This Stock Is Up 400% in 2025, and With a Brand New CEO, It Could Keep Climbing

Share prices of Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN) have risen a shocking 400% so far in 2025. Most of that gain has come in just the last couple of months, which has been a time of massive change for the company.

One of the biggest changes is a new CEO who has been talking up the opportunity of using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve Opendoor's business.

What does Opendoor Technologies do?

From a big-picture perspective, Opendoor Technologies is a home flipper. It basically offers home sellers a low-ball bid that comes with quick execution and alleviates the need to invest in home improvements prior to the sale.

If a deal is made, Opendoor puts in the time and capital investment necessary to spruce up the property and then lists it for a higher price than it bought it for. The hope is that all of the homes Opendoor buys can be turned around quickly and cost-effectively, creating a wide spread between the cost of the home (including carrying it through the renovation period) and the price at which Opendoor sells it.

Image source: Getty Images.

This is a business model that's usually done locally by small investors. Often, the small investor does the renovation work themselves to keep costs low.

Home flipping can be very profitable, but it hasn't been replicated on a large scale. Notably, Opendoor's income statement has yet to see a full-year profit, and the stock has fallen dramatically from its all-time highs just a few years ago. The early excitement wore off as investors realized that the company was really just a money-losing start-up.

Data by YCharts.

Things could get interesting for Opendoor

The mood around Opendoor shifted dramatically in the last few months after an activist investor got involved and effectively pushed out the CEO. Just recently, it was announced that Kaz Nejatian, a former Shopify executive, was taking over as CEO of Opendoor. As a result, the stock rocketed higher.

Opendoor's business is highly reliant on technology when it comes to selecting homes. The new CEO is planning to lean into artificial intelligence, with the goal of cutting costs (including firing employees) and making stronger homebuying/home-selling choices.

If Nejatian is correct, Opendoor's business could finally break into the black and, perhaps, be expanded beyond the limited number of markets in which it currently operates. There is a significant potential opportunity available to tap into here.

There's just one problem: It's far from clear that Nejatian is correct. Getting from today to the future he envisions will require a lot of costly changes, regardless of whether or not he manages to turn Opendoor into a sustainably profitable business.

If he's wrong, meanwhile, it could be the end of the business, since it would likely be difficult to rebuild the human knowledge base that will be lost in the transition to AI. There is a huge amount of idiosyncratic risk here, and the success of the CEO's seemingly drastic business overhaul is going to determine what happens.

Investors are pricing in a lot of good news

Investors looking at Opendoor Technologies right now have to step back and consider the risk/reward balance. At this point, the company has gone from being a penny stock at risk of being delisted to a soaring rocket in just a few months, even though very little has changed on the business level.

Could the stock keep climbing? Absolutely, particularly since the new CEO is taking up a technology that's hot on Wall Street today.

There's no telling how far a stock can go once investors get enamored of a good story. But most investors will probably be better off watching from the sidelines at this point, waiting for concrete proof that Nejatian's long-term plan for the company is actually working as well as hoped.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.