Firefly Aerospace IPO: Stock price will be closely watched today as SpaceX rival makes Nasdaq debut

Aug 7, 2025 - 14:02
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Firefly Aerospace IPO: Stock price will be closely watched today as SpaceX rival makes Nasdaq debut

A commercial spaceflight company that specializes in small- to medium-lift launch vehicles is hoping to have a giant-sized first day of trading today.

Firefly Aerospace is expected to debut on the Nasdaq today as the company’s initial public offering gains liftoff. Here’s what you need to know about Firefly Aerospace’s IPO and how the feud between the CEO of its competitor, SpaceX, and the president of the United States could give it an advantage.

What is Firefly Aerospace?

Firefly Aerospace Inc. is a space and defense technology company. Located in Cedar Park, Texas, it specializes in space launch and landing capabilities. In other words, the company helps get satellites and other vehicles into space.

Founded in 2017, Firefly specializes in small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, as well as lunar landers and orbital vehicles. The company offers a number of spacecraft, including the Blue Ghost lander.

According to Firefly’s Form S-1 Registration Statement, which it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Blue Ghost is the only commercial vehicle to have had a “fully successful” landing on the moon, which it achieved in March 2025.

Firefly has a number of competitors in the space industry, including Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX. Currently, Firefly says it has more than 800 employees (SpaceX has around 13,000, according to PitchBook) and boasts that its agility allows it to get a satellite into orbit with as little as 24 hours’ notice.

Firefly operates at a loss

Despite Firefly’s impressive offerings, the company currently operates at a loss. This isn’t unusual for a young company in the technology space, which often has high operational and research and development costs.

In its S-1, Firefly stated that it had a net loss of $231.1 million for the year that ended December 31, 2024. That net loss was greater than the $135.5 million net loss the company experienced in the year that ended December 31, 2023.

Most recently, the company said it had a net loss of $60.1 million for the three months that ended March 31, 2025. That was a net loss increase from the net loss of $52.8 million that Firefly experienced for the same period a year earlier.

However, while the company is still operating at a loss, its total revenue has surged lately, although the revenue sum is relatively small.

Firefly says it brought in total revenue of $55.9 million for the three-month period ending March 31, 2025. That was an increase of 572% from the same period a year earlier. It says revenue was helped by a 297% increase in its launch revenue for the quarter versus the quarter a year earlier, as well as a 623% in its spacecraft solutions revenue for the same timeframe.

Still, Firefly says that it expects “to continue to incur net losses for the next several years.”

When is Firefly Aerospace’s IPO?

Firefly priced its shares on Wednesday and expects to list its stock today (Thursday, August 7, 2025).

What is Firefly Aerospace’s stock ticker?

Firefly Aerospace’s stock will trade under the ticker “FLY.”

What exchange will Firefly Aerospace shares trade on?

Firefly Aerospace shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Market.

What is the IPO share price of FLY?

Firefly Aerospace’s IPO price is $45 per share. 

This is a significant increase over its original target IPO price range of $35 to $39 a share. The target was then revised upwards to a range between $41 and $43 each. Finally, shares landed at $45 each.

The increasing IPO price suggests that there is a healthy appetite for FLY shares.

How many FLY shares are available in its IPO?

According to a company press release, Firefly Aerospace’s public offering consisted of 19,296,000 shares.

How much did Firefly Aerospace raise in its IPO?

With 19.2 million shares sold at $45 apiece, that means that Firefly raised approximately $868 million from its IPO.

How much is Firefly Aerospace worth?

Firefly Aerospace is now valued at approximately $6.3 billion, according to CNBC.

Is the Trump-Musk feud beneficial for Firefly?

Elon Musk’s privately held SpaceX is the dominant player in the commercial space industry with significant government contracts. However, Musk and President Trump had a historic and very public falling out earlier this year, leading many to assume that the schism could hurt SpaceX’s business interests.

Still, the U.S. government itself is heavily reliant on SpaceX to get its satellites into orbit. But as smaller space companies continue to grow and expand their capabilities, the U.S. government increasingly has more options to choose from. And given the Trump-Musk feud, it’s fair to wonder if other space companies will benefit from the rift.

Whether or not there is a direct benefit to other companies from the feud is a game of speculation. However, Firefly Aerospace has recently gained from increasing government contracts. At the end of July, the company announced that it was awarded a $177 million contract from NASA to deliver five payloads from the country’s space agency to the moon’s south pole in 2029.

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