Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) shares are up following Friday’s news of Carl Icahn raising his stake on the company.
Icahn was already the nutritional supplements provider’s largest shareholder with 17 million shares, amounting to 18.3% of company shares. His latest acquisition includes 2.3 million additional shares of HLF stock, and he already has his critics.
Rival Bill Ackman said on television that Herbalife is a scheme and claims that Icahn is going against his better judgment as he knows the company is “toast,” the hedge fund manager says. Icahn defended his position and added that Ackman has no knowledge of his rival’s inner thinking as an investor.
“He has no right to do so, and even worse, I’m sure his unsubstantiated, obsessive comments, especially about Herbalife, have cost investors a great deal of money over the last few years,” Icahn said.
The hedge fund manager added that he believes in Herbalife’s potential and raising his stake on the company is a vote of confidence for what the future holds.
Herbalife reported its fiscal second-quarter results early in the month, revealing earnings of $1.29 per share for the quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn $1.21 per share over the three-month period.
Additionally, the company reported revenue of $1.2 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. The figure was also above the year-ago period’s $1.16 billion in net sales.
HLF stock is up 2.4% Monday.
