SpaceX's big week: Stock jumps despite earnings storm, lock-up expiration in crucial test for investors

SpaceX ( SPCX ) is poised to close out a pivotal week in the green, with the stock fighting higher over the past five sessions after reporting its first earnings report as a public company and the largest share unlock in its brief trading history.

The two events amounted to back-to-back stress tests, either of which could have sent the stock sharply lower. Instead, SpaceX weathered both.

SpaceX stock jumped on Friday, continuing the late-week momentum and up around 18% for the week.

Space's big week opened ominously with second quarter results on Tuesday that topped estimates, with revenue and adjusted EBITDA coming in well above expectations - but the stock didn't comply.

The beat wasn't good enough to reassure investors worried about AI capital expenditures ballooning to $15.8 billion in the quarter from $7.7 billion in Q1, and the stock closed down 13.6% on Wednesday, a new all-time closing low.

Then came Thursday's unlock, when 911.5 million shares became eligible to trade for the first time — around 43% more than the 638.9 million shares the company floated in its June initial public offering. The unlock more than doubled SpaceX's public float, lifting the freely tradable portion to 11.8% of shares outstanding from 4.9%.

The expiration arrived with the stock already trading below its IPO price, a setup in which additional supply often forces holders to sell before the price slips further. Instead, SpaceX closed up 6.1% on Thursday, defying the conventional thinking that the flood of new stock would depress the price.

What makes SpaceX's arrangement unusual is its structure. Rather than releasing all locked shares on a single date, the company staggered the expiration across nine tranches over several months. Thursday's was the first — and the largest.