The investor behind the Opendoor rally has spurred a 120% gain in another stock
The move: Better Home & Finance Holding Company shares surged for a second day on Tuesday, rising as much as 50%. Since Friday’s close, shares are up as much as 120%.
Year-to-date, Better stock has gained 680%.
Why: On September 22, hedge fund manager Eric Jackson announced that his firm, EMJ Capital, is long Better stock, boosting another name in the housing market after his bullish call on Opendoor Technologies stock sent shares soaring over the summer. His $82 price target for the stock implies another 900% gain from current levels.
On Monday, Jackson made it clear that he believes Better stock is also destined to surge. In a post on X, he compared it to both Opendoor and Carvana, a former meme stock that he pumped up with a bulish call in 2023.
“Better is the Shopify of mortgages,” he said. “I believe BETR is a potential 350-bagger in 2 years.”
Jackson provided further context on the analogy, crediting Better with rebuilding a $15 trillion industry by leveraging AI.
“Until [Shopify] really took off in 2020, most didn’t understand it,” he told Business Insider on Tuesday. “It has a direct-to-consumer (DTC) business but it mostly works in the background to help small business get to market.”
Jackson apparently feels the same about the path ahead for Better, which operates a variety of real estate services, inclusing mortgage lending and brokerage services.
In his view, the stock should be trading at $626 per share, representing a gain of over 1,100% from Monday’s closing price of $49.98.
What it means: While Opendoor has become one of the most popular stocks among retail investors since Jackson kicked off the rally, it’s still early innings for Better stock.
Since Jackson posted about it, the stock hasn’t seen the same momentum on trading forums across Reddit and other sites.
Some investing experts have speculated that lower interest rates will spur growth for the housing market and drive fresh interest in real estate stocks. Jackson told Business Insider that he sees the monetary policy shift as a bullish indicator for both Better and Opendoor.
“Similar to OPEN, a slight drop in mortgage rates is like a gusher for increased volumes to BETR and helps unlock activity in the housing market/stocks,” he said.
In his thread on X, he noted that he sees Better not as a competitor to Opendoor but as a potential partner that could help it grow.
“Sellers who agree to an OPEN offer could get one-click mortgage approvals at checkout immediately powered by BETR,” he said.
Opendoor shares, meanwhile, struggled on Tuesday. The stock fell as much as 12%, weighed down by a regulatory filing that showed a big investor dumped over 11 million shares.