Billionaire investor Carl Icahn predicted Friday that seemingly endless, daily stock-market plunge isn’t over for good.
Icahn said the coronavirus sell-off has made some stocks so cheap they’re being “given away.”
“Now it’s reached a point that there are some companies that are sort of just given away,” Icahn told CNBC.
“Some of these companies are awfully cheap, they’re very cheap,” the Icahn Enterprises chairman added.
“I’m not quite as bearish as I was even though it has a longer way to go down,” he said.
Icahn said that he’s been buying stocks, including Occidental Petroleum, Hertz and HP.
“These companies are good companies. Occidental, Hewlett-Packard … there are companies that should be bought. On the other hand, there are many very overpriced companies with very high multiples and too much debt on them and those should be sold,” he said.
He also that that his largest short position is in commercial real estate. It’s his “biggest position by far,” Icahn said.
In a wide-ranging interview, he also warned that mortgage backed securities could blow up. He also advised investors to short insurers of offices and mall mortgages.
Meanwhile, Occidental Petroleum said it will implement a "poison pill" that aims to stop investors from amassing more than 15% in the oil producer, a day after Icahn disclosed a nearly 10% stake, Reuters reported.
The billionaire investor has been waging a bitter battle with Occidental's board over its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum, calling it a misplaced bet based on expectations of higher oil prices.
Icahn has also repeatedly called upon Occidental to disclose if it had received any takeover offers while looking to buy Anadarko, and said on Thursday he expects strong bids to emerge once U.S. crude prices recover in the near-to-medium term.
Occidental said on Friday it will issue one right for each share outstanding at the close of March 23 and that right will be exercisable if a person or group acquires at least 15% of the company's shares.
It will also be exercised if passive institutional investors buy 20% of the oil producer.
Icahn bought about 88.6 million shares for $2.21 billion, raising his stake in Occidental to nearly 10% from 2.53% at the end of last year, an SEC filing on Thursday showed.
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