Is SpaceX Worth $1.77 Trillion When It Can't Turn a Profit? These 4 Stocks Suggest There's a Better Way to Play Aerospace.

Written by Micah Zimmerman for The Motley Fool->

SpaceX trades at a premium despite billions in losses and uncertain profitability.

GE Aerospace, TransDigm, and Howmet benefit from a multiyear aviation demand boom.

Axon adds exposure to defense modernization with growing software-driven revenue streams.

Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) has accumulated $41.3 billion in total losses since its founding. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, the company posted a net loss of $4.28 billion -- nearly matching its full-year 2025 loss in a single quarter. The xAI division, absorbed in an all-stock deal earlier this year, generated $818 million in revenue against $2.47 billion in operating losses. Morningstar's discounted cash flow model places the company's fair value at $63 per share, roughly 59% below where the stock trades today.

None of this means SpaceX isn't building remarkable technology. It means investors are being asked to pay a record price for a company that hasn't demonstrated it can generate returns at scale. That's a risk category most portfolios don't need. The aerospace sector, though, is full of businesses that do exactly what SpaceX promises and already have the profit margins to prove it.

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GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE) is arguably the best-positioned aviation company in the world right now, and the numbers back that up. In Q1 2026, the company reported orders of $17.3 billion -- up 93% year over year -- and revenue of $8.9 billion, up 29%. CEO Larry Culp described it as a "strong quarter with double-digit growth in earnings" driven by commercial engine demand. Its commercial backlog now stands at $190 billion, representing years of locked-in revenue from fleet replacements and aftermarket service contracts. The story here is a commercial aviation supercycle: Airlines that deferred aircraft purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic are now replacing aging fleets with fuel-efficient aircraft powered by GE LEAP and GE9X engines. That cycle has years of runway.

TransDigm Group (NYSE: TDG) sells highly engineered, sole-source aerospace components, the kind of parts that go inside commercial and military aircraft and have no practical substitute.

When an airline operates a Boeing 737 for 25 years, TransDigm collects revenue on the proprietary components inside that aircraft at every maintenance interval, for the life of the plane. The company reported Q1 fiscal 2026 results in February that showed aftermarket revenue growth continuing to compound. TransDigm's business model produces the kind of recurring, pricing-power-driven cash flow that growth-stage space companies are still trying to describe in hypothetical terms.

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) makes the titanium and nickel alloy structural components that go inside jet engines -- the parts that sit inside the hottest sections of the most demanding propulsion systems on Earth. In Q1 2026, revenue grew 19% year over year to $2.31 billion, adjusted EPS grew 42% to $1.22, and the company beat Wall Street estimates by nearly 10%. CEO John Plant has built one of the most consistent operating records in industrial manufacturing. Every wide-body aircraft that Airbus and Boeing are accelerating into production runs on components that Howmet supplies. As the commercial aviation cycle continues its multiyear ramp-up, Howmet's margins move with it.

Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ: AXON) is the indirect aerospace and defense play that most people don't think of in that context. The company makes conducted energy weapons, body cameras, fleet management software, and AI-powered evidence tools for law enforcement and -- increasingly -- military applications.

In Q1 2026, Axon reported revenue of $807 million, up 34% year over year. The connection to the aerospace and defense spending cycle is real: Axon's expansion into drone countermeasures and autonomous surveillance tools positions it in a segment that the Department of Defense has prioritized as conflict modernization accelerates.

SpaceX is a bet on a future that may or may not materialize on the timeline the valuation assumes. The four companies featured above are bets on an aerospace industry that is already delivering, already profitable, and already backed by orders, backlogs, and government contracts that run years into the future.

The choice between them isn't really about risk tolerance. It's about whether you want to pay a premium for a story or pay a fair price for a business.

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Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Axon Enterprise, Boeing, GE Aerospace, Howmet Aerospace, and TransDigm Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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