Icahn Enterprises Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Icahn Enterprises completed a planned leadership transition with Ted Papapostolou named CEO and Rob Flint stepping into the CFO role, with management emphasizing continuity and a disciplined capital-allocation focus.
  • Positive Sentiment: First-quarter NAV rose $201 million, driven by a $605 million increase in the CVI long position and CVI announced a $0.10 dividend, which management says positions CVI for potential debt reduction and shareholder returns.
  • Negative Sentiment: The company reported a net loss of $459 million (loss of $0.71/unit) largely due to $425 million of refining-hedge losses and $158 million of unrealized derivative losses, leaving Adjusted EBITDA attributable to IEP at a negative $216 million for Q1.
  • Negative Sentiment: The investment funds were +4.4% excluding refining hedges but -8.2% including them, and management increased net short notional exposure to 29% (from 13% at year-end), raising portfolio risk from hedging and short positions.
  • Positive Sentiment: Liquidity remains robust with the holding company holding about $2.8 billion (cash and fund investments), subsidiaries with ~$1.3 billion of cash/revolver availability, and the board kept the distribution unchanged at $0.50/unit.
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Earnings Conference Call
Icahn Enterprises Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Icahn Enterprises L.P. first quarter 2026 earnings call with Andrew Teno, President and CEO, Ted Papapostolou, Chief Financial Officer, Robert Flint, Chief Accounting 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
Joseph Pacetti
Director of SEC Reporting at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

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 risks, 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 is no assurance that our expectations will be realized.

Joseph Pacetti
Joseph Pacetti
Director of SEC Reporting at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

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 the fair value of certain subsidiaries, which are not included in our GAAP earnings. All net income and EBITDA amounts we will discuss are attributable to Icahn Enterprises unless otherwise specified. I'll now turn it over to Andrew Teno.

Andrew Teno
Andrew Teno
President and CEO at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Thank you, Joe. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who I've worked with over the past few years, both before becoming CEO and after. It is an honor and privilege to work with and learn from the living legend of activism and our Chairman, Carl Icahn. Over the past few years, we have worked hard to high-grade the investment fund portfolio and to get our controlled operations moving in the right direction. I leave the company knowing that it's in good hands with a significant war chest to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. It's been a pleasure and honor. With that, I will hand it over to Ted, our new CEO. Congratulations, Ted.

Ted Papapostolou
Ted Papapostolou
CFO at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Thank you, Andrew. Before turning to the work ahead, I want to begin by thanking Andrew for his leadership and service to Icahn Enterprises and wish him continued success in his next chapter. I am honored to take on the role of CEO and excited by the opportunity ahead. Icahn Enterprises has a unique portfolio, a strong heritage of disciplined capital allocation, and a culture of accountability and long-term thinking. I look forward to building on that foundation, working closely with Carl and our Board to continue strengthening the enterprise and executing on our priorities. I also look forward to working with Rob in his new role as CFO. With that, let's get into the results. First quarter NAV increased by $201 million compared to year-end.

Ted Papapostolou
Ted Papapostolou
CFO at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

The increase was primarily driven by an increase of $605 million in our long position in CVI, which was offset in part by losses on refining hedges of $320 million in our Investment segment, also known as the Funds. Regarding CVI, major geopolitical events drove volatility, which has set up attractive market opportunities for the balance of 2026. We believe CVI is well-positioned to allow for potential future debt reductions and capital returns to shareholders. We are pleased with CVI's announcement of a $0.10 dividend. For Q1, the Investment segment was up approximately 4%, excluding the refining hedges. In terms of our top positions, AEP is an electric utility that benefits from the AI infrastructure build.

Ted Papapostolou
Ted Papapostolou
CFO at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

In the first quarter, the company reaffirmed its 2026 operating EPS outlook and increased its long-term operating earnings CAGR to greater than 9%, supported by 63 gigawatt of incremental contracted load and 11% rate base growth through 2030. AEP stock was up approximately 14% for Q1. Centuri reported strong base revenue and gross profit growth of 28% and 50% in Q4. The company also guided to strong double-digit base revenue and gross profit growth for 2026 as it continues to capture the tremendous tailwinds from increased energy infrastructure investment. The stock was up approximately 16% for Q1. IFF continues to execute on its portfolio optimization, running a sale process for its food ingredients business and announcing the completion of its divestiture of the soy crush business. IFF stock was up approximately 8% for Q1.

Ted Papapostolou
Ted Papapostolou
CFO at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Caesars reported solid Q1 results, with Vegas stabilizing, regional sales growing in the low single-digits, and digital posting strong EBITDA growth of 61%. Caesars is expected to generate significant cash flow in 2026, which we hope to fund meaningful share repurchases and debt paydown. Caesars stock was up approximately 13% for Q1. EchoStar lowered its total expected tax and decommissioning costs related to its divested assets, which we believe meaningful upside remains for the position, with the IPO of SpaceX potentially serving as a material positive catalyst. EchoStar stock was up approximately 8% for Q1. As of quarter-end, we had approximately $782 million in cash at the funds. Lastly, the Board declared an unchanged distribution at $0.50 per depository unit. I will now pass it to Rob to discuss our financial results.

Robert Flint
Robert Flint
Chief Accounting Officer at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Thank you, Ted. For the first quarter of 2026, net loss attributable to IEP was $459 million or a loss of $0.71 per unit. Our first quarter consolidated results include $425 million of losses on refining hedges in our Investment segment and $158 million of unrealized derivative losses in our Energy segment. Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA loss attributable to IEP was $216 million compared to adjusted EBITDA loss attributable to IEP of $228 million for the prior year quarter. I will now provide more detail regarding the performance of our individual segments. The Investment Funds had a positive return of 4.4% for the quarter, excluding refining hedges. Including the refining hedges, the funds had a negative return of 8.2% for the quarter.

Robert Flint
Robert Flint
Chief Accounting Officer at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Long and other positions had a net positive performance attribution of 4.1%, and short positions had a negative performance attribution of 12.9%. The Investment Funds had a net short notional exposure of 29% at the end of the quarter, compared to net short of 13% at year-end. Excluding our refining hedges, the funds had a net short notional exposure of 2% as of quarter-end, compared to net long of 19% at year-end. Our investment of the funds was approximately $2.2 billion as of quarter-end. Moving to our Energy segment. Energy segment adjusted EBITDA attributable to IEP was -$5 million for Q1 2026, compared to -$6 million for Q1 2025.

Robert Flint
Robert Flint
Chief Accounting Officer at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

The first quarter refining operations were solid with crude utilization of 97%, although margins were weighed down by higher RFS obligation costs and unrealized derivative losses. The Fertilizer segment had strong results driven by robust demand for the spring planting season. We believe that CVI's assets are well-positioned to benefit from the global tightness in refined product and nitrogen fertilizer. Now turning to our Automotive segment. Q1 2026 Automotive service revenues decreased by $9 million compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by the closure of stores during the balance of 2025, offset in part by increased price. Same store sales paints a better picture, having increased by approximately 2% as compared to the prior year quarter. We are pleased with this positive revenue trajectory, but there's still a lot more work to be done.

Robert Flint
Robert Flint
Chief Accounting Officer at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

We continue to focus our efforts on product, pricing, labor, and distribution strategy. Turning to all other operating segments. Real Estate's Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA increased by $18 million compared to the prior-year quarter. The increase is primarily driven by income from the assets that were transferred from the Automotive segment, of which $9 million is intercompany income from the Automotive segment and $2 million from third-party tenants. Food Packaging's adjusted EBITDA attributable to IEP decreased by $6 million for Q1 2026 as compared to the prior-year quarter. The decrease is primarily due to lower volume and disruptive headwinds from the restructuring plan. Home Fashion's adjusted EBITDA decreased by $2 million when compared to the prior-year quarter, primarily due to softening demand in retail and hospitality business and supply chain disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Robert Flint
Robert Flint
Chief Accounting Officer at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Pharma's adjusted EBITDA decreased by $10 million when compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to reduced sales resulting from generic competition in the anti-obesity market and increased R&D expenses related to our ongoing pivotal drug trials. The TRANSCEND trial preparation for our PAH drug is on schedule, and the first patient will be dosed in the next 60 to 90 days. The physician community remains excited by the potential for a disease-modifying designation. 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 $2.8 billion, and our subsidiaries had cash and revolver availability of $1.3 billion.

Robert Flint
Robert Flint
Chief Accounting Officer at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

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. Thank you. Operator, can you please open the call for questions?

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question simply press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To remove yourself, press star one one again. One moment please. As I see no questions in the queue, I will pass it back to Ted Papapostolou for closing comments.

Ted Papapostolou
Ted Papapostolou
CFO at Icahn Enterprises L.P.

Thank you, everyone, and looking forward to our next update call.

Operator

Concludes our conference. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Andrew Teno
      Andrew Teno
      President and CEO
    • Joseph Pacetti
      Joseph Pacetti
      Director of SEC Reporting
    • Robert Flint
      Robert Flint
      Chief Accounting Officer
    • Ted Papapostolou
      Ted Papapostolou
      CFO