Carl Icahn Takes Activism to Apple and Tim Cook

Investing

Published: August 13, 2013 2:38 pm

Last Updated: August 13, 2013 2:42 pm

Billionaire and activist investor Carl Icahn has most recently been known for his ant-Dell stance in the Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) transaction, and he has been known for his position in both Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) and even Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX). Now it turns out that Carl Icahn has built up a position in none other than Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Carl Icahn has decided that he wants to communicate messages on Twitter now. On his Twitter account (@Carl_C_Icahn) he said in two different posts of 140 characters or less:

“We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come…. Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly.”

What is interesting is that other activists have gone after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) as well. Right now Wall Street believes that Carl Icahn has the so-called Midas Touch. Apple shares are now up over 3% at $481.89 and that is now nearly $100 over the 52-week low now. Be advised that every 1% up or down in the stock price at this point is an equivalent of close to $4.4 billion in market capitalization.

We just recently opined on our own that Apple is one of 12 companies that need to go ahead and have a stock split. The company already has a buyback authorization, and now we have more details of its product refresh cycle coming in September.

Now we just all have to be patient and see if Carl Icahn can force the largest company by market cap into generating more value for its shareholders. Maybe Mr. Icahn can force Tim Cook to suddenly morph into Steve Jobs. Or maybe not.

For whatever this is worth, Carl Icahn’s Twitter page says: ” Some people get rich studying artificial intelligence. Me, I make money studying natural stupidity.”

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