Is now the right time to buy SpaceX? Samsung Asset Management team leader identifies 3 buying opportunities

"Investment 360," The Herald Business's investment YouTube channel, sat down with Lee Dong-hu, head of the ETF Investment Solutions Team at Samsung Asset Management, to discuss the significance of the SpaceX initial public offering and how investors should approach it. The session was hosted by Kim Ji-hyun, head of Herald's Innovation Strategy Business Division.

Lee described the SpaceX listing as "not simply one company going public, but an entirely new industry entering the market." He said SpaceX's valuation could reach roughly 3,000 trillion won (approximately $1.97 trillion) at its peak, potentially placing it among the top 10 companies by global market capitalization the moment it lists. As of the filming date, June 9, SpaceX's valuation was already comparable to that of Broadcom, then ranked seventh in the world by market cap. Some analysts say that just as Google symbolized the internet era in 2004 and Meta represented the mobile platform era in 2012, SpaceX's 2026 listing marks the arrival of the space economy as a mainstream investment theme.

However, Lee cautioned that share price volatility after the listing warrants close attention. "Because this is a company that many investors desperately wanted to own but couldn't, there may be demand to buy regardless of price," he said. Early on, the share price could move sharply based on growth narratives and supply-demand dynamics rather than earnings. He advised investors to spread their entry over time and approach the stock from a long-term perspective rather than rushing in immediately after the listing.

So when is the right time to buy SpaceX? Lee identified three opportunities. The first is after early investors cash out following the listing. The second comes after the 15th trading day post-listing, once the anticipated inflow of passive funds has been priced in and that catalyst fades. The third is when lockup shares are released. "Using all three pullback windows as buying opportunities would be the wisest approach," he said.

Meanwhile, Lee said the market shock that retail investors trading US stocks have worried about should be limited. He explained that SpaceX is expected to receive a weighting of roughly 0.5 to 0.7 percent in the Nasdaq 100. Despite its top-10 market capitalization, only about 5 percent of its total shares will be in free float, meaning its effective weight within the index would rank closer to the 20th-to-30th range.

As a result, large-cap stocks such as Nvidia and Microsoft are unlikely to be rattled significantly, he said, and any supply-demand-driven pullback could in fact create an additional buying opportunity in big tech.

For investors hesitant about buying SpaceX directly, Lee suggested space industry ETFs as an alternative. He mentioned Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile, Redwire and Intuitive Machines as key companies poised to drive the space industry alongside SpaceX, saying an ETF holding a broad mix of such names could be a viable approach. When the host asked whether investors should sell their semiconductor holdings and rotate into space stocks, Lee was unequivocal: "No." He said the right approach is to keep semiconductor positions intact while adding space and aerospace names as a longer-horizon thematic allocation. "Whatever you invest in, the principle that must be applied consistently is diversification," he said. "Spreading across time and spreading across assets — sticking to those two things is the strategy for weathering the second half of the year without being shaken."