SpaceX’s (SPCX) stock is down another 4% on July 17 after the company aborted a test flight of its newest Starship rocket.
SPCX stock is trading at $125 U.S. in premarket trading, having fallen below its initial public offering (IPO) price of $135 U.S. The shares have declined more than 15% in the past week.
The commercial space company led by Elon Musk was expected to launch its Starship mega rocket late on July 16. But an engine ignition failure forced SpaceX to cancel the launch.
Investors and analysts are watching the company’s rocket tests carefully following the June IPO that raised a record $85.7 billion U.S. SpaceX’s stock has been volatile since its market debut.
The aborted rocket launch on July 16 was supposed to be SpaceX’s first test flight of its Starship V3. A previous attempt to test the rocket in May also failed.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered several investigations into SpaceX’s rocket launch mishaps in recent years that have resulted in multiple crashes.
SPCX stock peaked at $225.64 U.S. a share shortly after its June IPO but has steadily declined since then.
Reports say short sellers have made about $9 billion U.S. betting against the stock in recent weeks and heading into the company’s first quarterly financial results in August.
