Markets IEP

Icahn Enterprises (IEP) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Image source: The Motley Fool.

DATE

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • President and Chief Executive Officer-Ted Papapostolou
  • Chief Financial Officer-Robert Flint
  • Director of SEC Reporting-Joseph Pacetti

TAKEAWAYS

  • Revenue -- $3.2 billion, representing an increase from $2.7 billion in the prior year quarter.
  • Net Loss Attributable to IEP -- $225 million, compared to net income of $287 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting $522 million of losses on refining hedges.
  • Net Loss per Depositary Unit -- $0.31, compared to a profit of $0.49 per unit in the prior year quarter.
  • Adjusted EBITDA Loss Attributable to IEP -- $214 million, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $75 million in the prior year quarter.
  • Indicative Net Asset Value -- $3.5 billion, representing an increase of $865 million compared to June 30, 2026.
  • CVR Energy Acquisition Price -- $4.2 billion, for the purchase of two refineries and a marketing platform from Marathon Petroleum.
  • CVR Energy Valuation -- less than 3.5x management's estimate of 2026 EBITDA.
  • Pro Forma CVR EBITDA -- $2.0 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2026, compared to $900 million on a stand-alone basis.
  • Pro Forma CVR EPS -- $7.80, representing an accretion of over 105% for stockholders.
  • Energy Segment Adjusted EBITDA -- $404 million, rising from $98 million in the prior-year quarter due to record refining earnings and crack spreads.
  • Investment Fund Return -- negative 31.3%, including refining hedges, or negative 5.5% excluding those hedges.
  • Fund Performance Attribution -- negative 7.8% from long positions and negative 24.3% from short positions.
  • Fund Notional Exposure -- 7% net short at quarter end, representing a reduction from 30% net short at the end of the previous quarter.
  • Automotive Segment Sale Proceeds -- $645 million, received from the divestiture of Pep Boys, which resulted in a $215 million pre-tax gain.
  • Automotive Service Revenue -- decreased by $175 million year over year, primarily due to the sale of Pep Boys.
  • Holding Company Liquidity -- $2.3 billion, comprised of cash and investments in the funds.
  • Real Estate Adjusted EBITDA -- increased by $11 million year over year, driven by income from assets transferred from the automotive segment.
  • Pharma Adjusted EBITDA -- decreased by $4 million year over year, due to generic competition for anti-obesity therapy and higher research and development expenses.
  • Food Packaging Adjusted EBITDA -- increased by $2 million year over year, reflecting volume-related growth and improved product mix.
  • Subsidiary Liquidity -- $582 million, including cash and revolver availability.

Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com

RISKS

  • Papapostolou noted that the increase in quarterly net asset value was "partially offset by a $522 million decrease related to losses on refining hedges within our funds," which significantly impacted overall investment performance.
  • Flint stated, "Pharma's adjusted EBITDA decreased by $4 million when compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to reduced sales resulting from generic competition in our anti-obesity drug therapy," identifying market share loss to generics as a primary challenge.
  • Flint warned that home fashion results were impacted by "softening demand in our hospitality business and continued supply chain disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz," highlighting macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures.

SUMMARY

Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ:IEP) reported a significant increase in its indicative net asset value despite a net loss for the quarter, largely driven by appreciation in its energy segment and the divestiture of its automotive service business. Management highlighted a major acquisition by its subsidiary, CVR Energy, which is expected to be highly accretive to earnings and cash flow. The company also streamlined its portfolio through the sale of Pep Boys while maintaining substantial liquidity at the holding company level. The investment segment faced headwinds from refining hedges, though management reported a positive start to the following quarter with increases in asset values across core positions.

  • Management stated the CVR acquisition is "intended to increase the liquidity and trading volume of CVI shares while providing additional liquidity to IEP."
  • CEO Papapostolou noted the company's flexibility regarding debt, stating, "We expect to address these notes in the coming months as we continue to evaluate the most effective use of our liquidity."
  • The real estate segment assumed certain operating leases from the automotive segment following the Pep Boys sale, with Flint noting the segment "will continue leasing up vacant space, which would improve cash flows and results going forward."
  • Management reported that the fertilizer business is "positioned to benefit from tight nitrogen supplies and the fall ammonia application season" following a turnaround at the East Dubuque facility.
  • The pharmaceutical segment is progressing with its PAH drug trial, with Flint reporting that "four sites [are] active and patient screening [is] underway" for the TRANSCEND trial.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • Indicative Net Asset Value (NAV): A management-calculated estimate of the fair market value of the company's assets minus its liabilities.
  • Crack Spread: The difference between the price of crude oil and the petroleum products extracted from it, used as a measure of refinery profitability.
  • RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard): A federal program in the United States that requires transportation fuel to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels.
  • PAH (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension): A type of high blood pressure that affects the arteries in the lungs and the right side of the heart.
  • MidCon: The Mid-Continent region of the United States, a key geographical area for oil refining and fertilizer production.
  • CVI: A common internal reference used by management to refer to the subsidiary CVR Energy.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Morning, and welcome to the Icahn Enterprises LP third quarter 2026earnings callwith Ted Papapostolou, President and CEO, Robert Flint, Chief Financial Officer, and Joseph Pacetti, Director of SEC Reporting. I would now like to hand the call over to Joseph Pacetti, who will read the opening statement.

Joseph Pacetti: Thank you, operator. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements we make in this presentation, including statements regarding our future performance and plans for our businesses and potential acquisitions. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, seeks, estimates, will, or words of similar meaning, and include, but are not limited to, statements about expected future business and financial performance of Icahn Enterprises L.P. and its subsidiaries.

Actual events, results, and outcomes may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of known and unknown risk, uncertainties, and other factors that are discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including economic, competitive, legal, and other factors. Accordingly, there are no assurance that our expectations will be realized. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by law. This presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA. A reconciliation of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the back of this presentation. We also present indicative net asset value.

Indicative net asset value includes, among other things, changes in fair value of certain subsidiaries, which are not included in our GAAP earnings. All net income and EBITDA amounts we discuss are attributable to Icahn Enterprises unless otherwise specified. I will now turn it over to Ted.

Ted Papapostolou: Thank you, Joe. Q3 NAV increased by $865 million compared to Q2. The increase was primarily driven by a $1.7 billion increase in the value of our long position in our subsidiary, CVI, partially offset by a $522 million decrease related to losses on refining hedges within our funds. The month of October has started Q4 positively, with NAV increasing as a result of a $525 million increase in CVI and approximately $60 million increase from the funds. CVI announced a transformative $4.2 billion acquisition of two refineries and a marketing platform at a purchase price of less than 3.5x management's estimate of 2026 EBITDA.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2026, the transaction would have increased CVR's EBITDA by over $1 billion and increased EPS by more than 105% on a pro forma basis. We believe the transaction is highly accretive and adds two strong cash-generating assets at an attractive valuation. In the current favorable refining environment, we expect these assets to generate substantial cash flow over the next 12 months and beyond. IEP strongly supports the transaction and has committed to provide a $500 million backstop, which will be reduced dollar for dollar by the CVI equity offering announced earlier today. As a result, we do not expect that our commitment will be needed.

Separately, as part of the broader strategy, the CVI secondary equity transaction announced earlier today is intended to increase the liquidity and trading volume of CVI shares while providing additional liquidity to IEP. We have senior notes maturing in May of 2027 and may become callable at par beginning November 15th. We expect to address these notes in the coming months as we continue to evaluate the most effective use of our liquidity. With liquidity across our cash and investment in the funds, we have significant flexibility in how and when we address these notes. The board declared an unchanged distribution of $0.50 per depositary unit. Turning to our top positions in our investment segment.

Centuri reported strong double-digit growth in both pipeline and sales in Q2. The stock was down approximately 34% for Q3. IFF continued to execute on its plan and announced the sale of its Food Ingredients business. The company also authorized an enhanced $2.5 billion share repurchase program. IFF shares increased approximately 5% during Q3. Caesars reported Q3 results with continued positive performance in its regional and digital businesses. Caesars shares declined approximately 2% during Q3. I will now pass it to Rob to talk about the financial results.

Robert Flint: Thank you, Ted. For the third quarter of 2026, net loss attributable to IEP was $225 million, or a loss of $0.31 per unit. Net income attributable to IEP was $287 million, or income of $0.49 per unit in the prior year quarter. Q3 2026 adjusted EBITDA loss attributable to IEP was $214 million, compared to adjusted EBITDA attributable to IEP of $75 million for the prior year quarter. I will now provide more detail regarding the performance of our individual segments. The investment funds had a negative return of 5.5% for the quarter, excluding the refining hedges. Including the refining hedges, the funds had a negative return of 31.3% for the quarter.

Long positions had a net negative performance attribution of 7.8%, and short positions had a negative performance attribution of 24.3%. The funds had a net short notional exposure of 7% at quarter end, compared to net short of 30% as of prior quarter end. Excluding our refining hedges, the funds had a net long notional exposure of 57% as of quarter end, compared to net long of 23% as of prior quarter end. Our investment in the funds was approximately $1.4 billion as of quarter end and had approximately $334 million in cash. Moving to our energy segment. Energy segment adjusted EBITDA attributable to IEP was $404 million for Q3 2026, compared to $98 million in Q3 2025.

CVR recognized record earnings for the second quarter, driven by strong refining operations and record crack spreads in the MidCon. We were pleased with the 100% small refiner waiver received at the Wynnewood Refinery during the quarter. The fertilizer business results were negatively impacted by the East Dubuque turnaround, but with the facility back online, they are now positioned to benefit from tight nitrogen supplies and the fall ammonia application season. We are pleased with CVR's announcement of a $0.10 dividend and continue to believe that CVI's assets are well-positioned to benefit from global tightness in refined product and nitrogen fertilizer. Now turning to our automotive segment.

During Q3 2026, we closed on the sale of Pep Boys and received $645 million in proceeds and recognized a pre-tax gain of $215 million. For the quarter, automotive segment includes Pep Boys' operating results through the closing date of August 19. Q3 2026 automotive service revenues decreased by $175 million compared to the prior year quarter, primarily as a result of the sale of Pep Boys. Revenue from the retained automotive businesses, which primarily comprise of royalty income from the franchising businesses, was flat in comparison to the prior quarter. Now turning to all other operating segments. Real estate's Q3 2026 adjusted EBITDA increased by $11 million compared to the prior year quarter.

The increase is primarily driven by income from the assets that were transferred from the automotive segment. During the quarter, in connection with the sale of Pep Boys, the real estate segment assumed certain operating leases previously held in the automotive segment. The majority of these assumed leases were supercenter leases, where Pep Boys occupied a portion of the space, and the remaining space is either occupied by other tenants or is currently vacant. The real estate segment will continue leasing up vacant space, which would improve cash flows and results going forward. Food packaging's adjusted EBITDA attributable to IEP increased by $2 million for Q3 2026 as compared to the prior year quarter.

The increase is primarily due to volume-related increases and an increase in price and product mix driven by reduced waste. Home fashion's adjusted EBITDA remained consistent when compared to the prior year quarter, despite softening demand in our hospitality business and continued supply chain disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Pharma's adjusted EBITDA decreased by $4 million when compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to reduced sales resulting from generic competition in our anti-obesity drug therapy and increased R&D expenses related to our ongoing pivotal drug trials. The TRANSCEND trial preparation for our PAH drug remains on schedule, with four sites active and patient screening underway. Now turning to our liquidity.

We maintain liquidity at the holding company and at our operating subsidiaries to take advantage of attractive opportunities. As of quarter end, the holding company had cash and investment in the funds of $2.3 billion, and our subsidiaries had cash and revolver availability of $582 million. We continue to focus on building asset value and maintaining liquidity to enable us to capitalize on opportunities within and outside our existing operating segments. This concludes our presentation of third-quarter results, and we look forward to our update next quarter. Thank you.

Should you buy stock in Icahn Enterprises right now?

Before you buy stock in Icahn Enterprises, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Icahn Enterprises wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $336,195!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,241,567!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 875% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 208% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of November 3, 2026.

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. Parts of this article were created using Large Language Models (LLMs) based on The Motley Fool's insights and investing approach. It has been reviewed by our AI quality control systems. Since LLMs cannot (currently) own stocks, it has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Motley Fool
Founded in 1993 in Alexandria, VA., by brothers David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company dedicated to building the world's greatest investment community. Reaching millions of people each month through its website, books, newspaper column, radio show, television appearances, and subscription newsletter services, The Motley Fool champions shareholder values and advocates tirelessly for the individual investor. The company's name was taken from Shakespeare, whose wise fools both instructed and amused, and could speak the truth to the king -- without getting their heads lopped off.
Visit Fool.com for more market news More articles by this source

Tags

Stocks Mentioned

Latest Articles

Data is currently not available