High Flier Apple Worth Much More Than Current $700 Bln Valuation - Icahn

(RTTNews) - Valuation concerns may be for mere mortals but not for gravity defying Apple, which has seen its stock gain a staggering 54 percent since it broke out of a trading range in mid-2014. And the story does not end there. The high flier has more steam left in it, and at least that is what activist investor and corporate raider Carl Icahn seems to think.

Icahn said in a letter posted on the Shareholders' Square Table, or SST website, that he thinks the Steve Jobs-co-founded company is worth about $1.3 trillion as he believes its shares are worth $216 per share. So investors, it might not be too late for you to climb on the Apple bandwagon, as the target price the billionaire investor has accorded Apple could still pocket you a neat 73 percent gain.

In the letter, Carl Icahn said he was pleased to hear Tim Cook yesterday state publicly that, "By and large, my view is, for cash that we don't need - with some level of buffer - we want to give it back [to shareholders]. It may come across that we are, but we're not hoarders." Cook was speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco.

Apple has been pressured for sometime by Icahn to return more of its nearly $180 billion cash-and-investments stockpile to shareholders.

Icahn added that he is looking forward to the capital return program update in April, anticipating it will include a large increase to share repurchases.

Icahn noted that he is increasing the earning forecast for fiscal 2015 in his model to $9.70 from $9.60, and now believes the market should value Apple at $216 per share.

He estimates that the value of Apple, excluding the introduction of a television, represents an 84 percent price appreciation from where the common shares trade today.

Icahn has urged Tim Cook and Apple's Board of Directors, on behalf of all shareholders, to take advantage the dramatic market value anomaly and boost the magnitude and rate of share repurchases while this remarkable opportunity still exists.the dramatic market value anomaly and boost the magnitude and rate of share repurchases while this remarkable opportunity still exists.

The technology giant has left all its rivals way behind in terms of market capitalization, and to put things in perspective, Exxon Mobil, which is second only to Apple, is currently worth only $381 billion compared to the latter's $727 billion.

Microsoft, which has been a giant in the field of technology and software, is now only a pale shadow of its old self, boasting a valuation of $348 billion. Relative to Apple, search juggernaut Google has a market capitalization of $365 billion.

What more can be said about this iWonder than the testimony offered by Icahn himself? Icahn stated in the letter that he has amassed about 53 million shares of Apple worth about $6.5 billion and is yet to sell a single share until now. This speaks loud and clear about the potential Icahn sees in the company. The idiom 'Better late than Never' rings very true in Apple's case, doesn't it?