All Aboard as Icahn Climbs on Freight Trains
10/30/07 - 11:24 AM EDT
James Altucher
Carl Icahn is one of my favorite activist investors, and because he gets results well above the industry average, piggybacking his holdings is a lucrative offer for both individual and institutional investors. At Stockpickr.com we track Carl Icahn like a hawk, updating the portfolio every chance we can get.
As an activist investor, Icahn is not afraid to take large long-term positions in stocks that are both under-managed and undervalued. Icahn indirectly creates value for shareholders, something current management often cannot do for a number of reasons. Here is one of Icahn's most famous quotes that define his feelings regarding the job of CEO. "The CEO is the fraternity brother type who is great to have a drink with. He's a survivor and maybe not all that smart, but he works his way up the ladder in the corporation. And if you're a survivor, you never have someone beneath you who's smarter than you. So you eventually work your way to CEO. You have someone a little dumber than you underneath, and eventually we'll have morons running everything ... which we're getting closer to." Icahn has been in the news recently for his large stake in BEA Systems(BEAS Quote - Cramer on BEAS - Stock Picks), which just received a hostile bid at $17 a share from Oracle(ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks). Icahn has been calling on BEAS to put itself up for sale for some time now, and if investors bought on Icahn's recommendation, the trade would have netted a 45% return.
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