Beaten-up
Icahn Enterprises
stock jumped Friday in the face of a surprise third-quarter loss after the holding company held steady its distribution, a reassuring move for shareholders after the company cut the quarterly dividend in half last quarter.
Icahn Enterprises
(ticker: IEP) reported a loss of 1 cent a share in the third quarter on revenue of $3 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected the company, helmed by famed activist investor Carl Icahn, to post profit of 34 cents a share on revenue of $2.7 billion.
An earnings miss and a revenue beat—but that’s not the big news.
After halving its quarterly distribution to $1 from $2 in the last quarter, the company has affirmed that it will hold the $1 dividend steady. Investors are likely breathing a sigh of relief, with shares in the company advancing 14% on Friday.
Shares in Icahn Enterprises are in the midst of a tough stretch, with the company shedding two-thirds of its market value this year. Significant losses in early May came on the back of allegations against the company published by a short-seller, a type of trader that bets against a company’s stock price.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
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