Shares of Opendoor Technologies (OPEN 39.42%) were soaring again today as the meme-stock tailwind that has pushed the online home-flipping stock up in recent weeks seemed to gain strength today, even though there was no company-specific news out on the stock. The notion that Opendoor could be the next Carvana seems to be picking up steam online in social media forums like X and Reddit, and trading volume in the stock has soared.

As of 1:59 p.m. ET, the stock was up 35.1%.

Image source: Getty Images.

Opendoor gets the meme treatment

Opendoor has performed remarkably over the short term as the stock has now nearly tripled in just the last few weeks.

Opendoor has historically been volatile, and it had fallen into penny stock range at a price of under $1 so some fluctuations in the share price are understandable, but it now appears that the momentum from a snowballing group of retail investors is pushing the stock higher.

A post on Reddit’s WallStreetBets in May seems to have planted the seed for the recent rally. In a post titled, “Opendoor is the next Carvana,” which now has more than 1,000 comments, one user said he bet $155,000 on Opendoor, and laid out an argument for recovery with a change in its business model, and the short-term impact of hedge funds closing their short bets at the end of the second quarter.

A short squeeze may have also helped fuel the stock’s gains today as 24% of the float was sold short as of mid-June, and the stock is seeing unusually high volume today with more than 219 million shares traded as of 2:30 p.m. ET, higher than in any session in the last year, and well above the 90-day average of 84.8 million.

Where does Opendoor go from here?

Notably, the recent gains have been unrelated to anything going on with the business.

Opendoor gained yesterday even as the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) report made it less likely that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. At this point, the stock seems to have become divorced from the fundamentals of the business, which is generally a bad sign for the long term.

While momentum and meme-stock mania could push Opendoor higher, long-term investors are better off sitting this one out.

Next-generation real estate company Opendoor Technologies (OPEN 6.00%) wasn’t exactly looking like the wave of the future in the first summer month of this year.

June saw the company’s stock lose more than 18% of its value, which wasn’t all that surprising given a piece of financial engineering it announced toward the start of the month. An analyst’s recommendation downgrade also dampened investor sentiment.

Image source: Getty Images.

Splitsville

On June 6, the company revealed that it had filed the initial regulatory paperwork to prepare for a reverse stock split. It intends to bring the matter to a vote in a special meeting for its investors.

A reverse stock split is a measure in which a company reduces its total number of shares outstanding. In its press release divulging the news, Opendoor quoted CFO Selim Freiha as saying that the move “is intended to support long-term shareholder value and give us optionality in preserving our listing on Nasdaq.”

The company said it aimed to reverse-split its stock at a ratio of one share for every 10, up to 1-for-50.

I should stress here that neither a standard nor a reverse stock split changes the market cap of a stock; only the amount of shares outstanding and the price are modified. The fewer shares, the higher the price in the case of reverses.

Opendoor had intended to hold the special shareholder meeting on Monday, July 28.

The company is vulnerable to downturns in the housing market, as it is essentially a reseller that buys homes, then spruces them up in order to “flip” them on the market and pocket a profit. This is a juicy business model when housing is on an upswing, but it can produce major headaches if the market is stagnant or heading south.

An analyst became more bearish

As June worked its way to a finish, a new analyst report threw a bit of a shadow on Opendoor stock. CItizens JMP’s Andrew Boone re-evaluated his take on the company and elected to downgrade his recommendation on the shares. Now Boone believes Opendoor only rates a market perform (i.e., hold) instead of a market outperform (buy).

According to reports, the basis for Boone’s new view is his belief that Opendoor seems to be functioning more as a backup option for people trying to sell their homes, rather than as their primary means of sale. He also mentioned the company’s high level of debt, which has become expensive to service.

On a brighter note, he said that Key Connections, a new program that connects partner real estate agents with sellers, could help Opendoor improve its fortunes.

To me, Opendoor is a company that has some interesting ideas for how to profit from real estate. It hasn’t yet turned these concepts into a viable business, however, so I would give its stock a pass until more signs of potential success emerge.

Network reliability is crucial for any telecom company; it nearly goes without saying. This is a major reason why investors were happy to snap up shares of Lumen Technologies (LUMN 1.17%) — after the company detailed its preparations for emergency situations, its stock was trading up by more than 10% in price as of Thursday evening, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Ready for the worst

Lumen laid out those plans in a press release it published Monday morning. Across its rather sprawling enterprise network, the company said it is utilizing cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and geospatial monitoring to keep customers connected in emergency situations.

Image source: Getty Images.

Disaster preparedness is a topic of particular concern these days, as the U.S. has been beset by a higher-than-usual set of disasters lately. In 2024, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), this country suffered 27 weather or climate disasters, which is exactly three times the annual average from 1980 to 2024. Each loss due to these topped $1 billion.

Lumen added that its preparedness efforts are augmented by partnerships with state and federal authorities, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Price target raised by analyst

Lumen stock also got a boost in the middle of the week when an analyst raised his price target on it. BNP Paribas’s Sam McHugh upped his fair value assessment to $4 per share from the previous $3.51, although he left his neutral recommendation intact.

In his analysis, according to reports, McHugh said that the company is facing more “disconnects” from customers, but the pending $5.75 billion sale of its fiber business to giant peer AT&T will allow it to pay down some of its considerable indebtedness.

Lumen is a legacy landline telecom operation and has struggled for years to succeed in a world dominated by mobile. Eroding revenue and frequent bottom-line losses indicate this might not have been the best path to pursue. Personally, this stock isn’t a buy for me.

Shares of PureCycle Technologies (PCT 22.37%) rocketed 24.2% today as of 11:49 p.m. ET.

PureCycle is a young company founded 10 years ago, which has technology that can recycle waste polypropylene and turn it into pure plastic resin, which can then be turned into plastic feedstock for all kinds of end-use cases.

Today, the company announced a big investment from some high-profile investors, leading to a big surge in the stock.

PureCycle looks to expand

Today, PureCycle announced it had raised $300 million in the form of convertible preferred stock, which pays a 7% coupon to the holders and converts to common equity at a 30% premium to the stock’s 10-day volume-weighted average price prior to yesterday. Among the investors in the preferred shares are Sylebra Capital Management and Samlyn Capital, LLC, which participated in a prior financing round last September. In addition, other hedge funds and family offices, including Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office, will also participate in the current funding round.

In conjunction with the capital raise, PureCycle also announced the expansion of its second U.S. facility in Augusta, as well as the construction of two new international recycling plants in Thailand and Antwerp. The funding will go toward building these new facilities, which will come online over the course of the next few years. Once they are fully constructed, PureCycle believes it will be able to generate $600 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) annually by 2030.

Image source: Getty Images.

PureCycle is a stock to watch

Investors bid up the stock nearly all the way to the preferred shares conversion threshold today, likely encouraged by the robust expansion plans, financial targets, and participation from a famous investor.

After today’s run, the company has a market cap around $2.6 billion, although that will go up by another $300 million if and when the preferred shares convert to common stock.

An enterprise value around 5 times that 2030 projected EBITDA would certainly still be a cheap price to pay for PureCycle, but remember, EBITDA figures leave out some real costs, especially in capital-intensive industrial businesses, and there is also the time value of money to consider, as the future profit projections need to be discounted back a good five years.

Sensata Technologies is warning former and current employees it suffered a data breach after concluding an investigation into an April ransomware attack.

Sensata is a global industrial tech firm specializing in mission‑critical sensors, controls, and electrical protection systems. It serves the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries, among others, and has an annual revenue of over $4 billion.

In April, the company filed an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disclosing that it suffered a ransomware attack on Sunday, April 6, which also included data theft.

The cybersecurity incident impacted Sensata’s shipping, manufacturing, and other business operations.

Although preliminary investigations confirmed data exfiltration, the exact data that had been stolen and the scope of the exposure weren’t determined at the time.

Subsequent investigations into the incident supported by an external expert showed that the ransomware actors breached Sensata’s network on March 28, 2025.

“The evidence showed that there was unauthorized activity in our network between March 28, 2025, and April 6, 2025,” reads the notice sent to impacted persons.

“During that time, an unauthorized actor viewed and obtained files from our network. We conducted a careful review of the files and, on May 23, 2025, determined that one or more of them may have contained your information.”

The company is now notifying an undisclosed number of impacted individuals that the following data was stolen:

• Full name
• Address
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Driver’s license number
• State ID card number
• Passport number
• Financial account information
• Payment card information
• Medical information
• Health insurance information
• Date of birth

The breach impacts current and former Sensata employees and their dependents, with the exposed information varying per individual.

The firm enclosed instructions in the letter on enrolling in one year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection service.

BleepingComputer has reached out to Sensata to specify the scope of the data breach and the number of impacted individuals, but we have not received a response by publication.

As of writing, no ransomware groups have taken responsibility for the attack at Sensata.

Nearly every company that’s even remotely related to the tech industry is betting that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key driver of their business in the coming years. This is giving investors a lot of choices when it comes to picking an AI stock.

Two companies that have seen their share prices surge recently and are no doubt on some investors’ AI stock short lists are telecommunications giant AT&T (T 0.83%), which is critical to connecting AI devices to the internet, and AI data analytics company Palantir Technologies (PLTR 0.97%).

Here’s how the two companies stack up in the AI space.

Image source: Getty Images.

How both companies are taking advantage of the AI demand

AT&T may not be the first company you think of when you’re thinking about AI stocks, but the telecom’s massive wireless internet infrastructure is a key component to advancing AI services. For example, AT&T’s ultra-fast 5G networks are used for AI-powered tech like autonomous vehicles.

Internet-enabled devices are becoming more powerful and more useful with AI, making fast and reliable internet connections even more important to powering AI assistants and other services. AT&T also works with tech giants, including Alphabet‘s Google and Microsoft, to establish edge network computing services that ensure AI and other services work well in specific locations.

But while AT&T helps with the connectivity of AI devices, Palantir is an actual artificial intelligence company. Palantir sells AI-powered analytics services and has grown rapidly as the U.S. government and private companies have clamored for its services.

Using AI to power analytics can help with everything from defense and military operations to managing supply chains and monitoring the electric grid. This wide application of services means that Palantir has a total addressable market of $1.4 trillion, according to Morningstar data.

Which company is growing faster?

It should come as no surprise that Palantir is growing much faster than AT&T. As a large, established telecom, there’s only so much sales growth AT&T can experience.

AT&T’s sales rose 2% in the first quarter to $30.6 billion, and non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings increased 6% to $0.51 per share. The company’s management forecasts free cash flow of $16 billion for 2025 and adjusted earnings per share of $2.02, at the midpoint of guidance.

Meanwhile, Palantir’s revenue spiked 39% in the first quarter to $884 million, and adjusted earnings rose 62% to $0.13 per share. Palantir is profitable, which not many young AI start-ups can claim, and the company actually raised its outlook for this year, in contrast to the many companies that have pulled their outlooks for 2025. It now expects full-year sales to increase 36% for the year, up from its previous estimate of 31%.

Palantir is the clear winner

AT&T’s telecom services are important to many AI companies, but Palantir is the better AI pure play. Its AI analytics revenue is growing fast, the company is profitable, and it’s tapping into a massive market that’s just getting started.

But before you mash the buy button in your brokerage app, it’s important to mention that while Palantir is the better AI stock in this matchup, it’s also very expensive. Palantir’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio is an astronomical 546. Compare that to the S&P 500‘s P/E multiple of 24 and Nvidia (another major AI stock) at just 45.

This means that if you’re considering buying Palantir stock, you might want to wait for its share price to dip a bit or start with just a small position. The stock’s massive gains over the past couple of years have pushed its valuation so high that it’s hard to justify the premium.

That doesn’t mean Palantir’s stock won’t continue to gain ground, but investors need to know that they’re paying an extremely high price for the stock if they buy now.

Shares of Opendoor Technologies (OPEN 26.28%) were soaring today after the online home flipper posted better-than-expected results in its first-quarter earnings report.

The stock had fallen sharply in recent months, but the latest round of results gave investors some hope that the company can build a viable business over the long term, especially in the face of a weak housing market.

Image source: Getty Images.

Opendoor moves closer to breakeven

Opendoor reported a revenue in decline of 2% to $1.15 billion in the quarter, ahead of the consensus at $1.06 billion. However, revenue isn’t a useful metric for a company like Opendoor, as it can earn revenue from simply buying and selling homes, even if it doesn’t earn a profit.

The real test is profitability, and the company did take a step toward breakeven with its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) loss of $30 million, narrowing from a loss of $50 million.

Management said that buyer demand continued to be weak, and that the rate at which homes go under contract is down 25% and delistings are up 30%, indicating weak demand from homebuyers due to high mortgage rates and concerns about a recession.

Despite those headwinds, investors were pleased with second-quarter guidance that called for an adjusted EBITDA profit of $10 million-$20 million. The company also acquired 3,609 homes in the first quarter, up 4% from a year ago heading to peak buying season.

What’s next for Opendoor

Opendoor’s share price has fallen to less than $1, a sign that investors have largely given up on the stock, and a recovery will be difficult to achieve without a significant improvement in the housing market.

Opendoor has $559 million in cash on the balance sheet, meaning it’s not in danger of failure, but the company can’t lose money forever. Peers like Zillow and Redfin have already given up on the iBuying business model.

At this point, it’s still unclear if it will work for Opendoor.