Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) listed less than three months ago, but its share price chart already resembles part of a compacted constellation. Ups, downs, small movements and wild swings – SpaceX stock has been all over the place since it listed in June.

It is down 7% since then. So someone who put in £5k at the listing date would now be nursing a paper loss of around £350.

But some investors – me included – decided not to buy its shares when they were first available on the open market. I have stayed on the sidelines so far, but other investors have tried to shop for a bargain when the SpaceX stock price has taken a tumble.

How has that strategy worked out so far?

Bargain hunters could have done very well

Take the low point as an example. That was around $105. That is less than half the high price, close to $226. It was also well below the current SpaceX stock price, which at the end of last week was around $150.

That means that someone who bought at the low would now be sitting on a paper gain of some 43%.

So say they had put in £5k. Ignoring currency fluctuations (as SpaceX stock is denominated in dollars), that investment would now be worth around £7,143.

The low point was around a month ago. On such a timeframe, that £2,143 paper gain on a £5k investment is very impressive!

Acting as an investor, not a trader

Still, things are not as simple as that rendition of events may make them sound. For starters, it is easy to pinpoint a share’s low (or high) price in retrospect. But doing so in the moment is a different kettle of fish. The reality is that nobody can ever time the market with certainty.

Secondly, I am a long-term investor looking to buy into great companies at attractive prices. That is different to a trader trying to jump into a share and flip it for a profit in a short period of time.

The question for me therefore, is not about whether SpaceX’s stock price is lower than I think it will be a few days or weeks from now. It is whether I think the price is attractive compared to what I see the long-term value of the business as being.

The price could hit its low again – or lower!

SpaceX has started reporting financial information as a listed company, but the company’s business trajectory remains hard to predict with confidence.

It is growing rapidly – but so is its capital expenditure. Its large customer base and proprietary technology could help it be very profitable in future – but for now, it is lossmaking.

It has established a presence in large, growing sectors of the economy – but so have multiple rivals who like SpaceX are attracted by the potential those areas have to generate revenue.

Even at its current price, SpaceX stock could turn out to be a bargain in hindsight if its rapid revenue growth continues and it demonstrates a path to profit. If not though, I do not think the lossmaking company merits anything close to its $2trn market capitalisation.

For now then, I am ignoring SpaceX stock in favour of other exciting growth companies I see as much more attractively valued.

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Christopher Ruane does not hold any positions in the companies mentioned.