Carl Icahn has been a major shareholder of Apple for some time now. Moreover, he has been critical of management at times, and managed to berate them into $57 billion in stock buybacks just in the last year.
Icahn has changed his tune and become much more of vocal Apple advocate over the last few months as the shares of the newly-split stock soar. Today he’s excited about the Apple Watch and Apple Car, and says the stock is still undervalued
“I look forward to wearing the watch in the very near future and possibly driving the car in the more distant future,” Icahn, one of Apple’s largest and most well-known investors, told Icahn Enterprises shareholders on Friday.
More on Apple Car
As he noted in a recent shareholder letter, Icahn is revved up about Apple and the idea of an Apple Car. Icahn is clearly excited about the possibility of an Apple Car, but that’s still a bit up in the air as Apple has not publicly admitted it’s working on a car business.
However, earlier this month there were reports indicating that the iPhone maker had hired several hundred employees for an electric vehicle-related project. Furthermore, a lawsuit filed a few weeks ago alleges that Apple is unfairly luring away battery engineers from A123 Systems.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also publicly admitted he met with Apple’s acquisitions chief late in 2014, although he wouldn’t divulge what was discussed.
Related to this, Apple has recently hired a former Mercedes-Benz exec and there have been multiple sightings of a mysterious equipment-loaded van that was was leased to Apple all across the country.
Icahn bullish on Apple Watch
Billionaire Icahn is also extremely bullish about the Apple Watch, of which new details will be released soon at a “special” event on March 9.
Icahn recently said the new watch and accessories would generate an eye-popping $75 billion in annual sales by the fiscal year ending in September 2017.
This kind of mega-optimism about Apple’s product pipeline is the main reason Icahn thinks Apple is worth $216 a share, or close to 67% above its price today.
