🏦 Ticker: FOA 
Price: $26.10 📉 (–2.28% as of Sep 2, 2025, 4:10 PM ET)
Subtitle: The Reverse Mortgage Kingpin, Hedge Fund Love, and a Cup-Saucer Bottom That’s (Maybe) Ready to Soar 🚀☕

🔥 The Trigger: Cooperman Adds Again

Leon Cooperman — Wall Street legend, long-time Goldman Sachs man, founder of Omega Advisors, and proud MBA holder from Columbia — just added to his stake in FOA. And when Leon buys, people pay attention.

📜 Recent filings show:

• May 22, 2025: +51,115 shares @ $21.67

• Aug 27, 2024: +242,297 shares @ $16.10
  Combined, that’s more than $5 million worth of stock scooped up.

This isn’t just dipping a toe. That’s a cannonball splash into a pretty thin float pool. 💦

🧑💼 Quick Leon Backstory (Wall Street’s Rocky Balboa)

• Goldman Sachs (1967–1991): Rose to head of GS Asset Management, co-chair of the investment policy committee, and #1 portfolio strategist in the Institutional Investor survey for 9 straight years. Basically the Michael Jordan of stock strategists. 🏀

• Omega Advisors (1991–2016): Built his own empire, ran billions, and eventually morphed it into a family office.

• Now: Retired-ish, but still making selective (and loud) bets. When Cooperman steps in, he’s not chasing meme stocks; he’s looking for deep value + asymmetric upside.

So when Leon sees FOA as worth buying, the ears of Wall Street perk up like puppies hearing the treat bag crinkle. 🐶💰

🏠 Meet FOA: Finance of America

Founded in 2013 and based in Plano, Texas, FOA is basically a reverse mortgage juggernaut. Think: financial services designed for retirement, with home equity at the center.

What they do best:

• Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) → Reverse mortgages for retirees.

• Non-agency reverse loans (aka not your grandma’s Fannie Mae loan).

• Loan securitization, servicing oversight, risk management — all the behind-the-scenes plumbing of structured finance.

In short: they’re betting that the aging U.S. population + home equity wealth = huge long-term demand. And given demographics (10,000 Americans turn 65 every day), they may have a point. 📈👵👴

🏛 Institutions Chime In

FOA isn’t just Leon’s sandbox. Institutions are well into the game:

• Blackstone Inc. once held over 3.1M shares (exited in early August via repurchase deal with FOA). 🖤

• Omega Advisors (Leon’s family office): 1.27M shares → up 6%.

• Vanguard & BlackRock: Both raised positions, with BlackRock increasing by 771%.

• Morgan Stanley: Up a mind-blowing 2,138% (no, that’s not a typo, even if that's from a small base).

🧾 Translation: This isn’t some micro-cap orphan. Big hands are in the cookie jar. 🍪

For Finance of America Companies (FOA)'s Institutional Ownership breakdown, 🔍 see here

📊 Second Quarter 2025 Highlights

• Earnings per share: $3.16 GAAP, $0.55 adjusted.

• Net income: $80M GAAP, $14M adjusted.

• Funded volume: $602M (+35% YoY).

• Adjusted EBITDA: $30M, double last year’s levels.

• Equity: $473M.

• Big move: Repurchased Blackstone’s entire stake → cutting interest costs, increasing flexibility.

CEO Graham Fleming: “Fifth consecutive quarter of growth… digital initiatives… long-term value.”
Translation: 🐢 slow but steady comeback story.

👉 Want the full picture? Dive into Finance of America Companies (FOA)'s financials here.

⚖️ The Valuation Case

Let’s talk numbers — because Leon doesn’t buy just for fun.

• Market Cap: $289M (tiny).

• P/E (trailing): 3.77 → 🤑 dirt cheap.

• P/E (forward): 6.01 → still cheap.

• Price/Book: 0.89 → under book value.

• Price/Sales: 1.55 → fair-ish.

Compared to broader financial services, FOA is sitting at value-stock territory. Add in the turnaround story and you’ve got what traders love: a speculative rebound with numbers that don’t scream “insanity.”

🏆 Momentum & Technicals

FOA’s chart tells the story:

• Cratered from $110 ATH (May 2021) → down almost 75%.

• Bottomed through 2022–2024, forming a saucer-with-handle setup.

• Now consolidating above $20, eyeing breakouts if earnings keep surprising.

Think of it as Rocky in the later rounds: beaten up, bruised, but starting to land some counterpunches. 🥊

🚧 Risks (Don’t Ignore These)

1. Interest Rate Sensitivity: Rising rates can crush loan demand & margins.

2. Liquidity: Refinancing reliance is risky; a $147M note matures in 2026.

3. High Leverage: Debt-to-equity ratios are still astronomical, even after deleveraging. Fitch recently gave them a “C” rating. (That’s not “Champion.” That’s “Caution.” 🚨).

4. Housing Market: A dip in real estate prices = big problem for reverse mortgage collateral.

5. Competition: Going up against major banks + fintechs.

Bottom line: This is not a widows-and-orphans stock. It’s more like widows-and-reverse-mortgages.

💡💡💡 Curious about another deep oil exploration play?
Check our takes on UnitedHealth Group or even Oscar Health.

📝 Summary & Fun Take

1. Cooperman buying = credibility booster.

2. FOA has clawed back to profitability, but it’s still a debt-heavy, interest-rate-sensitive beast.

3. Valuation is compelling, institutions are involved, and technicals suggest a rebound is possible.

4. Risks are not small — liquidity, debt, and housing market exposure loom large.

🚀 Potential upside: 2–3x if they execute + macro helps.
💀 Downside: If rates stay high + housing wobbles, could re-test lows.

🐕 Final Bark

FOA isn’t glamorous like Nvidia or sexy like Tesla. But Leon Cooperman just doubled down, and when Leon growls, the street listens.

The stock looks like a value play — but it’s a turnaround play with risks as loud as your neighbor’s leaf blower at 7 AM.

📌 Verdict: Speculative, but intriguing. Add it to the watchlist, maybe nibble a starter position — but don’t bet the retirement ranch.

⚠️ Disclaimer:

Just because Leon Cooperman likes it, doesn’t mean you should mortgage your house to buy it.
Always DYOR, hold the FOMO, and don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose.

We laugh, we analyze, we meme. We sell jokes and opinions — and yes, we’re billing your sense of humor. 🎪💸 
We’re not financial advisors. We’re FUNancial advisors. 

Invest at your own risk.

🧭 Want More Like This?

• 🕵️ Insider Purchases Center
• 📣 Follow the Pundits Hub
• 📈 Young Guns & Turnaround Stocks — Track More Growth (and Growing-Pain) Plays
• 😆 Stock Market Humor & Serious-ish Plays
• 🌍 See the world differently and check out more international market picks and fun takes. Explore International Investment Opportunities and value plays 💸 Cheap Stocks with (Maybe) Big Upside
• 🧟 Corporate Resurrection Series — Our special series on companies rising from the financial grave. 🎯 The “Turnaround or Toast” Series (If it still exists. We’re not sure. Ask the intern.)
• 📈 Biotech Bets & Innovation Radar (Problem is we can't detect the Radar)

😂 Laugh, Learn, Invest: funanc1al.com | Funanc1al: Where Even Finance Meets Funny