Icahn Capital Recovering from Last Year’s Setback as it Pushes Towards Green Territory in 2016

#3 CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)

 – Shares Owned by Icahn Capital LP (as of December 31): 71.2 million

 – Value of Holding (as of December 31): $2.8 billion

Icahn Capital initiated a stake in CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) during the final quarter of 2011 and in February 2012 made a bid for the company by offering $30 per share for it. Looking back, it seems the fund was fortunate that the bid failed, since CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)’s stock fell by 32.2% during the first quarter of this year and currently trades at $24.50. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies, which increased its stake in CVR Energy by 353% to 285,000 shares during the fourth quarter, is another fund that has burned its fingers by investing in the company. Despite the slump in its stock, CVR Energy hasn’t yet suspended its dividend, with the $0.50 quarterly payment translating into an attractive annual dividend yield of over 8% currently. For the first quarter, analysts project the company to report a loss of $0.35 per share on revenue of $736.88 million. For the same quarter of the previous year, the company declared EPS of $0.63 on revenue of $1.39 billion.

#2 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

 – Shares Owned by Icahn Capital LP (as of December 31): 45.76 million

 – Value of Holding (as of December 31): $4.8 billion

Icahn Capital had boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 600% to 52.76 million shares during the second quarter of 2014 and kept that position intact until the third quarter of 2015. Though the fund reduced its stake in the company by 14% during the fourth quarter, it was still the largest shareholder of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of December among the funds covered by us. Billionaire David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital also reduced its stake in the company, by 45% to 6.28 million shares, during the same period. Owing largely to the 12.3% rally they saw during March, shares of Apple managed to end the first quarter up by 4.1%. The company recently launched a new 4-inch smartphone, the iPhone SE, targeted at users in emerging countries at an attractive price point of $399. Though it’s still early to gauge the sales performance of the iPhone SE, according to some analysts the phone is not doing as well as Apple expected it to. Nevertheless, Apple’s stock has continued its positive momentum due to an improvement in analysts’ outlook for its fiscal second quarter and the focus of investors shifting from the Phone 6s to the upcoming iPhone 7.

#1 Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP)

 – Shares Owned by Icahn Capital LP (as of December 31): 117.03 million

 – Value of Holding (as of December 31): $7.17 billion

Shares of Mr. Icahn’s publicly-traded investment holding company Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP) made their 52-week low of $42.50 in February, but have appreciated by nearly 44% since then. This is a testament to the point we made at the beginning of this article, that the fund is witnessing a revival in its fortunes. During the fourth quarter, Icahn Capital increased its stake in its founder’s holding company by 3%. On the other hand, another large shareholder of Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP), Murray Stahl‘s Horizon Asset Management, trimmed its holding in the company by 5% to 3.6 million shares. On February 29, Icahn Enterprises LP made an offer to acquire the outstanding shares of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FDML) for $7 per share. According to the company’s latest submitted regulatory filing, it already owns 82% of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FDML). However for the deal to be completed, it will need to be approved by a special committee of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp’s independent directors and by a majority of stockholders who are not affiliated with Icahn Enterprises LP.

Disclosure: None