Latest news with #EricJackson
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Dear Opendoor Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for August 5
Opendoor Technologies (OPEN) has long been one of the market's hardest-hit stocks. Once a standout during the pandemic housing boom, the online home-flipping company collapsed under the weight of rising interest rates and a frozen housing supply. Most homeowners are still locked into rock-bottom mortgage rates and have little incentive to sell, leaving Opendoor's business model badly exposed. OPEN stock has nosedived 94% from its 2021 peak. But 2025 brought a dramatic shift. In mid-July, hedge fund manager Eric Jackson, best-known for his early bullish call on Carvana (CVNA), publicly threw his support behind Opendoor on X. Citing deep cost cuts and long-term upside, Jackson's endorsement lit a fire under OPEN stock and brought a wave of retail attention. What followed was a classic meme stock surge. Online forums lit up with Opendoor chatter, triggering a massive short squeeze as bearish traders rushed to cover their positions. More News from Barchart Here's What Happened the Last Time Novo Nordisk Stock Was This Oversold As SoFi Raises 2025 Guidance, Should You Buy, Sell, or Hold SOFI Stock Here? Earnings Will Be 'Worse Than Expected' for UnitedHealth. How Should You Play UNH Stock Here? Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! In the past month alone, OPEN stock has delivered a massive triple-digit return. But despite the surge, the company's fundamentals remain largely unchanged. Opendoor is still a cash-burning, low-margin business with limited near-term growth. So, with its second-quarter earnings report around the corner, here's a closer look at this name. About Opendoor Stock Opendoor is a leading digital platform for residential real estate transactions. Since 2014, the company has set out to become the Amazon (AMZN) of the housing market through iBuying, a model where homes are bought and resold via an online marketplace. Opendoor went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in late 2020 and currently has a market capitalization of roughly $1.7 billion. The stock has been in hot water for quite a while, but the recent meme frenzy, combined with hedge fund manager Eric Jackson's vote of confidence, couldn't have been better timed. In late May, the company was hit with a delisting warning from Nasdaq after its shares traded below $1 for 30 consecutive business days. With 180 days to regain compliance, Opendoor moved quickly, proposing a reverse stock split in early June that could boost its share price by as much as 50 times. That being said, with the clock ticking, the sudden burst of investor enthusiasm couldn't have landed at a more critical moment. After years of underperformance, the stock is now up 28% this year, easily outpacing the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) year-to-date (YTD) gain of 8%. Over the past month alone, OPEN shares have soared an eye-popping 267%, leaving the broader index's 3% return in the dust. Opendoor's Q1 Earnings Beat and Q2 in Spotlight On May 6, Opendoor released its fiscal 2025 first-quarter results, and the numbers came in stronger than Wall Street had anticipated. Revenue totaled $1.15 billion, down 2.4% from the same period last year but still comfortably above the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. For a business built around iBuying — the practice of purchasing and reselling homes online — revenue can often look impressive even when profits don't follow. That's why investors tend to look deeper, focusing more on profitability and cash flow than just the top line. In that regard, Opendoor showed encouraging signs of progress. The company trimmed its adjusted net loss by 21% to $63 million, while its net loss per share improved 25% to $0.12, beating analyst expectations of a $0.13 per-share loss. More notably, Opendoor managed to cut its adjusted EBITDA loss to $30 million, a sharp improvement from the $50 million loss it reported a year ago. These numbers reflect ongoing efforts to rein in costs and streamline operations. Operational momentum also showed up in its home activity. The company purchased 3,609 homes during the quarter, a 4% increase from the first quarter of 2024 and a 22% jump sequentially. As of quarter-end, Opendoor held $559 million in cash, providing it with some financial breathing room to support short-term operations. Looking ahead, Opendoor is scheduled to report its Q2 earnings after the market closes on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Management has guided for revenue in the range of $1.45 billion to $1.53 billion and expects contribution profit to land between $65 million and $75 million. Analysts, meanwhile, forecast a significant improvement in the bottom line, with a projected Q2 net loss per share of just $0.04 representing a 56% annual improvement. For the full fiscal year, losses are expected to narrow by 55% to $0.24 per share, and further shrink to a $0.23 loss in fiscal 2026, signaling a gradual path toward stability. What Do Analysts Expect for Opendoor Stock? As the countdown to Opendoor's Q2 earnings ticks on, Wall Street is treading carefully. OPEN stock holds a consensus 'Hold' rating, underscoring a wait-and-see approach. Of the 10 analysts covering the name, only one is all-in with a 'Strong Buy,' seven play it safe with a 'Hold,' one suggests a 'Moderate Sell,' and the remaining analyst sounds the alarm with a 'Strong Sell.' Currently, the stock trades at a premium to its average analyst price target of $1.14. On the date of publication, Anushka Mukherji did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'I'm not here to pump up a stock': The hedge funder who sparked a speculative frenzy says he's not playing the meme stock game
Opendoor isn't a meme stock, says the hedge funder whose thesis sparked a huge rally in the shares. Eric Jackson, known for his call on Carvana in 2023, thinks Opendoor can rally more than 3,000%. He says Opendoor shouldn't be lumped together with other meme stocks that surged this week. The architect of the latest meme stock rally doesn't want you to call him that. Eric Jackson, the founder of EMJ Capital, is bullish on Opendoor—the online real estate platform that embarked on a blistering rally after he posted his thesis on X—but it isn't a meme stock, he says. In his eyes, it's the real deal, a pandemic-era darling with big turnaround potential despite a 92% tumble since its peak. Jackson is known for what ended up being a correctly bullish call on Carvana in 2023. He laid out his views on Opendoor on social media on July 14, sparking not only a rapid rise in the stock, which also seems to have revived the meme stock trade among a newer group of unloved stocks, including Kohl's, Krispy Kreme, and GoPro. But for Jackson, Opendoor isn't a joke. He declined to disclose the value of his firm's stake, but it's now the single biggest position in EMJ Capital's portfolio, he told Business Insider. "I never thought of it that way," he said of investors who called Opendoor a meme stock. "So I sort of take offense, because I find all the meme stocks to be, to me, kind of terrible businesses that I would never want to own. Whereas I see Opendoor as a legitimate turnaround story." Opendoor will probably be the only company among the meme-stock cohort that won't be forgotten about by next week, he said, adding that he sees the latest speculative buying spree fizzling out. Indeed, most of this week's meme stock cohort was already giving up their biggest gains by midday on Friday. Opendoor's stock price spiked as high as $4.97 this week in intraday trading, an almost 830% increase in July. The stock has since pared its gains, trading around $2.46 a share on Friday, but Jackson still thinks shares could hit $82 within the next several years, a gain that would mark a 3,200% increase from current levels. The next leg-up for the stock could come in the next few weeks when the company reports third-quarter earnings, Jackson said. 'I'm not here to pump up a stock' Opendoor first appeared on Jackson's radar in 2022, around the time he started paying attention to Carvana. In a podcast called "The Compound and Friends," he said he believed both companies, which were struggling at the time, could stage a massive turnaround. His bet on Carvana paid off. Shares of the online used car retailer have risen almost 7,000% since the beginning of 2023. The bet on Opendoor — until now — did not. The stock traded between $1-$3 a share around the time Jackson finally gave up on the call and cashed out his shares nine months ago. "It's like having a painful ex in your history and you just don't want to look at their Instagram page or something like that, because it just brings up bad feelings," he said. Jackson thinks the story could be different this time around for a few reasons: Opendoor stock now looks similar to Carvana when Jackson first made his call on the used car seller. Opendoor shares were trading under $1 around the time he fired off a series of posts about the company on X. Opendoor has aggressively slashed its costs in recent years. In 2024, it cut its workforce by 17%. The firm doesn't have much competition in the iBuying space now that Zillow and Redfin have exited that business. Opendoor was likely "thrown for a loop" by the Fed keeping interest rates higher for longer than expected in 2022 and 2023, Jackson said. High borrowing costs significantly impact the real estate sector, but most investors expect the central bank to cut rates several more times this year, potentially stimulating fresh activity in the housing market. Opendoor might also be able to benefit from a big AI play, Jackson told BI, citing conversations with a former company insider. Jackson says what he sees going for Opendoor sets it apart from the meme stocks at the center of this week's euphoric rally. "Does Kohl's have an AI strategy? Does American Eagle, other than hiring Sydney Sweeney, have an AI strategy? I mean, GoPro — I mean, come on," he said of the other meme stocks in the spotlight. On social media, Jackson frequently tells his followers he's on the quest to find the next "100-bagger," a term coined by the investor Chris Mayer to describe an investment that has the potential to return 100 times its value over the long run. Jackson's firm, which has also started leaning on AI models to identify stocks with glimmers of potential, tries to look for three things, he said: Have other people given up on the stock? Does it look substantially mispriced? Does it look like it has a sustainable turnaround trajectory? If the answers are "yes," it could be a winning trade, though he acknowledges the approach isn't an exact science. Successful investments Jackson has made that he deems as 100-baggers include Alibaba, Microsoft, Coinbase, and Roku, he said in a post on X in June. The Opendoor call, in particular, has garnered him a lot of attention. Speaking to Bloomberg, Jackson said his firm had received 600 calls or emails from people inquiring about his fund and investment ideas in the last several weeks. Since posting the Opendoor thread on X, he told BI he's spoken with investors all over Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America who buy into his call, but he has also come across "a lot of negative stuff" on X about his thesis. "I guess it comes with the territory when you stick your neck out there as a real person with real thoughts. You get all these anonymous trolls chirping back at you," he said. "I really hope that if all of retail and all institutional investors truly believe in this $82 story, my hope is they zero in with like, the Death Star on this planet, and just buy and hold," he said, adding that he believed investors could stage a rally similar to Cisco's meteoric rise during the dot-com bubble. Importantly, he emphasized that he's not a fan of people saying he sparked the meme stock rally. "But I'm some grifter or flipper, no. I'm in this for the long run. I'm not here to pump up a stock and jump out of it. I've never done that." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
'I'm not here to pump up a stock': The hedge funder who sparked a speculative frenzy says he's not playing the meme stock game
The architect of the latest meme stock rally doesn't want you to call him that. Eric Jackson, the founder of EMJ Capital, is bullish on Opendoor —the online real estate platform that embarked on a blistering rally after he posted his thesis on X —but it isn't a meme stock, he says. In his eyes, it's the real deal, a pandemic-era darling with big turnaround potential despite a 92% tumble since its peak. Jackson is known for what ended up being a correctly bullish call on Carvana in 2023. He laid out his views on Opendoor on social media on July 14, sparking not only a rapid rise in the stock, which also seems to have revived the meme stock trade among a newer group of unloved stocks, including Kohl's, Krispy Kreme, and GoPro. But for Jackson, Opendoor isn't a joke. He declined to disclose the value of his firm's stake, but it's now the single biggest position in EMJ Capital's portfolio, he told Business Insider. "I never thought of it that way," he said of investors who called Opendoor a meme stock. "So I sort of take offense, because I find all the meme stocks to be, to me, kind of terrible businesses that I would never want to own. Whereas I see Opendoor as a legitimate turnaround story." Opendoor will probably be the only company among the meme-stock cohort that won't be forgotten about by next week, he said, adding that he sees the latest speculative buying spree fizzling out. Indeed, most of this week's meme stock cohort was already giving up their biggest gains by midday on Friday. Opendoor's stock price spiked as high as $4.97 this week in intraday trading, an almost 830% increase in July. The stock has since pared its gains, trading around $2.46 a share on Friday, but Jackson still thinks shares could hit $82 within the next several years, a gain that would mark a 3,200% increase from current levels. The next leg-up for the stock could come in the next few weeks when the company reports third-quarter earnings, Jackson said. 'I'm not here to pump up a stock' Opendoor first appeared on Jackson's radar in 2022, around the time he started paying attention to Carvana. In a podcast called "The Compound and Friends," he said he believed both companies, which were struggling at the time, could stage a massive turnaround. His bet on Carvana paid off. Shares of the online used car retailer have risen almost 7,000% since the beginning of 2023. The bet on Opendoor — until now — did not. The stock traded between $1-$3 a share around the time Jackson finally gave up on the call and cashed out his shares nine months ago. "It's like having a painful ex in your history and you just don't want to look at their Instagram page or something like that, because it just brings up bad feelings," he said. Jackson thinks the story could be different this time around for a few reasons: Opendoor stock now looks similar to Carvana when Jackson first made his call on the used car seller. Opendoor shares were trading under $1 around the time he fired off a series of posts about the company on X. Opendoor has aggressively slashed its costs in recent years. In 2024, it cut its workforce by 17%. The firm doesn't have much competition in the iBuying space now that Zillow and Redfin have exited that business. Opendoor was likely "thrown for a loop" by the Fed keeping interest rates higher for longer than expected in 2022 and 2023, Jackson said. High borrowing costs significantly impact the real estate sector, but most investors expect the central bank to cut rates several more times this year, potentially stimulating fresh activity in the housing market. Opendoor might also be able to benefit from a big AI play, Jackson told BI, citing conversations with a former company insider. Jackson says what he sees going for Opendoor sets it apart from the meme stocks at the center of this week's euphoric rally. "Does Kohl's have an AI strategy? Does American Eagle, other than hiring Sydney Sweeney, have an AI strategy? I mean, GoPro — I mean, come on," he said of the other meme stocks in the spotlight. On social media, Jackson frequently tells his followers he's on the quest to find the next " 100-bagger," a term coined by the investor Chris Mayer to describe an investment that has the potential to return 100 times its value over the long run. Jackson's firm, which has also started leaning on AI models to identify stocks with glimmers of potential, tries to look for three things, he said: Have other people given up on the stock? Does it look substantially mispriced? Does it look like it has a sustainable turnaround trajectory? If the answers are "yes," it could be a winning trade, though he acknowledges the approach isn't an exact science. Successful investments Jackson has made that he deems as 100-baggers include Alibaba, Microsoft, Coinbase, and Roku, he said in a post on X in June. The Opendoor call, in particular, has garnered him a lot of attention. Speaking to Bloomberg, Jackson said his firm had received 600 calls or emails from people inquiring about his fund and investment ideas in the last several weeks. Since posting the Opendoor thread on X, he told BI he's spoken with investors all over Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America who buy into his call, but he has also come across "a lot of negative stuff" on X about his thesis. "I guess it comes with the territory when you stick your neck out there as a real person with real thoughts. You get all these anonymous trolls chirping back at you," he said. "I really hope that if all of retail and all institutional investors truly believe in this $82 story, my hope is they zero in with like, the Death Star on this planet, and just buy and hold," he said, adding that he believed investors could stage a rally similar to Cisco's meteoric rise during the dot-com bubble. Importantly, he emphasized that he's not a fan of people saying he sparked the meme stock rally. "But I'm some grifter or flipper, no. I'm in this for the long run. I'm not here to pump up a stock and jump out of it. I've never done that."
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
The Face of the New Meme Stock Frenzy
Remember Keith Gill? The chicken tender-loving investor behind the 2021 meme stock craze? Perhaps you know him by his other name: Roaring Kitty. He was the face of all that pandemic-driven, day-trading insanity. Now there's another trader at the center of the latest meme stock frenzy, and well, he's less dramatic. Eric Jackson, 53, manages his own tiny hedge fund, EMJ Capital, in Toronto. He's been around for awhile, having made a name for himself a decade ago with a 99-page presentation to Yahoo's board on why the tech company should oust its now-former CEO. Years later he was back in the news, talking up Opendoor Technologies and Carvana. 'Of these two—Carvana and Opendoor—I have more confidence in Opendoor,' he said in a June 2022 interview.
Gizmodo
6 days ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
The Meme Stocks Are Back and May Have Found Their New ‘Roaring Kitty'
It seems meme stocks are back, and this time, the latest craze was sparked—somewhat accidentally—by a Canadian hedge fund manager named Eric Jackson. About three weeks ago, Jackson's firm, EMJ Capital, bought shares of Opendoor Technologies, a San Francisco–based company that buys and sells homes online, at around $0.70 apiece. Since then, the company's share price has skyrocketed over 600% to an intraday high of almost $5 on July 21. Today, it's trading at about $2.40, still a roughly 250% gain from just weeks ago. 'I think Opendoor is a real business,' Jackson told Bloomberg in an interview. 'I never expected it to be called a meme stock.' Meme stocks are shares of struggling or heavily shorted companies that surge in price thanks to hype on social media platforms like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter), often with little connection to the company's financials. The phenomenon first took off in early 2021, when retail traders famously drove up shares of GameStop and AMC in a movement led by Keith Gill, a YouTuber and investor better known as 'Roaring Kitty.' Now, Jackson is unexpectedly being pulled into that same world. Bloomberg reports that his face is already being photoshopped onto images of Roaring Kitty. Jackson first gained prominence in 2015 with a 99-page presentation to Yahoo's board, urging the company to replace then–CEO Marissa Mayer over mismanagement. Mayer eventually stepped down herself in 2017 after Verizon bought the company. Ten years later, Jackson is back in the spotlight after posting a series of takes on Opendoor on the social media network X (formerly Twitter). He laid out why he thinks the company's stock could hit $82 by 2028, and even called it a potential 'hundred bagger,' a stock that could grow to be 100 times more valuable than when it was initially purchased. Jackson says that he's received 600 calls and emails in the past three weeks from investors eager to hear about his other investment ideas. Other stocks in Jackson's portfolio have caught meme status too, like crypto-related firms Iren and Cipher Mining. Iren's shares are up 49% this month, while Cipher has surged 65%. The meme stock mania doesn't stop there. Companies unrelated to Jackson are getting swept up in the hype, too. At the time of writing, Kohl's is up 58% this month, GoPro has jumped 78%, and Krispy Kreme has climbed 67%, as retail investors pile into beaten-down stocks hoping for a big payout.
