SpaceX's Q3 2026 Results: $14,575 Million of Revenue. The 45 Cents Is IBES.

SpaceX posted third-quarter results after the close on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. The statement of operations, in the earnings release furnished to the SEC that afternoon, prints revenue of $14,575 million and net income of $4,404 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026. Basic earnings per share are $0.37. Diluted earnings per share are $0.35.

The 45 cents in the Reuters story is a different figure. Reuters says the company “earned 45 cents according to IBES calculations,” against a 13-cent average estimate. CNBC’s live blog, as opened, puts “45 cents adjusted” against 13 cents expected, under a heading that says the comparison is to LSEG. The release’s per-share lines are $0.37 and $0.35. This page does not treat 45 cents as the statement of operations.

This is the receipt. The pre-report page, with the October 16 schedule and the forecasts printed before the release, is what was already on the record. The June listing is the IPO. Tesla reports the next day: Tesla’s Q3 page. A submitted question about a combination is not a deal. That record is merger talk.

Where the numbers were read

The document is Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K, accession 0001628280-26-066482, file number 001-43344. The EDGAR index says the filing date is 2026-10-20, the accepted time is 2026-10-20 16:00:51, and the period of report is 2026-10-20. The items are 2.02, results of operations and financial condition, and 9.01, financial statements and exhibits. The exhibit HTML is the release headed “SpaceX Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results.” The figures below are that exhibit.

The release says SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) is reporting the quarter ended September 30, 2026. It says management would discuss the results in a live webcast at 3:30 p.m. CT / 4:30 p.m. ET on October 20, livestreamed on X @SpaceX, with a replay and a transcript at ir.spacex.com. This desk did not open the replay or a transcript. A search did not retrieve an @SpaceX post of the call. A fetch of the investor homepage returned the investor-relations title and no results table. A request for a third-quarter PDF at the path pattern of the second-quarter file returned 404. The Q2 release remains the prior quarter on this site. The Verge and Axios both call October 20 the second report since the June listing. That description matches the sequence this site already had. The exhibit does not itself say “second.”

What the statement prints

The headline lines, “as compared to the prior year quarter”:

• Revenues of $14.6 billion, up 161% from $5.6 billion.
• Net income of $4.4 billion, an improvement of $5.5 billion from a net loss of $1.1 billion.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $8.8 billion, up 306% from $2.2 billion.

Those are the release’s roundings. The unaudited statement of operations prints the finer lines, in millions:

The share counts are in millions, as the statement’s header says “in millions, except per share data.” For the quarter, net income and net income attributable to shareholders are the same $4,404 million. For the nine months ended September 30, 2026, those two lines are not the same. Net loss is $(413) million. Net loss attributable to shareholders is $(1,084) million. Nine-month revenue is $27,083 million. A quarterly profit is not the nine-month line.

The headline’s $1.1 billion prior-year loss is the release’s rounding of $(1,054) million. Axios and CNBC print $1.05 billion. Reuters, via NBC News, prints $1.1 billion, the headline’s figure. One loss, three presentations.

The path from operating income of $2,791 million to net income of $4,404 million is on the same statement. Interest expense is $675 million, of which the line labels $351 million as related party. Interest income is $873 million. Other income is $1,025 million, of which the line labels $561 million as related party. Income before taxes is $4,014 million. The tax line is a benefit of $390 million.

Adjusted EBITDA is the release’s non-GAAP measure. The reconciliation prints $8,809 million for the quarter, against $2,169 million a year earlier. The note says it is not a substitute for net income. The add-backs include depreciation and amortization of $3,644 million, share-based compensation of $1,146 million, and share-based compensation related to acquisitions of $1,217 million.

Three segments

Note 2 says Super Intelligence (SI) is the operating segment previously reported as Artificial Intelligence (AI). The rename posts are SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI. The table below is the release’s segment block for the three months ended September 30, 2026. The June 30 column is the release’s own prior-quarter column. It matches the Q2 release on total revenue of $7,814 million, SI revenue of $2,561 million, and total capex of $18,369 million.

The prior-year quarter in the same block: Space revenue $1,666 million and operating income $259 million. Connectivity revenue $3,097 million and operating income $1,190 million. SI revenue $813 million and an operating loss of $(1,722) million. Prior-year total capex $6,880 million, of which SI was $4,760 million.

Label: The company’s table, in millions. Outlets then round it. Reuters and Axios print revenue of $14.58 billion. The company’s headline prints $14.6 billion. Axios prints SI revenue of $7.56 billion, connectivity of $5.25 billion, and space of $1.77 billion. The Verge uses the headline roundings: SI $7.6 billion, connectivity $5.2 billion, space $1.8 billion, a space operating loss of $7 million, connectivity operating income of $2.4 billion, and SI operating income of $431 million. CNBC prints connectivity operating income of $2.37 billion. The millions are the table. The billions are those roundings.

Super Intelligence

The SI highlights say revenue was $7.6 billion, up 195% sequentially and 830% year over year, “primarily driven by the activation of new cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor, and increased Grok adoption across enterprise customers and consumers.” A bullet above that says the company added $6.7 billion of incremental SI solutions and infrastructure revenue year over year, “driven by cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor, and our growing SI models and software applications, including Grok Bot.”

The SI table splits the $7,560 million into advertising revenue of $538 million and SI solutions and infrastructure revenue of $7,022 million. A year earlier those lines were $454 million and $359 million. The $6.7 billion sentence is the highlight. This page does not publish a fresh subtraction.

SI income from operations was $431 million, “inclusive of $1.2 billion in share-based compensation from the Cursor acquisition for the quarter.” SI Adjusted EBITDA was $5.0 billion. The reconciliation prints SI Adjusted EBITDA of $4,953 million, and the acquisition-related share-based-compensation add-back of $1,217 million. The $431 million is the GAAP operating line. The $1.2 billion is the highlight’s rounding of the add-back, which the reconciliation puts back to reach the non-GAAP line.

Nameplate compute was 1.7 GW as of September 30, 2026, against 1.4 GW at June 30, 2026, and 0.6 GW a year earlier. The highlight says the buildout continued at COLOSSUS II. Label: The company’s capacity figure and the company’s name for that buildout.

The release says the company signed additional cloud services agreements and does not, in the text that was opened, name the customers. Reuters says the compute contracts are with Anthropic, Alphabet’s Google, and Reflection AI. CNBC’s results paragraph says the company has been renting capacity to Google, Anthropic, and others. Label: Those names are the outlets’. They are not a customer list in Exhibit 99.1.

Cursor

The release says SpaceX completed the acquisition of Cursor on August 14, 2026, “based on an implied equity value of $60 billion.” The GAAP purchase consideration was $42.5 billion. The value of equity awards issued in connection with the acquisition and attributable to post-acquisition service is $23.4 billion, “subject to future forfeitures.” From the closing date through September 30, 2026, Cursor contributed $608 million of revenue.

Label: The Q3 release. The Q2 release had said the company expected to close a $60 billion agreement in the third quarter. August 14 is the later release’s closing date. The implied equity value and the GAAP consideration are two figures in the same section.

Connectivity and Starlink

Connectivity revenue was $5.2 billion in the highlights, up 22% sequentially and 69% year over year. The table is $5,248 million. Income from operations was up 99% year over year to $2.4 billion in the highlights. The table is $2,367 million. Connectivity Adjusted EBITDA was $3.5 billion in the highlights and $3,499 million in the reconciliation, up 82% year over year as the highlights state it.

Consumer revenue was $3,121 million. Enterprise and government revenue was $2,127 million.

Starlink consumer subscribers, “as of period end,” were 13.6 million, against 12.0 million at June 30, 2026, and 7.2 million a year earlier. The highlights say that was up 1.6 million sequentially, “driven by growth in developed markets,” and that the company has “hundreds of thousands of additional enterprise subscribers.” Starlink consumer monthly ARPU “improved 5% sequentially to $69.” The table prints $69, against $66 in the prior quarter and $83 a year earlier.

Note 2 says “Starlink Consumer Subscribers” is the metric previously disclosed as “Starlink Subscribers.” It includes personal plans, the examples being residential and roam, and business plans, the examples being local priority and global priority. It does not include managed enterprise and government customers in aviation, maritime, land mobility, fixed sites, and government. The June 30 column’s 12.0 million is the same count the Q2 release printed as Starlink subscribers. The note is the company’s definition. Reuters says subscribers were above the 12.19 million analysts expected. That sentence does not name the data provider.

Reuters also says average monthly revenue per subscriber has fallen from $99 in 2023 to $69. The $99 is Reuters. It is not a line in this release. The release’s year-ago ARPU is $83.

The highlights say Starlink was activated across aviation partnerships, “reaching over 3,800 aircraft” as of September 30, 2026. CNBC adds that customers include American Airlines. That name is CNBC’s. It is not in the exhibit text that was opened.

Subsequent to the quarter, the company says it entered an agreement to acquire FCC licenses related to 800 MHz spectrum for Starlink Mobile, expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory and other customary conditions. A later section dates the agreement to October 8, 2026, and describes “up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band.” The release does not name the seller and does not print a price. The October 19 Reuters preview, already on the pre-report page, said Grain Management and about $8 billion. That price is not restated here.

Space

Space revenue was $1.8 billion in the highlights, up 84% sequentially and 6% year over year. The table is $1,767 million. The operating line is a loss of $7 million. The highlights say the company completed 12 customer launches, including NASA’s mission to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The operating table prints 12 customer launches, 23 internal launches, 35 total, and mass to orbit of 476 metric tons.

The release says the company completed Starship Flight 14, “our first orbital Starship flight,” delivering 26 Starlink V3 satellites, “representing approximately 10x the downlink capacity added by a Falcon 9 Starlink launch.” A headline bullet calls it “our first revenue-generating Starship mission.” Label: The company’s account. The Verge refers to “the 13th launch” of Starship in the same quarter. The release’s flight number is 14. Reuters says that first orbital flight “ended hours earlier than expected after an engine issue” and that the company “deployed several” Starlink satellites. The early end, the engine issue, and “several” are Reuters. The release’s count is 26, and the exhibit text that was opened does not describe an engine issue.

The same highlights say the company signed three additional NASA ISS crew missions, 18 National Security Space Launch missions, three commercial Starfall missions, and a contract to deliver a payload to the lunar surface with Starship, and that it announced Starbase, Louisiana, with a first launch “targeted for 2029.” Label: The release. A target is not a license.

Capex, and the cash-flow table

Quarterly capex in the segment block is $19,593 million, of which SI is $16,444 million. Axios prints $19.59 billion, up from $6.88 billion a year earlier. The year-ago table line is $6,880 million. Reuters says AI took $16.4 billion of $19.6 billion in capital spending. CNBC says that of $19.6 billion, more than $16.4 billion went to the AI business. Those are the outlets’ roundings of $16,444 million and $19,593 million.

Reuters adds that SpaceX expects capital spending “to stay near that level in the near future.” That sentence was not in the exhibit text that was opened. Label: Reuters.

The cash-flow statement is for the nine months ended September 30, not for the quarter alone. Operating cash flow is $13,097 million, against $4,120 million a year earlier. Purchases of property, plant, and equipment are $(48,069) million, the same figure as nine-month capex in the segment block. The release does not print a quarterly free-cash-flow line. This page does not compute one.

The balance sheet prints cash and cash equivalents of $51,294 million and marketable securities of $38,561 million at September 30, 2026. This page does not add those lines into a new total. The financing section of the nine-month cash-flow statement prints proceeds from the IPO, net of underwriting commissions and offering costs, of $85,675 million. Label: That cash-flow line. The IPO page keeps it separate from the prospectus cover total.

Estimates, and the 45 cents

These are expectations and after-the-fact comparisons. They are not the statement of operations.

Reuters, via NBC News (October 20, 2026, 5:18 p.m. EDT; the byline is Reuters) says revenue was $14.58 billion, against an analysts’ estimate of $12.72 billion, “according to data compiled by LSEG.” It says net income was $4.4 billion, against a net loss of $1.1 billion and “analysts’ expectation for a profit of $1.57 billion.” The $1.57 billion sentence does not repeat the name LSEG. On a per-share basis, Reuters says the company earned 45 cents “according to IBES calculations,” against a 13-cent average estimate.

The October 19 Reuters preview had cited LSEG for about $12.74 billion of revenue and earnings of 14 cents a share. The results-day story’s LSEG revenue figure is $12.72 billion, and its per-share estimate is 13 cents, attributed to an average estimate beside the IBES sentence. This page does not average $12.72 billion with $12.74 billion, or 13 cents with 14 cents.

CNBC (Lora Kolodny; the page, as opened, said updated 5:26 p.m. ET) prints the comparison this way, under “LSEG consensus estimates”: revenue $14.58 billion versus $12.72 billion expected, and earnings per share 45 cents adjusted versus 13 cents expected. CNBC’s word is “adjusted.” Reuters’ words are “IBES calculations.” The exhibit’s GAAP lines remain $0.37 basic and $0.35 diluted. The exhibit’s non-GAAP section defines Adjusted EBITDA. It does not print an adjusted earnings-per-share line or a reconciliation to 45 cents.

Axios (Nathan Bomey) says revenue of $14.58 billion crushed S&P Capital IQ expectations of $13 billion, and that profit of $4.4 billion more than doubled consensus expectations of $2.12 billion. It says AI revenue of $7.56 billion beat an S&P Capital IQ expectation of $6.47 billion, connectivity of $5.25 billion topped $4.9 billion, and space of $1.77 billion outpaced $1.46 billion. Axios describes the AI line as “nearly tripling its year-ago performance.” The release says SI revenue was up 830% year over year, and the table prints $7,560 million against $813 million. The 830% is the release’s year-over-year figure.

CNBC cites StreetAccount for an AI expectation of $6.47 billion and a connectivity expectation of $4.84 billion. Axios cites S&P Capital IQ for $6.47 billion of AI revenue and $4.9 billion of connectivity revenue. Two compilers. The AI figure happens to match. This page does not merge the names.

Label: One table, and three accounts of the tape. Reuters’ extended-trading line is in the story timestamped 5:18 p.m. EDT. CNBC’s “about 5%” is in the update timestamped 5:26 p.m. ET, as that page stood when it was opened. Axios’s 2% is in a story that still said Mr. Musk was expected to address investors at 4:30 p.m. This desk did not pull a tape, and it does not pick one of those percentages as the official extended move. None of the three stories, as opened, printed a share price beside the percentage.

Axios also says, citing Melissa Otto of Visible Alpha at S&P Global, that capex is expected to rise from $69.9 billion in 2026 to $194.3 billion in 2028. Label: That forecast, as Axios states it. It is not the quarter’s $19,593 million.

What outlets say was said on the call

The exhibit’s CFO commentary says there was “a clear inflection in our Super Intelligence business.” That is the commentary in the release. It is not the sentence Reuters quotes from the call.

Reuters quotes Mr. Musk on the investor call: “We are in an inflection moment for SpaceX across launch, connectivity and superintelligence.” Label: Reuters’ account of the call. The sentence is not in Exhibit 99.1. A transcript was not opened. A Benzinga headline used the same opening and did not yield an article body. It is not a second source on this page.

CNBC says CFO Bret Johnsen said on the call that revenue in the first quarter will be $33 billion to $37 billion, against an average analyst estimate of $22.2 billion, according to LSEG, and that he attributed the forecast to “increased visibility into our compute contract pipeline over the next six months.” Label: CNBC’s account of the call. That range is not in the exhibit. The exhibit does not, in the text that was opened, print the CFO’s name.

The merger question that was submitted

The company’s Q&A page for the webcast says questions stopped at 3:30 p.m. CT on October 19, 2026. The page lists, at 26 upvotes, “When will SpaceX merge with Tesla?” On the copy that was opened, that count was second, behind a Starship HLS question at 38.

Reuters, via Investing.com (Akash Sriram, October 20, 2026), published before the webcast, reports the same question, the same 26 upvotes, and 128 upvotes for the same question on Tesla’s investor site. It says it was not clear which questions executives would take. The results story Reuters’ NBC copy carries says Barclays suggested a deal could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting, with SpaceX the likelier acquirer, “though neither company nor Musk has officially committed to favoring a deal.” The same story quotes Daniel Newman of the Futurum Group saying a merger with Tesla feels imminent. Label: An analyst’s sentence, as Reuters quotes it.

Exhibit 99.1 does not mention Tesla. This desk did not open a transcript. A first pass on the results stories did not retrieve an answer from the call. A later fetch of the same CNBC live blog, which then said updated 6:03 p.m. ET, reported that Mr. Musk said on the call that special committees had been formed. Axios (Nathan Bomey; the page carried a published time of 2026-10-20T21:33:51+00:00 and later said updated) and The Verge (Andrew J. Hawkins, October 20, 2026, 9:30 p.m. UTC) also reported comments from that call. The sentences those accounts print are not the same. This results page does not merge them into one quotation, and it does not treat an outlet’s account as the webcast transcript. A question on the Q&A page is not a commitment. The three accounts, set side by side, are merger talk. Tesla’s own report, still ahead on Wednesday, October 21, is the Tesla Q3 page. The December 3 ballot is the proxy.

On the map

The company is SpaceX. The listing record is the IPO. The page written before this release is Q3: what was already on the record. Starlink as a product page is Starlink. The February combination is xAI joins SpaceX. The segment’s new name is SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI.

What this page does not confirm

• A 45-cent earnings figure as the company’s GAAP earnings per share. The statement prints $0.37 basic and $0.35 diluted. The 45 cents is Reuters’ IBES calculation. CNBC calls the comparison figure 45 cents adjusted.
• One after-hours percentage. Reuters printed 2.5%. CNBC, as opened, printed about 5%. Axios printed 2%. No tape was pulled here.
• The call quotation, the first-quarter range of $33 billion to $37 billion, and the sentence that capex will stay near this quarter’s level. Those are outlet accounts of the call or of the company’s expectation. They were not in the exhibit, and no transcript was opened.
• Anthropic, Google, and Reflection AI as names in the release. Reuters names all three. CNBC’s results paragraph names Google, Anthropic, and others.
• A merger, or one quotation stitched from the call. The release does not mention Tesla. A later CNBC update, Axios, and The Verge report call comments about special committees. Their sentences are not the same. No transcript was opened.
• A seller or a price for the October 8 spectrum agreement. The release prints up to 14 megahertz of paired 800 MHz spectrum and a closing window in the first half of 2027.
• Reuters’ $99 ARPU for 2023. The release’s comparison is $83 a year earlier and $66 in the prior quarter, then $69.
• A quarterly free-cash-flow figure. The cash-flow statement is nine months.
• An @SpaceX post, or a copy of the release retrieved from ir.spacex.com. The text used here is Exhibit 99.1.

Sources

Checked October 20, 2026.

The investor homepage fetch did not return a results table. The patterned third-quarter PDF URL returned 404. No @SpaceX post was retrieved. No transcript was opened.