** Shares of online residential real estate firm Opendoor Technologies OPEN.O up 15.6% to $7.59 in Mon afternoon trading as JP Morgan sticks with 'overweight' rating, citing its major transformation

** Brokerage establishes Dec 2026 PT of $8, highest on Wall Street, per LSEG data

** JP Morgan analyst team led by Dae Lee said near-term volatility in results due to OPEN "clearing out the impact of prior management's risk-averse approach and legacy inventory"

** OPEN already reduced spreads, which is driving acceleration in home acquisitions in Q4, and driving toward adjusted net income (ANI) breakeven exiting 2026, Lee said

** "We are encouraged by the confidence & energy from the new leadership. The transformation won’t be easy or linear, but we believe the US residential real estate market is ripe for disruption, and OPEN has the data, technology, scale, & vision to lead it," Lee said

** Lee said $8 PT based on ~13x his estimated 2027 gross profit of $770 mln

** Tempe, Arizona-based OPEN late Thurs reported about a one-third drop in rev and 12 cent/sh loss in Q3, and declared a special warrant dividend to shareholders as of Nov 18, to further align shareholders and management. Exercise prices for three series of tradeable warrants are $9, $13 and $17

** Early Fri, OPEN announced direct equity raise of $1.2 bln to repurchase outstanding 2030 convertible bonds

** OPEN shares on Fri initially tumbled as much as 20% before recovering to end the session flat at $6.56

** On Sept 11, OPEN shares soared 80% after co appointed Shopify SHOT.TO executive Kaz Nejatian as its new CEO, and said co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu will return to the board

** OPEN has seen meme stock-like activity since the summer. Including the move on Mon, shares up ~965% over the past six months

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com ; 1-646-279-6380))