Updated on November 22nd, 2023 by Nikolaos Sismanis
To invest in great businesses, you have to find them first. Carl Icahn is an expert at this, with an equity investment portfolio worth more than $12 billion, as of the end of the 2023 third quarter.
Carl Icahn’s portfolio is filled with quality stocks. You can ‘cheat’ from Carl Icahn stocks to find picks for your portfolio. That’s because institutional investors are required to periodically show their holdings in a 13F filing.
You can see all 13 Carl Icahn stocks (along with relevant financial metrics like dividend yields and price-to-earnings ratios) by clicking on the link below:
Notes: 13F filing performance is different than fund performance. See how we calculate 13F filing performance here.
This article analyzes Carl Icahn’s 13 stocks based on the information disclosed in his Q3 2023 13F filing.
Table of Contents
You can skip to a specific section with the table of contents below. Stocks are listed by percentage of the total portfolio, from highest to lowest.
- Carl Icahn & Dividend Stocks
- #1: Icahn Enterprises LP (IEP)
- #2: CVR Energy Inc. (CVI)
- #3: Southwest Gas Holdings (SWX)
- #4: FirstEnergy Corp. (FE)
- #5: Bausch Health Companies (BHC)
- #6: Dana Incorporated (DAN)
- #7: Conduent Inc. (CNDT)
- #8: Crown Holdings (CCK)
- #9: Sandridge Energy (SD)
- #10: Bausch & Lomb Corporation (BLCO)
- #11: International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)
- #12: Newell Brands (NWL)
- #13: Illumina, Inc. (ILMN)
- Final Thoughts
Carl Icahn & Dividend Stocks
Carl Icahn has grown his wealth by investing in and acquiring businesses with strong competitive advantages trading at fair or better prices.
Most investors know Carl Icahn looks for attractive stocks, but few know the degree to which he invests in dividend stocks:
- 10 out of the 13 Carl Icahn stocks pay dividends
- His top 5 holdings have an average dividend yield of 7.6% (and make up 94% of his portfolio)
- His investment firm, Icahn Enterprises, is structured as an MLP and pays its investors a massive double-digit yield.
Keep reading this article to see Carl Icahn’s 13 stock selections analyzed in greater detail.
#1: Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP)
Dividend Yield: 24.2%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 61.8%
Icahn Enterprises L.P. operates in investment, energy, automotive, food packaging, metals, real estate, and home fashion businesses in the United States and Internationally. The company’s Investment segment focuses on finding undervalued companies to allocate capital through its various private investment funds.
Source: Investor Presentation
Carl Icahn owns 100% of Icahn Enterprises GP, the general partner of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings, and approximately 89% of Icahn Enterprises’ outstanding shares.
On August 4th, 2023, Icahn Enterprises slashed its distribution by 50% to a quarterly rate of $1.00.
On November 3rd, 2023, the partnership reported its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2023. For the quarter, revenues came in at $3.0 billion, 12% lower year-over-year, while the loss per unit was $0.01, versus a loss per unit of $0.37 in Q3-2022. Lower revenues were due to Icahn’s investments recording weaker results compared to last year.
The company employs a complex accounting method by realizing revenues through its investment funds, not its subsidiaries’ actual sales. Consequently, the company posts net losses in operating activities and only profits from its “investment activities” segment of its cash flows.
The company does not specifically report investment income per share. The partnership’s distribution cut may have proven Hindenburg’s earlier short report, which argued that the stock is trading at an “inflated” valuation against NAV, to be right.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on IEP (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
#2: CVR Energy Inc. (CVI)
Dividend Yield: 6.3%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 19.4%
CVR Energy is a diversified holding company primarily engaged in the renewable fuels and petroleum refining and marketing businesses, as well as in the nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing business through its interest in CVR Partners, LP. CVR Energy subsidiaries serve as the general partner and own 37% of the common units of CVR Partners.
Source: Investor Presentation
For Q3, the company reported net income of $353 million, or $3.51 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.5 billion for the third quarter of 2023, compared to net income of $93 million, or 92 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $2.7 billion for the third quarter of 2022.
Adjusted earnings for the third quarter of 2023 were $1.89 per diluted share compared to adjusted earnings of $1.90 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2022.
hird quarter 2023 EBITDA was $530 million, compared to the third quarter 2022 EBITDA of $181 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2023 was $313 million, stable year-over-year.
#3: Southwest Gas Holdings (SWX)
Dividend Yield: 4.2%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 6.1%
Southwest Gas Holdings Inc. is a holding company that operates in two business segments: Natural Gas Operations and Utility Infrastructure Services. The Natural Gas business, Southwest Gas Corp., purchases, distributes, and transports natural gas in Arizona, California, and Nevada and serves over 2 million customers.
The corporation also owns and operates an interstate pipeline through its subsidiary, Paiute Pipeline Company. Paiute also runs a peak-shaving LNG storage facility. The Utility business, Centuri Group Inc., delivers a multitude of energy solutions to North America’s gas and electric providers. Centuri operates across the U.S. and Canada.
Source: Investor Presentation
On February 14th, 2023, SouthWest completed the sale of MountainWest and used the proceeds to reduce debt. Furthermore, Southwest Gas is actively pursuing the spin-off of Centuri, its fully owned subsidiary, to create a new independent publicly traded utility infrastructure services company. The spin-off is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.
Southwest Gas Holdings reported third quarter 2023 results on November 8th, 2023, for the period ending September 30th, 2023. SWX reported diluted earnings per share of $0.04 for Q3 compared to ($0.18) per share in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted EPS soared to $0.10 from a loss of ($0.05) a year ago.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on SWX (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
#4: FirstEnergy Corp. (FE)
Dividend Yield: 4.42%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 4.7%
FirstEnergy Corp, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. It owns and manages hydroelectric, coal-fired, nuclear, and natural gas, as well as renewable power generating facilities.
Its ten electric distribution companies form one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland, and New York. The $21.4 billion company serves approximately six million customers.
Source: Investor Presentation
On September 26th, FirstEnergy resumed its dividend growth, raising its dividend by 5.1% to a quarterly rate of $0.41.
On October 26th, 2023, FirstEnergy announced its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2023. For the quarter, revenues came in at $3.50 billion, flat year-over-year, while adjusted EPS totaled $0.88, compared to $0.79 last year.
Revenues benefited from higher weather-adjusted sales to residential and commercial customers of 2.3% and 1.2%, respectively. The company also reported rate base increases of more than 8% in its regulated transmission business. However, these increases were offset by normal distribution deliveries falling by 1.7%.
Management narrowed its FY2023 outlook, which projects adjusted EPS between $2.49 and $2.59.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on FE (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
#5: Bausch Health Companies (BHC)
Dividend Yield: N/A (Bausch Health does not currently pay a quarterly dividend)
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 2.1%
Bausch Health Companies was formerly known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals and changed its name to Bausch Health Companies Inc. in July 2018. Bausch Health manufactures and markets a range of pharmaceutical, medical device, and over-the-counter (OTC) products, primarily in the therapeutic areas of eye health, gastroenterology, and dermatology.
The company operates through five segments: Salix, International, Solta Medical, Diversified Products, and Bausch + Lomb. The Salix segment provides gastroenterology products in the U.S., while the International segment offers Solta products, branded and generic pharmaceutical products, OTC products, medical device products, and Bausch + Lomb products in Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
The Solta Medical segment offers medical devices. The Diversified Products segment offers pharmaceutical products in the areas of neurology and other therapeutic classes, as well as generic, dermatological, and dentistry products in the United States.
Lastly, the Bausch + Lomb segment offers products with a focus on vision care and surgical and ophthalmic pharmaceutical products.
#6: Dana Inc. (DAN)
Dividend Yield: 3.1%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 1.7%
Dana Incorporated provides power-conveyance and energy-management solutions for vehicles and machinery in North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in four segments: Light Vehicle Drive Systems, Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems, Off-Highway Drive and Motion Systems, and Power Technologies.
Sales for the third quarter of 2023 totaled $2.67 billion, compared with $2.54 billion in the same period of 2022, representing a $134 million increase driven by higher market demand, cost-recovery actions, and conversion of our sales backlog partially offset by the lower demand due to the UAW strike at two of our key customers.
Source: Investor Presentation
Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2023 was $242 million, compared with $192 million for the same period in 2022. The 150 basis points of margin improvement in the third quarter of 2023 was primarily driven by higher sales volume and beneficial mix, net customer pricing and recovery actions, improved customer order patterns driving higher manufacturing efficiency, and lower net commodity costs.
These improvements were partially offset by continued inflationary cost pressures.
#7: Conduent Inc. (CNDT)
Dividend Yield: N/A (Conduent does not currently pay a quarterly dividend)
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.9%
Conduent delivers technology-led business process solutions for businesses and governments globally. Conduent’s solutions and services digitally transform its clients’ operations, including delivering 43% of nutrition assistance payments in the U.S., enabling 1.3 billion customer service interactions annually.
Revenue for Q3 2023 was $932 million as compared to $977 million in Q3 2022, down 12.4% year-over-year or 6.7% in constant currency. This was due to a strong quarter in the company’s government segment, offset by milestone timing and transportation.
Adjusted EBITDA was $92 million for the quarter as compared to $105 million in Q3, 2022, and the adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.9% was down 80 basis points year-over-year as compared to Q3, 2022. This was in line with management’s expectations.
#8: Crown Holdings, Inc. (CCK)
Dividend Yield: 1.2%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.8%
Crown Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, supplies rigid packaging products in Pennsylvania and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments.
Net sales in the third quarter were $3,069 million compared to $3,259 million in the third quarter of 2022, reflecting higher beverage can volumes in North America and favorable foreign currency translation of $60 million, offset by lower volumes across most other businesses and the pass-through of $187 million in lower material costs.
Income from operations was $374 million in the third quarter compared to $297 million in the third quarter of 2022. Segment income in the third quarter of 2023 was $430 million compared to $336 million in the prior year’s third quarter.
The growth in Income from Operations reflects the benefits from higher beverage can volumes in North America, the contractual recovery of prior years’ inflationary cost increases in Europe, and the successful implementation of cost reduction programs in Transit Packaging.
#9: Sandridge Energy Inc. (SD)
Dividend Yield: 2.7%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.7%
SandRidge Energy, Inc. engages in the acquisition, development, and production of oil and natural gas, primarily in the United States Mid-Continent. As of its latest filings, it had an interest in 1,471 gross-producing wells.
On July 11, 2023, the Company closed an acquisition that increased the Company’s working interest in twenty-six wells operated by SandRidge within the Northwest Stack play for approximately $11.3 million, with an effective date of April 1, 2023. The average net production associated with the acquired interests for the first quarter of 2023 was approximately 500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (~30% oil)
Source: Investor Presentation
Sandridge generated approximately $ 63.6 million in free cash flow during the first six months of 2023, which represents a conversion rate of approximately 85% relative to adjusted EBITDA.
#10: Bausch & Lomb Corporation (BLCO)
Dividend Yield: N/A
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.5%
Bausch + Lomb Corporation operates as an eye health company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Vision Care, Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals, and Surgical. The Vision Care segment provides contact lenses and contact lens care products.
The Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals segment offers proprietary and generic pharmaceutical products for post-operative treatments, as well as for the treatment of eye conditions such as glaucoma and retinal diseases.
The Surgical segment provides medical device equipment, consumables, and technologies. Bausch + Lomb Corporation was spun off from Bausch Health Companies.
#11: International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)
Dividend Yield: 4.4%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.4%
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. is a global manufacturer and seller of flavors and fragrances. The company has made two large acquisitions, Frutarom (2018) and DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences, in a short period. IFF now reports four segments: Nourish (~53% of revenue), Health & Biosciences (~17% of revenue), Scent (~23% of revenue), and Pharma Solutions (~7% of revenue).
The company sells flavors, scents, fragrances, enzymes & cultures, and binders & polymers globally for cosmetics, detergents, soaps, perfumes, prepared foods, beverages, dairy, pharmaceuticals, confectioners, and more. In 2022, revenue was $12.4B pro forma.
Source: Investor Presentation
IFF reported Q2 2023 results on August 7th, 2023. Companywide net sales were down (-11%) to $2,929M from $3,307M and adjusted diluted earnings per share decreased to $0.86 from $1.54 on a year-over-year basis, impacted by divestitures, foreign exchange headwinds, lower volumes because of destocking, and lower margins, offset by price increases. Diluted GAAP earnings per share declined to $0.11 from $0.43 because of lower sales and margins.
Nourish sales decreased (9%) to $1,564M from $1,818 due to significant declines in Ingredients, despite higher prices. Health and bioscience sales fell (3%) to $522M from $665M after accounting for divestitures with growth in Cultures and food Enzymes, Grain, and Home and Personal Care offset weakness in Health.
Scent sales increased +5% to $592M from $580M led by double-digit growth in Consumer Fragrances and growth in Fine Fragrances. Pharma Solutions sales increased +3% to $251M from $244M led by growth in Core Pharma.
IFF divested the Microbial Control, Food Preparations, Savory Solutions, and Flavor Specialty Ingredients businesses. However, the company is exploring further strategic actions for the Cosmetic Ingredients and Lucas Meyer Cosmetics units.
IFF lowered revenue guidance to $11.3B – $11.6B in 2023 and adjusted operating EBITDA to $1.85B – $2.0B
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on IFF (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
#12: Newell Brands (NWL)
Dividend Yield: 3.7%
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.4%
Newell has transformed itself into a consumer brands powerhouse with large acquisitions, such as its merger with Jarden as well as its purchase of Sistema. The company’s annual revenue is over $8 billion, and it has a diversified product portfolio.
Source: Investor Presentation
Newell posted third-quarter earnings on October 27th, 2023, and results were somewhat mixed once again, as we’ve become accustomed to from the constantly-transitioning company. Adjusted earnings-per-share came to 39 cents, which was an impressive 16 cents better than expected.
Revenue, however, was off 9.3% year-over-year to $2.04 billion and was $80 million light of estimates. Core sales declined 9.2%, and the company saw a slight headwind from category exits, as well as a small tailwind from forex exchange.
Adjusted gross margin was 31.3% of revenue, up from 29.6% a year ago. The company saw benefits from its cost-saving and productivity program, as well as higher realized selling prices. That helped offset fixed cost deleveraging, as well as higher restructuring charges.
Adjusted operating income was $167 million, or 8.2% of sales. This was lower than $234 million, or 10.4% of revenue, a year ago. Newell continues to struggle mightily when it comes to generating both revenue and margins, and projected earnings of just 75 cents per share for this year will be the lowest in more than a decade for Newell.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Newell (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
#13: Illumina, Inc. (ILMN)
Dividend Yield: N/A (Conduent does not currently pay a quarterly dividend)
Percent of Carl Icahn’s Portfolio: 0.4%
Illumina is an esteemed company dedicated to genetic sequencing and associated technologies. Renowned as a foremost provider of cutting-edge DNA sequencing platforms and services, Illumina holds a pivotal position in the realm of genomics and personalized medicine.
By harnessing its exceptional sequencing systems, Illumina has played a vital role in propelling genomics research to new heights. Their contributions span a wide range of fields, including genome-wide association studies, cancer genomics, investigations into infectious diseases, and explorations of reproductive health. Illumina’s revolutionary technologies have not only enabled remarkable discoveries but have also deepened our comprehension of intricate biological processes.
In Q3, Illumina delivered revenue of approximately $1.12 billion, flat year-over-year, or up 1% on a constant currency basis. This was a disappointing result. The macroeconomic environment remained challenging for its industry and for its customers, with customers increasingly cautious and constrained in their purchasing decisions.
Despite a lower gross margin year-over-year, tight management of the company’s operating expenses allowed Illuminato to deliver diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.33, also approximately flat year-over-year.
For fiscal 2023, management expects revenues to decline by about 2% to 3$, and non-GAAP EPS to be between $0.60 and $0.70.
Source: Investor Presentation
Final Thoughts
You can see more high-quality dividend stocks in the following Sure Dividend databases:
- The 2023 Dividend Kings List: Dividend Stocks With 50+ Years of Rising Dividends
- The 2023 Dividend Aristocrats List: 25+ Years of Rising Dividends
- The 20 Highest Yielding Dividend Aristocrats Now
- 2023 Blue Chips List: Stocks With 10+ Years of Rising Dividends
Alternatively, another great place to look for high-quality business is inside the portfolios of other highly successful investors.
To that end, Sure Dividend has created the following stock databases:
You might also be looking to create a highly customized dividend income stream to pay for life’s expenses.
The following two lists provide useful information on high dividend stocks and stocks that pay monthly dividends:
- The Best High Dividend Stocks: Stocks With 5%+ Dividend Yields
- The Best Monthly Dividend Stocks: All 84 Stocks That Pay Monthly Dividends
Lastly, you can see the articles below for analysis on other major investment firms/asset managers: