How to buy SpaceX at a 20% discount
Source
If you're looking for a way to buy into SpaceX at a big discount, take another look at EchoStar . EchoStar has underperformed, with the satellite technology company more than 30% below its 52-week high, as it continues to bleed subscribers in its pay TV and broadband businesses. Last month, the company's pay TV subsidiary Dish DBS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after deferring debt payments. The stock has also come under pressure following the unwind of the SpaceX proxy trade. Initially, shares benefited from investors seeking exposure to the rocket maker prior to its June IPO. But on Tuesday, two Wall Street firms reinstated coverage of EchoStar with buy ratings. Deutsche Bank set a price target of $143, implying roughly 40% upside from Monday's close. Citi renewed coverage on the stock with a buy rating and a $126 price target — suggesting it can climb 28%. ECHO 1D mountain EchoStar, 1-day Underpinning their bullish stances is the company's massive exposure to SpaceX, which on Tuesday joined the Nasdaq-100 on a swoon of buy ratings from the Street. EchoStar's $42.4 billion stake in SpaceX translates to roughly 65% of the satellite company's total net asset value, according to Deutsche Bank Research. The net asset value of that stake equates to $121.46 per EchoStar share, which traded around $100 on Tuesday. Put another way, EchoStar is trading at a 20% discount to the company's stake in SpaceX, giving investors a way to play the Elon Musk-led rocket company on the cheap. SpaceX shares traded around $150 on Tuesday. Bryan Kraft, analyst at Deutsche Bank, thinks this can propel EchoStar shares higher. He pointed out that in the month since SpaceX's IPO, shares of EchoStar have fallen 23%, while shares of Elon Musk's space company have rallied 19%. "There's been a massive disconnect between the performance of SPCX and ECHO since the SPCX IPO almost a month ago," Kraft wrote. "This means that not only do investors get the rest of ECHO's assets for free, but they're also buying SPCX at a 20% discount." To be sure, Kraft said that EchoStar isn't necessarily a pure play on SpaceX. A 60% gain in SpaceX results only in a 38% appreciation for EchoStar, assuming that the discount remains constant, he said. EchoStar shares were last up 2% in midday trading. SpaceX shares were down more than 5%.