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How to buy stock in Quicken Loans following its IPO
The nation's largest online mortgage lender is now available on the NYSE under the ticker "RKT."
On Thursday, Quicken Loans’ parent company, Rocket Companies, launched its IPO. RKT stock rose over 20% its first day on the market, generating buzz about where it might be headed. Here’s how to buy in.
How to invest in Rocket Companies
To buy shares in Rocket Companies, the parent company of Quicken Loans:
- Compare share trading platforms. If you’re a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for Rocket. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: RKT. Research its history to confirm it’s a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Rocket stock reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market’s ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Rocket, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Rocket. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT A DEPOSIT • NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE
What we know
Rocket Companies is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RKT, and the offering is being organized by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan.
Quicken Loans’ parent company has already established itself as a viable financial and consumer brand. The Detroit-based holding company is responsible for a slew of profitable companies, including Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Loans, Core Digital Media and Edison Financial.
According to its filing, Rocket Companies reported $3.7 billion in total equity as of March 2020 and has over 20,000 employees across the US. Within the first three months of 2020, Rocket Companies reported a net income of $97.7 million — a significant improvement over its loss of $299 million over the same period the previous year.
With Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage and other real estate-focused companies on the roster, an investment in Rocket Companies comes with the following potential risks:
- The profitability of real estate companies hinges on interest rates. Since Rocket’s companies focus largely on refinancing, low rates allow Rocket to process more loans and boost profits.
- Rocket’s parent company, Rock Holdings Inc., plans to retain 79% of the voting power, so shareholders ultimately won’t have much say in how the company operates.
- With so many of Rocket’s mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, their potential privatization could impact Rocket’s business.
Quicken Loans compared
Founded in 1985, Quicken Loans is the country’s largest mortgage lender. It offers conventional, jumbo, FHA, USDA and VA mortgages, as well as mortgage refinancing options. It charges a one-time “good faith deposit” to cover the administrative costs, like credit reports and home appraisals, and it states that most of its borrowers close their loans within 30 days.
The company maintains an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau and is one of the most highly-rated lenders on Trustpilot, maintaining a TrustScore of 4.5 out of 5 after more than 16,000 reviews.
Results of similar IPOs
Here’s how a few other related stocks performed after coming out the gates:
- Ally Financial (ALLY), an online bank and home loan originator, went public in January 2014 trading at $25.65. The stock didn’t do well — at least not at first. In early 2016, it hit a low of $15.85. But by mid-2017, things began to improve. Ally’s stock peaked in September 2019 at $34.98 and continued to trade between $30 and $35 right up until the coronavirus pandemic. After a record low of $11.70, Ally continues to recover from the market upheaval, with the stock now trading closer to the $20 mark.
- Nexpoint Multifamily Capital Trust, Inc. (NREF) is a real estate investment trust company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It began trading on the NYSE in February 2020 at $18.80. Suffering the same downturn as Ally, Nexpoint’s stock plummeted to a low of $7.95 in mid-April. The company’s stock has begun to bounce back, currently trading at $15.14.
- Velocity Financial (VEL), another newcomer to the NYSE, is a real estate finance company headquartered in Westlake Village, California. Its stock opened up to investors in mid-January 2020 at $13.51. In early April, the stock fell to $2.47 and hasn’t recovered much since. It currently sits at $3.81.
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