drivers has been the success of SpaceX's recent missions. Last week, the company launched several successful missions, including a crewed NASA mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the deployment of Google's homegrown Tensor processing units into space for an orbiting capabilities test.

A vote of confidence from Morgan Stanley further fueled SpaceX's rise. In a note regarding the company's stock, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas urged investors to capitalize on the lower share prices before significant milestones. Jonas outlined several potential catalysts for SpaceX's stock, such as future AI product releases, Starship progress, and additional neocloud contracts with pricing between $30-50/watt.

These factors could drive the stock towards their $300/share price target. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's relationship with former President Trump appears to be cooling off, but there have been recent developments that suggest a thawing of tensions. On Monday, SpaceX's shares climbed by 7.63%, growing even more during premarket trading on Tuesday.

Notably, Musk was appointed as co-lead of Project Meridian, the government's new initiative to understand the "future of warfare." Musk reportedly backed Trump's recent statement that super intelligence, or SI, sounds better than artificial intelligence, announcing that SpaceXAI would be changing to SpaceXSI.