santafe2
4 weeks ago
Startups always issue additional shares to employees as compensation to keep their overhead down and to keep essential employees. Quite often these shares are in the form of stock options which allow the employee to sell their shares at the current price as they vest quarterly. In the case of OPEN most, if not all, of these shares have been issued at a value much higher than the current price. When the SPAC merger was completed and OPEN valued at $10 a share, there were 480,000,000 shares outstanding or a valuation of $4.8B. Today there are over 715,000,000 shares which is not an unusual jump in outstanding shares over nearly 4 years for a startup.
That said, it will be about 50% more difficult for OPEN to reach $10 a share as there are roughly 50% more shares to move. Also, on average we can expect an additional 15MM shares to vest every quarter. That's about 2% additional shares each quarter. At this pace, by the end of 2026 there will be almost 850MM shares outstanding. If there is a recession between now and then, all bets are off as OPEN will still have to move homes quickly to keep up with debt payments and may well have to dump homes at a loss.
Two other companies Zillow and Redfin followed OPEN into the iBuying market in 2020 when it appeared that iBuying would take over a considerable portion of the market. Zillow got out almost immediately, (2021) when it was clear their algos could not price homes properly. Redfin has remained in the market and is getting crushed. Both RDFN and OPEN have market values in the $1+B range while Zillow is valued at over $11B. Just looking at RDFN debt to equity ratio, there is no value in RDFN. I don't see how they avoid bankruptcy in this difficult market.
The last and maybe the most concerning issue for OPEN is that their profit model is built on being able to slightly undercut the traditional real estate sales model. Since NAR lost the class action suit it appears that buy side realty organizations may no longer expect sellers to pay their 3% commission and buyers will begin to negotiate a lower cost. In fact a reasonably experienced buyer will no longer need a buy side agent and the sell side agent will no longer be able to take that commission as their own.
As I said the other day, I wouldn't say OPEN will fail but I see a very bumpy road ahead for investors. Traders may actually do well as volatility is their friend.
Monksdream
1 year ago
Opendoor Technologies Inc NASDAQ: OPEN
GoSymbol lookup
Real Estate : Real Estate Management & Development | Small Cap ValueCompany profile
Opendoor Technologies Inc. is an e-commerce platform for residential real estate transactions. The Company, by leveraging software, data science, product design and operations, it manages a marketplace for residential real estate that offers buyers and sellers an enhanced experience. Its products include a first-party (1P) product and a third-party (3P) product. The 1P product enables the sellers to sell their home directly to customers and the Company resell the home to a home buyer. By selling to Opendoor, homeowners can avoid the stress of open houses, home repairs, overlapping mortgages and the uncertainty that can come with listing a home on the open market. The 3P product offering connects the home seller with either an institutional or retail buyer, facilitating the transaction without customer taking ownership of the home. Sellers can request an offer from its network of buyers, while also receiving an Opendoor offer. It operates in approximately 44 markets across the country.
Earnings spotlight: Thursday, August 3 - Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Amgen (AMGN), Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), ConocoPhillips (COP), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Opendoor Technologies (OPEN), and Wayfair (W). Seeking Alpha analyst Jaime Galvin said "Amazon's crown jewel, AWS, continued to shine, but growth and margins now look to be decelerating sharply."