Opendoor Lands Morgan Stanley As A Major Investor – But OPEN Stock Stays Under Pressure

• Opendoor stock, which is down 20% year-to-date, fell 1% in Thursday’s premarket session.
• Retail traders expressed frustration over the stock’s prolonged weakness.
• The majority of the analysts covering the stock recommend ‘Hold.’

Opendoor Technology shares traded nearly 1% lower in Thursday’s premarket session, despite a major stake acquisition by a marquee investor.

Morgan Stanley revealed the previous day that it had picked up a 10.2% stake in the online real estate platform. A 13G filing revealed that the bank, through its investment management arm and affiliated units, owned nearly 98 million common shares of Opendoor as of March 31.

Other major investors in Opendoor include home-builder Lennar Corp. and institutional holders, including Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and Jane Street.

Meanwhile, the stock reaction is another indication of the downward pressure on OPEN shares. 

Opendoor emerged as a top meme stock, surging more than 2,000% in a two-month stretch last year, but has since slid steadily from September, leaving some traders frustrated. Opendoor shares are down 20.4% year-to-date, as of their last close.

Retail, Analyst View On OPEN

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for OPEN remained ‘bearish,’ unchanged since the start of the week, as many traders discussed the prolonged weakness.

“Disappointing as usual. Will turn around one day,” said one user. Another wrote: “it’s comical at this point that literally nothing moves the stock price, it could be bought out at $12 a share and it would struggle to break $5.”

Analysts are on the fence as well. Currently, five out of eight analysts recommend ‘Hold,’ two recommend ‘Sell’ or lower, and one recommends ‘Strong Buy,’ per Koyfin. Their average price target of $4.64 is about 7% below the stock’s last closing price.

Recent Catalysts For OPEN

However, Opendoor continues to generate buzz with its surging home acquisitions and other moves. 

Earlier this week, the company revealed that its weekly acquisition contracts jumped 21% to 658 week over week. Last week, Opendoor acquired Doma, which offers software that makes real estate closings, specifically title, escrow and underwriting, faster and more affordable.

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