American businessman Carl Icahn believes that Apple Inc's worth is not just US$700 billion but more than US$1 trillion.

Icahn, the majority shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, was wondering why the market continues to give Apple stock a bad rap even as the company's worth is already more than US$1 trillion.

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In a public letter address to his Twitter followers, Icahn thinks Apple should earn US$9.70 per share in fiscal 2015, or way above the US$8.49 consensus of 47 analysts compiled by FactSet.

Icahn also thinks that analysts are overestimating Apple's tax rate.

"With respect to our increased EPS forecast of $9.70, we believe it's important to note that we assume a 20% tax rate for the purpose of forecasting Apple's real cash earnings, not the 26.2% "effective" tax rate used by Apple. We consider this an essential adjustment that many analysts and investors simply fail to understand," Icahn said in the letter, which was also signed by son Brett and colleague David Schechter.

For a short period, the stock price of Apple dramatically increased to US$122 per share. Icahn believes that "the same opportunity still exists for Apple today."  He still owns 53 million shares of Apple worth around US$6.5 billion.

The billionaire activist investor believes that the market should value Apple at US$216 per share, at P/E of at least 20 times together with a net cash of US$22 per share.  The computation will render a market valuation of nearly US$1.3 trillion.

"This is not a future price target. $216 is what we think Apple is worth today," said Icahn.

During the the Goldman Sachs Internet conference in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that his company have had a good year.

"We are not focused on the numbers. We are focused on the things that produce the numbers," he said.

TagsApple Inc., Apple's Valuation, Carl Icahn