Should I Invest in the Uber IPO?

Investors are asking, "Should I invest in the Uber IPO?" now that new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is pushing his company to go public as soon as possible...

Khosrowshahi is being optimistic and wants an Uber IPO date set for as early as 2019.

should I invest in the Uber IPO?

But there are still many challenges facing the ride-hailing company before an official Uber IPO date is set.

Not only does Khosrowshahi have to completely change Uber's culture, he's also tasking himself with making Uber profitable before Uber goes public.

Here's everything you need to know about the challenges the new Uber CEO is facing and what it means for retail investors who want to buy Uber stock...

Scandals Will Delay the Uber IPO

Uber has been in the news throughout 2017 for all the wrong reasons.

From deceiving regulators to claims of company-wide sexual harassment, scandal after scandal has sidetracked the company from going public.

Energy Breakthrough: One gallon of this new "crystal fuel" could get you from New York to L.A. and back... seven times! Read more...

The bad news continued right before Uber hired Khosrowshahi as CEO at the end of August. Uber had knowingly leased unsafe cars to its drivers in Singapore, according to an Aug. 4 NPR report.

One of the cars caught on fire and melted the interior while a driver was in the car. Fortunately, the driver was unharmed.

But overcoming scandals isn't the only roadblock in the way of the Uber IPO. Khosrowshahi wants to make the company profitable before the Uber IPO date is set. He has a long way to go, as the company lost $2.8 billion in 2016.

Video

Who Is Dara Khosrowshahi?

And Uber is on track to lose $2.7 billion in 2017.

But if Khosrowshahi can lead Uber past its scandals and make it profitable, is this an IPO you should invest in?

Here's the answer, plus a way to make money before the Uber IPO date that you can't afford to miss...

How You Can Profit Ahead of the Uber IPO

[mmpazkzone name="in-story" network="9794" site="307044" id="137008" type="4"]

As Uber grows, it will need more office space.

And because Uber's headquarters are in San Francisco, it will need to pay a lot of money to rent properties in the city and expand its campus.

According to Investopedia, San Francisco is the second most expensive city in the United States, with the average home costing $820,000 inside the city. That also means business space comes at a premium.

That creates a backdoor strategy for making money from the ride-hailing app without owning a single share of Uber stock. This strategy involves a lot less risk, because you'll avoid the volatile price swings that accompany public offerings.

Through extensive research, we found a real estate investment trust (REIT) that leases space to Uber.

In 2013, Uber signed a lease with Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. (NYSE: HPP) for an 88,134-square-foot space in San Francisco. The ride-hailing app grew so fast that it leased another 130,434 square feet in 2014 at the San Francisco location, according to BizJournals.com.

If Uber wants to create a campus like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) or Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) after a successful IPO, it could lease one of Hudson's other San Francisco properties, Rincon Center, which has over 580,000 square feet.

Uber is also locked into that lease until 2024, which means seven more years of revenue from just one business. Uber accounts for 3.2% of Hudson Pacific's revenue, according to FactSet.

Hudson also has another huge tech client, Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), which just signed a lease for a 91,000-square-foot space in January.

And that solid revenue stream has analysts bullish on HPP stock...

Of the analysts who cover HPP, 75% recommend it as a "Buy" or "Overweight" in October. On Aug. 3, brokerage firm D.A. Davidson & Co. placed a "Buy" rating on HPP with a one-year price target of $43.00.

From today's opening price of $33.91 per share, that's a potential profit of 26.80%. On top of that, HPP also pays its shareholders a dividend of $0.25, which is a yield of 2.95%.

Up Next: One gallon of this new "crystal fuel" could get you from New York to L.A. and back... seven times! Being hailed by many experts as energy's "Holy Grail," it's 1,693 times more powerful than the gasoline that runs your car. The mainstream investment media isn't even talking about it yet. Read more...

Follow Money Morning on FacebookTwitter, and LinkedIn.