Carl Icahn
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Best Investments 2013: How the Mining Mess Will Send Platinum Soaring
Thanks to the hit gold prices took in mid-April, other precious metals also got caught in the downdraft - but some still look to be among the best investments of 2013.
Take platinum, for example.
It is currently trading at about $1,500 an ounce, well off its 52-week high of $1,734 an ounce. During the height of the selloff last month, it touched a low of $1,381 an ounce.
Investors sold it along with all other precious metals, even though the fundamentals for platinum may be better than ever.
While platinum's long-term outlook is bright, a short-term price catalyst is about to take place, as early as this week.
The world's biggest platinum producer, ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats), could take a significant amount of platinum off the market. The restructuring could cost 14,000 jobs and close two South African mines.
It'll also help drive a supply deficit that will only expand in the years ahead, making platinum one of the best investments to make now before prices soar.
No wonder Sprott Holdings' Rick Rule bought $280 million worth of platinum and palladium earlier this year...
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Best Investments: How These Investors Got 20% Annual Gains for a Decade
When billionaire and corporate raider Carl Icahn gets involved in a stock, the share price often skyrockets - known as the "Icahn Effect," or "Icahn Lift."
The activist investor's recent involvement in Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) and Transocean Ltd (NYSE: RIG) have propelled shares higher.
That's why investors often follow his lead into these stocks, hoping to get a piece of the resulting gains.
But there's another way to profit from Icahn's investing prowess. Investors who took this route have scored 20% annual gains for a decade.
We're talking about investing in Icahn's $6 billion master limited partnership, Icahn Enterprises LP (NYSE: IEP).
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Will Carl Icahn's Latest Move Push Dell Stock Even Higher?
In a move that potentially staves off a battle over Dell Inc.'s (Nasdaq: DELL) $24.4 billion proposed deal to go private, activist investor Carl Icahn said today (Monday) he signed a confidentiality agreement with the personal computer giant.
Icahn's firm issued a short statement saying it "looks forward" to reviewing Dell's confidential financial info. The company hopes the move will keep Icahn from speaking out against Dell's planned sale.
In a letter to Dell last week, Icahn warned that Dell's insistence in moving forward with the $24.4 billion, $13.65 a share buyout would result in a costly, lengthy legal battle.
Icahn, who according to CNBC has amassed a 6% stake - or roughly 100 million shares - in Dell, opposes the proposed buyout of the Texas-based company that is being orchestrated by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners.
"The Going Private Transaction is a related party transaction with the largest shareholder of the company and advantaging existing management as well, and as such it will be a subject to intense judicial review and potential challenges by shareholder and strike suitors," Icahn wrote.
"But you have the opportunity to avoid this situation by following the fair and reasonable path set forth in the letter," Icahn continued.
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Watch What Carl Icahn Does to These Energy Stocks
Energy stocks have been largely left behind in the recent stock market rally - except for those with interest from activist investors like Carl Icahn.
You see, concerns about global demand as well as political pressure to focus on alternative energy have weighed on energy stocks. So have the low price and oversupply conditions in the natural gas markets.
Many of these energy stocks trade at what seem to be very low prices compared with the assets owned by the corporations and their future prospects.
This has attracted the attention of many activist investors looking to force the share price to unlock the real value of the underlying corporation.
One of the best-known activist investors, Carl Icahn, has accumulated several positions in leading energy companies in the past year because of low prices and under-valuations.
Take, for example, what Icahn's done with CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVI).
Icahn owns 83% of CVR, a refiner that has seen its stock price soar recently as refining margins have improved. The company also has a fertilizer business that is a major beneficiary of lower natural gas prices.
The stock has better than doubled in the past year so it would be foolish for investors to chase the shares now.
But CVR does serve as an example of the sizable returns Icahn is looking to achieve in his foray into additional energy investments, like the following two stocks he's been accumulating.
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Do You Own This Carl Icahn Stock?
Back in the 1980s, corporate raider Carl Icahn was routinely vilified by CEOs and worshipped (most of the time) by investors. The mere mention of his name in association with a specific company was usually good for a 15% or 20% pop in that company's stock price.
Thirty years have passed, and Icahn is now 76 years old. And he's apparently no longer a "corporate raider." In the careful, politically correct climate of the present, Icahn is now referred to as an "activist investor."
Call him what you want ... but the bottom line is that the Icahn name still has a King Midas-like cachet.
And what happened last week proves it.
Indeed, shares of Private Briefing recommendation American Railcar Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: ARII) soared as much as 19% last Tuesday after investors speculated Icahn might be crafting a merger plan that involves the railroad-car manufacturer.
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Bondholders the Big Winners as CIT Files for Bankruptcy
CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. CIT's filing is the fifth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, behind Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ), Washington Mutual Inc. (OTC: WAMUQ), WorldCom Inc., and General Motors Corp.
But unlike Lehman Bros. and Washington Mutual, which were completely broken apart and branches of their businesses sold off, CIT expects to wipe out $10 billion in unsecured debt and emerge from its bankruptcy with its core business intact.
"None of CIT's operating subsidiaries, including CIT bank, will be included in the filings," the company said in a statement. "As a result, all operating entities are expected to continue normal operations during the pendency cases." -
Investment News Briefs
With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world. More Insider Trading Arrests Coming; Icahn Offers CIT Bailout; Oil Pushes $80; Treasury Steps In To Support HFAs; N.Y. Times to Cut 100 Newsroom Jobs; Hasbro Shares Fall Amid Soft [...]
