Investing.com -- New Street Research has initiated coverage of SpaceX with a 12-month price target of $165, representing 22% upside from the proposed IPO price and corresponding to a $2.3 trillion equity value following the company's potential acquisition of Cursor.

Analyst Pierre Ferragu said the firm approached the valuation from three angles.

The first is a sum-of-the-parts framework, using a discounted cash flow analysis for Starlink and examining how xAI's value is enhanced by the Cursor deal, its combination with what Ferragu described as a "highly cash-generating telecom business," and the prospect of direct access to orbital compute. Third-party launch was characterized as "only a small moving part in this picture."

The second angle looks at where SpaceX will land in 2030 in terms of revenues and growth prospects, applying relevant earnings and sales multiples from comparable companies. The third is a cross-check against the longer-term sizing of the broader space opportunity.

New Street Research's initiation comes as SpaceX prepares to go public, with the listing drawing significant investor attention.

Wolfe Research noted earlier this week that speculation around a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger has increasingly moved into the mainstream, with some investors making it their primary thesis for owning Tesla stock. However, Oppenheimer analysts said in a note today that they see little strategic case for a Tesla-SpaceX merger.