A few weeks ago, I assessed the value of SpaceX ahead of its initial public offering, with the admission that I was making my estimates with drabs of data, some of it coming from unofficial sources. I also promised to revisit my valuation, when the prospectus came out, and now that it has, I will examine how the information it contains has changed my view of the company and its valuation. I will also use this post to talk about the information gained by having access to a company’s financials, and why the information you glean from those financials is different at younger companies, with growth potential, relative to mature companies.
The Prospectus: Data versus Information
The requirement that companies that...

