Investors cheering Opendoor’s meteoric rally haven’t seen anything yet.
That’s according to Eric Jackson, the hedge fund manager whose bullish outlook for the stock this summer kicked off a massive rally that’s been likened to a meme-stock surge. But despite the stock’s gain of more than 600% since the start of July, Jackson is adamant that Opendoor is the real deal.
Speaking with Business Insider on Monday, Jackson, best known for his bullish call on Carvana in 2023, said Opendoor is poised for more colossal gains through the rest of this year. With Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler’s departure last week, the EMJ Capital founder said he now sees shares of the real estate iBuying company soaring to $82 by the end of the year.
That would imply a 1,975% gain from Monday’s intraday high of $3.95 per share. Previously, Jackson’s thesis pegged the stock at that level sometime in 2028.
“I think it was the right thing to do. I thank her for her efforts over the last two and a half years,” Jackson said, adding that Wheeler helped Opendoor clean up its finances after she took over in 2022, when interest rates were high and the company was loaded with inventory it bought in the years prior.
“But I think it was obvious. She never bought a single share,” he added.
Jackson, who called for Wheeler to step down in the days prior to her resignation, said he thinks the company has a shot at becoming what he calls the “Airbnb of housing,” a keystone on which he hangs his ambitious price target.
Here’s what Jackson said would need to happen for Opendoor to hit his loft price target:
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Exit the iBuying space and focus on becoming an interface between buyers and sellers. That’s a market in which Opendoor has virtually no competition, Jackson says.
“Rocket can’t provide that. Zillow can’t provide that,” he said, adding that the Airbnb-esque approach to its business model would be “totally asset light,” a main focus for the company in recent years.
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Get co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu on the board. Rabois has never been on Opendoor’s board of directors, and Wu, who served as CEO prior to Wheeler’s takeover, left the company at the start of 2024.
But the two are the right pair to head Opendoor’s search for a new CEO, in Jackson’s view. He said he believes it is important for the company to get back to its roots.
“I think they’re the perfect two,” Jackson said. “Those two guys, Keith and Eric, are super smart and we ensure that the founder DNA really permeates through the whole company.”
- Go international. “Airbnb doesn’t just buy and sell or rent places in the US. There’s no reason Opendoor can’t go international as well,” Jackson said.
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Put Jackson on the board. Jackson said he was interested in serving on Opendoor’s board of directors as well, to represent the huge retail following the company has amassed in recent weeks.
Retail trading volume of Opendoor stock peaked at $124 million the week of July 21, around the time Jackson hashed out his thesis for the company on X, according to data from Vanda Research.
“I just think it’s a worldwide phenomenon and people see the value here. They want to be part of it, and it would be crazy for the company not to embrace that retail love,” Jackson said.
If the company gets the right CEO, Jackson thinks Opendoor could generate as much as $1.4 billion in free cash flow by 2026.
‘You have to have a lot of thick skin’
Jackson says he’s been inundated with attention since posting his original call on X. On a busy day for the stock, he can expect to get around 100 messages from retail investors wanting to talk to him about it. His hedge fund has also been busy speaking to potential investors, he says.
Jackson says some of his online critics accuse him of pumping and dumping Opendoor. The stock, though, is one of the largest holdings in Jackson’s fund, he previously told BI.
“You get all the randos on Twitter — probably, half of them are bots — saying that you’re a terrible person, and you’re going to cause people to go bankrupt, and you’re a grifter, and all this stuff,” he said.
“You have to have a lot of thick skin. I’ve muted a lot of people, blocked occasionally — blocked a few who really get aggressive. And ultimately, I just don’t care. I know my kids love me. My wife loves me. My two goldendoodles in my office love me,” he said. “I’m working all the time trying to unlock value in this company, and that’s good enough for me.”