Bright Spots Were Few and Far Between for Carl Icahn in Q3

Q3 wasn’t awesome for Carl Icahn.

The billionaire’s investment fund posted a -5.3% loss during the period, weighed down by energy bets like Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK), Transocean (NYSE:RIG) and Talisman Energy (NYSE:TLM). Icahn also took hits on consumer picks Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:FDML) and Herbalife (NYSE:HLF). And even new investments Seventy Seven Energy (NYSE:SSE) and Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) underperformed.

There were, however, a few bright spots for Carl Icahn in the third quarter of the year.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) is the top-performing Carl Icahn stock of Q3. The e-commerce giant gained +13.12% from July through September, bouncing back extremely well from what had been a slow start to 2014.

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Icahn initiated a stake in eBay in the first quarter of the year. Quickly after, he undertook an activist campaign for it to spin off PayPal – even taking to Twitter to push his case (17 times in total). In late September, the company announced the split would take place in 2015. Another win for Icahn, indeed.

What’s more, eBay, and iBillionaire Index company, continues to climb. As of market close yesterday, it has gained +4.49% over the past month.

Climbing +9.07% in Q3, American Railcar Industries (NASDAQ:ARII) has been in Icahn’s portfolio for quite some time (he headed the company’s board of directors from 1994 until early July).

ARII has been a solid investment for Carl Icahn all year long. The stock has climbed +49.11% YTD, meaning a $260.65 million gain for the billionaire in 2014 alone.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continues to prove to be one of Carl Icahn’s most outstanding holdings. The tech giant, an iBillionaire Index staple, gained +8.41% during the third quarter. It has climbed +36.87% in 2014, closing the day yesterday priced at $109.70.

Icahn believes Apple can go even higher. In October, he made the argument that the stock should be trading at $203.

And while Icahn Enterprises (NASDAQ:IEP) missed the mark on its earnings for the third quarter, the stock itself performed quite well during the period, posting a +6.16% gain.

Though 2014 hasn’t been the best of years for IEP, which is down -3.67% year-to-date, its long-term prowess is noteworthy. Case in point: the stock has gained +107.71% over the past five years.

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