Icahn values Apple at more than US$1 trillion

[BENGALURU] Activist investor Carl Icahn said Apple Inc's stock should be trading at US$216, far above its record high of US$124.92 hit on Wednesday.

At US$216 per share, Apple would be valued at about US$1.3 trillion, compared with about US$700 billion currently.

Mr Icahn said Apple's price-to-earnings ratio should be about 20 times, which taken together with net cash of US$22 per share works out to US$216 per share.

"Also, to the extent Apple introduces a TV in FY 2016 or FY 2017, we believe this 20X multiple is conservative," the billionaire Apple shareholder wrote in a letter to his Twitter followers.

Mr Icahn owns about 53 million Apple shares worth US$6.5 billion.

Apple shares were up 2.3 per cent at US$124.86 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.

REUTERS