Meet EchoStar (SATS): the most exciting stock in the market.

In a $17 billion deal announced this morning, the company sold key spectrum licenses to SpaceX and walked away with $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX equity.

That instantly makes EchoStar the newest – and arguably the best – way for investors to get exposure to SpaceX stock without waiting for an IPO.

With EchoStar’s market cap sitting around $22 billion, nearly 40% of its value could soon be tied directly to Elon Musk’s rocket company.

That’s not something investors can ignore.

For years, buying into SpaceX has been nearly impossible.

It’s one of the world’s most valuable private companies and access has been limited to insiders.

Investors have had to make do with imperfect alternatives like Destiny Tech100 ETF (DXYZ) or ERShares Private-Public Crossover ETF (XOVR).

• DXYZ holds 52% of its portfolio in SpaceX yet trades at nearly 4x its net asset value. That’s pricey.

• XOVR trades much closer to its underlying value yet only holds 7% of assets in SpaceX stock. Not an ideal proxy…

EchoStar, on the other hand, just changed the game.

By striking this deal with SpaceX, it now offers billions in SpaceX equity without the inflated pricing of DXYZ or the limited exposure of XOVR.

For investors looking to own a piece of Elon’s space empire, SATS is the best public-market play yet.

And here’s where it gets even more interesting: this SpaceX deal comes on the heels of another massive transaction.

Just days ago, AT&T agreed to pay EchoStar $23 billion for a separate batch of spectrum licenses.

That means EchoStar has now secured $23 billion in cash from AT&T, another $8.5 billion in cash from SpaceX, and up to $8.5 billion worth of SpaceX equity.

For a company with roughly $27 billion in debt, these back-to-back deals are transformative.

The cash infusion helps clean up EchoStar’s balance sheet while the SpaceX equity gives it a long-term growth engine.

In one stroke, management took EchoStar from a heavily leveraged satellite operator with big question marks to a company holding one of the most coveted private assets in the world.

Of course, fundamentals still matter.

EchoStar’s core business has struggled with declining growth and stiff competition.

The company can’t survive on SpaceX stock alone.

It needs to prove it can execute in its existing operations or pivot into new growth avenues.

That’s the near-term challenge.

But as an investor, you have to weigh what you’re getting here.

A $22 billion market cap company with a cleaned-up balance sheet and a stake in SpaceX worth as much as $8.5 billion.

If SpaceX continues its trajectory – whether it’s Starlink scaling globally, satellite launches driving revenue, or a future IPO unlocking liquidity – EchoStar’s position could multiply in value.

That’s why I view EchoStar as the most exciting stock in the market right now.

It offers something investors have been chasing for years: meaningful exposure to SpaceX, without inflated premiums, and with the added upside of a corporate turnaround story.

The details are still unfolding and there are risks EchoStar has to work through.

But make no mistake – this deal instantly turned EchoStar into the best SpaceX proxy stock on the market.

And if SpaceX continues to grow into the trillion-dollar behemoth I expect, EchoStar shareholders will be holding one of the most valuable tickets in the public markets.