SpaceX just took Palantir's top spot with one of the most excessive valuation multiples in megacap tech

Step aside, Palantir ( PLTR ), there's a new valuation multiple king in the megacap tech stock town: SpaceX ( SPCX ).

The insight: With its scorching-hot debut on public markets now in the books, SpaceX is trading on a trailing 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 110 times, compared to 63 times for Palantir, which has long been viewed as the most richly valued megacap tech play in the game.

For perspective on how optimistic investors are about SpaceX, the price-to-sales ratio for the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) is 3.5 times. Even AI darling Nvidia ( NVDA ) clocks in with a ratio of 20 times.

The price-to-sales ratio is a valuation metric calculated by dividing a company's market capitalization (or share price) by its total revenue. It shows how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of sales.

As a general rule of thumb, a price-to-sales ratio below two is often considered attractive or potentially undervalued. But the metric varies by industry — high-growth tech or software companies frequently trade at much higher multiples (5x-10x or more) due to expected strong future growth.

SpaceX also trades at a 2x premium to Palantir on a trailing price-to-book ratio basis.

Quick analysis: The Elon Musk-led rocket company SpaceX officially priced its stock at $135 on June 11, offering 555.6 million shares. The pricing valued SpaceX at $1.78 trillion.

SpaceX made its historic public debut on the Nasdaq on June 12, when the stock officially opened for trading around midday at $150 per share.