Apple shares rise 5% after billionaire tweets, Carsales profits climb 17%: Midday Roundup

Apple shares rocketed to a six-month high overnight and the company’s market value increased by $US12 billion, after 77-year-old billionaire Carl Icahn made two tweets about the company.

Icahn, who is one of the most-watched investors in the world, said his company had taken a “large position in Apple”.

“We currently have a large position in Apple. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come,” he said.

He quickly followed up with a statement saying he had spoken with chief executive Tim Cook, and had urged him to continue with a large buyback plan.

Within hours, Apple’s share price increased 5% to $US494.66, the highest point since earlier this year.

The Wall Street Journal has reported Icahn took a $US1 billion stake in the company. He is known as a notoriously disruptive investor, often pushing for major changes at his targets including Dell, Yahoo! and Time Warner.

The tweets come as Apple is expected to launch a new iPhone next month.

Carsales profits climb 17%

Carsales.com has announced a full-year net profit increase of 17%, as revenue reached $215.1 million in 2012/2013.

Net profit after tax hit $83.5 million for the car sales business, which is thought to have contributed significantly to the decline in print advertisements.

Carsales managing director Greg Roebuck said in a statement the performance of the business was a result of innovation “across a range of verticals”, and keeping the focus on the company’s core automotive and classified marketplaces.

“The FY13 results are indicative of the continued long-term potential of casrsales’ established business model, engaging the spectrum of dealer, private and display advertising customers in auto and similar verticals,” Roebuck says.

“FY2013 was a period where we continued our strategy of evolution through innovation and took to market a wide range of new products and initiatives.”

Shares down on open

Aussie shares have opened lower this morning, despite analyst predictions of a positive day of trading.

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 3.2 points to 5154.5 just before midday.

Overnight the Dow Jones closed 0.20% up, 31.33 points higher at 15,451.01.