He also sold 12.8 million shares in Freeport McMoRan - Here’s How CarlIcahn’s Portfolio Is Changing BillionaireCarl Icahn has been busy buying and selling stocks, and his status as one ofthe country’s best investors makes his portfolio moves must-know news. Todd Campbell (TMFEBCapital)Mar 15, 2017 at 5:20PM Activist investor Carl Icahn is famousfor making big bets on companies, and then arm-wrestling their executives intoembracing shareholder friendly behaviors. Currently, Icahn owns stakes in 19businesses that are valued at nearly $20 billion, and while there's noguarantee he'll successfully convince all those companies to pay dividends,divest non-core assets, or sell themselves lock stock and barrel, I wouldn'tbet against him. WhatCarl Icahn owns His biggest position is in his own Icahn Enterprises(NASDAQ:IEP), aconglomerate that owns companies across the automotive, energy, and miningsectors. Its holdings include 100% of the auto parts retailer Pep Boys, 82% of CVR Energy, and 100%of the iron ore company Ferrous Resources. Inaddition to Icahn Enterprises, he also owns shares in the 18 other companiesincluded in the following table. Company Shares Value ICAHN ENTERPRISES 129,999,050 $6,839,250,000AMERICAN INTL GROUP 45,644,982 $2,883,850,000CHENIERE ENERGY 32,680,490 $1,501,995,000CVR ENERGY 71,198,718 $1,494,461,000PAYPAL HOLDINGS 33,397,153 $1,422,385,000HERBALIFE 22,500,000 $1,207,575,000FREEPORT-MCMORAN 91,236,296 $1,145,928,000XEROX 99,030,026 $723,909,000HERTZ GLOBAL HOLDINGS 29,263,869 $627,710,000 AMERICAN RAILCAR INDS 11,871,268 $460,843,000NAVISTAR INTL 16,272,524 $430,571,000CONDUENT 19,806,005 $314,321,000NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS 18,378,097 $314,082,000HERC HOLDINGS 4,312,860 $202,359,000WELBILT 10,582,660 $201,282,000ALLERGAN 425,438 $102,382,000SOURCE: NASDAQ.COM What’sbeen changing? Icahn's hands-on style means that hetends to own his stakes for a while, so it's probably not too surprising thatno new names showed up in his portfolio in the fourth quarter. However, that doesn't mean he was sittingon his hands into year end. He added shares to three holdings and he sold offshares in four companies. He bought 2.9 million more shares inIcahn Enterprises, bringing his total to 129,999,050 shares. He also bumped uphis exposure to supplements seller Herbalife(NYSE:HLF) and rental-cargiant Hertz(NYSE:HTZ). Icahn now owns 22.5 million shares inHerbalife, or about 25% of all shares outstanding, and his stake in Hertzsoared 16.3 million shares to 29.3 million shares, up 126%. His position inHerbalife increased 14.7% ahead of the launch of Betting On Zero, a documentaryoutlining hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman's bear thesis that Herbalife isnothing more than a pyramid scheme. Last summer, Herbalife paid a $200 millionfine and agreed to restructure its business following a FTC investigation intoits practices. Clearly, Icahn disagrees with Ackman'sassertion that Herbalife's days are numbered. In fact, he's so convinced thatHerbalife shorts are wrong that he bought an additional 372,342 shares in thecompany earlier this year, according to SEC filings. Icahn's purchase of additional shares inHertz suggests he's optimistic that new CEO Kathryn Marinello will be asuccess. In December, Icahn applauded the selection of Marinello, who isformerly a senior advisor to Ares Capital and a member of General Motors boardof directors. She's got a lot of experience, including multiple stints as CEO,but she has obstacles to overcome at Hertz. The company has fallen behind inits business restructuring, and that's contributed to its failing to meetindustry watchers expectations in each of the past two quarters. On the other side of the ledger, Icahnreduced his position in PayPal,the next-generation payments processor, by 500,000 shares. Icahn became aPayPal shareholder when he convinced eBay tospin PayPal off in 2015. Although he took a little off the table, he still owns33.4 million shares, and that means he's PayPal's fifth biggest institutionalowner. He also sold 12.8 million shares in Freeport McMoRan,a global copper, oil, and gold giant. Nevertheless, he remains FreeportMcMoRan's third-largest institutional owner with 91.2 million shares. Andalthough Icahn also remains one of the largest owners of speech recognitionsoftware company Nuance,he sold 1.3 million shares of it last quarter too. What’snext in 2017? Carl Icahn's reportedly been buyingshares in Bristol-MyersSquibb (NYSE:BMY),a major biopharm drugmaker that's lost $30 billion in market cap since lastsummer. Icahn's got a history of success investing in drugmakers, but he's sofar kept mum about his intentions for Bristol-Myers Squibb. Icahn is serving as a special advisor toPresident Trump on matters of deregulation, and under the new administration,there are bound to be a lot of intriguing investment opportunities this yeartied to tax reform, healthcare, and infrastructure spending for Icahn toconsider. ToddCampbellowns shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold and PayPal Holdings.
[GELORA45] Here’s How Carl Icahn’s Portfolio Is Changing
ajeg [email protected] [GELORA45] Thu, 16 Mar 2017 11:13:14 -0700
