Wiki has a good summary. . .

“As the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 led to a wave of airline failures, start-ups, and takeovers in the United States, TWA was spun off from its holding company in 1984. Carl Icahn acquired control of TWA and took the company private in a leveraged buyout in 1988.”

The entire industry had low stock prices due to competitors failing and going backrupt. It did not lend confidence in the stock market for ANY airline. Hence low stock price. (I.e. less than liquidation value.)

Certainly some other factors lead Icahn selecting TWA, probably not the least of which was the strongest U.S. airline presence at Heathrow. Those gates slots were almost like gold and easily sold. Gate slots at Heathrow still are valuable.