Retail Investors Help Send SpaceX Shares Soaring

The day he heard SpaceX was going public, Kevin Conlon knew he wanted to buy into what he believed could be a transformative company focused on space and technology.On Friday, the company’s first day of trading, Mr.Conlon, 70, placed three orders to purchase about $10,000 worth of its shares.“I know the dude’s a little crazy,’’ Mr.

Conlon said of SpaceX’s chief executive, Elon Musk.“But people like Howard Hughes were crazy.”Mr.

Conlon, who lives in Northern California, is among the legions of individual investors who helped drive SpaceX’s stock to dizzying heights during its first few days as a public company.Its shares are now over 40 percent higher than their initial public offering price.

SpaceX briefly became one of the five most valuable companies on Tuesday, leapfrogging Amazon and coming close to topping Microsoft.On Wednesday, the company’s stock fell for the first time, dropping 5 percent, amid a broader market sell-off driven by expectations of higher interest rates.Since Friday, SpaceX has been the most bought stock by retail investors each day, according to data from Vanda Research, a company that specializes in tracking retail trading.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....