The topic of short selling, and Hindenburg Research in particular, appears to be a sore spot for Carl Icahn, Chairman of Icahn Enterprises (NASDAQ: IEP). After the company posted a net loss of $269 million for the second quarter, Icahn blamed much of the decline on Hindenburg itself.
“I believe the second quarter partially reflected the impact of short-selling on companies we control or invest in, which I attribute to the misleading and self-serving Hindenburg report concerning our company. It also reflected the size of the hedge book relative to our activist strategy,” commented Icahn in the opening paragraph to the firms earnings.
The short report issued by Hindenburg in May appears to have resulted in change at the company as well, with Icahn indicating he has entered into a three year term loan agreement with personal lenders to “diffuse the effects” of the report.
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Despite this, the company was forced to slash its dividend by 50% to that of $1.00 per depository unit, down from the prior $2.00, while cutting the annual yield to 12%. Investors have been quick to respond to the cut in early morning trading, with the equity currently down nearly 31% pre-market.
Given the response expected by such a cut, in a separate letter issued this morning Icahn highlighted the return that IEP has provided since January 2000.
“Let us look at the results if you purchased our IEP depositary units in January 2000 for $7.63 per unit. If you reinvested all distributions in additional IEP depositary units and sold the units on July 31, 2023, you would have had a 1,623% cumulative increase, which translates to an annualized return of 13%,” stated Icahn.
And after having personally felt the impact of shorting, IEP has indicated that it has reduced its hedges (short positions) while stating that it will “focus on [their] activist strategy while remaining appropriately hedged.” The change is said to be a result of the firms returns being “overwhelmed by [their] overly bearish view of the market.”
Icahn Enterprises saw Q2 revenues of $2.5 billion, and a loss of $269 million, or $0.72 per share, versus Q2 2022 revenues of $3.5 billion and a loss of $128 million, or $0.41 per share. Adjusted EBITDA also declined, hitting just $34 million, versus $126 million in the year ago period.
The quarter also saw indicative net asset value decrease by $621 million when compared to the start of the fiscal year.
Icahn Enterprises last traded at $32.68.
Information for this briefing was found via EDGAR, Hindenburg Research, and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
