Icahn Enterprises Year in Purgatory
Carl Icahn is far from infallible. His foray into WCI Communities left me questioning my own judgment, but sometimes you can win taking the opposite side of the big boys.
Hopefully Carl's son did not put him into that stock, but whatever analyst did deserves to be fired. Add up Carl's losers, and all of a sudden you are talking real money. Fortuantely he hedged via S&P puts, which was the best move he made, but is having a tough year:
The Far Rockaway, Queens native's hedge funds are suffering their first losses since the 72-year-old opened them in 2004. The losing streak, which started midway through 2007, is expected to continue when Icahn Enterprises, the publicly-traded holding company for his hedge funds and other investments, reports earnings on Tuesday.
Shares of Icahn Enterprises, which include the hedge funds and other businesses, have plummeted nearly 50 percent this year as investors have backed away from their initial enthusiasm for the activist investor. His funds were up about 2 percent last month, but are down roughly 6 percent for the year, according to investors.
His biggest loss has been on his Motorola investment, which is down nearly 30 percent since he first got involved with the company in February.
Sources said the funds would have been down much more except that Icahn, who's been bearish on the overall market, hedged most of his positions by shorting the S&P 500 and betting against some high-yield bond indexes. New York Post
I am not looking for Carl to blog about his earnings report, although it might help improve his traffic. Carl might be a billionaire, but he can’t twist your arm and make you visit his site.
Although, truth be told, he is pulling better numbers than this site.
Carl is probably hanging in the Hamptons on a staycation at least part of the month, but might want to roll his sleeves up and get back to work after Labor Day.
With activists picking over the bargain bin, a chart like this is likely to attract some unwanted attention.
CBS ran Carl’s 60 Minutes piece again last night, it is 13 mintues long if you have the time. To be honest, Carl seems like my kind of guy. Little pretense, and he likes to work.
What you see is what you get, and he seems to have a good sense of humor too…
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Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP-NYSE) one year chart
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ICAHN’T WIN THEM ALL
New York Post
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The content contained represent the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author. No Position
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