Shares in money-losing mortgage lender loanDepot surged 27 percent Friday and kept rising in after-hours trading thanks to a bullish call from an unlikely source — stock analyst and renowned short-seller Andrew Left’s Citron Research newsletter.
LoanDepot is being “priced like a busted originator” when its loan servicing business alone would value the company at $5 a share, Citron Research posted Friday morning on X.
Shares in loanDepot — which had closed at $2.28 on Thursday and nearly slipped below $1 in May — climbed as high as $2.98 in heavy trading Friday before closing at $2.89. Investors were paying more than $3 a share in after-hours trading.
$LDI — Trump will win the “war on housing.” LoanDepot is the top lender set to benefit — and the market is asleep.
At $2, the stock is being priced like a busted originator. Wrong. Its mortgage servicing division alone — recently called the hidden gem — is worth $5/share if…— Citron Research (@CitronResearch) September 5, 2025
While Citron Research and Left’s investment firm, Citron Capital LLC, are perhaps best known for taking short positions in companies like Zillow, it also took a bullish stance on mortgage giant Rocket Companies in May.
Like loanDepot, Rocket has a big mortgage servicing portfolio that generates fees even when lending is slow — and is about to become the nation’s largest loan servicer by acquiring Mr. Cooper.
Citron Research also believes that President Trump will win a “war on housing” and that loanDepot is poised to capitalize. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told The Washington Examiner on Monday that affordability will be a focus of Republicans’ 2026 midterm election platform, and that Trump may declare a “national housing emergency.”
LoanDepot has racked up $66 million in losses in the first half of this year, and hasn’t turned a full-year profit since 2021, when it reaped the benefits of the pandemic-era refinancing boom. Founder Anthony Hsieh returned as CEO in June and is focused on growth, efficiency and a return to profitability.
As for Left, he’s still fighting charges leveled by the Department of Justice last year that he used his social media following and public platform to earn at least $16 million by fraudulently manipulating the stock market from March 2018 to October 2023.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is also pursuing a civil case against Left and Citron Capital LLC that alleges they engaged in a multi-year “bait-and-switch” scheme to defraud followers of $20 million.
Left denies wrongdoing and is fighting both cases in court.
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