Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is concerned about Apple’s prospects in China

Billionaire-Investor-Carl-Icahn-Buys-More-Apple-Stock

Activist investor Carl Icahn earlier this year sold his position in Apple, but that doesn’t mean he no longer thinks Apple is a lucrative stock to invest in. Quite the contrary, he’s made several billion dollars on Apple!

That being said, he would invest back in the Cupertino firm were it not for Apple’s prospects in China, which he doesn’t feel secure about although he’s adamant that CEO Tim Cook is “doing a good job”.

“We made several billion dollars on Apple,” Icahn told CNBC’s “Squawk Box”.

“I would get back in to Apple if I felt more secure about China,” he said. “I don’t think anybody can tell you that China is not going to have a problem, even though it might be a very small one.”

China took a lion’s share of Apple’s loss in the previous quarter with a whopping
26 percent decline in sales down to $12.49 billion.

Apple China revenue change CNBC chart 001

“The vast majority of the weakness sits in Hong Kong,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts in an earnings call.

“The Hong Kong dollar being pegged to the U.S. dollar, and therefore it carries the burden of strength of U.S. dollar. And that has driven tourism, trade and international shopping down significantly compared to what it was in the year ago.”

Although Cook in January acknowledged that Apple had seen “some signs of economic softness,” he added he did not “subscribe to the doom and gloom kind of predictions.”

Source: CNBC