Despite its meme stock status this year, Opendoor Technologies (OPEN 1.74%) stock is still 78% off its highs from 2021. It's operating under tremendous pressure as the housing market remains stagnant, with high interest rates, high home prices, and low home sales.
Retail investors are loving it anyway, fueled by a social media campaign to push the stock higher. Is this anything more than hype?
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Disrupting real estate
Opendoor stock stirred the market earlier this year. It's up nearly 400% year to date despite its poor performance and bleak outlook.
Retail investors gathered to send the stock soaring, and their influence has already resulted in a CEO change. Now investors are even more hopeful that declining interest rates, along with a new CEO and a new vision, will help the business rebound and send the stock flying even higher.
NASDAQ: OPEN
Key Data Points
Although Opendoor stock had started falling again, it turned back up after new CEO Kaz Nejatian outlined his growth vision in the third-quarter earnings report.
The report itself was disappointing. Revenue fell 34% from last year, gross margin dropped from 7.6% to 7.3%, and net loss widened from $78 million to $90 million.
Even under the best circumstances, which may be a long while off, iBuying is a tough business that requires a lot of cash.
The company is trying out new services that complement its buy-and-sell strategy, but it could take a long time for Opendoor to demonstrate meaningful progress, and investors may want to look elsewhere.
