CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Fast Money Review Archive — April 2014]
[Wednesday, April 30, 2014]

CNBC staffers share high-5 behind Kayla Tausche’s Alibaba report

This page has grudgingly credited Dan Nathan for being most right about Internet stocks for the last 6 weeks or so, in other words, resisting the temptation of Mike Murphy, Guy Adami and even the Najarians and Brian Kelly to dabble in these names that the stock market now thinks are garbage.

We'd give Nathan far more credit if he could actually sustain it.

But here's the problem: Nathan, for whatever goofy reason, is so biased against these companies that he hates their existence (for example Wednesday, WhatsApp, Apple doing a bond offering) and obviously wants the important niche as the preeminent "Web 2.0" hater (just be like the Business Insider guy who said Apple MIGHT be "mismanaged") and so he tends to sound like a knucklehead while inevitably paying visit after visit to face-ripped-off land (figuratively, since he rarely shorts these horribly overvalued stocks himself).

Yelp earned Nathan's scoff on Wednesday's Fast Money after Neil Doshi stressed the positives.

"User metrics are very strong," Doshi said, adding "growth in mobile is very strong."

And, "I definitely think Yelp could be an acquisition target for Yahoo," Doshi added.

Nathan shrugged a question that he wanted to answer himself: "Where should these stocks be trading," declaring, "It's never gonna grow into this valuation."

Doshi, though, said Yelp is a destination for businesses and customers, and it's "really Yelp's market to lose," and the stock "could grow into that valuation at some point."

Instead of stopping at a reasonable point, Nathan went off the deep end of the trading pool, actually claiming that "without an acquisition it may never see the highs again," and that it couldn't have a "worse partner" than Yahoo because "Google, if they really wanna flex their muscles, they could crush these guys" (Drink, add to list of companies AMZN-GOOG are going to crush), and concluded with a bozo thesis, "Sell rallies in all these stocks." (Note to Nathan: Facebook's rallied 10% in a couple days.)

Guy Adami said YELP is "worth a shot here" given the recent selloff, and then, trying to be diplomatic, said it could get to 68-69 and Nathan could still be right.

Nathan also scoffed a "to me" regarding Alibaba, another name he thinks is junk.

Guy Adami said that with a 150 billion valuation for Alibaba, YHOO should be 40, so there's a "disconnect."

Karen Finerman downplayed the news about the Alibaba delay. "I don't think we can glean from this ... anything," Finerman said.

Karen explains to Mel the importance of ‘trying to get into your bathing suit’ (she meant that for women in general, not Mel)

In what could best be described as an incomplete conversation, Wednesday's Fast Money welcomed John Brynjolfsson to opine on whether he prefers AAPL bonds, AAPL stock, or U.S. Treasurys.

"We like the equity," said Brynjolfsson (that's hard to type; probably why they didn't bother to display it on TV), indicating that "makes a lot of sense," whereas the bond issue "just doesn't make sense."

Being amateurs (and thus unable to be as "good" as Pete Najarian, who sits in front of a computer when he's not leading the league in front of the camera and trades in and out of things you give Joe a hard time once more, your butt's getting kicked), we wondered if a Treasury would be preferable to an Apple bond.

Brynjolfsson didn't explicitly pick Treasurys, but given that he said the Apple bond "just doesn't make sense," we were curious how the Apple bond happened to finish last.

Brynjolfsson offered that the extra 75 basis points is a "pretty paltry yield pickup" for an instrument that trades with a "lower liquidity level" than a Treasury, which is "much more successfully traded."

Guy Adami said of the 3, "I think Apple bonds are interesting," and not as "illiquid" as Brynjolfsson implied.

Brian Kelly and Dan Nathan picked Treasurys, but that's strictly their own biases and nothing useful for the viewer.

Karen Finerman said to Brynjolfsson, "It's Karen let me ask you something," which wasn't much of a question, how much the dividend matters in his return calculation.

But Brynjolfsson was confused, apparently thinking Karen might somehow want to ask Brian Kelly or Dan Nathan or Guy Adami about this instead, and actually replied, "Is that for me, Melissa?"

In a major plus, Mel did not actually nod after asking Brynjolfsson the first question.

Karen Finerman said she's short WTW because despite the great brand, it's "so seasonal" and takes a long time to turn around, but only got our attention because of what she said that you read in the headline of this item.

Several times Guy reports being ‘surprised’ about how Internet stocks have traded

Dan Nathan picked up on Wednesday's Fast Money where Judge left off regarding Twitter, opining "the stock didn't trade too badly" (even though it got shellacked) but that, contrary to his comments in the CNBC interview, "Mr. Costolo should feel some compunction. They're missing some huge, huge trends." (But according to Nathan's typical "Web 2.0" commentary, those trends are bogus.)

TWTR "probably has more room to the downside," Nathan said.

Brian Kelly agreed with Nathan, "I actually think the stock traded well today."

Guy Adami said, "I'm surprised the stock got as beaten up as it did," but he thinks the fact it didn't hold 40 suggests more "pain on the downside."

Karen Finerman explained, "Just because a stock's lower doesn't mean it's cheap," and for some reason singled out Pandora, which she bought for her personal account (translation: Clients, don't worry, not yours) and probably sold around the lows; "very disappointing earnings; I said that's it, I'm outta that one."

Guy Adami for some reason said "I've gotta give kudos to you Mel," apparently for suggesting the lockup is not yet priced in to TWTR.

Lee said, "The rest of the Internet names, they did OK."

Missy: ‘I need’ a Taser

TASR chief Rick Smith made an articulate, enthusiastic case for his company on Wednesday's Fast Money, but we found his safety comments more interesting than the stock.

"Taser users are still headline-worthy," Smith said, but "the data is so unavoidable" about lowering liability for police departments, that "even the critics" are on board.

Honestly, we think it's kind of a dicey product, in that a person's reaction to such a shock is impossible to predict.

But there's no question that in the absence of Taser, many of these situations would be settled with guns, so stun guns are an inevitable wave of the future.

Smith said the company is "in the midst of an upgrade cycle" as departments discover their devices are beyond the shelf life (translation: that explains both the earnings headwind now and the promised future tailwinds in sales), and made a good joke about being Tasered himself; "Sometimes you gotta lead from the front."

Mel was heard to quip, "I need one of those for here on set."

Guy Adami endorsed TASR shares; "it's worth taking a shot on this."

Brian Kelly has the ‘Orca’ Complex, thinks a stock can remember that he’s against it

Pushing the envelope into certain face-ripped-off land, Dan Nathan added CRM to his "Triangle of Death" on Wednesday's Fast Money, pointing to "really a head-and-shoulders top."

Yet, as always, he's not making a bearish bet. "I do not have a position," Nathan admitted, but he just wants viewers to know, "I don't think you press these stocks like this."

Karen Finerman helped out Nathan a bit by suggesting a 50/45 put spread, which Nathan said "makes sense ... define your risk."

Nathan even got so carried away, he said "to me" to Regis Philbin about Alibaba.

Guy Adami cautioned that what Nathan is talking about is the deep end of the trading pool and he's got no life preserver the risk of being bearish on these stocks is that "something wacky happens" with a buyout or something.

Brian Kelly lamented, "I got burned by Facebook; I don't wanna go anywhere near it," which of course violates Gekko's rule as well as obvious common sense.

Guy Adami, who always makes FB his Final Trade whether it's 64 or 55, pointed out that Zuck's dubious deals with stock as "currency" were made "8 or 9 dollars ago" and reaffirmed, "I thought the quarter was really good."

Guy called JDSU a "no touch."

Brian Kelly called DDD "probably not a bad buy," but be careful, there are "questions about how things are accounted for."

Dom Chu was heard to say "in essence."

Mel calls a guest ‘Stud’

We were hoping/planning to not even mention Regis Philbin's chat with Wedneday's Fast Money, but 1) people Google that stuff, so we kinda have to, and 2) it actually wasn't that bad. (And 3), viewers got a good look at Karen Finerman in comfortable, chic white collar, breezy Southern California smile, phe ... nom ... e ... nal ...)

Philbin started off reporting that he bought AAPL lower (that's called a Brag Trade) and he "sold all of my 300s and 400s."

And, he said, "I like Amazon at this price."

But it got good when Philbin reported, "I see Timmy at my gym all the time," suggesting Seymour "wants to be the Irish stallion."

Tim Seymour goes to a gym? Who knew?

(Nothing jolts a locker room more than China PMI talk.)

Mel referred to Philbin as "Mr. Stuuuuuuddddd" (sic pronunciation).

Guy Adami said "I still think you stay long" of X.

Karen Finerman called WLP "worth hanging onto."

Dan Nathan is looking at a scrape with Pete Najarian after claiming "disappointing results last week" from UA, and "I can see it in the low 40s."

Dan Nathan said someone sold SUNE May 20 calls for 70 cents and bought SUNE July 20 calls for 74 cents.

Guy Adami reacted to the Colorado pot orchestra concert by stating, "What is happening; where is the moral fiber," but given how much of the show is about wisecracks, no one should take Fast Money value statements (unless they're about P.E. ratios) seriously.

Dan Nathan's Final Trade was sell SBUX. Brian Kelly said TLT. Karen Finerman said to sell BURL, "we're short." Guy Adami said (yep) FB.

Weiss: Twitter deserves
a ‘death blow’

Judge on Wednesday's Halftime Report aired clips of Dick Costolo's CNBC chat, and didn't exactly sound impressed.

"Yeah, great. Dick Costolo says he's not concerned. Well, the chart says that the market is," said Judge, with an obligatory reference to Cramer's analysis that there's no clear path to Twitter's profitability.

Stephen Weiss raised eyebrows in suggesting that 2 instant misses by Twitter "should be a death blow for any company, that they can't guide the Street appropriately."

Weiss stated, "This is a momentum stock. At the end of the day, that's what it is ... I don't think it's going away, but I think it's still going lower."

"The faddish part of Twitter has sort of wavered," Weiss contends, and right now it's caught in an "angry marketplace."

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo analyst Peter Stabler delivered a stark assessment of Twitter, stating that up to "hundreds of millions of people" have tried Twitter and "found it not to be relevant to their lives on a day-to-day basis."

Judge, on his own warpath, told Stabler that Dick Costolo seems to have a "rose-colored view ... well, everything is not great, right."

Stabler agreed with Judge and said that for many, Twitter is "too difficult to use," and the "signal to noise ratio is very, very difficult for most casual users."

Yet, "make no mistake," Stabler said, "advertiser interest is exceedingly high." But, he warned, "We don't believe that this company is ever gonna near approach the, the size of Facebook."

Jon Najarian took the TWTR plunge, telling Judge, "I did buy it today," reminding viewers that he called it a buy previous around 40 and it did pop to 45, "knock on wood," but Najarian still lamented that "the ad load was horrible."

Najarian later told Judge, "I've had a couple decent calls on this one, Judge, and a couple really bad calls."

Judge repeated that he watched the Dick Costolo interview, and "I thought, 'Give me a break'. I thought, 'Give me a break.' (sic twice for emphasis apparently)

Najarian then blurted, "NBC said during the Olympics that the advertisement didn't pull at all back to in from (sic) Twitter."

Najarian insisted that 35 is his "red line," he's out below that.

Mike Murphy offered something of a vote of confidence; "the platform isn't going away."

Pete Najarian revealed, "I'm staying away," predicting TWTR could reach "mid-20s."

(But what happened to the "trick up the company's sleeve" that Josh Brown predicted twice?)

Tough call. Now doesn't seem like the time to buy it, but at some point this will get hot again.

375 of 700 = 56%

Adrienne Tennant told Judge's Wednesday crew that there are "3 things" about KORS that amount to tailwinds (good thing it's only 3 because that's our limit).

Honestly, it really sounded like Tennant only had one, stating "affordable luxury growing," then the "accessories" market, and finally Kors being "THE brand" and "taking it to an entirely new level."

"Yes they're taking share" from COH, Tennant assured.

Stephen Weiss conceded it's been a great stock asked Tennant, "Don't you have to get off the train a little early."

Tennant then performed some fuzzy math, touting the "market potential" of KORS and stating it plans 700 of something or other (perhaps stores) in the U.S., Europe and China, but only has 325, so that means "56%" potential, and "we haven't even talked about China."

Mike Murphy said, "I think the stock goes a lot higher."

Pete Najarian said he thinks KORS will continue to take share.

Stephen Weiss explained, "I think it's still got some legs," but he thinks there's no "parachute" or "safety net" if it falls, though "I wouldn't short it."

Tobias Levkovich doesn’t really answer Liesman’s question

Tobias Levkovich, often curmudgeonly on the Halftime Report, told Judge on Wednesday not to believe in sell in May this time.

"It doesn't work when economic data starts to improve," Levkovich said.

Judge misunderstood Levkovich and suggested Levkovich was calling for multiple expansion. Levkovich said no, "I see earnings growth pulling the market higher."

As for specifics, Levkovich said he's "more focused on the regional banks" and REITS.

Steve Liesman suggested to Levkovich that the panelists have made a lot of money (snicker) betting against the "end of the world" attitude. (That's Marc Faber's and Jim Rogers' department.)

Levkovich sort of changed the subject, affirming what Liesman said, then going off on a tangent about the real amount of corporate cash outside the U.S. and the amount that U.S. savers have in banks and then insisted that he's not including that cash in his market calculations, but it is there.

Doc still won’t say
exactly what Prime should cost

Doc's top argument for AMZN on Wednesday's Halftime Report was that the "stock's down 25% already," but the guidance was "sort of a kitchen sink."

Stephen Weiss countered that "it's actually more expensive than it's been historically" (and we always thought it wasn't a valuation play), while conceding Jeff Bezos is the greatest thing since sliced bread ... "great visionary ... great businessman ... phenomenal business."

Jon Najarian rebutted with our favorite line, which we were afraid was not going to be heard, that Amazon has been "moving up the cost of Prime," and now has streaming potential.

Weiss countered, "They don't make money; you can't justify it ... the titles are old."

Mike Murphy chimed in, "I think Doc hit the nail on the head with the, uh, raising the cost of Prime," and declared, "I like it down here at 300."

Pete Najarian reiterated that he's bearish on the name. "How about those margins ...I think there's room down to about 250."

Doc: Fracking on fire

Pete Najarian, who kept talking up the banks until they started to go down, at which point he started trashing the "momo names" (except the "momo" names he likes such as UA), got tripped up by Judge on Wednesday's Halftime when stating he doesn't see a catalyst for banks, prompting Judge to ask if that was a bear call.

"I love the financials, but I don't see what the catalyst is," Najarian admitted in a contrarian sentence.

Pete said he does like BP, which he thinks could "explode" to 60, and UA, which he thinks represents "incredible opportunity."

Stephen Weiss predicts stocks will make a "nice march upward," except for emerging markets, which he thinks are still challenged.

Steve Grasso said 1,883 is the key level, the one the market has the "hardest time getting over," and he think it won't happen until financials participate.

Steve Liesman said regarding GDP, "a big chunk of this was related to the weather" (Drink).

Mike Murphy said of IP, "They blamed a lot of it on weather" (Drink).

Liesman said, "Anecdote is not evidence, but lots of anecdote (sic singular) can start to amount to evidence."

Jon Najarian trumpeted fracking plays, CRR, EMES and SLCA, as well as BHI, "I believe that will continue."

But Steve Grasso stressed that when IBB-vs.-XOM-CVX begins to turn, then the energy rotation will be off.

Mike Murphy said the names he likes most are GM and FB.

Steve Weiss said, "I buy Europe," and he likes HK and GILD.

Here’s to Pookie: Judge salutes longtime staffers in control room (sic dark images)

Jon Najarian asserted on Wednesday's Halftime Report that options trading ahead of the Exelon deal "is as dirty as Lydia's martinis."

"Somebody knew that this deal was coming up," Najarian said, and it "smells bad."

Judge said he's going to get a call from the "H.R. hotline" after that one.

Stephen Weiss said ESRX had a "misstep," but "I would buy at some point."

Mike Murphy said WLP is near a recent high.

Pete Najarian said GRMN is "not overpriced."

Ever hear the one about the father bull and son bull ...

Anthony Grisanti said on Wednesday's Halftime that gold bulls would want to hear about a rollback of tapering, but the chances are "slim and none, and slim has left the building."

Rich Ilczyszyn took a page from the Jeff Tomasulo playbook and said of gold, "I'd go on neutral until after the number."

Jon Najarian said "the options are off the charts" in CP, the December 170 calls. "I own the stock and the options," Najarian said.

Pete Najarian admitted he bungled TCS in January. "This is the old, catch a flal- (sic) falling knife" situation, Pete said, but at least he used options.

Stephen Weiss, addressing his performance in the 2014 Playbook Playoffs, got a little racy in telling Judge, "it's a 1-year contest ... you ever hear the joke about the father bull and the son bull at the top of the hill ..."

Judge said, "I'm hearing a lot of bull."

Weiss revealed, "I'm unhappy with more than one position," and might change. (Oh, boy.)

Mike Murphy said he got out of PBR and into GM.

Jon Najarian said Facebook "is the holy grail" of Web monetization. (This writer is long FB.)

Stephen Weiss said of FB, "I like the stock, I don't own it, to me it's still a valuation issue."

Mike Murphy said FB is "one of my largest holdings."

Pete Najarian said FB "feels like it wants to hold support" around 57 and 58, which always sounds great on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and then by Friday it'll be back to 55.

Morgan Brennan for some reason started laughing after finishing her Facebook report.

Stephen Weiss said, "I like Priceline."

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was CP. Stephen Weiss said TGT, Jon Najarian said ADBE and Mike Murphy said BP.

[Tuesday, April 29, 2014]

How come nobody wondered about Josh’s prediction that Dick Costolo would have a ‘trick up the company’s sleeve’ before the lockup expiration?

Steve Grasso said on Tuesday's Fast Money that he's "still long" TWTR and refreshingly admitted "I've taken a round trip on this name," but his lockup analogy to Cisco's margins was about as convincing as "Sherman & Mr. Peabody."

Nevertheless, Grasso said that shorts can no longer get a borrow in the name, so "you're susceptible to a gap higher."

Pete Najarian said "it's absolutely incredible" what's happening to the stock (see, he can figure that out looking at his computer in ways the viewers can't) stop giving Dr. New World a hard time stop it now and scoffed that "their growth, for a growth company, was pathetic."

However, Najarian said that if you're looking for a silver lining, "mobile growth" is the 1 thing that seems positive.

Tim Seymour scoffed that TWTR is "5 or 6 quarters behind Facebook" (yes but how many quarters are they behind Alibaba?) and insisted there's "no reason to own this thing."

Brian Kelly said he's long the stock but bought 40 puts, so it's kind of a wash.

Bob Peck, who is quietly delivering quality earnings-report analysis on the fly, said everyone's focused on "engagement" metrics, but "they're not actually getting the user acceleration."

Peck said if he could ask Dick Costolo one question, it would be, How do you get CNBCers to actually tweet something interesting from their accounts "How do you become more mass market?"

Morgan Brennan, in another unfortunately choppy presentation mid-show about an earnings call, referred to "some of the other stuff" in the Twitter report.

Steve Grasso’s AMZN assessment makes no sense, but Tim Seymour would be fine with a 390 multiple

Steve Grasso unleashed his AMZN bull case on Tuesday's Fast Money by stating that for a long time, investors cared about Amazon's revenue and not profit, and now they're "concentrating on the reverse."

But then, Grasso said, "That's not the case."

So, what's not the case — the first thing he said?

Moments later, Mel hectored Grasso, "What are their margins. What are their margins."

And Grasso said, "It doesn't matter at this point." (The margins, or the fact investors don't care, because it sure seems like they've cared in the last month.)

Anyway, Grasso said services are up 44%. But Pete Najarian, who hates that stock for the last fortnight, said "the profits just aren't there."

Pete also said there's "crazy competition" for Amazon both in China and the U.S., and, in a first, mentioned NFLX as part of that competition, as well as AAPL.

Pete even singled out Einhorn, "This is an example of 1 of the bubbles."

Really. So EVERY stock with a high multiple is a bubble.

Multiple Hawk Tim Seymour said AMZN is too pricey here, but "I'd buy it at 250."

The bigger question is whether Carl knew his inclusion in the CNBC top 25 was coming

Brian Kelly scooped Missy Lee on Tuesday's Fast Money in pointing out the "big story" from the EBAY call is the repatriation of $9 billion in cash from overseas.

Kelly said the company took a "$3 million hit on this," which drew a clarification from Tim Seymour (who likes to point out that stuff, to his credit), then Kelly said "it's a strange, strange things (sic plural)."

Pete Najarian wondered if Carl Icahn knew this was coming; "this doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Steve Grasso called TRLA "actually buyable here."

Tim Seymour said $155 billion Alibaba valuation would be a "fantastic number," then claimed "3 months ago, the whisper on this in the, in the gray market was 125 billion."

At $155 billion, "Yahoo to me is a $45 stock," said Seymour, who added, "I like Baidu here."

Speaking of Icahn, Missy Lee said there are "a lot of luminaries there" on the CNBC 25 list. But Tim Seymour grumbled that Elon Musk didn't make it. (You mean he's actually more relevant than Meg Whitman?)

Mel invokes air quotes for ‘ink’

Just as some are warning that tech stocks are in a bubble, Pete Najarian continues to trade like it's 1999.

Najarian told viewers of Tuesday's Fast Money that the XLK and S&P 500 charts "look identical," but that's because the XLK includes Pete's favorite stodgy old tech names such as MSFT, INTC, IBM.

Which means, 15 years from now, people like Pete will be turning to TWTR and P and YELP as the safe haven of the 2030s.

Brian Kelly said to sell PNRA on any bounce.

Tim Seymour said of DWA, "I wouldn't run out of this one if you own it." (Coincidentally, this writer is long DWA.)

Pete Najarian said he likes STX and WDC.

Brian Kelly said "I think you stay away" from NDLS.

Tim Seymour said "I stay long" LO.

Brian Kelly said of GOGO, "The trade is, stay away from this."

Steve Grasso said MGM fits the bill for Macau exposure.

Pete Najarian said "I think there's more downside" to COH and said he likes KORS.

Pete said "energy, energy, energy" is the story in the options market, and XOM October 110 calls were hot.

Mike Khouw said PFE June 33 calls were hot.

ShareThis chief Kurt Abrahamson asserted that people pay more attention to online recommendations than even brand name when buying products. "What we found is that online sharing, online recommendations, are as more (sic) important than, than brand or price at this point in time (sic redundancy last 2 words)," by something like a 55-to-20s margin, which sounds like one of USC's recent national title games.

Kelly Evans in the transition from Closing Bell introduced "Melissa Malee (sic pronunciation)."

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was to sell AAPL. Brian Kelly said GLD, Steve Grasso said AMZN but "use 280 as your queasy stop." Pete Najarian said XOM.

Joe: Viewers not as ‘good’ as Pete

On Tuesday's Halftime Report, Dr. New World seemed to chide Judge Wapner for elevating viewers' expectations too high.

"You're asking the viewer to be as fast as Pete Najarian inside the market, and they're just not able to. They're not that good," Terranova said. "They're not a professional. They're not like he is, sitting in front of the computer at all times."

Actually, it seems most of the time Pete's sitting in front of a camera, not computer.

But what was Pete's audited return last year? #didn'tthinkso

Joe concluded, "Where were we in November and December. That's what ultimately matters for investors and viewers of this show. We were higher, I think we're higher at that point this year."

‘Probablistically’?

Mike Murphy told viewers of Tuesday's Halftime Report that EBAY will "make up" its losses to "the Amazons of the world" by poaching from the BBYs and WMTs of the world.

Murphy also asserted that the stock is on the lower end of a recent trading range.

Josh Brown, the bear in this debate, said "You could certainly day-trade this stock within a couple of points," whatever that means, but "the problem is it's sitting on the low end of that range," and if it breaks below, it's "real trouble."

As for competition, Brown said, "you ain't seen nothing yet," with Facebook ready to unveil something "within weeks." (Yes, probably another $2 billion virtual reality purchase.) (This writer is long FB.)

Brown curiously concluded, "Probablistically (sic) speaking, this is not a great trade."

Mike Murphy insisted that at 59 Brown is right, but at 53, no.

Brown insisted that "revenue growth keeps declining."

Stocks ‘poised’ to fly

Joe Terranova affirmed on Tuesday's Halftime Report that "we all dismissed" the "sell in May" theory endorsed by JC O'Hara a day earlier, in Joe's case over "tax inefficiencies," but Joe says it's more like "don't buy in May and go away," and "you seek diversification."

Pete Najarian, who's more good at this than viewers, asserted, "We're gonna get bigger swings," but big-cap names have more upside while TSLA, AMZN and NFLX will be "extremely volatile."

Mike Murphy predicted "positive earnings" led by the XLE will push the S&P 500 through 1,890.

Pete interrupted to say energy is already in the lead, "so it's not that they're gonna take the lead."

Guest Suni Harford was the most bullish of the group, stating, "I think the market's poised ... I think we get some good numbers this week; I think the market flies."

Keith Banks merely said "we're constructive" and thinks the economy is "on the verge" of kicking into higher gear; "I believe it's the weather."

Mr. New Land, whose favorite word these days is "consensus," reiterated, "I actually believe Q2 is a down quarter."

"Financials are also oversold in here," Harford said, adding, rather provocatively, "It's hard to imagine them going down."

"It certainly feels like there's been a correction," Harford said.

CNBC's magnetically gorgeous Sara Eisen helped usher in Halftime from the Squawk on the Street set.

Icahn, Ackman ‘both good men’

As part of the CNBC 25-years tribute, Judge got to interview Carl Icahn, who said a little over a year ago that he would never talk to Judge again.

Judge's interview, however, wasn't exactly cutting-edge, asking Carl, "Are you relentless," and listening to Carl say over and over he's all about "just getting it right."

Keith Banks observed that Icahn is a guy with "passion."

Pete Najarian, who's better at this than viewers, said Icahn is "a guy who knows how to analyze a situation Scott better than anyone I think in the last 25 years."

Not only did Carl once say he wanted talk to Judge again, he also didn't say many nice things about Ackman ... but according to Judge on Tuesday, "Icahn and Ackman apparently have made nice."

Mr. New Land added, "They're both good men," and referring to Carl's roots, "I know the neighborhood, Mike knows the neighborhood that he grew up in, we're (sic) both grew up close to it," which is all well and good, but if it's geography that makes the man, oh boy, have we got quite a subject for next time.

Later, viewers got the CNBC assessment of Larry Ellison, who Mike Murphy said "took a big gamble."

Joe Terranova said Ellison bought Sun Micro, and "that was a good deal."

Josh Brown said Ellison has "been able to stay under the radar."

Joe jokes about
sports concussions

Joe Terranova on Tuesday's Halftime Report wondered "Where's the user growth" in Twitter; "I think you see a surprise there. Is it enough to stem the downtrend in the stock? Probably not."

Pete Najarian suggested that any pop in TWTR would be sold.

Josh Brown said, "The key number is monthly average users. If they don't print 255 million or better, look out below."

Things got downright loopy when Dr. New World thought he was the bull in the COH debate just a day ago (see below). (See, they do things that professionals do that the viewers at home can't do ... but they can't remember which side of the trade they were on just a day earlier.)

Moments later, Joe told Judge, "It's either a senior moment or it's the hits to the head playing hockey."

Josh Brown said DDD is "down more than 50% year to date ... I would not be jumping back in to this name."

Pete Najarian said of AGN, "obviously they think the bid's too low right now," and he urged viewers not to short the name.

Mike Murphy said GT "blamed the weather" and he'd wait to buy it in the low 20s.

Joe Sitt, in a head-scratcher, visited the show basically for one purpose — to talk about how great NYC real estate is — but declared the realty scene "a tale of 2 cities continually unmagnifying."

Unless he actually said "Continually, uh, magnifying." We listened multiple times and weren't sure.

Sitt also claimed the world changed for "Ukrainians and Turks that thought they were in the perfect country."

And he said we've gone from a "Dynasty" type of environment to "Silicon Valley" environment.

Joe Terranova said his trade for the next 25 years is energy, specifically "Canadian oil producers."

Josh Brown said DE. Keith Banks said "we think risk-on works." Pete Najarian said nothing.

[Monday, April 28, 2014]

Dennis Gartman, class act:
‘I appreciate’ the blogs

In the real world, CNBC or otherwise, there are all kinds of agitated, hyperactive people with whom you can't possibly reason.

Dennis Gartman, on the other hand, whether on the right side of the trade or the wrong side, remains the prototype of gentlemanly disagreement. (No, we're not just saying that because his daughter produces Fast Money.) (As if we had any clout (snicker) in those ranks anyway.)

Dennis on Monday's Fast Money handled a rather pointed (by her standards) intro from Missy Lee, who told Gartman, "There's a lot of Twitter commentary, there are a lot of blogs out there commenting about how you're a flip-flopper," and adding that based on the soundbites, "It sounds that way." (Note: This page didn't call Dennis a flip-flopper, but the more accurate "lagging indicator.")

Dennis, who asserted, "I think it's time once again to go to neutrality," seemed to acknowledge a recent see-saw ride of commentary that has unfortunately appeared even more backward-looking than usual.

"The bloggers have a big time with me. I appreciate what they- what they have to say, but I think neutrality again is the place to be," Gartman said, a fine gesture.

Steve Grasso soothed Gartman, "In your defense, you're actually just trading the marketplace." Then Grasso asked/told Gartman that every Ukraine headline is moving stocks.

Gartman said he can't figure out how to trade Vladimir's moves, but, "I like coal," and he has liked aluminum for a while, but the volatility in stocks "frightens me a little bit."

Gartman told Lee, "It is still a bull market," but 1,875-1,880 are points of resistance; unfortunately Mel reverted to nodding ways while her interviewee started talking.

Anthony gets a pat
on the shoulder

Jeff Harte joined Monday's Fast Money to lament that the Bank of America situation shows "just how much more complex the regulatory environment has gotten."

But, as to recouping the suspended buyback and dividend, Harte said, "I don't really see a numeric challenge here," but rather more of a "black eye."

Nevertheless, Harte "wouldn't be surprised" if there's more downside in the name.

However, Harte indicated C is his favorite, a stock you can "buy a fraction of a tangible book value" (Drink) and sell at a premium (we assume that's only if it rises). And, he likes MS (but he didn't mention dinner reservations with Gary Kaminsky like the Halftime crew did).

Steve Grasso seized the moment to tell viewers he got out of BAC at 16.30 (funny how he knows the exact price) and bought back 50% of the position under 15. "There's a lot of moving parts here," Grasso cautioned, later making BAC his Final Trade, but only if the whole market doesn't take it down to 14.

Brian Marshall actually makes it through an appearance without saying ‘at the end of the day’

Brian Marshall, the cliche-train of a Fast Money guest who Mel and Karen evidently think is so handsome (hey, if we could get that, we'd take it too) but who never has anything to say other than "We like Apple here," told Monday's crew after a series of mathematical conclusions that it's "not surprising" that there are reports of AAPL planning a $17 billion bond deal, partly because all the cash is offshore.

Marshall told Missy Lee, "I don't have a good sense there" as to whether AAPL will be invited into the (snicker) Dow, but it strikes him as "logical."

Marshall said that with the iPhone 6 ahead, Apple is looking at the "motherlode of all Apple upgrade cycles."

Steve Grasso flat-out admitted, "I had a bad call on Apple ... I've missed this trade," but wondered whether the company's really doing great or just benefiting from the "rotation."

Anthony Scaramucci insisted AAPL is a "super-cheap stock ... we love this name," and that a $17 billion bond issue is a "really good opportunity for them."

Dan Nathan perhaps stood tall (we'll know in a week or two), stating "what a gimmicky" report AAPL seemed to have, and "To me ... I would not chase this stock here," given the hope riding on "that motherlode of iPhone upgrades."

Pete Najarian countered that he would chase it, because "mobile payments is going to be huge."

‘If I was looking’? Doesn’t Pete actually trade the market, or is the net income entirely from television?

Pete Najarian, sort of a fair-weather fan of the stock market, carped on Monday's Fast Money that a "whole lot of somebodys" (translation: Not Pete) bought up the high-multiple names recently and are now making a "huge run for the exits."

So, "I don't think you need to chase any of 'em," Najarian said.

The funny thing about that is that while Pete likes to crow that Intel and Microsoft are so great while others sell off, he doesn't mention that one of his regular favorites, JPM, is down 10% in a month, fairly steep for a big bank, and another Najarian favorite, WYNN, is down 16%.

But back to the "momo" names. Najarian told Monday's crew, "I think if I was looking right now, I'd still be attacking Amazon."

That's only "if" he was looking. Apparently, he's not.

Steve Grasso defended AMZN, pointing out that the Fast gang likes to complain about Apple not using its cash, but "this guy is the exact opposite of Apple."

Dan Nathan, who owned Monday's show, countered, "But Grasso they earn nothing on it, so to me ..."

Grasso rebutted, "Doesn't matter, that story existed for years and the stock quadrupled."

Meg Tirrell quickly catching on to Fast Money cliches

Fast Money welcomed another appearance from CNBC's newest reporter star, no not JJ Flash Meg Tirrell, who on Monday asserted that AstraZeneca "probably will actually get taken over at the end of the day" (Triple Drink).

And oh joy, just what the world needs, more big pharma mega-mergers.

John Eade told the crew that "we see 3 types of deals occurring" with BMY.

Those would be a "growth type of deal," a "strategy type of deal ... and a synergy type of deal."

BMY, Eade said, is presently making half of typical operating margins, so he sees "synergy opportunities" in the name.

Eade added that "Mylan is a bit more swallowable than Bristol," and, as Mel nodded (Drink), listed INCY as an acquisition target of perhaps MRK, NVS, "even Lill-eye" (sic pronunciation, corrected).

Pete Najarian, who lets the options market dictate every one of his trades looks to the options market for tells, said "I have not seen the kind of paper" that would indicate imminent deals.

Dan Nathan astutely noted, "This stuff happens in frenzies at like market tops, you know; I don't get it," pointing to what Allergan and AstraZeneca were worth 6 months ago.

Anthony shows how the
Wonder Twin Powers activate

Given that many of his most effusive trading suggestions tend to be overly defensive, bearish, knuckleheaded blunders, it sort of hurts to say it.

But Dan Nathan, riding high on a bearish NFLX trade, owned Monday's Fast Money, given the backdrop of an absolutely decrepit stock market in which he doesn't expect a quick bounce.

"This thing has more to go here," said Nathan, who impressively made a "blind squirrel" reference to his NFLX put-buying after earnings, then turned his attention Monday to TWTR; "Twitter's fundamentals are not very good ... so to me I think you have to think about what people are willing to pay for a new story."

Those who want to find positives, and who doesn't, should note that Nathan struggled to explain why GOOG was selling off; see, it always starts with the "absurdly valued" momentum names, but then with Google it's because of an earnings miss and large market cap, and before you know it, nobody can really explain why anything is being hammered and the shorts quickly end up in face-ripped-off land.

Anthony Scaramucci in fact was positive on GOOG. "3 months, 6 months from now, it'll be higher than it is today," Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci contended, as he has on the Halftime Report, "We are transitioning from a liquidity-based bull market to a potential fundamentally based bull market."

Steve Grasso seemed to doubt the staying power of the so-called rotation. "The tell is, when those names top out, and IBB starts to rally, then you know that rotation is off," Grasso said.

For those keeping score at home, Steve Grasso still has 1/5 of a typical Yahoo position

Bob Peck told Melissa Lee on Monday's Fast Money that the estimate for TWTR is "255 million monthly active users," and if the report is around that number, the stock will "stay somewhat contained."

Peck said he finds GOOG, YHOO and EBAY also interesting.

Dan Nathan reiterated that in Twitter, "To me, I think there's probably a flush lower," calling the stock attractive in the "mid- to low 30s."

Nathan said EBAY 55 calls expiring this Friday were hot, but "I'd actually be selling calls."

Steve Grasso said he's still long 20% of his YHOO position and warned the stock could trade "a little crazy going into Alibaba."

Anthony Scaramucci made what apparently was the day's most bullish call, suggesting tech stocks are "oversold," and adding, "These stocks will gravitate upward." (How does something "gravitate" upward?)

Pete Najarian said he wouldn't "bottom-pick" GOGO because it "could continue this downside."

Dan Nathan said "in and of itself" before calling GOGO a buy around $10.

Anthony Scaramucci said "Dan looks good," but Melissa Lee said she would "disagree."

Kel had no idea
what Mel was wearing

Dan Nathan, using the term "gimmicky" for the 2nd time on Monday's Fast Money, wasn't impressed by Carl Icahn's HLF plan to stop the dividend and do more of a buyback. "To me, it sounds gimmicky," said Nathan, who said he bought puts and would buy more if it rises.

Anthony Scaramucci said "I would stay out of this if I was an individual investor" then predicted, "I do think Mr. Icahn's gonna get the best on this side."

Scaramucci said of CHTR, "This stock is gonna go higher."

Pete Najarian said "I think you stay away for a few more days" from JASO, calling it a "falling knife."

Steve Grasso said JCP got a boost from PVH comments and short interest, but he called it a "no-touch."

Dan Nathan said WYNN has a head-and-shoulders chart, and "this one looks nasty."

Melissa Lee said some company called Fyre claimed "irreparable damage" from Amazon Fire. Steve Grasso was heard to say, "That's one for you to get growth," which for some reason caused Pete Najarian to practically fall out of his chair.

Pete Najarian said BWLD isn't about the wings, but "this is about the alcohol."

Pete said May 21 calls in HLT were hot, and referenced his July 4 takeover call many years ago that was, in fact, brilliant.

Steve Grasso said of JCI, "I would stay away right now."

Pete Najarian called JBLU a "good opportunity" at 7.50 or 7.60.

Dan Nathan's Final Trade was HLF puts. Anthony Scaramucci said FDX and Pete Najarian said PFE.

Tony Dwyer for some reason
calls Steve Weiss ‘Mr.’

Tony Dwyer affirmed to Judge on Monday's Halftime Report that he's got a 2,185 year-end S&P target, and "I'm like a classic short when I raise my target."

Dwyer tried to assert that he's been doubted before when he upgraded. "Mr. Weiss told me I had a better chance of growing hair than being right on the year," Dwyer said, adding "I gotta tell ya" for Josh Brown's benefit, "you do get multiple expansion."

Right now, stocks are in a "no-man's land correction," Dwyer said, the first time we've heard that term.

Dr. New World said investors are "anticipating a rising-rate environment" and asked Dwyer if there's a possibility of another "taper tantrum."

Dwyer called that a "great question" and said "whether it's a growth to value trade" depends on your time perspective, because "this is like the 3rd or 4th" such rotation in recent years.

Rather, "I think it's more of a crazy overvalued into normally valued," Dwyer said.

Dwyer added, "The yield curve is not gonna invert for quite some time."

‘All you gotta do is watch my back ... and each other’s ... and take out the trash’

Reading between the lines on Fast Money/Halftime Report for clues as to where the stock market is going, it's clear that panelists' equivocations about the "momentum names" et al. are getting really old fast, as no one will bluntly explain that the Street is cleaning out these names like Dalton cleaned up the Double Deuce, nobody wants this garbage anymore until maybe FB and TWTR are hovering around 30 or 12. (This writer is long FB.)

Josh Brown had the insight on Monday's Halftime Report to point out unusual trouble in FEYE, SPLK, TWTR and FB; "the people that are in those names are experiencing much more pain than the overall market."

Gee. Ya think?

Brown played rear-view mirror quarterback, stating "people assume the worst was over" (like who), but the stocks "never made new highs."

Mr. New Land said he has taken his equity exposure from 100% to 60% because of "near-term risks, which I truly believe" (as opposed to the half-hearted beliefs), and "I don't think Japan's gonna give the markets what they want."

"The consensus this year is wrong on any- on everything basically," Joe said.

Pete Najarian helpfully stated, "I don't feel like you've gotta wring your hands right now."

Stephanie Link used the chance to invoke a Cramer Brag Trade, saying they "sold out of Chevron, for a nice quick gain," and "took a nice gain" in TKR.

Congratulations.

"We have a little cash on hand," Link said.

Josh Brown insisted that at some point the indiscriminate selling will end, and even the momo market will become stock-specific; "they're secular growth stories."

But Pete Najarian said names such as TSLA, NFLX and AMZN do not have the "valuation" that buyers are looking for.

Joe tries to convince Steph why COH belongs in the penalty box

Stephanie Link asserted on Monday's Halftime Report that she likes COH, even though "It's not really about the quarter in my mind" (Drink) (another cliche Sully will have to learn for his next guest-hosting gig).

Link said she liked it last year (#notreallyacatalyst), and it's got new management, and it has international prospects.

Mr. New Land, who extricated himself from the first batch of 75 or so "playoff" hockey games to appear on the show, played the bear, stating there's "not enough exposure in the emerging markets" to make up for Coach's North American problems.

Joe was also heard to mention "millennial women."

Josh Brown backed Joe. "It's been dead money for 4 years," Josh said, advising viewers to "wait for some kind of a signal."

Pete Najarian agreed and said "Michael Kors has been eating their lunch."

Joe said the show should discuss "more Kate Spade."

Panel not very impressed by
JC O’Hara’s sell-in-May plan

JC O'Hara told Monday's Halftime Report that he believes in the sell-in-May routine because of the "consistency of it."

Mr. New Land, on the other hand, balked. "I have a problem with the whole sell-in-May-and-go-away concept," Joe said, pointing out there are "tax efficiencies involved in that," and suggesting a better idea is, "Don't buy in May."

O'Hara then clarified that he's not saying people should short the market in May, rather, "You should not be enthusiastic about the market." (But no one's been enthusiastic since the 2nd week of February.)

"I just hate the blanket statements," scoffed Pete Najarian.

Joe said it's the right environment to "sell some calls" and told Najarian he's surprised that Pete isn't advocating that.

Josh Brown said that, to the contrary of O'Hara, it's "smarter to be doing your buys" from May to September and then sell the gains during the "7 best years (sic not "months," uncorrected)."

Josh makes no sense

One of the things on CNBC that amuses this page is people's distinction between "trader" and "investor."

Josh Brown on Monday's Halftime Report said of BAC, "I bought some this morning" above 15, and said he'd buy more below 15.

All well and good. Until Brown explained that his move is one for the longer-term investor, not a trader, because the stock can go lower.

Which makes no sense at all, because if you think it's probably going lower, why would you buy it now regardless of whether you plan to hold it 3 days or 3 years??

Stephanie Link disagreed with Brown. "I think it's dead money for the near-term," Link said.

Pete Najarian said he lets the options market dictate every trade he makes looks to the options market for tells in the banks, and he's "not seeing the huge buying come in" for BAC.

But Pete still likes BAC in that curious long-term way, stating, "I still think it's a $20 stock," and that C is a $60 stock someday somewhere.

Joe Terranova wondered why no one was questioning Brian Moynihan; "this is the 2nd time this has happened."

Kayla Tausche pointed out that BAC's issue was "not the same as Citigroup."

Brown made BAC his Final Trade in the low 15s for those with a longer "time horizon."

Say Judge: If it’s all about transparency, how about releasing the vote totals of the hashtag bull-bear debate?

Josh Brown said on Monday's Halftime that CHTR delivered "about what the Street was expecting" in the cable shake-up.

Pete Najarian said something about Carl liking the FURX or FRX or whatever.

Stephanie Link said she hopes GE will get Alstom but doesn't think Immelt will chase.

Mr. New Land uncorked an "exprected" (he corrected it) in stating NEM and ABX are being punished for not meeting expected growth.

Eamon Javers reported on the PFE plan and noted, "Folks here in Washington hate tax inversions ... however, we're seeing a boomlet here."

Javers agreed with Joe that a situation like this "advances the conversation" about tax holidays.

Stephanie Link said the PNRA downgrade is over nothing new and it's still a "turnaround story."

Josh Brown opined, "Investors have no appetite for high-beta, high-priced stocks."

Pete Najarian said options in "Northstar Reelity (sic pronunciation) Finance" (NRF) were hot; "there's some chatter out there" and May 17, 18 calls are active, but it's a "very short-term trade."

Joe Terranova said AMZN "absolutely should get hit," because "you can't get the pass anymore."

Josh Brown said AMZN had been posting 20% revenue growth every year for a decade, and that now looks like high teens.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was JNJ. Stephanie Link said MAS, and Joe Terranova said he was invoking Karen Finerman's FLS, except Karen hasn't mentioned it for ages.

Judge said Joe won the debate with Stephanie.

CNBC also paid a fawning tribute to Carl Icahn to justify its 25-years celebration.

Pssst: Karen aiming to ‘redefine’ communication at GrafTech

Viewers of Fast Money often hear about activist investor battles.

One they haven't heard about is the donnybrook at GrafTech, where Karen Finerman is actually being nominated for a board seat.

Apparently, former GrafTech director Nathan Milikowsky was ousted last year; according to the N.Y. Times, the company accused him of a hedge fund leak; Milikowsky says he was punished for criticizing the company management.

However it happened, Milikowsky has now put together a slate of 3 director nominees, including himself; the leadoff hitter is The Chairwoman of Fast Money.

The issue for a critic, then, is whether Milikowsky's letter would actually cite Finerman's Fast Money status as a board credential.

It sure does.

And we know what you might be thinking: How does talking about stocks on television qualify one to steer a steel company?

Well, given that Karen's agenda in Milikowsky's letter is listed as "redefining corporate communication," perhaps there is added value in being proficient at declaring C and M a buy every other day on the airwaves.

Oddly enough, Karen is communicating nothing about this endeavor on Fast Money.

Evidently, regardless of what happens to Milikowsky's slate, Karen has already won. According to the response from the company, "the GrafTech Board expects that if all of the Company’s seven nominees are elected, either Karen Finerman, David Jardini or both would be invited to join the Board."

[Friday, April 25, 2014]

Karen chides Twitter heckler,
sorta Gasparino-style

It came to our attention this week that Karen Finerman, of all people, was taking heat on Twitter for her reaction Wednesday to Brian Kelly's choice of BBRY as a "Captain Planet" trade.

Karen explained she only used the term "lame" in regard to Kelly's use of BBRY "as an earth day trade" (sic actually "Captain Planet" trade; see, you can't believe everything you read on Twitter even when it's from the Fast Money gang).

What actually happened Wednesday is that Kelly explained how he arrived at BBRY for "Captain Planet," which prompted Finerman to be heard muttering "Oh my God."

Then Missy Lee said, "That's lame."

Finerman then stated, "I originally wanted to do Earth, Wind and Fire and then segue into the music business. But that would be lame. That would be lame as BlackBerry."

So there you go. But more intriguing than that was Karen's handling of a heckler's question wondering about her CAT short.

"check the tape. We covered at 91 On last earnings report before this. It wasnt working," Finerman communicated, before adding a Charlie-esque kicker: shine my shoes, bring me a tuna sandwich for lunch, "options trader" = ETrade account in Mom's basement, hope for a minimum-wage hike ... "mean-spirited tweet not so cool."

If stock market crashes for 3rd time in 15 years, would CNBC, brokerage industry make it to 2016?

Guy Adami said at the top of Friday's Fast Money that he's "really surprised" at "how poorly" FB has traded, a situation that caught Pete Najarian's eye as well. (This writer is long FB.)

"Facebook is very intriguing to me," Najarian said, asserting "that quarter was absolutely outstanding," and so "around 58, I decided to jump in with some options," but short-term in nature because that's the market we've got.

Mel tried to impress upon Josh Brown that there was a "geopolitical" element to the selloff.

Brown downplayed that, saying he's only heard that from "people really in the media" (including Seema Mody, see below) and instead he thinks the selloff "just has to do with portfolios unwinding risk."

Steve Grasso contended that margin was a big problem; "everyone was double-levered," but "this is strictly a rotation play."

But Brown countered that it's more than a rotation, "it's starting to metastasize."

Uh oh: Index falls 0.48% in 1 week

Pete Najarian said on Friday's spirited Fast Money that the day's meltdown "started with Amazon."

Moments later, Pete told Steve Grasso he would "applaud" Grasso "for having the guts to go in there today" and buy AMZN (translation: got burned on that one), then repeated his day-old complaint that "they keep spending money" and are having margin issues again.

Grasso admitted, "I was wrong yesterday on the show" to call AMZN a buy based on the S&P holding 1,856, but he only bought "50% of what I want to own" so far.

Pete Najarian called TWTR "sort of a show-me type of a name," one that "has that sort of a falling-knife feeling for me."

Josh Brown reaffirmed that he owns TWTR; "it's a very low-conviction hold."

What does this say about the impact of Dolly Lenz and Robert Frank?

Practically chuckling, Zillow boss Spencer Rascoff shrugged off the Nasdaq meltdown on Friday's Fast Money.

"It's clearly a very volatile market for high-growth tech stocks," Rascoff said, insisting that the companies themselves don't really care about seismic 1-day moves and that 5 years from now, his company will be worth much more than it is now.

Attempting to go where Diana Olick went the other day on Halftime — that curious theory of new home sales being terrible because builders are charging too much — Rascoff made a similar suggestion with existing homes, that there are still so many "upside down" homeowners who can't sell or buy, causing "limited supply" that most people can't afford.

As for Zillow, Rascoff pointed out that real-estate agents advertise a lot, much of it presently offline, and "most of that spend will move online."

Guy Adami said short interest in Z is "north of 50%," but because the stock has dropped considerably on typical volume, he thinks "shorts still have some ammo."

Grasso: TSLA hinges on 184

Brian Kelly dialed into Friday's Fast Money to reveal he dumped FEYE.

"It's just a bad trade, from the get-go," Kelly conceded.

Guy Adami said F had a "pretty big EPS miss" and repeated for the umpteenth time that the tell was when it didn't rise on news of Mulally staying.

Steve Grasso said 184 is the key level in TSLA, but "I would not be buying this one."

Guy Adami, long a fan of JBLU (so that he can have nice chats when Dave Barger comes on the show), said "I've gotta give up the ghost here" in the stock.

Steve Grasso said "I would wait till the overall market stabilizes" before buying V, preferably over 200.

Josh Brown blessed SPWR; "I think it's going higher."

Pete Najarian said HBI "absolutely crushed on every single metric," and he thinks the "stock is still cheap."

Pete said 30 calls in the May weeklies for Zoetis (ZTS) were hot; "we think there's something going on here."

Guy Adami mentioned the half-Italian, half-Sicilian thing and said people need a "facial scrub."

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was DG. Steve Grasso said to buy BAC at 15. Josh Brown said MOO. Guy Adami said MYL.

Josh Brown clearly never
talks to Seema Mody

Bob Pisani told "Scott" (that would be guest host Brian Sullivan) on Friday's Halftime Report that stocks are trading like the 10-year yield.

Pisani said big IPOs have "started rolling over," and that CSLT in particular had a "mountain peak" on its 1st day.

Sully said he had no problem being called Scott. "That's the nicest thing I'll be called all day," he said to "Bill."

Josh Brown said IPOs were hot because of what now seems a "laughable concept," that in the last couple years there was a "quote-unquote equity shortage," but "now we're satiated."

Eamon Javers reported that the West is looking at "increased sanctions on Russia."

Josh Brown said he talks to "hundreds" of people, and "not one person's talking about Ukraine."

Except cloud-multiple gorgeous® Seema Mody reported at Halftime and in other shows that she's hearing that Ukraine is weighing on the "risk-averse" tech sector.

(Unfortunately, cloud-multiple gorgeous® was heard to say, "What a difference one day can make." (Even the great ones do it.) (Forget it, and drive on.))

Anthony Scaramucci opined that the next leg of the market will be fundamental-driven rather than liquidity-driven, and "People are in a little bit of a malaise" trying to figure that out.

Scaramucci also said the market needs "better forward guidance" from companies.

Brian Sullivan killin’ it as Judge’s sub even more than Pete’s bevy of industrial/tech-low-P.E. stocks

Brian Sullivan cracked at the top of Friday's Halftime Report that he didn't know who to call on first because there are so many things to discuss, it's like "buffet at Shoney's."

The Moochmeister accurately suggested to Sully, "It's harder to look at Pete Najarian than Amanda Drury, is that what you're saying."

Anthony Scaramucci opined that momentum stocks "seem to be in the weakest hands in the market," which makes them "very, very dangerous stocks for the average person." (But, presumably not so dangerous for pros who know how to "measure risk.")

Josh Brown warned that there's a "head-and-shoulders pattern on the Nasdaq chart" forming.

Sully agreed that the Nasdaq looks to be forming a "perfect head-and-shoulders top."

Josh Brown figured out that tech names move on "supply and demand for the shares of the stock" (sic last 3 words redundant).

Anthony Scaramucci called that a "great point."

Pete Najarian said, "It's all about high multiples," and contended that "the industrials are leading; the pharmaceuticals are leading."

Josh Brown derided the suggestion that TSLA leads the market; "it's symptomatic; it's not the cause."

Sully revealed, much to the disappointment of this page, that "the only blog we read is The Reform- The Reformed Broker."

Translation: P, AMZN, FB,
suck right now

In a strange sort of "debate" on Friday's Halftime Report, Brian Sullivan brought in David Golden and Tony Tjan to apparently discuss whether there's a bubble in Silicon Valley.

Golden affirmed, in a cliche tragedy, "It certainly seems like it's a tale of 2 cities." (Oh my, can't even continue.) (Stop complaining. Overcome it. Focus on the task at hand.)

Anyway (sigh), Golden said something about a few names getting outsized interest, but the "average venture investment hasn't changed."

Tjan first said it was great to see Golden recently, then assured, "All of us are in this for the long run," but suggested we're seeing "a correction on speculative IPOs and, uh, short-term value capture."

Josh Brown suggested that's good for shaking out the "johnny-come-latelys" who think they're real VC investors but they're not.

Golden said something we can't possibly argue with: "When valuations are high, I don't like to be a buyer, and I do like to be a seller."

Tjan allowed that the VC space recently has gotten "way, way overvalued on growth" as opposed to the quality of the business model.

Still wondering why we never see Patty, Zach Karabell, Steve Cortes ...

Michael Santoli, who until recently was the new star guest of Friday's Halftime Report, returned Friday to Brian Sullivan's outfit (perhaps Santoli needed some space from Judge) to report, "I looked at a bunch of different activists' tactiss (sic), tactics and strategies," and discovered 3 things.

Pointing to Ackman, Santoli said, "When you have an unbeatable hand, bet big ... to me, that was the lesson of the Allergan deal."

Then he claimed that Carl was using a "Daisy Duck" rifle against AAPL and EBAY, and finally pointed to Coca-Cola and David Winters and said not to expect the mom and pop investors to side with you.

Brian Sullivan assured that it's not for "anybody here" to criticize Warren Buffett, but that Sully found Buffett's rationale for abstaining in the Coke vote "disappointing."

Josh Brown agreed that the "reasoning for not voting was very un-Buffett-like."

As someone's phone rang, Sully cracked the line of the day, stating under the radar, "Warren Buffett, calling in apparently."

‘Almost everything’ works

Pete Najarian on Friday's Halftime continued his AMZN gripes from a day earlier, stating, "You can understand why ... this stock might start to roll over."

Morgan Brennan, who is good-looking, told the gang that Amazon "keeps spending more on all kinds of new things."

Josh Brown declared, "Jeff Bezos is being Jeff Bezos ... brilliant man; almost everything he does works."

But Brown said that whether people want to "bet" on Amazon's project is something that "oscillates."

Anthony Scaramucci said of Bezos, perhaps offering a subtle speaker invite to SALT 2014 May 13-16, "I think he's earned the respect of a lot of people," and predicted that in 10 years, Amazon will be a "more powerful company than it is today."

‘Obviously’ TWTR looks good

Leigh Drogen predicted on Friday's Halftime Report that after Facebook's great results (which sure helped the stock this week) (this writer is long FB), "obviously the mobile aspect is gonna follow through into Twitter."

Sully questioned the "obviously" part, but Drogen assertd, "Our numbers end up being more accurate than the sell side about 75% of the time."

Drogen also predicts big results from OPEN and YELP, because in restaurant technology, "this whole space is on fire."

Sully pointed out that utilities are at a 6-year high.

Josh Brown scoffed that "if and when rates do go up, these things are gonna get slaughtered."

Pete Najarian said 55 calls expiring June 6 in DG were hot, and that THC and its space was too.

Najarian said of CAT, "They killed it."

Anthony Scaramucci pointed out that a while ago he expressed a "contrarian view" when others were saying to short CAT, but it's "not a self-congratulatory" (translation: Brag Trade®) because the stock can go up or down.

Josh Brown admitted, "I've been bullish and dead wrong on Ford this year."

Anthony Scaramucci said to buy V on the weakness.

Pete Najarian repeated that SBUX is planning to add "another 1,500 stores" and is "absolutely killin' it right now."

Anthony Scaramucci's Final Trade was EBAY, based on the "Icahn Effect." Josh Brown said he was changing his to "avoid the homebuilders." Pete Najarian said MSFT, insisting Satya was the right choice and "I thought so all along."

[Thursday, April 24, 2014]

Dan Nathan attempts to reach new milestone in ‘to me’

Generally when Dan Nathan starts warning, it's time to start buying.

Nathan said of AMZN on Thursday's Fast Money, "To me (sic redundant) (Drink), I don't think this thing holds," explaining that "investors are being a lot pickier" about high-multiple names.

Moments later, Nathan stated, "To me (sic redundant) (Double Drink), I think a lot of these stocks that are in these downtrends, they are gonna break the lows."

Nathan asserted "I'm playing for that pullback" in AMZN, which he thinks begins once it fails to crack 348.

Pete Najarian, in a rare 2-pronged complaint, said of AMZN, "They've gotta start earning a lot more money," then pointed out that Gene Munster thinks "these guys are spending like drunken sailors."

Well, of course ... they're going to upend Netflix and wipe 'em out with $99 Prime.

Guy Adami said of AMZN, "I think you take profits here," though he advised against shorting the stock.

Later in the show, trading at 338, Adami reaffirmed, "take profits."

Steve Grasso bemoaned that "I'm fully allocated right now," otherwise "I'd be a buyer of Amazon," but he did sell BAC so he's got at least a little free cash.

Aaron Kessler told the crew he thinks AMZN needs to "show increasing leverage," yet he's "still positive on a long-term thesis for Amazon."

Grasso says buy AMZN, sell MSFT; Guy says just the opposite

Guy Adami said on Thursday's Fast Money that "you buy this strength" in MSFT as it shows operating margin improvements; "I think you're in a new trading range."

But nothing could convince Steve Grasso, who observed that "cloud has been the catchphrase ... it means that margin compression will happen," so "lock in some profits here."

Dan Ives affirmed that the Nokia bungle "continues to be the $7 billion head-scratcher for investors," sort of a "hurricane-like headwind."

But Ives said Satya is ready to draft Brandon Weeden; "he's really trying to turn the Cleveland Browns of mobile into a playoff contender," making Mel happy by pointing out that Satya is at least on the earnings call, unlike Steven Ballmer.

Yet, Ives suggested "now it's really about them trying to skate to where the puck's going," which is a step behind David Cassese, who said this week that Satya is already doing just that.

Pete Najarian claimed Satya "does bring a bit of a swag factor."

But Nathan said, "To me (sic redundant) (Triple Drink), I actually think he made a very big mistake coming in in his 1st quarter, I would've taken down that forward guidance."

Careful drawing conclusions from earnings calls before Fast Money is over

Permanent CNBC fox Jane Wells on Thursday's Fast Money first sarcastically pointed out that SBUX didn't blame anything on the weather (that's a dig at DNKN) ... only to have to report moments later that the CFO blamed "acute, extreme weather" for the number of closings and adjustments in hours last winter.

Wells said Howard Schultz said other companies are impressed by Starbucks' mobile payment system and are "approaching him about the possibility of licensing it."

Jane also said that management claims to have 40% of 2015's coffee buy already locked in.

Pete Najarian gushed that SBUX plans to open "1,500 more stores."

Guy Adami said of SBUX, "I think you trade it from the long side."

Dan Nathan (yep) insisted "Momentum's dead in the name," and if you're going to trade it, "use 70 as a stop."

Mel seems tired, despite new hairstyle and hot black dress

Steve Grasso, almost as grandpa-ish as Dan Nathan on Thursday's Fast Money, asserted again that "the market is setting up for a head-and-shoulders pattern."

Guy Adami said 1,834 is the level to watch.

Pete Najarian though chose to look at the bright side, stating CAT "crushed it today."

Pete admitted a bungle in P pre-earnings. "I'm gonna melt in those options," he said, advising viewers to "wait for a little while" before getting long. (But see, the good news is, he measured his risk.)

Likewise, Guy Adami said of V, "I think you gotta give this a couple days" because he expects it to trade to the "low 190s."

Pete Najarian said MU options were "absolutely out of control."

But Steve Grasso said "DRAM actually looks like it's rolling over."

Grasso said LVS has lots going for it, but "Wynn seems like the favorite."

Pete Najarian said UA on "every metric" was an "absolute crush," so he "didn't understand" why the stock was selling off.

Dan Nathan sort of chided Najarian with faint praise for buying the stock, stating, "To me (sic redundant) (Quadruple Drink), I'll tell you 50, you were daring to step in right there."

Regarding BIDU, Nathan said, "To me (sic redundant) (Quintuple Drink), this is a really tough one," because Alibaba's emergence as a public company "could put some pressure on the stock."

Solar is ‘risk-free’

SPWR chief Tom Werner asserted of solar on Thursday's Fast Money that "people understand that it's pretty, uh, uh, risk-free," and in fact there has been a "mainstreaming of solar."

Werner added that his company has "already raised guidance for the year twice."

Guy Adami said SPWR short interest is so high, "You can't sell it here."

Steve Grasso said he likes DECK, but "I would definitely wait until this pulls back."

Pete Najarian though said DECK even after the afterhours climb "is not an expensive company." But Pete said he wouldn't chase it either.

Grasso said of AET, "I don't think I'd buy it right here."

Guy Adami said to be long UAL. "If it holds 40 ... I think it's fine again," Adami said.

Pete Najarian said of DHI, "I'd sell some into it."

Dan Nathan said the APC Jan 120/135 call spread was hot.

Mel welcomed hockey greats Rod Gilbert and Joe Watson to the set, with Watson pounding the table for CMCSA and BF.A (or was that BF.B?).

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was CHK. Dan Nathan said EWG puts. Guy Adami said QCOM. Steve Grasso said to wait for the S&P to hold 1,856 before buying AMZN.

Someone finally explains to Josh why stocks go up or down

Kenny Polcari seemed to be indulging in hyperbole on Thursday's Halftime Report in regard to the state of the stock market.

"It's just psychotic at the moment," Kenny claimed.

Pete Najarian said people seem to want to sell at 1,889 or 1,885.

Mike Murphy claimed that Einhorn was talking about "specific names" in his "bubble" manifesto, but when you look at names such as FEYE, "the market already has corrected itself."

Josh Brown concluded that "Wall Street doesn't really care about good or bad," but rather are the earnings reports "better or worse" than expected.

Murph thinks GM CEO is a ‘he’

Phil LeBeau explained on Thursday's Halftime that UAL actually reported a $600 million loss, which he attributed to "not getting the right pricing on the right routes" and a "lot of little issues" related to the Continental merger.

Pete Najarian said he's still in UAL, which initially helped him surge ahead in the 2014 Playbook Playoffs until it stalled and then Joe started kicking his butt, but "I'm not very happy" with that quarter.

Najarian predicted DAL goes higher.

Josh Brown touted HA, "nobody talks about this thing," despite the fact Pete made it his Final Trade once or twice recently; Pete snapped at Brown, "You gotta pay attention."

But Brown said HA has "one of the best charts out there" and benefits from Asian exposure and still has a low multiple.

Mike Murphy actually wasn't embarrassed to say he "bought GM today ... this quarter I think marked the bottom. I think the worst is behind them. The CEO came out and said it may not be all behind 'em, but what else could he (sic) say."

Judge offered that the "litigation risk is perhaps enormous."

Murphy shrugged that off as a "1-time charge."

Never take Ackman’s 1st offer

Meg Tirrell, while beaming cuteness once again, told Judge on Thursday's Halftime Report that Allergan has a new scheme to coax a higher price out of Ackman make itself unbuyable by Valeant — acquire Shire (SHPG) first, in the process "making Allergan too big for Valeant to buy," Tirrell said.

Mike Murphy insisted that "Bill Ackman has done his homework," and shareholders will quickly realize that acquiring a name such as Shire "doesn't make as much sense as the original deal does."

So, "hats off to Ackman on this one," Murphy said.

How come Pete isn’t
‘measuring his risk’?

Paul Hickey, generally an optimist, told Thursday's Halftime Report crew that "we've seen guidance improving," as well as the number of "triple plays" in which companies beat on top and bottom and up the guidance.

Hickey also likes the housing situation; "it's almost impossible for it not to improve."

But a curious conversation ensued when Hickey, referring to Pete Najarian favorite UA, explained why the stock fell with this description: "Instead of being absurdly valued, they're just, you know, wildly overvalued."

Judge even chipped in, "insanely."

Pete, undaunted, said "I went in and bought stock" in UA, not even bothering with the options.

Quick: Who was the last
to do a 7-for-1 split?

Tom McClellan told Thursday's Halftime Report that a 7-for-1 split is a "really peculiar number" and he can't remember any other company doing that, but it will put AAPL "smack in the middle" of the magic nominal share price that is so important for Dow inclusion.

Josh Brown asked McClellan if that's not the "worst time" to buy a stock, when it gets included in the Dow.

McClellan said that's been true with the Nasdaq 100, but the Dow is "a little bit small of a sample size, so it's hard to say."

Regardless, "I think it's likely to happen," McClellan said, predicting an AAPL top in June before it will "settle back some."

Pete Najarian opined that "they're still killin' it" and actually claimed "Tim Cook delivered on the financial end, the financial engineering as you call it."

Sheila Dharmarajan said there hasn't been a 7-for-1 split in 34 years, but didn't explain which company that was.

Mike Murphy said at the end of the show he sold AAPL, though he kept his FB stake, "they did everything right in that quarter." (This writer is long FB.)

Pete Najarian called QCOM "a great buying oppportunity here."

Mike Murphy evidently thinks it’s unlikely P will see 30 anytime soon

Pete Najarian said on Thursday's Halftime Report that there's "huge option activity out there today" in Pandora; "they've been gaining market share ... kicking on all cylinders." (This writer is long P.)

Mike Murphy, however, clueless about a bear case, stressed that the stock just came off 25, and is "trading just like the other momentum names out there."

Pete eventually decided on an argument he didn't bother to make the first time, that Karen Finerman owns the shares Pandora is "on a lot of the Apple devices as well" and that Tim Cook "talked about acquisitions, Scott." (Yes. According to Josh Lipton, Tim Cook is "on the prowl" (see below).)

Josh Brown agreed with Pete and called P a "perennial acquisition candidate" and said he expects to see it gobbled up by some Nasdaq giant one of these days.

Don’t ask Pete to pronounce
‘Ultra Petroleum’

Jeff Kilburg on Thursday's Halftime Report invoked Dalton's first full night of cooling at the Double Deuce, explaining that in Ukraine, "I think the situation will get a little bit worse before it gets better."

Kilburg even noted the presence of U.S. troops in Poland on the WSJ "front cover" (sic redundant) and asserted, "Unfortunately we're gonna see gold go higher."

Brian Stutland though said gold is in a 1,265-1,365 range, and he sees a target of 1,307 and "definitely would be a buyer."

Permanent fox Jane Wells told the gang that DNKN's CEO "blamed the weather" for lackluster results, and Wells chided Josh Brown for advocating the stock a day ago.

Brown shrugged that "the stock is down 8/10th of 1 percent," and might finish higher by the end of the day.

Mike Murphy was heard to say he sold SODA at 46.

Pete Najarian said LO might be hit by e-cig regulation. Josh Brown said he doesn't think e-cigs will be as big as the companies might expect, and "longer-term, they're high-yielding value traps."

Pete Najarian said May 32 calls were hot in "Ultra Pet- Petroleum ... Ultra Peto- Petroleum."

Pete also said CHK July 35/40 calls were hot, and he'll hold each position "couple weeks at the most."

Josh Brown pounded the table for GBX, ultimately his and Justin Brown's (who clearly gets his child-model looks from his mother) Final Trade, stating the shale boom requires new railcars, and he'd buy the stock under 50.

Judge observed where the stock was at the time and asked, "Buck makes that much of a difference?"

Mike Murphy, continuing his theme of the day, said "all of Josh's points are correct" on GBX, but it's already made a big move.

Speaking of stocks that have made big moves, Murphy likes MU, "I think it continues to move ... I'm still long."

Pete Najarian said of MAR, "I think it goes higher."

Judge asked the panelists for their "best guess" on TWTR's stock future. Nobody was terribly inspired on this one, though Pete Najarian said the company will have to produce like FB has.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was MCD. Mike Murphy said DHI.

[Wednesday, April 23, 2014]

Tim Seymour & Colin Gillis about as cohesive as iTunes & Android

Colin Gillis' lack of AAPL enthusiasm on Wednesday's Fast Money obviously struck Tim Seymour as sour grapes.

Gillis grudgingly congratulated AAPL on a "great quarter" but insisted the iPhone beat is "still well below the market growth rate" and not totally convincing; "I would not be chasing the stock tomorrow."

"But Colin why would they be stuffin' the channel," Seymour butted in, suggesting that's an "excuse" for someone who publicly expected a worse report, like "I'm looking for a negative, you know, spin."

Gillis insisted, "Just wanna be careful that the sell-through matched the sell-in."

Seymour, who said "you ride" the stock, "you hope for at least some push through this 565 level" (that's a quality strategy), also said there's "no hint of China in here."

Yet, Gillis asserted at the end of the show that "this was the China Mobile quarter."

Karen has no problem with splits when it’s her companies that do it

You hear it time and again on Fast Money: Karen Finerman scoffing at a stock that rises on the announcement of a stock split.

Yet, when such a maneuver happened with AAPL on Wednesday's Fast Money, the best Finerman could muster was that she's "happy" to own the stock, but "I don't know that I'd buy more tomorrow."

Colin Gillis was allowed to say unchecked that companies get "a little bit of a positive impact in front of the split."

Instead, it was actually Tim Seymour who stood tall, stating, "I think the 7-for-1 thing is garbage," suggesting it's no more than "engineering" to get into the Dow or other indices.

While that's not a bad thing, it sounds like the type of things companies focus on when they're not terribly excited about whatever it is they're making.

Tim Cook said to be
‘on the prowl’ for acquisitions

The more was heard about AAPL's report on Wednesday's Fast Money, not only was there less to like, but there was downright eye-rolling material.

Josh Lipton said he talked to Tim Cook and while the company basically revealed nothing about new products, "He assured me they're are (sic) on the way."

Lipton also mentioned the "legendary cash pile," and said Tim Cook claimed that he's "on the prowl" for acquisitions.

Lipton's opinion of the AAPL split is that it's "more accessible to your friends and family."

54th minute of the show,
Mel resorts to air quotes

Guy Adami said on Wednesday's Fast Money that "there's nothing to knock about the quarter" that Apple reported; "nothing negative that I can see other than the iPad."

However, Adami expressed skepticism throughout the show that the stock was at the "exact same (sic redundant) level that we traded down from" several months ago.

Brian Kelly said there's "some kind of floor out there" in AAPL but said to "wait 2 or 3 days" before buying.

Adami leaked to the audience that "before the show," the gang "took a poll" about AAPL's price reaction afterhours.

"Wagers. Not a poll. Wagers," corrected Melissa Lee, unable to give us a drinking word.

Anyway, apparently Brian Kelly said 561, and Adami said 560 (which is big trouble on "The Price Is Right.")

Mike Khouw explained that AAPL right now is "the most active single-stock option," so the split wouldn't affect that so much but figures to be "helpful for retail, mostly."

Melissa suggested the split could attract the "incremental investor" to "place a bet, so to speak" (air quotes) with options.

Guy Adami concluded that the stock "needs to hold these levels and build from it."

Guy also said of QCOM, "I say you buy it."

Maybe Tim Cook could buy
Oculus for $2 billion?

Bob Peck, at least bullish, barely gushed any more about FB on Wednesday's Fast Money than Colin Gillis did about AAPL. (This writer is long FB.)

Peck said daily active users was "fantastic," that mobile revenues were up sequentially, and ad revenue was up 82%.

Peck said ad revenue was driven by higher pricing, that advertisers are "willing to pay more."

Guy Adami declared, "This should be north of 65."

But Karen Finerman was silent, and as expected, the grandpas on the left side of the screen grumbled, with Brian Kelly having seen one too many Helen Hunt movies and wondering, "is this as good as it gets," and Tim Seymour later pointing out the next comp will be really tough.

Peck suggested the stock wasn't up more because of the announcement of David Ebersman's departure, sluggishness in the games area, and harder comps.

Nevertheless, Peck concluded, "I think it's a buy."

Mel tries to tie Fast Money interview in with ‘Rise of the Machines’ element

IRBT chief Colin Angle — no relation apparently to Colin Gillis — visited with Wednesday's Fast Money crew and initially got caught in a curious quagmire of Mel's defense-spending question.

"I think it's going to be a challenging year," Angle said, maintaining "defense is a small part of our business."

Angle was glad to talk about the consumer potential for robot vacuums. "You can routinely clean every single day with your robot," with a "similar" outcome to a regular vacuum, but oh, except that the robot can go under beds, Angle said. "We're just getting started."

Mel demanded to know why she can't activate her Roomba from her smartphone. Angle didn't have a satisfactory answer.

Brian Kelly somehow claimed that if 34 holds, it means the market doesn't care about IRBT's defense situation and is more excited about home potential.

Even worse, Kelly went on to advise Tim Cook, who's reportedly "on the prowl" for acquisitions, that AAPL may want to "become a little bit of a Google" by buying iRobot.

Someone at the end of the show suggested Guy Adami clean up Mel's place. "He's not welcome in my apartment," Lee said.

In the navy ... Missy, Karen
check out matching ensembles

Karen Finerman stated on Wednesday's Fast Money that Berkshire's abstention from the KO pay proposal is "somewhat embarrassing for management I think."

Guy Adami shrugged, "Pepsi's the better play right here."

Finerman said the somebody-taking-a-stake-in-SODA trade has been around for a while, and "I wouldn't buy in on this."

Meanwhile, Tim Seymour said CAT "got some very good news today," and while "it's not a value stock," he thinks the tailwinds are in place for a buy.

Brian Kelly countered, "I think you get bulldozed in this stock," calling 30% EPS growth projections next year "fantasy."

But Guy Adami observed that while CAT should've drawn an "investigation" with that terrible quarter announced a while back, the stock has "held 80 so many times" that he thinks it wants to go higher.

Comcast evidently is continuing
Jeff Immelt’s Green Week

Because it's company policy, Mel forced participants in Wednesday's Fast Money to issue "Captain Planet Trades."

And if that doesn't remind you of Eric Bolling recommending water stocks that went nowhere, you haven't been watching long enough.

Tim Seymour first referenced the Earth, Wind & Fire guy with the "big afro" before calling SBS a "great long-term holding." (We figured there had to be something green about Mobile Telesystems, but guess not.)

Brian Kelly offered BBRY for reasons that aren't worth explaining.

"You get a demerit on that," Mel told Kelly.

Karen Finerman blandly offered GE, which is everything in wind and water. (And given what we've heard on CNBC in the last 10 days, Jeff Immelt is either John Paul II or Jonas Salk.)

Guy Adami suggested PNR, a "global water play ... I think the stock goes north of 80."

Encore

Guy Adami said on Wednesday's Fast Money that he's not impressed by ZNGA's business, but short covering could lift the stock higher.

Tim Seymour said TXN's 2nd quarter guidance was above the Street.

Brian Kelly said FFIV beat and guided higher, but costs are rising and the cloud is competitive.

Speaking of that, we figured we'd have to be content with cloud-multiple gorgeous Seema Mody's appearance on the Halftime Report (see below), but Mody was summoned to Fast Money for an encore, so what else are we supposed to do?

Karen Finerman said recent earnings reports are a "great thing ... for the real mo names."

Tim Seymour said of SPWR, "I would not buy here."

Brian Kelly said of YUM, "It's gotta hold 75."

Guy Adami said to start taking profits in BA when it approaches 135.

Karen Finerman said of NVGS, "I wouldn't chase it right here," though it's in a "sweet spot."

Mike Khouw said May 50 calls in DNKN were active.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was SBUX. Brian Kelly said SPY puts. Karen Finerman said WLP, and Guy Adami said CHK.

Steve Milunovich doesn’t understand why Jay Yarow used the term ‘mismanaged’

Everyone knows that Tim Cook is a mediocre manager with few if any big ideas, a nice guy, the most boring CEO in Silicon Valley, the ideal sidekick to Steve Jobs but probably not the ideal visionary for long-term growth.

Probably thousands of people have written some variation on that.

But, put the word "mismanaged" (with the soft caveat "time to consider") in a headline on an otherwise pointless preview article, and Judge will be looking you up for a Halftime Report hit, as was the case for Jay Yarow on Wednesday.

Yarow, who writes for "one popular business Web site" according to Judge (it has so much to do with "business" that a current headline is "the 11 most powerful militaries in the world"), figured to have something explosive to say about Tim Cook.

Instead, all he could point to was the same pillow-fluff in the article, "growth of 1% on the top line here ... how did this happen."

Steve Milunovich totally missed the point here, telling Judge "I would say mismanagement's probably too strong a term," which it's not, when your goal isn't to inform, but get a Halftime Report hit.

But Milunovich conceded "they missed the big-phone market," and releasing new products in the fall doesn't do much for the stock in the spring.

Milunovich also said of the iPad, "The category's just not growing that much."

Pete Najarian asked Milunovich, "How about the wearables."

Milunovich said "it's hard to say" what they might come up with, but "I think it is a promising area." (Sure, the guy involved in Intel's Casio-looking watch says it can tell you when you're tired.)

Yarow got a 2nd chance to say something useful. All he could come up with was, "Why did we have to wait till growth got to 0%."

Pete Najarian bemoaned the lack of excitement in Cupertino and shrugged, "This is something that never happened under Jobs."

Josh Brown chipped in, "If Microsoft can find 15% growth, Apple should be ashamed of itself."

But Najarian curiously added, "I actually think it's a 2nd-half story again this year, but the problem is, how many times can we do that."

But in fact there is no "problem" if that happens; shareholders will be rewarded this year and then they can worry about next year when next year happens.

Anthony Scaramucci said that people like Steve Jobs have a lot of "conservative people around," and when pushed into service, "These guys are gonna tread a little slower than Steve Jobs." But, Scaramucci said, "On any metric, Apple looks cheap."

 

Heaven at Halftime

Anthony Scaramucci said on Wednesday's Halftime Report that KO always "goes through a 2- or 3-year secular trend," and "I would stay in it."

He also said you get a dividend increase "each and every (sic redundant last 2 words) (Drink) year."

But we're not singling out this Coca-Cola discussion presented by cloud-multiple gorgeous® Seema Mody because of what Scaramucci said.

For the reason, see above.

Gee, we get it: He didn’t do anything illegal. No one is suggesting anything illegal happened. What he did is clearly within the law. There’s no implication that he did anything illegal ...

Judge made sure on Wednesday's Halftime that everyone knows Ackman did nothing wrong with Allergan.

"The activity is completely legal under current securities laws," Judge stated.

Even so, "This one blows a lot of people's minds," said Eamon Javers.

Pete Najarian claimed to be clamoring for change. "Something about it really smelled, Scott ... it doesn't seem right."

Pete added, "if this is OK," then this is "something that needs to be looked at, to be changed."

Mike Murphy said he saw a line from someone about Ackman; "he's playing chess, while other people are playing checkers."

Really. Who are all those people playing checkers. Are they drinking Herbalife shakes and shopping at JCP too?

Anthony Scaramucci subtly slammed Judge and Javers apparently just for bringing up the conversation. "We're livin' in the land of hypocrisy because the Congress can insider-trade all day," Scaramucci said, claiming Scott Brown got a bill to disallow that, then with a "voice vote," they just "went back to the insider-trading vote."

Scaramucci said those in/with Congress are "doing worse things than Bill Ackman."

Javers also said eyebrows were raised by the "very fast move" of Rob Khuzami into the private sector.

‘Selective insanity’ is
not yet in 9th inning

We thought it was over in November.

But David Einhorn's "bubble" claim (see, there are lots of words that get you noticed in the "business" media sphere) got picked up for a go-round of conversation on Wednesday's Halftime Report.

"I actually agree with David Einhorn that there are bubbles, but it's not the entire market that he's referring to, nor is it the entire tech sector," said Josh Brown, saying you can use the word bubble, but you have to be "specific."

Pete Najarian weakly defended Einhorn. "I would probably lean towards what he's talkin' about," Pete said.

Anthony Scaramucci played both sides. "David's gonna be right, the question is when," and for now, "large-cap stocks look cheap here," Scaramucci said.

In a startling development, Judge then turned to an old Halftime Report favorite no, not Jeff "I'm gonna watch the SPYders" Tomasulo — Mike Block — who opted to rev up his own lexicon.

"I'm gonna call- I'm gonna give the bubble another name. I'm gonna call it c- selective insanity," Block explained, predicting a "lot of losers" in tech and biotech, but "I don't think we're in the 9th inning yet ... you don't know until it happens."

Steve Grasso wondered "if guys are getting bored with the overall market," then said he's worried that the S&P 500 is "starting to form a right shoulder," in which case it would "test that 1,815 low."

"I actually sold a lot of my positions yesterday," Grasso said.

Block, however, claimed that "sentiment" really isn't great, which figured to provide an "impetus" to go higher.

That brought disagreement from Grasso, who insisted sentiment isn't bad, because hedge funds are "leaning long, trying to play catch-up."

Block pointed out that a "day and a half ago, our friend from the Commonwealth of Virginia said he's 'pleasantly long'." (Hmmmm. Wonder who that was.)

Mike Murphy pointed out that "Netflix has come down a hundred dollars per share."

Sheila Dharmarajan told Judge, "I gotta tell you, a lot of investors and traders I'm talking to are kind of puzzled by Einhorn's letter."

Judge got the obligatory nod to CNBC's big fish, reminding viewers that "our own Jim Cramer has raised big flags" about IPOs.

What exactly was Steve Liesman disagreeing about regarding Diana Olick’s report?

CNBC housing ace Diana Olick told Judge on Wednesday's Halftime Report that sales of new homes fell off a cliff in March, which Olick said was due to a curious combination of prices too high based on lack of supply.

Judge then turned to Steve Liesman for a report on what this means to the Fed.

Liesman curiously said, "I hate to disagree with Diana," but the Fed and economists didn't seem to care much, which Olick never addressed, but whatever; Liesman said there's "no change at all to the 1st quarter GDP" estimates.

Liesman did, however, make a great point about the builders, if the sales are so weak, "why did they raise prices," so perhaps there's more to this market than the numbers indicate.

Mike Murphy explained, "To me it's just a 1-time number," stating that builders have a "better feel for the pulse of the market" than stat providers do.

Josh Brown stated, "There are secular trends that are keeping this housing recovery as one of the weakest if not the weakest on record," including "people that are more comfortable living with their parents" (#GasparinoTwittertrollalert).

Mike Murphy said patience will be rewarded eventually; "it's not if it comes; the builders will rally."

Long Beach has high standards
for landmarks

Permanent fox Jane Wells explained DNKN's long-range plan on Wednesday's Halftime.

"Much of the growth will be out west," said Wells, as Dunkin' returns to California after a "dozen" years.

But Wells noted a couple concerns, that "Longbow has an underperform" because it thinks DNKN is "overbuilding" in new markets to overcompensate for flagging growth in other market; also there's the pink doughnut sign in Long Beach that a DNKN shop owner apparently wants to remove amid protests. (Travel tip: Don't try to visit the Queen Mary when it's Halloween party night.)

Josh Brown then made the bull case for DNKN, declaring "they are going to take the western half of the country by storm," and that it has "double the margin of Starbucks."

"I gotta tell you" (Drink), Brown said, "year or 2, this is a hundred-dollar stock."

Mike Murphy, the outnumbered bear, said, "I don't think it's that easy" to just expand into California, and there are questions "whether or not (sic redundant 2 words) this massive expansion they're trying to undertake is going to work."

Murphy also said insiders are selling.

Pete Najarian though admitted, "I own this stock."

Anthony Scaramucci said, "I think the stock's goin' higher."

Mike Murphy continued to quibble with Brown over whether the Starbucks margin comparison is valid.

Congrats to the Moochmeister

Brian Stutland told Jackie DeAngelis on Wednesday's Halftime Report that coffee pricing increases are "simple Econ 101" (we never did find it "simple"), and "I think there's more upside to go."

Jim Iuorio said what Starbucks and other coffee purveyors typically do is, they "wait till they think the move is mostly done, then apologize for raising the prices," which never go down, and result in a "mean reversion" when raw material prices fall.

Pete Najarian, Anthony Scaramucci and Mike Murphy all said they're watching CAT more than any other stocks presenting an earnings report.

Anthony Scaramucci showed off a photo of baby Nicholas James Scaramucci, who Scaramucci said will have access to plenty of "hair product."

Scaramucci's Final Trade was, "Get long Pfizer."

Mike Murphy said to buy FB "on any weakness." Pete Najarian said OXY and CHK, a "two-fer today." Josh Brown's Final Trade was not solicited.

[Tuesday, April 22, 2014]

Mel threatens to claw Brian if he can’t better answer Karen’s question

Brian Kelly said on Tuesday's Fast Money that FEYE hasn't gone his way, but ...

"Maybe a bottom's in," Kelly said. "I'm underwater on this trade; I doubled down on it, and I will sell it at e- break even."

That prompted Karen Finerman to say, "Let me just ask something: Why do you look for break-even? To me it is an absolutely irrelevant piece of information, what your cost basis is. It's the idea of sort of getting your ego back to whole. Why does it matter?"

What a great question. We were eager for the answer. This was it:

"Uh, why does it- No. Because it's- I mean, so, when I say break-even, that's what I have in my head ... Tesla's a great example," Kelly said, changing subjects into an irrelevant history of his TSLA ownership, concluding, "It happened to be break-even where I sold it."

Mel opted to try and bail Brian out, unfortunately with a point that didn't address the issue, stating that other people are probably wondering the same thing, after riding momentum names down, and now is it time to look for break-even and try something else.

But Tim Seymour, who has been chiding Kelly repeatedly (there are valid reasons for chiding Kelly, but not the one (buying momentum names in late March) that Seymour emphasizes), jumped in, demanding to know, "Is FireEye for you purely a momentum stock period?" Because to Seymour, "It sounds to me like you're only making a call based upon a market, kinda, idiosyncracy."

Kelly admitted that observation is "a hundred percent" true.

Dick Bove actually claims 2 of Citigroup’s CEOs were ‘really good’ as Karen Finerman channels Dan Nathan

He took another C grilling — but was more than up to the challenge.

Dick Bove told Tuesday's Fast Money that Citigroup has had about 6 management teams in 20 years, then was given the latitude to rather impressively describe what each did and undid from each other, before concluding, "There were 2 that were really good: John Reed, and Vikram Pandit."

(Vikram Pandit? Well, whatever.)

Melissa Lee, stating she was "reading between the lines," asked Bove if Corbat is not a good CEO.

Bove dodged that and said his point is, "This company is poorly managed," having sold off so many divisions over the years, and "if you were working for this company, you wouldn't know whether they're gonna sell a division out from under you, you wouldn't know what direction that company was going in."

Nevertheless, Bove said the Mike & Mike team (he doesn't mean Mike Mayo although that doesn't sound farfetched) "must stay in place" just for the sake of consistency.

And, in an eyebrow-raising comment that went ignored by the Fast gang, the Dickster said, "It's a very high-risk company."

Karen Finerman, like everyone else Tuesday, was given time to deliver a lecture, telling Bove that the long-term knock has been that C is "too big for anyone to manage," so selling so many divisions "to me (sic redundant) (Drink) actually seems beneficial," and "To me (sic redundant) (Double Drink), the question is, from right here," how will the business do.

The Dickster then painted a gloomy portrait of the globe, stating C is an international bank, and Latin America is slowing down, it's getting out of "virtually everything" in Europe, while Asia has China slowing and "riots in Thailand," and as for that lucrative banking gold mine of the Middle East, "the whole area is, is, is up for grabs, apparently politically." (Shhh. Don't tell Vladimir Putin.)

Tim Seymour butted in (not about Vladimir Putin or Mobile Telesystems), telling Bove, "But the stock trades at .7 times tangible book value."

Bove countered, "I never hear the people who say that say WHY the stock is selling at a big discount to book value."

Seymour concluded, "That's why the stock is a buy, because a lot of this stuff is priced in."

We knew either Tim or Karen or both would choose C for a Final Trade; we figured probably Karen, but actually it was Tim.

Dan Nathan says ‘To me,’ plus ‘listen’ twice, and claims he ‘literally’ defined his risk

Dan Nathan, who wasn't even a panelist on Tuesday's Fast Money, dialed in and was somehow given enough time to read the Gettysburg Address while trying to convince himself that he isn't bungling a bearish NFLX call (just days after saying the stock would get to $400).

Nathan said Netflix has traded in a "really tight range," then affirmed, "To me (sic redundant) (Drink), I didn't like the setup heading into the earnings."

But Nathan added, "I didn't love the price action today," so he now thinks the stock is "about as good as it gets right here."

"I think that there's gonna be another wave of selling," Nathan asserted, already into about Reason 5 for why he's bearish. "Literally, I defined my risk," he said, and bought May 370 puts for $14."

But he's got a "very tight leash" on that trade.

"I like to define my risk," Nathan said.

Really.

One almost gets the sense Nathan prefers defining risk to actually making money.

Guy Adami, who earlier had already said to stay long NFLX, reiterated that, suggesting there's "gonna be some momentum in the stock to the upside."

Guy fails to suggest that a couple people blowing out the ETF is what sank biotech

Mark Newton, who proved an interesting jack of all trades on several stocks on Tuesday's Fast Money, first told the gang that BIIB "is one that I like quite a bit here."

Newton said it fell "almost 1% per day into mid-April," but he thinks it can get to 315 or 325 near-term, and climb to 350 or 360 by summer.

Guy Adami agreed that biotech names got "caught up in the maelstrom."

Karen Finerman, who had a brilliant show, took that further in pointing out the "indiscrimate selling" on the way down and asking Newton if it'll be that way back up.

Newton didn't answer directly but asserted the "entire space is starting to show signs of stabilizing," which, if we were to translate, we think means that good results will be rewarded, but the whole space won't get whacked for no reason again.

Melissa Lee moved on to AAPL. Newton a couple times said its recent flatness is bullish, "if anything it creates a better risk/reward."

He said the "key level" is 543-549, and he thinks it'll "probably move up to at least 570," because "8 out of 10 times," stocks that flatten a while after a long move tend to resume a higher path (as if this is like any of those other stocks).

Facebook, Newton said, "in the short run, that can continue also," and in fact he spots a "reverse head-and-shoulders bottom formation." (This writer is long FB.)

"Any pullback tomorrow I would use to buy," said Newton, who thinks if it clears 63.18, then 67 is next.

Brian Kelly said no to FB, but "potentially" to AAPL, and whined that AMGN and GILD negate each other in the IBB.

Green Room lapse: Guy confused
by 1st question of the show

Melissa Lee opened Tuesday's Fast Money asking her panel, "Are we back?"

Guy Adami was forced to admit, "I don't know what that means, are we back." Regardless, Guy asserted that "some of these momentum names make a lot of sense."

Brian Kelly though cautioned that there's been a "lot of sentiment damage done to this market."

Tim Seymour, who sorta said something about everything, explained, "This is where you have to really be careful" (as opposed to all the other times you don't have to be careful), because the market had been "very oversold" in at least some sectors, but that was "in a 2-week event," so now, "you probably fade these moves."

Yet, in a head-scratcher, Seymour singled out AMZN as "somewhere in the middle of a range," and is "as good as you're gonna find to me (sic redundant) (Drink) in that space." (What "space" is that by the way?)

Karen Finerman sputtered and stammered and struggled to get a chart to simply explain that when the VIX is below 13, "I'm gonna add some S&P puts."

Tim Seymour chalked up the stock market's impressive Tuesday performance in 2014 as being due to "long weekends" and "nervousness in the markets," but "you cannot expect it to continue."

Mel visually alerts viewers that the term they’re about to hear has just been made up

Meg Tirrell, who's experiencing a rocky (and we don't mean Balboa) week on Fast Money, told Tuesday's crew that AMGN and GILD represent "a tale of 2 biotechs here" (would be a Double Drink except that one is not really germane to this show).

Guy Adami said of GILD, "I still think you stay long the stock" despite the afterhours move.

Tim Seymour agreed, "I think you stay in this trade."

Adami said AMGN had a "pretty lousy miss," but he'd own it anyway.

David Faber struggled with the name "Valeant" at the passive-aggressive (or whatever) investing conference, saying "Valean (sic) ... Value- (sic) Valeant ... Valean (sic)."

Karen Finerman praised Ackman. "Bill does a great presentation ... so smooth," Finerman said, which prompted Mel to invoke air quotes over the notion of "Valgan."

Near the end of the program, Dom Chu said SKX and CREE were a "tale of 2 stocks." (Quasi-Double Drink.)

Humma. Humma.

Jonathan Weinbach proved an articulate guest on Tuesday's Fast Money, even though we didn't have the foggiest idea what Xbox is doing with his street soccer series.

"More buyers is never a bad thing," Weinbach told Mel.

Mel asked a good question of Weinbach, if he could produce content for anything, "What is the holy grail for you."

"Tough question," Weinbach said, explaining he doesn't really have one.

Brian Kelly asked a numbskull question he knew Weinbach couldn't answer, which was whether a distributor like NFLX is a better stock than a content provider such as DIS. Weinbach said DIS is diversified in so many ways and pointed out the subscriber level of Netflix and said the winner is the one who gets the subscribers.

Someone forgot to tell Sara Eisen, magnetically gorgeous, that Mary Thompson is CNBC's Sister Golden Hair.

Guy Adami’s ‘Wall Street’ reference goes down the tubes just like Braniff

Karen Finerman said on Tuesday's Fast Money that KORS got a boost from Lone Pine's stake.

Brian Kelly said of LXK, "I'd be a seller on bounces."

Guy Adami said he touted PHG as his Times Square stock, a "bad call by me."

Tim Seymour called Einhorn's take on CONN a "must read."

Brian Kelly, who earlier in the program tried (in vain) to explain why he just happened to get out of TSLA at break-even, told viewers, "As it approaches 230, I would certainly start to lighten up," it's "due for a pullback."

Tim Seymour felt compelled to warn viewers about TSLA, "I wouldn't be buying the stock here ... I wouldn't go near this stock until 150 bucks," because he thinks Tesla management should be worried about global auto competition.

Seymour also said he'd rather own MCD than YUM, pointing to 80 as "tons of resistance" in the latter, and mentioned oh by the way, "I like Starbucks."

But Guy Adami defended YUM and said he prefers it to MCD, saying perhaps it has "taken itself to a new range. Maybe."

Mike Khouw pointed to sellers of the June 7 puts in GRPN. "I'm usually in favor of put-selling," Khouw said, calling it a "good strategy overall."

In a train wreck, Guy Adami botched his JBLU pilot reference from the get-go, saying the pilots organized like "right out of the movie. Literally."

Huh???

Brian Kelly was then heard to say "Braniff" for some reason.

Tim Seymour was then heard to say "Annacott Steel," which had nothing to do with anything.

Adami finally told viewers, "You own JetBlue ... JetBlue to me is the beta trade."

Brian Kelly's Final Trade was CTRL. Karen Finerman said to sell URI. Guy Adami (again) said FB.

Commentary about motivation of top Citigroup executives is marked by another complaint about Fed communication

Mike Mayo told viewers of Tuesday's Halftime Report that the "Mike & Mike Show" at Citigroup appears to have a "great working relationship."

Corbat and O'Neill are "impressive thinkers," Mayo said outside the annual meeting in St. Louis, and O'Neill, who "is a competitor," apparently according to Mayo is more predisposed to succeed because "this is his last gig." (Was that what Sam Zell said about Tribune Co.? We can't remember.)

Mayo said the company said that "divestitures are not out of the question," and next year the company promises a webcast, so Wells Fargo is the last bank not to do that.

Mayo actually blamed the Fed for not giving C more stress-test details before the annual meeting.

Mr. New Land said the "pain" in the stock has "basically alleviated."

Mayo told the group, "We still recommend Citigroup stock," affirming a $58 target for 1 year and asserting a double in 4 years. "These are very thoughtful, effective managers and leaders," Mayo stated.

Stephen Weiss said C is "still a very cheap stock," and that Corbat is a "great guy, very smart, very focused."

Stephanie Link said she likes C somehow as a "contrarian call" (sic) (snicker) because of international potential, which is something it can "really rationalize going forward."

Brian Sullivan noted that's the "2nd use of the word rationalization" on the show.

Speaking of overused phrases, Mr. New Land said C "exceeded what was a low bar," and is "quite possibly" a 2nd-half story.

Doc’s got a new one for SEC

Jon Najarian dialed into Tuesday's Halftime Report to tell Judge 1) that Stephanie Link knows how he gets caffeinated for the show, and 2) AGN options were trading "roughly 8 times normal volume" before the reports of an offer.

Buyers "turned a 40-cent bet, Sully, into 20 bucks ... somebody's probably gonna look at that."

Mr. New Land, in his only impressive moment of the program, asked Doc if it wasn't someone on the other end of the report trying to hedge.

We're hardly experts on this stuff, but that sounded like a good question. Doc indicated people who deal with Ackman would've been aware of something brewing, though not exactly what, and we have no idea what the legalities of that might be, but Doc asserted, "Whoever was trading 'em yesterday Joe was probably somebody cheatin'."

Joe bickered with Sully's "arbitrage" description of his question, insisting, "I'm asking Jon for the education of the options market."

Mike Pearson charged Bill Ackman $20 for a Chipotle burrito

One of the highlights of Tuesday's Halftime Report was learning that Mike Pearson charged Bill Ackman $20 for a Chipotle burrito (but eventually returned the change).

Brian Sullivan, evidently trying to curry favor, told Kelly, "I'd buy you lunch anytime Kate."

Kelly said Sullivan still owes her money for an HLF bet.

That's when Mr. New World curiously said, "Kate, he's gonna need more than $20 if he's buying you lunch."

Sullivan said Kelly is "worth all of that and more."

Mr. New World then protested, "That bill should be a couple hundred dollars easily."

Sensing a bizarre sinking ship here, Sullivan asserted, "I saved Terranova from that one."

Elsewhere, Kelly told the gang, "I do notice a change of tone in Bill Ackman. He's still got the funny 1-liners ... but he's (sic) also sounds like he's gonna take a totally different tact (sic)."

Whew — we were afraid Carl had sapped the 1-liners from Bill Ackman.

Kelly was also heard to say "the idea that there are less (sic should be 'fewer') patent issues" with Valeant.

Sully harangues Weiss for cliches, but they’re the wrong cliches

Stephanie Link told Tuesday's Halftime Report that the pharma M&A amounts to, "They're doing what they need to do" against generic pressures, and that it's also good for the macro environment that CEOs have such confidence.

Meg Tirrell, fresh off a botox uh-oh yesterday, said companies are "getting into the areas where they're the strongest."

Stephen Weiss said the interesting thing about Valeant is that J. Michael Pearson wasn't a CEO but highly regarded at McKinsey, and "he's embarked on an acquisition strategy that's not going to end ... it's financial engineering in a constructive way."

Brian Sullivan chided Weiss for mentioning "synergies," "rationalization" and "financial engineering."

Which means Sully is stuck in the past, and doesn't recognize those are the stale old even-Power-Lunch-gets-it CNBC cliches, and that Halftime and Fast Money deal in Cliches 2.0 that include "at the end of the day" and "I gotta tell ya."

Mr. New Land, who operated practically in a stupor in this program, stated, "Let's talk about financial engineering because in the last couple years, the S&P has really appreciated with a lot of financial engineering," but at least we're "seeing confidence in the C-suite."

Joe likes mentioning capex; this time he said we had $1.2 trillion M&A in 2013 but this year we're "halfway there already."

Josh Brown said biotech has had "unprecedented action in a sector that's known for volatility" while ignoring Sully's question about new drugs lacking in the space. Brown said this M&A isn't about "egos," but "the action seems to be uh, uh, healthy."

Sullivan stated, "I'm gonna toot CNBC's horn here," for interviewing the Intermune and Agios CEOs this year.

Sounds like NFLX should start thinking $19.99

Here we thought it was just limited to Amazon Prime.

Tuesday's Halftime Report crew, just like Monday's Fast Money gang, seems to know what Reed Hastings should be charging his subscribers.

Mark Mahaney told Tuesday's Halftime Report that the NFLX report contained "2 major surprises," one being the price hike and the other being the declaration that international markets are turning profitable.

"That's why the stock's up," Mahaney said.

Mahaney said his shop did a survey of the impact of a price hike on Netflix subscribers and found by a "4 to 1 ratio," current subscribers were "fine" with a $1 increase.

Stephen Weiss indicated he'd have no problem with a price hike and told Mahaney, "Seems like I could've saved you the survey."

Mahaney agreed and said at $7.99 or "even 8.99," Netflix is the "2nd-best value in America after the Happy Meal."

Dr. New Land questioned why NFLX isn't fairly valued. Mahaney said because international is very promising, and if it wanted to just drop its unprofitable recent investments, "that EBITDA can almost double overnight."

Josh Brown said he "would not be shocked" if NFLX crossed 400, "you have to pay up for unique assets," and observed a "whole wave of bullish sentiment come back into this name once again."

Aereo called ‘stealing’

Jim Iuorio told Jackie DeAngelis on Tuesday's Halftime that gasoline has been up because "much of it's seasonal," which Iuorio thinks is so common he was compelled to ask, "Do we really have to stoop to this every time."

Iuorio said now is not the "spot" to get long gasoline.

Jeff Kilburg meanwhile thinks gasoline is going higher than the $4.09 Chicago average, that Ukraine and ethanol remain tailwinds.

Stephanie Link admitted MCD "massively underperformed" and has "lagged year to date," but management has "a game plan to fix the top line," and international exposure is a plus.

Stephen Weiss said he was waiting for the bull case, and "I don't think I've heard it yet" (Drink) (That's one Sully missed).

Weiss said "this isn't the first game plan they've had" at MCD, it's a "mature business" with "limited growth," and "very old school" in a competitive space.

Brian Sullivan carped, "Ever since Don Henley went after the news media with 'Dirty Laundry,' I'm just, you know, The Eagles are dead to me."

Hampton Pearson, in an interesting report, said Supreme Court justices had "high skepticism" that Aereo is consumer-oriented, but wondered about rulings that would affect the cloud space.

Stephen Weiss said it's "ludicrous" that broadcast signals are considered free material.

Josh Brown went further. "Brian, this is stealing. There- it's like high-frequency trading."

Sullivan said he'd present the other side, which is that this is available on the "public airwave."

Brown countered, "But it's a reproduction."

Sullivan said he got a "C- in copyright law," but Sony Betamax successfully fought the "reproduction" case.

There were no Final Trades, apparently because Sully botched the timing.

[Monday, April 21, 2014]

Mel: Hot-Hot-Hot

Cute. Adorable. Stunning. Smokin'. Charming. Captivating.

By the time she got to Dennis Gartman on Monday's Fast Money, Melissa Lee was downright gorjus.

When Dennis, affectionately known around here as a lagging indicator, revealed, "I'm back to being pleasantly long" in the stock market, Melissa pounced.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on, you were scared out of equities like a week and a half ago, and now you're pleasantly long?" Lee demanded.

"No question," Gartman admitted, adding that he said he was briefly scared. "Absolutely. I did."

Dennis then told Mel, for probably the 75th time, what he wants to own in equities. "I wanna own the things that if I drop them on my foot, will hurt" (Drink), Gartman said.

"Yes! All right Dennis, I'm glad you said that, because, you know, there's a drinking game going on out there I'm sure," Melissa chuckled.

Indeed. (A lot of nights it's played with Diet Pepsi, but you get the point. #drinkresponsibly)

Dennis thought that was funny, and chuckled heartily.

ABX, NEM expected to consolidate subscription to the Gartman Letter

Dennis Gartman on Monday's Fast Money explained the perils of M&A.

"The miners have no choice" to consolidate in the gold space, Dennis said, though he laments that both companies are "fully paid up and long-standing subscribers to the newsletter."

(One of the things to like about this page: No subscriber fees. #butliketheysay,yagetwhatchapayfor)

Gartman said that what emerges from the NEM-ABX discussions, which he predicted would be announced by next week, is worth owning, moreso than gold itself, because "miners have a greater beta."

Melissa Lee asked Gartman, "What's your degree of long" in gold, kind of a funny question.

Dennis stated, "I'm pleasantly long of gold, not in dollar terms," but yen terms (Double Drink), which, if you did the same thing as opposed to dollar terms, you'd only be down 1-2% from the high rather than 30-35%.

"I just went to North Carolina State; I didn't go to Harvard," Gartman revealed.

Steve Grasso took a crack at Dennis' "pleasantly long" position in stocks. "1,897 is too close to start thinking about buying stocks right now," Grasso said.

Dan Nathan warned that we can't escape a 10% selloff forever. "It's coming at some point," Nathan said.

Amazon element disappears from Michael Pachter’s NFLX bear case

Melissa Lee, our hero for Monday's Fast Money, asked Michael Pachter point-blank: "When are you gonna throw the towel in" on NFLX.

Pachter then tried, and failed, to pull off a Bill Clinton in that videotaped deposition thing as far as squaring away a solid report with the facts of his own ridiculous bear case.

The most dubious thing Pachter said was, "I think they would be smarter to raise prices more, in which case they'd be immensely profitable but they would gross lower."

Seriously?

(Sigh.) "Actually I think it's a great earnings release," Pachter said, though the cash flow issues that give him "consternation" have not changed.

"There's no question these guys are super-smart. I mean, it's a brilliant way to implement a price increase," Pachter explained.

Pressed by Lee, Pachter pointed to the "middle part of the letter," in which Reed Hastings was apparently "ragging on AT&T for having slow service" and opposing the irrelevant Comcast-Time Warner deal. "That's how to make friends, don't you think?"

We noted the last time this came up, Pachter made the curious double-argument that NFLX is in a bad business with out-of-control costs ... but all kinds of other great companies want to get into it. (None of those other companies were mentioned Monday.)

This time, Pachter only lukewarmly hinted that the cable providers are looking for the big squeeze, and it was up to Lee to characterize Pachter's position this way: "The price increase is basically gonna be eaten up by these, quote-unquote toll fees that they're gonna have to pay," the "quote-unquote" part resulting in borderline air quotes from Lee.

Pachter said it would be offset by a combination of higher content costs and toll fees.

Pachter waffled on what NFLX subscribers will be comfortable paying, suggesting 10% will drop "just because they will," but "it really depends on price elasticity." (Uh oh, didn't go to Harvard, and barely know how to compute an earned-run average; big trouble with that one.)

Lost in the end of Pachter's dubious commentary was that the combination of bad things being unleashed on Netflix will "probably take some of that multiple away."

Guy Adami said valuation won't matter as long as subscriber additions remain strong.

Amazon Prime customers
‘don’t care’ what it costs

Dan Nathan, saying "Listen" (Drink) twice, suggested on Monday's Fast Money that NFLX has "reached a certain critical mass" with its customers, whatever that actually means.

Guy Adami indicated the afterhours action will stand. "Look at their international growth ... I don't think it's gonna pull a CMG," Adami said.

Steve Grasso said, "Now the content story is resurrected."

Brian Kelly opined, "To me, it's just a bad business model."

Tony Wible, whose staticky phone sounded like an AM radio station, said a Netflix price increase is "absolutely a win-win for the company."

Unlike Michael Pachter, who basically, when you get down to it, believes what Wible does, except he needs to say he doesn't to justify his bogus price target/thesis, Wible said Netflix's Comcast fees are "relatively small" compared to content costs, and ultimately the company will get a "much more reasonable rate than what's kind of being discussed right now."

Nathan said that at "less than 10 bucks a month," they might as well raise prices, it won't cause customers to drop it.

Grasso agreed, mentioning our favorite Fast Money Business Pricing Plan Story. "Exactly like Amazon Prime. You, you, you know what you're getting for it and you don't care if you get squeezed a little bit more," Grasso said.

Melissa invokes air quotes over ‘high-flying momentum’ names (while Dan grimaces at performance of Web. 2.0 stocks)

It was more fun when Meg Tirrell was talking about Botox, but David Faber, extended a soliloquy opportunity, got the lion's share of commentary on Monday's Fast Money on the apparent Valeant bid.

Faber, whose phone rang at the beginning of his report, said Valeant "continues to serially acquire," after which "it cuts out all of its R&D" and achieves "another one of those tax inversions," which makes its deals extremely accretive.

Dan Nathan reported that 3,500 May 150 calls in AGN were bought.

Mel noted, "Towards the close, this stock popped ... so that's a little, uh, head-scratching, if you will."

Guy Adami shrugged that "everybody seems to be in play" in the health-care space.

Just in case viewers didn't hear one of the previous 6 or 7 mentions, Guy said "I think it was a couple people getting out of the ETF" who recently sank the biotech sector.

Melissa Lee observed with air quotes that biotech is "cheaper than a lot of the high-flying momentum tech names," particularly BIIB and CELG, which are "much cheaper than a Netflix, much cheaper than a Twitter."

Steve Grasso, who had a quiet show, said IBB is "definitely starting to form that base."

Why is this fox at Re/Code when she should be on television?

Mike Weinstein, brought in to name some health-care stocks he likes for Monday's Fast Money, was pressed into an opinion on the Bill Ackman move, and of course delivered the generic answer you knew he would.

If there's in fact a deal, "obviously JPMorgan could be involved," Weinstein said, so he didn't want to go there, but he did tell Melissa Lee that "other transactions are likely to come down the road."

Really. (Translation: If I say anything negative about the deal, JPM might not get the business.)

Weinstein said he likes COV, it "has a lot going for it," including "investment-class assets," and it competes with JNJ.

Guy Adami asked how much more margin expansion can COV accomplish before it hits a ceiling. Evidently, a lot, Weinstein said, explaining, "we're a long ways away from that."

Weinstein also likes Spectranetics (SPNC), for which he sees a "big acceleration" of growth.

Brian Kelly said they "also have insider buying in there."

Melissa Lee noted that Weinstein also likes STJ.

We had never heard of Lauren Goode until we saw her on Monday's Street Signs.

We're impressed.

Dan Nathan comes back
with pair of ‘To me’ (Double Drink)

Dan Nathan on Monday's Fast Money suggested he doesn't think GOOG is such a hot buy.

"It's a very crowded trade," Nathan said, noting the stock since the earnings report, and "To me (sic redundant) (Drink), I thought the results were fine."

Melissa Lee questioned who the "incremental" buyer of GOOG might be now and whether it's approaching AAPL 2012 status.

Guy Adami admitted he thought GOOG would be higher given that the "tape was benign" and the stock is "relatively inexpensive."

Dan Nathan said the report of Mark Fields getting Alan Mulally's job "is not exactly news ... I would be cautious."

Guy Adami observed that F didn't rally after Mulally ended the MSFT speculation; "that was your tell." (So now the question is whether Mark Fields is better than Satya Nadella.)

Dan Nathan noted that Z "made a new all-time high," then took the opportunity to say "Web 2-dot-oh stocks" (Double Drink), and added, "I wouldn't chase this here."

Nathan said of YUM, "To me (sic redundant) (Triple Drink), it's about China," and July 85 calls were active.

Guy Adami said MU is "not a valuation story" but DRAM still looks good.

Brian Kelly pointed out the Boston Marathon winner ran in SKX, which got Mel giggling, explaining she didn't know that despite the fact it was mentioned repeatedly on CNBC during the day.

Steve Grasso said the KeyStone Pipeline is a "political football," which is not good for TRP. "I would not dive in. Wait for the 47 letel (sic)," Grasso said.

Brian Kelly said of DIS, "It's gotta hold 77."

Steve Grasso said historically, "Casino names rally in April," but he thinks that move is "long-winded ... I would wait on buying casino names."

Dan Nathan's Final Trade was to short IBM. Brian Kelly agreed and said long TLT. Steve Grasso said TSLA, and Guy Adami said FB. (This writer is long FB.) (Drink)

Meg Tirrell brings up wrinkles,
crow’s feet with Mel’s gang,
but ‘not yours specifically’

Oops.

CNBC's Meg Tirrell, who is cute, told Mel and the gang on Monday's Fast Money, "Most people think about Botox as getting the wrinkles on your forehead and your crow's feet, uh, not yours specifically of course, but uh, it also has a lot of therapeutic uses."

Steven Ballmer evidently skated to where the puck used to be (a/k/a Satya is evidently the Wayne Gretzky of tech CEOs)

The last time David Cassese visited the Halftime Report, he claimed stocks are in a 2000-like "bubble" with the "same level of, of valuation-stretch."

On Monday, he decided to dispense some more wisdom for viewers of the Halftime Report he must've figured were born yesterday.

"There's an old quote from Wayne Gretzky" (really ... Drink ... Double Drink ... wonder what that quote is), Cassese explained. "He doesn't skate to where the puck is, he skates to where the puck is going, and I think that's what Nadella is doing to Microsoft."

"We do think there's plenty of upside left," Cassese said.

Cassese told Jim Lebenthal that Intel's losses on the mobile side are "pretty big," but he thinks the company is making progress in data centers and "Internet of things," and that it can be a "high single-digit grower" in the dividend.

"Thank you," Lebenthal said.

"You're welcome," Cassese said.

Adam Parker makes an awesome point about those obnoxious automated e-mails

Steve Liesman told Monday's Halftime Report that the Fed is still going to make rate decisions based on "data" and "economic outcomes," but it's the "forward guidance" that figures to be "a little different" under Yellen.

Liesman said the Fed might be pursuing an approach that allows more volatility in markets but less in the overall economy.

Adam Parker then joined the show and told guest host Brian Sullivan that the Fed is "gonna be very judicious and cautious," and that tightening is OK at the beginning when the economy improves, but it's "usually the 2nd or 3rd time it's bad ... so I think we've got a ways to go."

Sullivan said it takes a "thesaurus" to be "parsing" Yellen.

Parker predicted "lower volatility for a while" in stocks, and the screen maintained his 2,014 target.

Parker added, "at the end of the day though," he compares stock P.E. ratios to real rate yields, and thinks there's room for multiple expansion.

But he doesn't think the growth-to-value trade is over. "To me," he said, invoking Dan Nathan, "We probably should rotate a little bit more."

Finally, Sullivan pointed out the best part of Parker's latest note, apparently mocking people who set up automatic e-mail vacation replies.

"It's just kind of a funny way to get people's attention ... I think what people really mean is I wanna go on vacation and not check my email," Parker said.

She worked for Bloomberg

CNBC's Meg Tirrell had a busy day Monday, including on the Halftime Report when she reported on rumors of a Pfizer-AstraZeneca deal.

The questions, Tirrell said, are "should Pfizer spend this much, and are there better targets out there."

Brian Sullivan told Tirrell, "You're an excellent reporter, you've been a reporter for a long time," but like Judge recently, demanded Tirrell make an informed call.

"It smells fishy, but maybe not bad fishy," Tirrell said.

Jim Lebenthal groused that "this is a huge U-turn, huge," after dubious pharma mergers early in the century.

Josh Brown agreed that "each one of these has been a boondoggle," and then, using tangled terminology, called "mergers in a sector above 100 billion, classic sell signals."

Pete says NFLX has a high valuation, competition from AMZN

Josh Brown on Monday's Halftime Report made a bull case for NFLX — sort of.

Brown said, "The day of earnings, flip a coin," and claimed pros tend not to trade into it prior to earnings, but react to the results.

Nevertheles, predicting up to 2.5 million new subs, Brown said "it's probably not a bad spec."

Pete Najarian, playing the bear again in this name, cited "incredible valuation" and wondered, "Where are they gonna get the growth."

Plus, "How about the competition," Najarian said, mentioning "Amazon, potentially Apple" (Double Drink).

Pete then dubbed Cramer "Steph's right-hand man" and chided Apple, which he first labeled a possible competitor, for not already being in the space; "I think they should've bought Netflix long ago."

At any rate, Netflix is "broken right now, room to the downside," Najarian said.

Brown said 69% of Netflix users have "absolutely no inclination" to cancel, and video trends are strong. "They just surpassed YouTube for the first time ever. They are now the largest video site. And I gotta tell you, I really think that that's a trend that continues into the future (sic last 3 words redundant)," Brown said.

Stephanie Link whined, "40 times EBITDA is really hard."

Jim Lebenthal offered this curious prediction: "I'm willing to bet that it trades up the moment after earnings and then trades down tomorrow morning."

Oddly enough, at the end of the show, Brown's Final Trade was to buy NFLX if it sells off. Pete said that's his opinion. #some"debate"

APC — an oil company

Ron Sloan told Monday's Halftime Report something Dr. New Land has said for a while, that there's a "stealth bull market in energy land."

"I think you can easily be overweight energy," said Sloan, who proceeded to think the viewers had never heard of APC.

"One of our, our, our, uh, leading companies right now is a company called Anandarko (sic pronunciation)," Sloan said, forecasting "30 and 40% left to go" before it's at fair value.

He also likes PES, EOG and APC.

Apparently trying to curry favor with Stephanie Link (who looks hot in golf attire), Sloan said WFT has a "tremendous amount of margin opportunity" because it's divesting "cruddy" units.

Josh Brown wondered what happens to this thesis if crude trades for $90 or $80. Sloan claimed oil companies are "much more financially astute than they've ever been in the past," and then claimed rather curiously that most folks expect oil at 85 and not 105.

Josh Brown said exploration names like PXD are "almost like biotechs," so he recommends IEO.

Jeff Immelt dines with
Fast Money traders

Brian Sullivan stepped in for Judge on Monday's Halftime Report and started off with Stephanie Link's earnings-season advice.

"We raise a little cash ahead of earnings so that we can buy kind of the exaggerations," Link said.

But "we have a long way to go" in earnings season, Link added.

She said Cramer "bought more IBM," and then claimed Jeff Immelt is "finally delivering ... we're buying that today."

Link, dispensing stocks like backyard fertilizer, said LII's report is good for ETN and JCI, and she's also watching GM.

Jim Lebenthal said, "Like Stephanie, we've been raising cash."

Josh Brown asserted that "markets are behaving perfectly rationally," which explains money going into energy and consumer discretionary slumping.

Pete Najarian said, "The industrials is (sic) what excites me this week."

Sullivan told Najarian, "You need more excitement in your life."

Pete then claimed, in the stunner of the show, "I was out to dinner not long ago with Jeffrey Immelt," and dubbed GE sort of "Chinatown"-esque, "they're an energy company with an industrial component."

Link said, "They should get more of a global market, uh, multiple, a higher multiple," which reminds us of when Karen Finerman complains that FCX is going to get the "lowest common multiple" (sic terminology) between the oil/gold/copper business.

Shout-out: Jerry Yang

Josh Brown said on Monday's Halftime Report that "every bounce so far has been sold" in TSLA, and that JPMorgan believes, "Frankly, General Motors is a better buy today than Tesla."

Brown said that in the wake of the Boston Marathon, "I don't know a lot of people that would rush the store to buy Skechers," endorsements aside.

Pete Najarian said with NKE, "Take a shot, get back in," as CNet says Nike is skipping wearables.

Jim Lebenthal called SKX's endorsement a "neat fact" and said it makes him think of UA.

Lebenthal said he prefers CLF or X to gold miners; "we don't have the inflation really that's gonna drive it up."

Stephanie Link said TRP has "not a lot of visibility" in the Keystone quagmire.

Pete Najarian said he still likes YHOO, "I've been adding to it," and we'll see if that's in the online official disclosures.

Najarian at least actually stated, "Jerry Yang made one of the great investments of all time."

Stephanie Link's Final Trade was IR. Jim Lebenthal said SDRL, and Pete Najarian said NKE.

[Thursday, April 17, 2014]

Mel leads Fast Money gang
in toasting this page for
(nearly) 6 years of coverage*

Thursday is a day for CNBC-related indulgences, so why not.

The crews on both Fast Money and the Halftime Report offered network observances/tributes.

Jon Najarian said at Halftime, "Before the Net was big, Scott, CNBC was really democratizing information flow," before the Internet exploded. "Back then, 1989, CNBC owned the space."

Pete Najarian noted, "We didn't even have TVs on the trading floor," though he said "each and every (sic redundant) day" twice.

Stephen Weiss said that you can read or hear things on the Web, but CNBC is "the only place you can get a dialogue."

CNBC makes money. So the question for the moment isn't really why CNBC is here ... but why this page (gulp) is here.

(Honestly, many times we have no clue. About that, or anything in general.)

The truth is, because you're reading it. And someone else is too.

Around here, we talk stocks. And television. And show-stopping women. And for that combination, nothing fits the bill like CNBC.

From Day 1, we've told it like it is. The good and the bad. Some associated with the channel have carped. Others have cheered.

What matters is that people actually read it. In the early days, a couple dozen page views a day, if that. Then we started to notice a steady trickle of hits and the site provider's map of geographical ramifications. Readers in Lower Manhattan. Midtown. New Jersey. Actually looking up this page. Then Long Island. Brooklyn. Westchester County. Connecticut. And the home run, the Hamptons, as though Gekko and Stone Livingston were checking it out after making the robot serve drinks to Bud Fox. Somehow, we've been seen not just by the initial handful of viewers who found this site by accident, but by many with some connection to the productions and the Wall Street machinations discussed (a group, we're happy to say, that is collectively a class act, in ways we can't really say). As we always acknowledge, we've got serious headwinds in the wisdom department here. But incredibly, because of this subject matter and interest in it, and the Internet's capacity, this page has always been able to say, per capita, that its readership "base" of viewers and other interested parties is among the world's most highly informed subset of people.

We're happy to say that we've learned much about stock trading from watching CNBC shows. It is not so much the specific calls or a "Trade School." Rather, it's the accumulation, show after show, of recognizing what these money managers think is important and not important. When are they "locked in," and when are they overthinking it. It's similar to how one gets a sense of what a film is really like, and how to get something out of it, after reading the same critic week after week, even if the critic isn't always right.

We've long realized, good or bad, there are a lot of interesting things heard on CNBC daily. What if the channel, or select programs of it, was covered the same way a newspaper reviews State of the Union speeches, or a Hollywood blockbuster, or the Super Bowl?

It also doesn't hurt that it's an ideal way to flirt with gorrrrjus women. (#alwaysattemptingtoberespectfulandnotoverdoitwithanyone)

So, here we are. Here because you are. Talking stocks. Talking television. Observing the highest standards of journalism established by the nation's great newspapers (large and small) for generations. Fighting for every click that we get.

Mel said on Thursday's Fast Money, "We all hope of course that CNBC will be around in the next 25 years."

Tim Seymour upgraded that on the spot. "We 'hope'? We WILL be around."

Who knows, maybe we will be too.

Thanks for being here. Have an excellent weekend. Happy trading on Monday.

Nicholas Pollacchi served up the whiskey toast to conclude Thursday's Fast Money.

(*somewhat artistic license taken)

Shout-out: Jim Birdsall

You've heard the voice countless times. (Much of it saying "is sponsored by Interactive Brokers" or "is sponsored by thinkorswim.")

Thursday, you saw the face of Jim Birdsall, who not only is the voice of CNBC, but dabbles a little bit in ... brace yourselves ... NFL Films.

Birdsall, it has been reported, is a Chiefs fan.

Those who saw Lake Bell's "In a World" are aware of the cottage industry of voice artists. We have to say, in recent years, Stacy Keach's "American Greed" soundbites have kind of set the standard. But Birdsall is a giant.

Sometimes during an episode of Options Action you can hear Dan Nathan say ‘To me’ 8 times

Guy Adami said at the outset of Thursday's Fast Money that what caught his eye was a "reversal in the bond market," and the fact the stock market could even have an "outside month to the upside."

Brian Kelly curiously stated there's a "big rotation, a big macro trade" going on.

Dan Nathan said that to himself, the market is "trading within a range."

Guy again opined on GOOG (see below), telling Thursday's crew, "I didn't think Google was a big miss," but a "tad disappointing."

When Dan Nathan cut in about Google missing, we're pretty sure we heard Adami say "Dammit," the valuation is "reasonable."

Carter calls last month’s trade

Carter Worth, who tends to be bearish a lot on Fast Money when the market is anything but, told Thursday's Fast Money that he doesn't believe the Nasdaq has turned the corner (presumably because it didn't get to his 3,800 prediction); "we would say no."

Don't expect a quick bounce-back, Worth said, because "The damage sustained here is not gonna be easily reversed."

In fact, Worth pointed to energy, which he said has finally exceeded its 2007 high, "that's the rotation ... we like energy here."

Tim Seymour noticed that "If you traded out of technology into energy, you've been a hero."

Brian Kelly suggested CHK and nat gas. Seymour suggested SWN; "think there's more there."

Ben Kallo fails to answer
Guy’s question

Ben Kallo, one of the 2 Fast Money go-to guys on Tesla, spoke first to Thursday's Fast Money about SCTY, which he said is hot because it's "levered to the fastest-growing market" in solar, which is U.S. rooftops.

Unlike Andy Hargreaves at Halftime (if you believe Andy Hargreaves) (see below), Kallo admitted that the recent $30 tumble makes the stock more appealing; "the valuation helps here."

Tim Seymour stated/questioned if SCTY benefits from few players in the space. Kallo agreed and suggested SPWR as a more longer-term play he likes.

Guy Adami asked Kallo if SCTY's goal is to become a utility. Kallo would only say that it's been a thorn in the side of utilities.

Kallo mentioned one possible risk to the stock; "we wanna pay attention to interest rates."

Meanwhile, Kallo is "cautious" on TSLA going into the quarter, but considers it a "very long-term buy."

Brian Kelly said "I would wait for earnings" on TSLA and then, in what we think is a first, said to use 185 — or 195 — as a bogey. We honestly couldn't determine which number he actually said, after rewinding the tape several times.

Guy Adami endorsed SCTY for a trade; "I think you might get a bounce."

It’s over for NFLX

Dan Nathan decided to make a bull case for NFLX on Thursday's Fast Money against Tim Seymour, only to concede at the beginning, "I think Tim's gonna be right," and the shares will be "much lower a year from now."

But for the moment, Nathan said, "Sentiment is really bad," so he thinks it can move off of earnings up to 400, where you "sell it."

And of course, play it "with defined risk," Nathan said.

"I think this is the beginning of the end," said Nathan, bullish on the stock.

Tim Seymour countered that "the entire sector is suffering" and that Netflix is in a "competitive landscape that's ridiculous."

The money quote finally occurred when Seymour said Amazon is doing something Netflix-like in the U.K. and is "step for step with these guys."

Brian Kelly actually said NFLX is facing an "awful lot of cost pressures," but like Nathan he sees potential for a trade.

To opine that NFLX is done is a valid hypothesis. To predict a 16% rise, followed by a U-turn straight to bankruptcy, is why Nathan would be lagging even Simon Baker if he were involved at all in Judge's 2014 Playbook Playoffs.

Mel hits home run in stripes

Guy Adami said on Thursday's Fast Money that, while it hurts him to say it, Morgan Stanley is "ahead of the curve" in transitioning from FICC to wealth management; "they're doin' great," whether it was luck or strategy, Adami said, and it's "probably a better business model" than Goldman Sachs.

Tim Seymour said before buying IBM, he'd "wait for that investor day," and even referred to that $20 EPS target for 2015 as an "albatross."

Dan Nathan suggested AAPL may up its buyback "to offset maybe a disappointing quarter."

Tim Seymour, foreshadowing his Final Trade for the next 25 years, actually said with a straight face that GE "is a company that is thinking 5 to 10 years down the road."

Guy Adami more neutrally observed that GE is "trying to become more like Honeywell" and achieve "more of an industrial valuation."

Brian Kelly said he sold AMD at 4.05, and "I will take another look at this on Monday morning."

Is there any risk of user fatigue in people voting on hashtag winners of Halftime/Fast Money bull-bear debates?

In the category of What's the Use, Thursday's Fast Money featured Jeff Papp opining on JD.com (that's correct, JD.com).

Papp said JD.com has headwinds in that it is focused on revenue more than profit, and that it's sort of bad timing for an IPO.

Shifting to Weibo, Papp said, "there could be an outside chance, at some point, that Alibaba buys the remainder of Weibo," but the issue is not just if, but when.

Papp hailed mighty Alibaba, saying it's not the same format as Facebook and Tencent, which "risk user fatigue." (This writer is long FB.)

Tim Seymour said, "I think the way you play Weibo is, is, is, Sina."

Dan Nathan said he bought RENN at 3.33 and has a "very short leash on this one."

How in the world did
‘at the end of the day’
not make the list?

Good grief.

The Fast Money Final Trades for the next 25 years on Thursday were so awful/uninspiring, we almost feel like we shouldn't post them so as to protect the traders from embarrassment.

And, in the category of awful/uninspiring, check out the list above of someone's declaration of the top 5 "Fast Money sayings." (This is where we say, "Yeesh ... are they actually watching the same program we are?")

Anyway, addressing a company that might not exist in 25 years, Guy Adami said BKS should "charge admission" to the stores, then "that's when you buy."

Tim Seymour said SLB had "record profits," and "I would stay in this name, but I don't think you need to chase it tomorrow."

Dan Nathan said of GoGo, "To me (Triple Drink), you get a stock like this" that's "really oversold," then "maybe in the low-teens, that's where you buy it."

Brian Kelly said to "wait for a pullback" in SNDK.

Nathan said some biggie sold the April 95 calls in OXY and bought August 105 calls.

OK, here they are. Tim Seymour's Final Trade was, "I love GE for the next 25 years." Guy Adami said HON. (See, they had already talked about them early in the show, so they didn't have to think of anything else.)

Brian Kelly said ... bitcoin. (But there's nothing wrong with nautiluscoin.)

Dan Nathan gets small props for the only halfway-inspired call, offering AMZN, which he predicts will "embed themselves even more in our lives ... to me."

‘There was no correction’

Stephen Weiss uncorked an intriguing theory on Thursday's Halftime Report.

"To me, there was no correction, the market's solid," Weiss told Judge, predicting a "higher market coming."

Pete Najarian agreed. "I don't even know if I'd call it a correction," Najarian said.

Judge interrupted, "It sure as heck felt like a correction. I mean are you guys the poster boys for complacency?"

Najarian said "everybody" criticizes the crew, "'Oh geez, you guys are such bulls, it's absolutely amazing ... you don't understand.'" But Pete pointed to S&P 1,862 and said "it feels like we understand pretty well."

Ed Yardeni offered his own terminology, telling Judge, "I characterized (sic past tense) it as an internal correction ... the P.E.s were too high ... I think this is a bull market still."

Yardeni said a lot of investors have missed the point, "Don't fight the central bank."

Meanwhile, Pete pounded the table for big industrials and ran into disagreement with Weiss over IBM, which Pete likes.

"It bounced off the 50- and 200-day," Najarian said, explaining it's getting out of hardware (we thought that was a decades-old story) and into the cloud.

Weiss insisted IBM competes in the cloud with Amazon, which is "not the most rational pricer ... you don't wanna compete against them."

It was Doc who jumped in, stating "Sata (sic) Nadella" has shown that others can compete in the cloud with Amazon.

Sara Eisen wasn't on the Halftime Report, but she was on Power Lunch.

Analyst admits he ‘hated’ himself
for downgrading NFLX

Some folks on the Halftime Report love to downgrade NFLX.

Andy Hargreaves on Thursday's Halftime Report revealed he has "always loved the company" and actually "hated myself a little bit" for downgrading it 6 months ago on valuation.

Now, Hargreaves has "more confidence in the international expansion opportunity."

Jon Najarian, in a Tim Seymour-type of spiel, took forever to ask Hargreaves how much of a factor the stock's recent selloff is in his upgrade.

"Not that much, to be quite frank," Hargreaves admitted, before saying, curiously with a real snicker, that it can "really really significantly" grow.

Judge said Hargreaves has a $500 target.

Doc said the timing looks good, though "I'm not in the name."

Steve Weiss called NFLX "still very highly priced" and a "risky stock."

Pete Najarian though semi-endorsed the name; "you gotta start looking at it."

Women apparently like
‘Wind Beneath My Wings’

Judge got the gift of the year on Thursday's Halftime Report when mega-good-looking Jackie DeAngelis smiled and told him she "didn't have you pegged for such a sensitive guy."

Jim Iuorio, pointing to the Ukraine situation, said "I would not sell crude," and he's "definitely worried about more sanctions coming."

Rich Ilczyszyn unfortunately resorted to tired cliches (that may or may not be true), stating there's a "rule of thumb" for traders that you "don't go home uh, uh short crude oil into a 3-day holiday weekend."

The Ilchmeister said there's "$5 of risk premium in the market," and if oil backs off $5-$10, then that's where it "should be."

Otherwise internationally, WisdomTree's Jeremy Schwartz was able to deliver a shout-out to the HEDJ while pounding the table for European stocks, stating that Japan has taught everyone that "weak currency could be very positive for the equities."

Stephen Weiss said he's aware of "unprecedented" demand for European hedge funds.

Schwartz said, "I like Japan still."

We get it — Judge makes the cut sign with left hand for about an entire minute during ‘Wind Beneath’

In the Momentum Stock Dept., Judge enlisted the Najarian brothers for a CMG debate on Thursday's Halftime.

Pete said Chipotle makes "food with integrity" and that traffic and earnings are up.

Jon Najarian said "I like the stock," making the whole discussion a pointless exercise (Drink), but said the lines aren't as long "when it's not a brand new store," and that the stock is the "ultimate mo-mo name." (See, this month, "momo" and "momentum" are bad words.)

Pete insisted there's "growth internationally."

Stephen Weiss said hot restaurants follow a pattern, "They all come back down to earth ... I would not own the stock."

Meanwhile, Judge reported that Fidelity Contrafund is adding TSLA.

Stephen Weiss called TSLA "egregiously overvalued still," then went off on a tangent about liking big-cap biotech.

Pete Najarian, who recently had been insisting that TSLA was holding 207 every day, admitted it "feels broken," and "you don't need to jump in and be a hero."

Pete said SNDK and QCOM have "plenty of room to the upside."

Jon Najarian, pointing to BHI's strength in his Playbook Playoffs portfolio, said "Joe's feelin' my breath on his neck right about now," which prompted a howler from Stephen Weiss; "that's a different story."

Doc said BHI had a "phenomenal quarter," is the hot name in the space, and "I am not sellin'."

Stephen Weiss said GILD "is going to do exceptionally well."

How about 25 more years of this?

Cloud-multiple gorgeous Seema Mody reported on Thursday's Halftime Report that Weibo just started trading.

Stephen Weiss said GS and CS had to make sure the Weibo IPO went well with Alibaba ahead, "that's sorta like a freebie here."

Judge asked traders for stocks they've missed in 25 years.

Unfortunately, as we feared, this segment could not be 100% humble, as Doc started it off by lamenting not buying Starbucks' convertible bond — while explaining he still got his clients into it.

Pete Najarian pointed out how great BBY was for a couple decades, "right in my backyard," and is still competing now.

Stephen Weiss said he didn't buy AAPL in "single digits."

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was IBM. Jon Najarian said THC, and Stephen Weiss said IEV.

[Wednesday, April 16, 2014]

Box expert ‘can’t really think of anybody’ in the cloud space getting ‘too much credit’

Arik Hesseldahl visited with Wednesday's Fast Money to report that Box is looking like a $2-$3 billion IPO, even though he doesn't know how to compare it with other cloud plays.

Hesseldahl evidently found that Box spends $1.38 for every dollar made, in part because of a "very expensive sales force."

Brian Kelly asked the standard Fast Money question (sigh), what keeps Google and Amazon from entering this space. (And what keeps them from entering the Celgene space, the Union Pacific space, the Goldman Sachs space ...)

Hesseldahl said Amazon is already in it, then sort of dodged the question by explaining Box is really trying to differentiate itself from DropBox, which has been a "consumer-first company from the beginning."

Tim Seymour asked Hesseldahl which cloud stock gets "too much credit."

Incredibly, Hesseldahl said, "I can't really think of anybody specific."

Guy Adami cautioned that CRM had a "precipitous drop" in the last quarter, and they have to prove themselves, and this is why it "gets really dangerous to own some of these cloud names."

 
 

How in the world does this person only have 18,000 Twitter followers?

After cloud-multiple-gorgeous Seema Mody explained on Wednesday's Fast Money some recent Weibo stats and its pending IPO pricing, Tim Seymour offered some alternate trades.

Weibo is in a "huge competitive landscape" and perhaps not yet converting enough at mobile, Seymour said, so "I would be buying Sina, and I am long Sina."

Seymour said YHOO should be owned between 33 and 40, "past 40, no, take profits."

Guy Adami shrugged that "people don't believe in the Alibaba IPO" as an excuse for YHOO not being higher.

Anthony Scaramucci dubbed YHOO, which curiously was given more time in the Pops & Drops segment, as "a place to put some money."

Guy Adami said you can't short SNDK, "you can see the continued momentum here."

Tim Seymour said TWTR's fall Wednesday was "not a surprise," and he thinks good news is "a quarter away," so "I'd stay away."

Brian Kelly said of CTRL, "I'll be in this one for the long term."

Brian Kelly said that "maybe" Yelp goes up, but "Google's in this space."

Tim Seymour actually said with a straight face that YELP is "hardly value territory."

How come Karen wasn’t available to answer whether GOOG or GOOGL is the better stock?

At the beginning of Wednesday's Fast Money, Guy Adami noted issues with "sequential growth" of Google's paid clicks and suggested, "Maybe valuation is getting ahead of itself."

Moments later, he suggested "you start building a position right here."

After that, he said, "This is not a disaster I don't think by any stretch."

And near the end of the program, Adami said that if it's a "benign tape (Drink) tomorrow," the stock actually figures to be "unchanged."

Tim Seymour defended the report; "I do not think that there was anything that bad in here."

Anthony Scaramucci called Google a "very good long-term hold," then predicted it's "gonna trade a lot higher by the end of the year ... I think this is a core holding."

Colin Gillis, assigned to listen to what evidently was a boring call while the show aired, said management comments about costs could "placate" nervous investors who might've been selling afterhours.

Near the end of the show, Gillis said "there's still upside here," and stressed that "Q1 is never a great name (sic) for the- for Google."

Why would it abandon the 2015 plan when you can attach a 12 multiple to the $20 EPS and get a $240 stock?

Melissa Lee on Wednesday's Fast Money dubbed IBM a "safe haven, hide-out stock" before viewers heard about the weak results.

Tim Seymour, in one of his end-around type of comments, asserted "this stock is not expensive" but wondered why you have to own it here.

Brian Kelly bluntly stated, "I think you short this stock here," something he surely won't do.

Guy Adami basically agreed, suggesting the stock could "easily see" the mid-170s.

Later, IBM watcher Joe Foresi agreed "the quarter was pretty underwhelming," and stated there's no improvement in the fundamentals.

Guy Adami agreed with that and noted "margin declining on the back of this," which doesn't "augur well."

Foresi then shocked longtime viewers by asserting, "It feels like they might be trapped a little bit by this 2015 plan."

But Anthony Scaramucci said the reason people like Warren Buffett like the stock is because of the capital management, "they're shrinking the float."

Brian Kelly wondered how long that can continue with all the free cash flow. Scaramucci said they've "still got a lot of room to do that."

Guy utters 2nd ‘rue’ in 2 days

Guy Adami said on Wednesday's Fast Money that SODA got a boost from "unsubstantiated rumors" that someone was taking a 15% (sic) stake. Mel said 16% and the screen text did too, but Adami chose only to correct himself that "unsubstantiated rumors" is redundant.

"I think you stay long the stock," Guy said.

Anthony Scaramucci said to "continue to hold" BAC despite revenues down 4% year over year, because it's a play on "improvement in the economy."

Tim Seymour said BAC "stole Merrill Lynch 5 years ago" (Drink), and "I would own it here."

Guy Adami said of AXP, "I think you gotta give 'em a pass." Anthony Scaramucci said of AXP, "I like this thing; I think it's a core holding."

Guy Adami said CSX feels like it wants to trade 25½.

Phil LeBeau spoke briefly with John Krafcik, who thinks Nissan is recapturing the magic.

On the Mary Barra front (how again does her motherhood factor into her concerns about car safety), Anthony Scaramucci predicted that "this thing is gonna be behind GM before you know it" and said if you're a contrarian, hold the stock.

But Brian Kelly said, "For now, I'd stay away."

Mike Khouw said someone was buying the April 525/520 put spread in CMG.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was SINA. Brian Kelly said LNKD, for a "trade only." Anthony Scaramucci said MSFT, and Guy Adami said PSX, "Conoco rues the day they spun 'em out."

Halftime crew compares dinner
reservations with Gary Kaminsky

We can't recall the last time we saw former Strategy Session co-host and Squawk on the Street linchpin-turned Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman Gary Kaminsky appear on an episode of the Halftime Report.

The next time he does, he oughta bring an appetite.

MS bull Jon Najarian singled out Kaminsky in praising Morgan Stanley's "admirable" wealth management and stated, "I still like these guys," putting a "$36 target" on the stock.

Judge declared, "He plays the Kaminsky card."

Mike Murphy countered, "I like Gary but uh, I'll take Lloyd Blankfein and Gary Cohn," who Murphy said have "managed to stay away from any negative headlines in the press recently."

Murphy also said GS has had a "major pullback off its highs" and delivers "better bang for the buck" than MS.

Judge picked up the phone at his desk (like he ever uses it) and told Murphy, "That dinner that you were invited to with Kaminsky, it's off."

Doc said he had dinner with Kaminsky at SALT.

Stephen Weiss, evidently not interested, said, "I'm gonna turn my invitation over to uh, to Murph."

Weiss called MS and GS "apples and oranges" nowadays and said, "I think you own 'em both."

What are the odds on a 1-handle?

Stephen Weiss decided on Wednesday's Halftime Report before Janet Yellen spoke that "I think she's gonna do a fine job."

Jon Najarian said, "You're gonna hear what you wanna hear."

Steve Liesman said Yellen's speech included a reference to full employment by 2016 being "quite plausible" and said she appears more concerned about low inflation than high inflation.

Weiss said Yellen is "giving cover" to Draghi and enabling QE in Europe.

Mike Murphy said he would've thought the 10-year would be at 3.0% this year. Weiss agreed and said there's "opportunity" because "rates can't go much lower."

Jim Iuorio told sexy Jackie DeAngelis regarding Yellen that "I think the bond market expects her to be a little more dovish." The Ilchmeister, Rich Ilczyszyn, said if 2.58 breaks, we're "probably looking at a 2.50 yield."

Murph accuses Judge of twisting in the wind over market direction

In a novel idea for stock-market investing, Stephen Weiss told viewers of Wednesday's Halftime Report to "find your best ideas and stick with those."

Weiss said he likes Europe and the U.S.

Weiss took issue with Judge's reference to Art Cashin's claim that the stock market is suddenly in an uptrend. "I disagree with Art Cashin," said Weiss, stating that 1 day doesn't make a trend. (Although it was 2 days "at the end of the day.")

Judge said that Cashin admits it could be just "technical mumbo jumbo."

Mike Murphy said "1,850 is a key level" for the S&P and if it holds, he thinks it goes to 1,900.

Furthermore, Murphy told Judge, "I'm seeing a little turn in you here Scott, you know, you were a little bit, uh, negative there last week."

"I like playing the devil's advocate," Judge said.

"I like playing the devil," chortled Stephen Weiss. (We wonder if he likes playing a round of golf under 105.)

Murphy pointed to FB as apparently his favorite stock here. "Under 60, I'm a buyer," Murphy said (this writer is long FB).

Jon Najarian pointed out that the VIX has made a "massive move" down in a couple of days.

Nothing about Casio-watch-like wearables from INTC chief

Josh Spencer told Judge on Wednesday's Halftime that he was "listening intently" to the panelists' commentary ("intently"?) and actually said, "Now is the time to be brave" and go after the momentum names.

Spencer acknowledged he's been selling legacy stocks and shifting into high-fliers and that he likes AMZN, BIDU, TSLA, DDD, SSYS and LNKD.

Unfortunately, Spencer admitted that AAPL is his "top holding" (snicker), and he thinks the stock is in a "holding pattern."

Meanwhile, INTC chief Brian Krzanich was about as exciting as his stock in a chat with Jon Fortt, who did a quality job.

Krzanich noted the maturity of developed markets but said the enterprise play is stronger in most parts of the world than the consumer play, and emerging markets are "much more a, a (sic) enterprise play."

Krzanich insisted PCs aren't dead and it's not all about a Windows XP upgrade; "some of this is just people getting to the point where it's time to refresh their PC."

Mike Murphy it's clear PCs are "not dead," and he wouldn't chase or sell. Jon Najarian affirmed it's in his Playbook Playoffs portfolio, and while Doc wouldn't chase, "I'm still gonna hold it."

Stephen Weiss said "it's a defensive holding," so it's done well recently.

YHOO in ‘8th inning’

Half the time on Fast Money and the Halftime Report, you hear about how nobody uses Facebook anymore or nobody uses desktop computers.

The other half of the time, you hear how everyone uses Yahoo, and how great the PC is.

Jon Najarian told Judge on Wednesday's Halftime Report that Yahoo has "430 million active mobile monthly users," for those who thought it was just an Alibaba play.

Stephen Weiss scoffed, "why play Yahoo," when it's in the "8th inning" of a story.

"I would not buy Yahoo here," said Mike Murphy.

Stephen Weiss said Pepsi is the only logical candidate to take a big stake in SODA, and he doesn't see that right now.

Mike Murphy said in the banking space, BAC provides "some of the best bang for your buck" under $16.

Jon Najarian said of TWTR, "Anywhere near that 52-week low, you buy it."

Stephen Weiss invoked a long-overdue Floyd Trade for his Playbook Playoffs, revealing he added HK because he believes in Floyd, the guy who said a couple years ago he wants to vote for Ronald Reagan and not the two major candidates for president, "he will do it again here," and Goodrich Petroleum results are a good tell.

"Sentiment's changed," Weiss said, and there's "enthusiasm in the company," so he sees a "home run from here."

[Tuesday, April 15, 2014]

Doc complains that Tim Cook
isn’t listening to Fast Money

Melissa Lee floated the idea on Tuesday's Fast Money that AAPL is "dead money."

And you know what? Neither Lee nor any of the show's panelists complained that "Whenever we say anything about the stock that's not positive, the inbox starts piling up ..."

Which tells you something.

Karen Finerman even joked that "I think it's a contrary-to-making-money, uh, stock," and said, "I would probably add to it around 500."

Lee observed that "Apple's trading range is only about 2%."

Guy Adami weakly suggested you can get long, and not short, the name. "You take a shot I think," Adami said.

It was Doc who uncorked first a head-scratcher on Icahn, then some massive television hubris: "Everybody asks me, what's gonna move it? Carl tweet it again," Najarian said, but "outside of that, they're not doing any of the things that we've suggested over and over again."

Doc volunteers CNBC to air behind-the-scenes footage (can’t they already do that with GoPro?)

We can't fathom why Mel tried to spend about 10 minutes of a program on Jon Najarian buying glasses, but Doc tried his best to offer an explanation.

With Google Glass, Najarian predicted, "Getting behind the scenes of what we do here on Fast Money and so forth, as well as the rest of CNBC, is gonna be something that dot-com will love."

Najarian also explained how difficult it was to place an order. "I had to reload the page like 4 times, clear the cookies," he said.

Mel first says Fast Money is in the ‘TV’ business, then says ‘news’ business

It was sponsored by Interactive Brokers, which apparently doesn't fund actual answers.

Matt Burns visited with Tuesday's Fast Money and articulately described how GoPro could be one of the next hot IPOs, because it's everywhere, the YouTube marketing is savvy, and the company's been profitable almost since its existence.

Karen Finerman asked the perfect question, whether GoPro actually has proprietary technology that makes it worth more than any other camera maker.

Burns called that a "great question Karen" and proceeded not to answer it, restating that GoPro has cameras for everything and is "wherever there is an opportunity to film something."

"But that doesn't answer the question," carped Melissa Lee.

So Burns tried again. "GoPro right now is the Kleenex of cameras," he said, and everybody's got one, and it does savvy marketing to promote itself on YouTube, which still didn't answer the question.

Lee explained, "We in the TV bu- in the news business, we've used GoPro," for 3-D printer images, and that "infamous test-drive of the Tesla" that no one except Lee and her bickering-married-couple partner Guy Adami remember.

Karen Finerman shrugged and said, "I wouldn't be shocked to see a Google or somebody just scoop these guys up."

Jon Najarian pointed out, "I think that's the only pure play in the space too."

Brian Kelly said 1) if the shares go public and 2) the company's marketing boss leaves, then 3) "you sell your shares with both hands."

Mel needed not 1 but 2 hair flips after donning the GoPro cam.

‘Gimmick’ heard 3 times in discussion of new Amazon phone

Melissa Lee told viewers of Tuesday's Fast Money that "Amazon did not return our calls" about the new phone.

That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, as Boy Genius Jonathan Geller proceeded to tear apart the purported prototype.

"I don't know if it serves a purpose," Geller said, adding, "the specs aren't great, it's very gimmicky ... this is a gimmick."

Pressed for the benefits of owning this phone, Geller said it will have the "same operating system as their tablet" and the same apps that regular people would want.

But Mel jumped in to assert, "The 3-D feature seems ridiculous."

That further pushed Geller's buttons. "It's gonna be gimmicky," he insisted, stating that Amazon is pushing developers to work on the 3-D format. "This is really crazy guys. This is, this is nuts as far as I'm concerned."

Guy Adami insisted the stock can still get to 355 or 360 on the quarter, and "I don't think this moves the needle."

No one picked up the baton for Mr. New World and suggested FB needs a 3-D phone too.

Doc’s YHOO enthusiasm
fades as show wanes

At the beginning of Tuesday's Fast Money, Jon Najarian was referring to Yahoo's results in effusive hyperbole.

"This was a phenomenal quarter ... phenomenal," Najarian said, citing "monetizing" and "paid clicks."

Brian Kelly insisted it was not phenomenal, but just "OK."

At the end of the program, given a chance to measure his words, Najarian explained, "I didn't hear anything bad about this call."

In between, Guy Adami said "the mobile platform is doing really well" and that the stock "should rally into the Alibaba IPO."

Brian Kelly sort of agreed with that but said, "I'd probably sell it the day before."

Karen Finerman said she's long Softbank, which is a "much better allocator of capital."

Bob Peck said early that "the margin expansion" was a strong point of the Yahoo quarter, and that the company has "certainly turned the corner on pricing."

At the end of the show, he said Marissa Mayer was pronouncing the coast clear, saying the structure is in place to "pave the way for 015."

Brian Kelly, referring to "Marissa Mayers (sic)," scoffed, "OK, it's gonna be 3 or 4 years," which is a lifetime in this space, Kelly said.

Melissa Lee explained why Marissa sounds the way she does. "She has a naturally hoarse, uh ..." Lee said.

Pssst: Twitter’s lockup
expires soon

Brian Kelly, who has taken a largely undeserved beating from Tim Seymour recently for buying TWTR, crowed on Tuesday's Fast Money that it now looks "just like Facebook." (This writer is long FB.)

"I'm long Twitter," Kelly said.

Guy Adami conceded that what happened in TWTR could be a "capitulatory bottom."

Addressing another recent stumble, Kelly said "185 seems to be support" in TSLA, which wasn't terribly convincing. (By the way how come Pete isn't talking anymore about how it keeps holding 207?)

Jon Najarian gloated about getting into TWTR (presumably before the bounce) and said you're safe, at least from lockup-expiration demons, buying with a 4-handle. "If this thing's below 50, I don't think they sell on that lockup," Najarian asserted.

Karen Finerman grumbled a bit about P despite its big day, "The fact that I own this is sort of astounding," Finerman said, but it looks to be gaining "penetration" in the "new-car business." (This writer is long P.)

Fast Money cameraman likes giving Mel and Karen the 360

INTC watcher Cody Acree joined Tuesday's Fast Money to affirm his "sell" rating and $20 price target on INTC, stating he's not sure it's a good buy around the highs.

Guy Adami pushed back, as they say, mentioning Acree's $20 price target, which Adami said would mean a "20-something percent decline" (actually 25) and wondering how it gets there.

Acree said the company is "struggling" with tablets and smartphones.

"I'd rather buy Microsoft," said Brian Kelly.

Adami at one point in the program predicted 29 is "where it gets" for Intel.

Karen Finerman half-heartedly pointed to the Intel guy who had worked at AAPL for 18 years who said the company doesn't care so much about whether the wearables look like old Casio watches, but about what's inside and suggested it's undergoing an "interesting transformation."

Guy still yet to offer proof of how the IBB was ‘blown out’

Mike Khouw told Tuesday's Fast Money that someone was selling premium in VRTX options, specifically the January 62.50 straddle.

Guy Adami defended biotech and said "I still think the space is stupid cheap here," reminding viewers he thinks the whole space was taken down by hedge funds "blowing out of the ETF ... I think they'll rue the day."

Jon Najarian said he likes BIIB, AMGN and CELG.

Guy Adami, in a fizz-less endorsement of KO (to say the least), said "this quarter was OK ... I'd rather buy the breakout if you get it."

Karen Finerman was not persuaded at all. "It's not screamingly cheap either ... not even close to cheap enough," Finerman said.

Guy Adami backed off a BCO call based on its Venezuelan devaluation concerns; "that's too highbrow for me."

Jon Najarian said he thinks JNJ goes higher and noted some firm put a $110 target on the stock.

Brian Kelly said "I think it's too early" to buy NEM or the miners.

Jon Najarian said VLO options were hot and "I jumped in here."

Najarian's Final Trade was DAL. Brian Kelly said FXB. Karen Finerman said PLCE, and Guy Adami said FB.

Doc’s logic so weak, he enlists Stephanie to defend it

Even though he also said "buy the rips, sell the dips," Jon Najarian first told Judge on Tuesday's Halftime you can't get long "momentum" names because they're apparently only going down. "If you're a bear, this is a great time to be playing momentum," Najarian said.

Najarian then claimed that hedge funds have been "outperforming" recently because they've got the "hedge" going in this market.

Judge was taken aback, telling Doc, "So many hedge funds have been getting crushed," which Doc had no answer for.

But back to "momo" names. Later in the program, Doc claimed biotech has "so much potential to the upside," specifically BIIB and CELG, because of that "total addressable market" (OMG — the TAM trade!!!!), and ... here's the money quote .... "biotech, love it on this correction."

"Here's where you're losing me," Judge interrupted, finally stepping up to the plate of accountability and pointing out that Najarian was just telling everyone at the top of the show to either sell "momo" names are avoid.

Doc stammered and couldn't even muster an answer, resorting to letting Stephanie Link tell Judge, "The valuations are so much different" between CELG and GILD and "social media."

But Doc never said anything about "social media," just the "momo" names.

Pete Najarian said big pharma has a "growth perspective now that they didn't have before."

Joe wants to see everyone selling (presumably so that they can buy it all back)

Dr. New Land, who last month was predicting an April "peak" (snicker), kicked things off on Tuesday's Halftime Report telling Judge, "I think this quarter is gonna be problematic going forward."

There's a "high degree of complacency," Joe complained, pointing to Ukraine as an issue not being taken "seriously enough."

So, the question then is, what does it mean to be taking Ukraine as "seriously" as Joe thinks it should be taken ... seeing pedestrians on streetcorners with heads buried in the New York Times? ... seeing Tim Seymour on magazine covers? ... unloading stocks like there's no tomorrow? (Ding Ding Ding).

Joe pointed to how the contagion is seeping into names such as WYNN and SBUX; "consumer discretionary is trading awful right now."

Joe finally said he thinks growth really is coming, but "the market has to get shaken out first."

Judge lets Pete’s value tech claim go unchallenged until no one is listening

It's not the first time.

Tuesday's Halftime Report crew, almost collectively like Professor Kingsfield in constitutional law, sternly advised viewers not to be long the "momo" names ... only to have the Nasdaq rise 70 points between the time they were talking about it and the end of the day.

Pete Najarian didn't seem to think "complacency" is a problem, saying the "same names" continue to outperform and lag, and the winners continue to be CAT, IBM, HPQ, MSFT, INTC.

Incredibly, nobody questioned that at the time; it wasn't until the end of the program when Judge bothered to mention that he's hearing that the "value tech" trade has become "one of the most crowded trades on the Street."

Pete then conceded that while he thinks MSFT has "upside," it's "limited."

Pete also observed that the "volatility index did not drop."

Stephanie Link said there's just been a "rotation" from growth to value, and that one data point after another from China has been "horrific."

Mike Mayo tips off his questions to C’s board well in advance

He's mad at the bosses, but not the stock.

Mike Mayo visited with Tuesday's Halftime to tell Judge that Citi execs on the call explained the "restructuring story for the next 2 years" and "reaffirmed their efficiency targets," but "I did not get all of my answers."

Mayo said he only got "half my answer" about his CCAR question and that Corbat took the fall, "providing cover for his management team."

"I'm still going to the annual meeting," Mayo said, where he will ask the board "why were they so surprised by the Fed's stress test."

Despite his agitation with management, Mayo said, "I'm a definite buyer of Citigroup here," calling it a "unique restructuring story" and stating that in emerging markets, "This was a good quarter for them."

Mayo wasn't as high on JPM, "I still think it's dead money," and complained that Jamie Dimon wrote a "love letter to regulators ... I would get out of JPMorgan and get into Citigroup."

Bill Ny, the Fundamentals Guy

Bill Nygren, who always tells the Halftime gang that he's not a "Fast Money" investor (but still keeps coming on the show anyway), said Tuesday "we're not concerned" about this 1-month disaster of a market and in fact always looks out fundamentally "5-7 years."

"Investors are almost always overweighting near-term events," Nygren said.

Like most panelists/guests on Halftime/Fast Money, even Nygren couldn't resist the opportunity to gush about mighty Citigroup.

"The banks are very cheap," Nygren said, and while others have rallied in the last year, C has been "basically flat."

Citi even trades at "80% of tangible book value" (Triple Drink), Nygren said.

GM lovers, don't feel left out: Nygren likes that too (Drink), because even though there's trouble now, companies with these problems "tend to recover."

Nygren, dubbed "super stock picker" by Judge, also announced 3 trades he likes (if we recall from previous appearances, he can't talk about stuff he might really want to talk about, only stuff that the funds have formally disclosed), which are the leftovers of the "frustrated fixed-income buyers" of early 2013: GIS, SNY and DEO.

Doc, the ultimate momo guy, observed that there were no "momentum" names on Nygren's list. "If you're gonna be in the momo names, you've gotta be short those names," Najarian said.

Evidently, stay away
from small-cap biotech

Yaron Werber, who's still in his Fast Money/Halftime heyday even if his biotech stocks aren't, admitted to Judge on Tuesday that "we knew this was not gonna be sustainable forever," and while small-cap biotech looks "stretched," he thinks large-cap is attractive.

Regardless, Judge asked Werber, "Any idea where the bottom is?"

Werber said that during an October selloff it felt like there was money on the sidelines, and it doesn't feel like that now, but we're still "closer to the bottom in large-cap."

Pete Najarian complained to Werber that Werber has a nice long list of appealing top stock picks, but "what I don't see is Amgen." Werber responded, "We have a buy rating on Amgen" but said CELG, BIIB and GILD have "better value, better catalysts near-term."

Werber also likes MDVN.

2.60, 2.58, 2.55 ...

Rick Santelli told Tuesday's Halftime Report that "everybody's looking at 2.60" in the 10-year, and his own line in the sand is 2.58%.

Jon Najarian said for him, it's 2.55%.

Steve Liesman said there's a "smell created by the 10-year," and that while Q1 GDP looks like "1.70 or 1.60 or so," Q2 "is looking like 3.30."

Liesman insisted that he has to follow the data, but "the theory of a snapback makes a lot of sense."

Brian Stutland said gold vs. stocks is "like the Yankees-Cubs series coming up," and regarding gold's selloff, advised viewers to "use this as a gift" to buy.

Anthony Grisanti said "the situation there is still fluid" in Ukraine, and he would "still want to own gold."

Kevin Delaney told the panel that FB and GOOG are trying to "provide Internet services" through drones, which was news we thought we knew about ... oh ... months or years ago. (Or at least when Kara Swisher said the same thing last night.)

Delaney, whose page is bookmarked by Jon Najarian, said there are a "bunch of chess moves coming on right now," and it's "unclear" if Apple wants into this space, but while FB and GOOG keep making unconventional acquisitions, "investors are indulging them."

Delaney said it's "actually material for Amazon" to try to carve into the iTunes business.

Joe Terranova said AAPL is "trading awful" and he would "respectfully disagree" with the notion (floated by Steph Link earlier) that stocks are simply in a "rotation."

Link's Final Trade was ESRX. Jon Najarian said NSC, Pete Najarian said VLO and Joe Terranova said UPL.

[Monday, April 14, 2014]

Name the last CNBC guest to be arrested at an airport

Well, that was quick.

On Jan. 30, Aldon Smith and several other NFL players appeared on Fast Money, and got (of course) red-carpet treatment that included personalized answers about FB shares.

Despite the fact this page pointed out that Smith had — up to that point in time — a couple DUIs on the rap sheet ... 3 felony charges ... gunfire ... stabbing ...

Yeah.

Less than 3 months after appearing on Fast Money, guess who just got arrested at LAX during a TSA dispute in which a "b" word was uttered.

What was that "Brady Bunch" episode, where Bobby idolized Jesse James?

Perhaps we could be a tiny bit judicious about whom we anoint our heroes.

Dennis Gartman
invents a new word

Eamon Javers helpfully reported on Monday's Fast Money that President Obama spoke to President Putin, but there is "very little information" about the call.

Dennis Gartman opined that if Ukrainian tension escalates, then you "probably" have to be long Brent and short WTI.

However, if the dialogue gets "even tacibly" (sic couldn't find in dictionary) well, then expect the Brent premium to "dissolve relatively quickly."

Brian Kelly demanded Gartman explain what "tacibly" means why the price of oil is going up if there's so much out there. Gartman answered, "The global economy is doing quite well."

"I think you stay with gold here," said Guy Adami.

Someone says C could be ‘dead money’ (but it’s the same guy who always thinks it’s October 1987)

Karen Finerman, abuzz over the Citigroup report, said on Monday's Fast Money that there are "some things to latch onto."

One of those things was Mike Mayo asking Mike Corbat if the company has been asleep for years and Corbat saying they're "wide awake" (snicker), Finerman said.

"It's actually lower than it was 2 weeks ago," Finerman pointed out, but she said she actually bought more JPM instead.

Mel sort of implied she's got C shares herself, hailing the company's declaration that it's seeking the Fed's OK like it was Steve Jobs with the new iPhone; "as an investor that's exactly what I want to hear."

Guy Adami said of C, "I think it's OK here at 47½," but he finds BX "interesting."

Dan Nathan challenged Finerman on banks, stating, "The capital markets environment is really bad right now, and this could be as good as it gets for 2014," and that C "could be dead money."

Finerman bristled and said bank estimates are not pricing in a roaring economy; if it happens, "I think you're getting that for free."

And, "Citi is the cheapest of the bunch" (Drink), Finerman said.

Kara Swisher swats away the blokes on the left side of the panel

If it's not Brian Kelly, it's Dan Nathan.

Monday's Fast Money welcomed Re/Code associate Kara Swisher, who explained that Google is buying a drone company because "the more people on the Internet, the more Google makes money, the more things they can buy."

"They're looking for the next phase of the Internet," Swisher said.

Brian Kelly said that Qwest was once laying a ton of fiber on "every railroad in the nation," and "how is this any different," and is it actually "realistic" to think we're really gonna have 500 drones flying around.

"Yes, it's realistic," Swisher said, explaining that the phone has changed everything.

Karen Finerman said a deal like this "doesn't matter" for Google's stock, which she's long and likes.

But Dan Nathan first grumbled that 1) this is just a "really expensive hire" to stay ahead of whatever Stanford geeks create a better search engine, then 2) Google should be doing this rather than spending $19 billion on the "fly-by-night" acquisition of WhatsApp, pointing to the 2 Facebook messaging apps as a bungled plan.

Swisher, though, said of course Facebook would want to have 2 apps, not everybody will want to use the Facebook version and it's like ESPN and HBO.

But, Nathan persisted, "What if Facebook just becomes WhatsApp." Swisher indicated that's not going to be the case, stating FB has done very well monetizing.

Guy Adami said FB-wannabe longs have gotten the pullback they've sought. "I think you own Facebook into this earnings release," Adami said.

‘One of the most underpriced IPOs we’ve seen in years’

Sam Hamadeh, in a great pinstriped jacket, delivered on Monday's Fast Money one of the most enthusiastic stock calls recently heard.

"Weibo should be valued at $30 a share if you apply any of the Twitter metrics to it," Hamadeh said, and is "one of the most underpriced IPOs we've seen in years."

He said the "initial range is 17-19," and he expects a pop to the mid-20s. "Worst-case scenario is it's fairly valued," Hamadeh said.

Guy Adami maintained that Alibaba will be closer to $200 billion than $150 billion, which Hamadeh backed.

But Dan Nathan grumbled, "I don't get it," wondering how people can be "so cavalier" about the Alibaba valuation and YHOO's price given the tech wreck of the last several weeks.

Hamadeh conceded that a high valuation is not "guaranteed" for Alibaba.

Guy thinks buying AMZN shares is the ‘deep end of the pool’

Guy Adami told Monday's Fast Money that "this is a deep-end-of-the-pool trade," and he might get Fast-Fired for it soon, but he thinks you can get long AMZN.

Guy and Mel resumed their bickering-married-couple routine throughout the program, agreeing that Gary Busey is not a catalyst for AMZN shares. (But what about hiking the price of Prime?)

Dan Nathan issued his only optimistic comment of the show in regard to 3-D-printing names. "I would say these stocks are getting very, very oversold," with "high short interest," Nathan said.

Nathan mocked the comments by Twitter execs about not selling. "They wouldn't be saying it if the stock was still at 60," Nathan said, explaining, "There's no support until $26, the IPO price."

Brian Kelly said TWTR's selloffs don't all come in 1 day.

Brian Kelly calculates
‘.01’ of a bitcoin = $40

Unfortunately there are many Fast Money moments that you can associate with "Jump the shark," but surely another occurred on Monday when Brian Kelly "made" some coins on his home computer with Mel looking over his shoulder asking "why."

Kelly at one point told Lee, "We have to send .01 (sic) bitcoins to this particular address, 40 bucks," which, if we understand basic math correctly (we don't), means a bitcoin is worth $4,000.

In the what's next category, Kelly admitted, "We have to have some use for it," then told viewers to "go to nautiluscoin.com ... it's a way to transfer value."

Guy Adami said "a lot of people got squeezed" in WBMD, but he'd look to sell here, not buy.

Brian Kelly said "I think you stay away" from GoGo.

Karen Finerman said "I don't think anything in particular" moved HSP.

Dan Nathan said someone sold April 15 calls in GDP and bought June 22.50 calls.

Mel actually calls Kelly Evans
‘average-sized’

Evidently, Mel doesn't need stilts to speak with CNBC's Kelly Evans (yeah right).

Lee said on Monday's Fast Money that Evans and Bill Griffeth are "average-sized people."

"Kelly's tall actually," pointed out Karen Finerman, of course.

Finerman said Shaquille O'Neal won't take Macy's to the "promised land," but its execs will (Drink), and "I like it a lot" and may add around 55.

Guy Adami said AMGN is cheap "on any metric."

Dan Nathan said SCTY is one of those solar names that "doesn't make any sense," and he likes FSLR instead.

Karen Finerman said, "I think you can own CVS here."

Melissa Lee cringed at the thought of a "Fast Money kibbutz" on the heels of Josh Lipton's report about the Meta crew living in a commune of sorts.

Dan Nathan's Final Trade was EWG puts. Brian Kelly said MSFT, Karen Finerman said JPM and Guy Adami said PAYX is "dirt cheap" if the job market gets better.

Oh yeah, they’re sure going to sing like canaries on the Halftime Report once the internal probe is complete

GM spokesman Phil LeBeau showed up on Monday's Halftime Report to ask the panel a GM question (what does Mary Barra's motherhood status have to do with how she feels about recalls?) he already he thinks he knows the answer to: "Where is the catalyst?"

LeBeau essentially agreed with Judge that the stock might be dead money for a while, partly because Ford is considered to have a bigger 2nd half of the year ahead.

Evidently news to the Halftime gang, LeBeau told the group that BA did a better job in public relations than GM because "the problems are different."

And, he even added an "at the end of the day."

LeBeau, who once stated in those CNBC promo ads a few years ago that he bought his first car "for $400 and. A. Case. Of. Beer," pointed out that the Camry is Toyota's "flagship" car and important to the operation.

LeBeau said Ford is "on fire" in China.

Judge asked LeBeau, "Where is Dan Akerson," and needed 2 or 3 tries to explain to LeBeau that Mary Barra was not the CEO during the time these safety issues were occurring. LeBeau chortled with a strange maniacal laugh and explained, "Everybody is steering clear of this until the internal investigation is complete."

Jon Najarian said he likes the automakers because he thinks people were thwarted at buying during the winter weather.

Doc calls this the
‘Dan (sic) Draper market’

Halfway into the 4th month of the year, Mr. New World says the stock market is confused.

"The play is to acknowledge that it's April 14 (no problem there), and so far consensus doesn't have a clue where to put money in 2014," Terranova said on Monday's Halftime Report.

"2014 is incredibly difficult," Joe added, suggesting commodities, and stating, "Energy again, leading the surge higher."

That pro-energy call was seconded by Ben Willis, who told Judge, "I continue to focus on energy," and curiously noted that JPMorgan singled out 5 MLPs and "it doesn't get more old-school than that."

Terranova said, "Chevron I like, uh, I like Transocean as well," and said that energy is a "sentiment play."

Pete Najarian mocked Goldman Sachs for being "6 or 9 months" late on its low-valuation, low-growth call, and said actually it's the beaten-up momentum stocks that he wants to "start looking at again."

Josh Brown observed that SPHB was up on a "very nice dead-cat bounce" but thinks it's "doubtful" that we'll see new highs in high-beta names "anytime soon."

Jon Najarian decreed this "The Dan (sic) Draper market" before being corrected by Judge. "The market is hanging in here," Doc said, and "I like the market here Judge."

He also said a "big block of calls" were bought early in YHOO.

Citi’s tangible book!

Bank watcher (and C lover) Anton Schutz told Judge on Monday's Halftime Report that it was "nice to get a positive surprise out of Citi."

Regardless, Schutz said (adding the magic words), "Even if they hadn't had a good number, the stock is ridiculously cheap to tangible book value."

Judge rightly questioned that if everyone thinks it's cheap and it's not going up, maybe something's wrong. Schutz sort of conceded that, admitting, "The crowd is not deeply into Citi these days."

Pete Najarian said there must be some "entities" that C can spin off.

Josh Brown questioned why anyone needs to buy C right now. Schutz admitted, "There's no reason to rush into it."

Pete tried to make Michael Corbat sound like Steve Jobs, claiming it "sounds to me like he's puttin' the accelerator down pretty hard."

Brown though pointed out that the company just reported its "2nd fraud in Mexico." Pete shrugged and said it still has the "most upside" of the big banks.

Schutz said his top picks are TSFL, which "just got out of regulatory purgatory," and ISBC."

Mr. New World offered RF, CMA, USB and PNC.

If Doc likes AAPL more, why wasn’t he saying that last week instead of TWTR $38?

In a curious, utterly useless feature on Monday's Halftime Report, Judge Wapner enlisted Josh Brown to argue pro-TWTR vs. Jon Najarian's pro-AAPL argument, when each admitted they were fine with both stocks.

Brown said he likes TWTR because "it's down 40% already," and the lockup expiration is as well-known as Y2K was, and he thinks there's a "trick up the company's sleeve."

Najarian made utterly no case for AAPL than the size of its revenues, which have been known not quite since Y2K but close.

Pete Najarian, who of course agreed with Jon, said he simply sees more downside to TWTR than to AAPL.

But Brown called TWTR "the most-despised of the social names."

Shouldn’t the stock be a buy in the spring, now that they’ve raised the price of Prime?

Mr. New World, meeting the Halftime Report's daily quota of 1 Jim Cramer reference, said he heard Cramer say that Facebook's move into payments is "probably the (sic) trouble for PayPal," and that this will be a "recurring theme," as "I think others will follow."

Josh Brown cautioned, "This being successful is not a foregone conclusion ... I would still prefer the credit-card names."

Pete Najarian crowed that Zuck is making a lot of pricey deals, but "this guy is actually making things happen."

Judge questioned if he's not getting beyond what Facebook's core focus should be. Joe Terranova again pounded the table for a Facebook phone and said AMZN's (loopy) entry into that market is "more reason" for Facebook to try it. (Why not wearables instead?)

Josh Brown and Jon Najarian agreed that AMZN is a stock you buy on Labor Day and sell on Black Friday.

 
 

Film studio 1,
sports contract inflation 0

Pete Najarian said on Monday's Halftime Report that Dick's has sort of got a "store within a store" with different setups for all the suppliers.

Pete called UA an "opportunity" on the selloff and Dr. New World agreed; "that's what I think."

Jon Najarian said "same thing with Nike," for which he predicts a "fantastic summer."

Josh Brown said WBMD is a momentum name that suddenly came back with a good report, so "don't count them all out," and don't lump 'em all together.

In a most curious description, Joe Terranova said the battle at DIS is between the film studio and "sports contract inflation," and "I think the film studio wins out in 2014."

Pete Najarian said MSFT doesn't have to be rated a buy, "I like it at a hold," and he sees 45-46 by the end of the year.

Pete said April 75 calls in INTU were hot, but they expire Friday, and he'll be in at least until 1 p.m. Monday.

Josh Brown took a Fast Fire on SPLK, a February pick we'd forgotten about. "The technicals broke down ... I would not trust this bounce," Brown said, and then, in a remarkable statement, said, "I'm sorry ... I think we should be accountable."

Mr. New Land said he'd be watching IBM's earnings the most; "I think IBM's going up for a reason," in fact it was his Final Trade (along with televised hockey).

Pete Najarian said he's looking at INTC, and that was his Final Trade also.

Jon Najarian is watching BAC, and actually that was Josh Brown's Final Trade (saluting the Najarii), while Najarian said EPB.

Joe Terranova said, "I think Morgan Stanley kinda stands alone" among banks.

Judge pointed out that Under Armour got an advertising boost from Jordan Spieth, but Judge and Doc took about 4 tries to affirm that Bubba Watson was wearing Oakley.

[Friday, April 11, 2014]

Fast Money crew sure looks enthusiastic about Friday’s show

We're still scratching our heads over the muted response on Friday's Fast Money to the report of Amazon unveiling a phone in June.

(If only it was a report about raising the price of Prime, they would've been all over it.)

Dom Chu told the gang the phone would have "3-D-like images" that won't require goggles.

That brought derisiveness from Mel, who was chippy all program and was knocked for her "condescending fashion" by Steve Grasso.

Brian Kelly stated, "I don't think Amazon gets a pass on this." #yeah.right.

Aug. 16, 2007: It’s coming

It was a horrible week for stocks — and Friday's Fast Money crew barely talked about it.

Brian Kelly suggested the 30-year's rate is a warning against high-multiple stocks. (But nothing about the guy selling S&P futures in Europe at 3:30 a.m. and nobody knew who he was or why he was doing it and that's scary.)

Jon Najarian said TLT was active in options, a "lot of people" see rates going to 2.50.

But Steve Grasso pointed out that the last 4 times the S&P 500 broke the 100-day, it barely hovered there for a couple days before marching back up.

Tim Seymour gushed, "This is a great time to be a stock-picker" (unless you've been long GM). Seymour said, "I think you fade gold here," saying it's in a "dangerous bear market gold rally."

We didn't hear the Marc Faber-type commentary we were expecting Friday, so we can't fault anyone for hysteria on Fast Money.

If there had been, perhaps similar to what Carter Worth and Dan Nathan and Dennis Gartman were saying this week, we would just say, we've heard it all before and have no interest in selling at the bottom and entering face-ripped-off land, for example, check out August 2007, when the S&P 500 took a 150-point drop in about a month, then just happened to fall 36 points one morning before rising 41 points in the afternoon and prompting Eric Bolling (sic) to bellow on Fast Money, "I think we've bottomed!" He was right, we had — for 2 months, around the same time Bear Stearns (sic) (snicker) was declaring a couple of subprime (snicker) funds to be El Stinko. (Tip: That's not exactly the case right now.)

Citi’s tangible book mentioned!

Jeff Harte, the Will Rogers of Wall Street who basically never met a bank stock he didn't like, told Friday's Fast Money there's no denying that "it was a disappointing quarter" for JPM, sort of like "death by a thousand cuts."

However, Harte has a $66 target and assured, "My 2015 outlook really isn't changing that much," and then invoked that smart-sounding term "inherently" in urging folks to keep in mind that JPM has "big capital-markets businesses that are just inherently volatile."

Harte even added, "It will be interesting to see" something or other. (And why would you be talking about it at all if wasn't going to be interesting?)

Harte told Mel, "I find myself still likin' Morgan Stanley a lot."

Finally, and we were afraid Harte would exit without saying it, Harte set up Tim Seymour for an alley oop on a well-worn Fast Money cliche. "With Citigroup being as beaten up as it is, I'm starting to warm up more to them as well," Harte explained.

Seymour said, ".8, uh, price to tangible book," (Double Drink) how can you not like it, then as a bonus, said JPM oughta do great "when it normalizes" (Drink).

Tim still doesn’t get it:
Tesla is ‘Chinatown’

Phil LeBeau on Friday's Fast Money re-reported the General Motors disclosure of the day, a confusing e-mail received by Mary Barra in 2011.

But don't even begin to imply to the Fast Money crew that Barra might've done something not so great.

"It seems like it's a bit of a witch-hunt," said GM long Tim Seymour, who sees a "political maelstrom" in which some unidentified people are trying to make "more of a name for themselves."

Seymour at least admitted, "I thought this stock had tremendous support" at 34, and now it looks like 30, but "I am not selling my position."

Jon Najarian said he agrees with Seymour, "I would not be exiting the stock here."

Steve Grasso though said F or even TSLA makes more sense here; "there could be another couple layers in the story."

Seymour scoffed at Grasso, "You're calling Tesla an auto company now, not an IT play."

Meg Tirrell is cute.

CNBC showcased its newest hot reporter, Meg Tirrell, on Friday's Fast Money, with no small amount of hyperbole.

Tirrell actually claimed that Vertex is facing "potentially the biggest binary event in biotech of the year," or even, "in history."

She said one expert thinks it could mean 100 or 40 for the stock.

Tirrell also said BIIB has a similar situation with cystic fibrosis.

Jon Najarian told everyone he traded VRTX a day ago and got out.

Brian Kelly said 210 is next for IBB, which Kelly called a "falling knife."

Doc said someone was "aggressively buying the 5 puts out in June" in XCO.

In yet another Google Glass reference, Mel interviewed some expert who called it "kind of cumbersome."

Tim Seymour said of Google Glass, "I don't think it moves the stock at all."

Brian Kelly said of MU, "I'd probably sell it."

Jon Najarian revealed that TRIP is "one of the ones that I was trading today," and after disseminating information about Google-Expedia's impact on the space to viewers rather clunkily, Doc said, "I would be a buyer of TRIP and a seller of Expedia."

Tim Seymour said, "I love Pandora, but Pandora's everything that's being sold right now ... around 20 bucks is where I would look at it." (This writer is long P.)

Steve Grasso though disagreed with Seymour on P, calling Friday's level "actually a good point to get into the stock ... you're gonna see it firm up here."

Grasso said to stay in YHOO; "I'm still in Yahoo," his Final Trade.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was TM. Brian Kelly said GLNG and Jon Najarian said IBB while the screen said BIIB.

Doc says he likes TWTR at $38.75, then seconds later says he likes it ‘if it breaks 40’

Jon Najarian, who spent much of Friday's Halftime marveling about the "babies out with the bathwater," told Judge, "I like Twitter" at 38.75, before adding, "if it breaks 40."

Judge observed that he's learned of "strong shorting on high volume around Twitter."

Doc said that was fine with him; "I'd also like there to be high short interest building in there."

For some reason, those observations were split with another tech-short feature later in the program in which Judge reported "strong covering" in FB and (snicker) P, as opposed to "strong shorting" in PCLN, TWTR and AMZN. (This writer is long FB and P, the latter of which wasn't covered much "at the end of the day.")

Josh Brown said TWTR shorts are making a "pretty obvious bet" on the lockup expiration, but "if I were cynical," he'd think the company at its late-April report would have "something big up their sleeve to announce," a remark that made Doc howl for some reason.

Judge said there was only "moderate covering" in MU and BIDU.

Pete Najarian decreed there "definitely is a line in the sand" in FB.

Jon Najarian said that if you were short P and didn't cover Thursday, "I think you were violating the Pig Rule," but in fact, by the end of Friday, you were just getting wealthier.

Pete Najarian said YHOO is "oversold."

‘Serious damage, technically’

Through mid-March, "momentum" stocks were breezing right along this year.

And then they ran into a tough hombre in the form of TraderXAspen.

Larry Altman, dialing into Friday's Halftime Report, was able to take a tiny victory lap of sorts in telling Judge that on the Wednesday after his March 14 appearance in which he predicted a March 2000-type of decline, he got phone calls from people congratulating him for actually giving the market a boost. (That's called contra-indicator, for you Trade School types.)

Friday, Altman, whose attire in the still photos shown on CNBC is gradually getting more formal, told Judge that the "equation (sic curious terminology) of the market" has changed in that until recently, "The market would take weeks to go down, and days to make it up."

(We're not sure that's actually changed, to be honest.)

Anyway, Altman asserted that "we've done some serious damage, technically" but refreshingly pointed out how difficult the market has been this week for even the greats; "I actually woke up in the middle of the night and was, were (sic) selling some S&Ps higher, and bought them back way too soon."

Josh Brown asked Altman about countertrend rallies being steep. Altman agreed, stating, "Wednesday, I lost money" covering futures; "you get these vicious rallies."

Judge asked Altman if we're truly only in the "1st or 2nd inning" of the big slide that Altman warned about the last time he was on.

Altman said it's "almost Stock Market 101" in claiming: "If you're really bullish on the long term, you want the market to have a correction."

However, disappointingly, Judge never did get a call from TraderXAspen on where the market goes from here, or what viewers should do next.

Just as Guy Adami's been doing all month, Altman raised the possibility of an outside month for April.

Jon Najarian for whatever reason chimed in that WHR was like a "baby with the bathwater," and AYI on Friday was the same thing, which he didn't try to trade right at the opening but "wait 15 minutes ... to avoid some of that amateur stuff." Doc admitted, "My holding period was 5 to 10 minutes," which presumably was the holding period for the wealth-management clients also who are trading in tax-sheltered accounts.

Citi’s tangible book mentioned!
(And $70 price target issued!)

Judge thought he was being clever when he said JPM and WFC were a "tale of 2 banks" on Friday's Halftime Report.

(Wow. 2 banks had different quarterly results. Let's write a great novel about it.)

Fred Cannon, who hasn't been on for a while but is always a friendly face, told Judge that "we're gonna see some earning estimate revisions down" in JPM.

But WFC, Cannon said, "looks strong," in part because Q1 is perceived as better for investment banking and Q2 is perceived as better for commercial banking.

Cannon asserted "there is no Jamie Dimon premium" in JPM but that "the sum of the parts is greater than the whole."

And, as JPMorgan executives get private equity offers while the government looms over big banks, "it's not that hard a choice" to switch jobs, Cannon said.

Cannon observed that C is the "only U.S. bank trading below tangible book value" and is in the "global doghouse."

Jon Najarian said he likes JPM if it breaks 55, prompting a scoff from Judge; "it's 55 and change."

Najarian said he likes BAC, for the "Merrill" part of it, and we don't meant Stubing.

Pete Najarian said that as far as buying financials goes, JPM's report "certainly puts it on hold," but he sees "pockets of opportunity" in BX and KKR.

Pete Najarian at one point sounded like he was drinking leftover Fast Money Kool-aid regarding C, stating that if it would "start spinning off some of what they've got elsewhere around the globe, this company actually will get to tangible book and should be trading closer to 65 or 70." (Snicker)

 
 

Sight for sore markets

Kenny Polcari told Judge on Friday's Halftime Report that high short interest can be a contra-indicator of stock market direction.

But Polcari admitted, "There's really no reason to run right out and buy these stocks today."

Josh Brown said that Wednesday was the "countertrend rally" that produced a new "narrative," but that the Nasdaq has become "kinda like Anne Hathaway."

For now, the "best case" according to Brown is not that buyers step in, but that people simply "stop selling" (sic it's actually kinda the same thing).

Jon Najarian said he was looking for indications of "babies out with the bathwater" and said he's interested in QCOR, AGN, GBX and RAIL.

Rick Santelli said that in the bond market, there's "just not enough economic horsepower to keep the long end happy."

Yowza! Stephanie foxy
in sleek black golf outfit
(look at her, not Weiss)

In a neat little Masters-related feature (which airs on a different network by the way), Judge on Friday's Halftime Report showed viewers some file footage of most of the Halftime gang (Joe, Simon noticeably absent) spending an afternoon at an indoor golf range.

And Stephanie Link looked dynamite in black.

Now, here's the deal about golf ... it's a happy, fun, relaxing pastime, and it's not supposed to be like critiquing a TV show.

But, given that, while we suck at trading (except (snicker) we seem to do well taking the other side of certain Halftime Report trades), we're confident that the Halftime/Fast Money crew can't beat this page at golf ... even if you pool them all together and let them play preferred ball ... and so we can't help but opine that Pete Najarian and Stephanie Link were the only ones of the group with a remotely likable golf swing, and Judge, quite frankly, who's supposed to be good, looked borderline decrepit, as though he was taking a snap at the 1-yard line instead of easing back in the shotgun. (Sorry, not trying to ruin anyone's day; it's just honest reaction, hey they put it on TV, not us.)

Judge spoke with Mark Rolfing of the Golf Channel, who declared Link the winner.

What really matters isn't the score, but tee talk. The typical format on the course is talk about women, talk about the office, talk about women, talk about sports, talk about women, talk about movies, talk about women, talk about cars, etc. Whether this group is any good at that, or whether it's 4 hours of the same slogans you hear on TV, we just don't know.

Pete omitted the rest of the refrain: ‘Hang a 12 multiple on that, and you’ve got a $240 stock’

Judge played a little useless parlor game with the 3-man crew of Friday's Halftime Report, asking them to take sides between high-fliers and stodgy old names in similar sectors.

Jon Najarian and Josh Brown said they'd take MCD over CMG. Brown said MCD "technically looks absolutely fantastic."

But Pete Najarian disagreed. "Chipotle now is the better buy than McDonald's," Pete said.

Jon Najarian said Comcast vs. Netflix is like "Anne Hathaway vs. Angelina Jolie," but he'd take Comcast, especially if the Time Warner deal goes through.

Pete Najarian suggested that if NFLX keeps sliding, there will be chatter about "Who wants to buy Netflix" (translation: Pete still thinks AMZN and AAPL are going to buy their way into the space even though Pachter says the space has no potential except Pachter thinks competition is coming regardless).

Josh Brown opined that "IBM looks much better right now" than WDAY.

Pete Najarian said WDAY "can go a heckuva lot lower than it has," and even, incredibly, cited Guy Adami's old standby since 2011, IBM's $20 EPS in 2015.

Josh Brown said DDD compared with HPQ has been "absolutely crashed," and warned of the former, "the selling is not over yet in this name."

Pete Najarian said HPQ is "going to 40 bucks."

Making clear moves to the defensive, supposedly with all-time high margin debt

Jon Kinderlerer thanked Judge for giving him a seat on Friday's Halftime Report, then reported that "we saw net exposure come way down" in hedge funds through March, which Kinderlerer called "a clear move to the defensive."

Josh Brown noted that several of these stats clash; for example people are saying "margin debt is at all-time highs."

Kinderlerer insisted "they're just not running leverage like they were pre-crisis," and they've been undergoing "very clear de-risking through March" and into April.

He also said there's "clear interest in India."

In a terrible market,
Doc produces a Brag Trade

Jon Najarian said on Friday's Halftime Report that GPS got a "$9" price target cut, from 50 to 40 (sic math).

Pete Najarian told viewers "I think I'd stay away" from GILD and "wait a little while longer" to buy.

Josh Brown invoked Pete's lexicon in calling F a "2nd-half story."

Sexy Sheila reported that utilities have been leading the pack this year.

Jon Najarian said he bought DUK but already flipped it, then curiously explained to viewers: "If it popped to the upside I'd sell it, for all the people out there that thinks- (sic) think we don't sell anything ever."

Really. Who thinks that?

Josh Brown cautioned that investing in utilities now is like "investing in the rear-view mirror" because the sector is not cheap.

Pete Najarian said he thinks BP works.

Josh Brown's Final Trade was DE. Jon Najarian said KEY, and Pete Najarian said BX and KKR.

Doc concluded, "We're gonna sell off into the weekend."

[Thursday, April 10, 2014]

Ha-ha-ha,
hee-hee-hee,
ho-ho-ho

This "correction" is laughable. Close your eyes, come back in a week or two, you'll be fine.

And try not to listen to the "analysis" heard on CNBC on Thursday. (There's a difference between "hear" and "listen." Unfortunately, not hearing is almost impossible for anyone who "represents" (snicker) a site such as this.)

The opening howler on Fast Money came from Brian Kelly, who informed everyone, "about 3:30 this morning, a big seller of futures in Europe came in ... nobody knew why." (As if investors typically issue statements on Twitter about why they are making such moves before they make such moves.)

The howler, though, was when Kelly called that unknown the "scariest part" of the selloff.

The second howler was when Mel and Steve Grasso had to clarify between themselves that being long the stock market is the "crowded" trade.

Finally, there was Dennis Gartman, always fighting yesterday's tape. "I've gone to neutrality," Gartman said, the howler being, "Today was, I-I-I'm sad to say, devastating if you're a, a long-term bull."

Really.

Somehow, we think we'll wake up next Monday, and everyone will all still be there.

Gartman actually claimed that gold was "really quite impressive," and that it's "not a bad idea" for folks to own a little gold or commodities.

Prior to Fast Money, Kelly Evans and Allen Wastler even managed to take Marc Faber seriously.

Carter nailed it March 24 — and likely just undid it on Thursday

We're generally skeptical of folks who pin the stock market's moves on how popular "The Wolf of Wall Street" is.

But Carter Worth seems like a fine chap, a gentleman, and speaks impeccably, so we don't mind pointing out that Worth on March 24 utterly nailed a Nasdaq correction, suggesting it would fall within a band, perhaps to 3,800, which is actually still possible.

Honestly, just so everyone's clear we're not giving him too much credit, we think Carter just got lucky.

But a win's a win. On Thursday's Fast Money, Worth returned to say the S&P is the one in trouble, because actually "very little has happened," and "we think there's plenty more to go."

Such as, to 1,675. (Gulp.) (Snicker.)

Worth rationalized that by saying, "Garden variety, 12% is a typical give-back."

Worth, contrary to all the "many people" that Steve Grasso knows, said that buying at S&P 1,760 would be "way too early," and then predicted that folks are not only going to continue unloading the high-fliers, but IBM and T as well.

Brian Kelly tried to sound like a statistician in saying something about "2 standard deviations." (But how do those add up to the S&P futures seller in Europe last night who nobody could identify, nor could anyone identify his/her rationale?)

Tim Seymour pushed back slightly against Worth. "This is probably a place where you take a breath ... the global economy is not dead; I think it's better than people think."

Tim’s overdoing it
in belittling Brian

It's almost unheard of for this page to feel sorry for Brian Kelly, who tends to refer to himself as "The BK," or something like that.

Yet, the beleaguered Fast Money panelist is getting a bad rap from Tim Seymour, who despite the fact he stood tall on Thursday hasn't done jack in the category of stock-picking for months.

Seymour on Thursday's Fast Money took issue with Kelly's continued bearish outlook in which Kelly indicated he's short the market but would cover soon in the event of a big whoosh.

Seymour pressed Kelly, "You're now short the market when 2 weeks ago, uh, you were a big buyer of a lot of these momentum names."

Kelly responded, "2 weeks ago, I thought we were gonna have a melt-up, I said I was wrong about that, I'm a trader, I changed my mind. This morning, something was wrong with the market this morning."

Yes. Some knucklehead in Europe was selling futures to a buyer who will probably have a nice profit within a week or two.

It’ll just be so healthy for everyone to sell their shares down to 1,760 so they can buy them back again

It wasn't just Brian Kelly who got the blunt end of Tim Seymour's commentary on Thursday's Fast Money.

The first thing Steve Grasso said was that he'd wait for higher confirmation to start buying stocks again.

Seymour rightly pointed out, "I've been hearing that about the S&P for the last 30 S&P points."

Grasso backpedaled, "Everyone's long though," even admitting, "I don't really have that much money left to allocate."

Seymour then played Mr. Nice Guy, stating they were seeing the same thing. "It started at the end of January ... I don't think what's going on here is, is terribly scary ... this is not the world coming to an end," Seymour said, which is correct, but a better way of putting it would be that, when so many knuckleheads start unloading for no apparent reason, the only thing that's "scary" is not having enough dry powder to scoop up everything you want.

Guy Adami decided folks needed a scorecard as to his calls this week. (2 good, 2 bad; Friday will be the decider.) "Let's just sorta reset," Guy said. "I thought we'd see a continuation of that bounce today. So I was dead-wrong on that." Now, he says, we're looking at whether 1,834 holds, and Adami seems to think we'll get a "flush in the next couple days down to 1,760."

Grasso then made one of the most interesting comments of the day, stating, "Most people want to actually visit that mark," 1,760, because at that level they'd feel more comfortable about buying.

(Translation: A/k/a/ what Grasso didn't bother to mention: "Most people" apparently think the S&P will go no lower than 1,760 ... so, being greedy of course, they'd love to buy at an absolute bottom determined by a computer, instead of having to try and figure it out for themselves.)

Mel said "Swoosh" (sic Nike trademark infringement) when she meant "Whoosh."

Tim Seymour goes from making the smartest comments of the day to being a bonehead

We got a new one Thursday in the category of Fast Money Knuckleheadedness, as David Trainer, with a $100 price target, became the latest in a long line to claim that Netflix is overvalued.

It's the "fundamentals," Trainer insisted, that show a "long-term decline."

Taking a victory lap, as many have done the last week or two, Trainer asserted, "We've warned about a lot of momentun stocks for a long time ... I think momentum is gone."

Netflix, he said, is "completely boxed in now. They've got no competitive edge" (snicker), he added, claiming it's the "digital version of the public library."

That brought a curious response from the panel, as Brian Kelly opined that it's "very tough to short" these momentum names.

Guy Adami actually advised viewers to try shorting CAT (how's that working out for Chanos) or IBM instead, because with those, you're at least "not gonna get smoked."

Yet, Tim Seymour, who moments earlier was correctly observing that there's nothing scary at all about the markets, seemed to agree with Trainer in claiming that a "handful" of names (without naming a single one) are now "broken," and the "party's over."

Tim Seymour about to get a Fast Fire in a month or two

Evidently, TSLA is among the "handful" of names whose party has concluded, according to Tim Seymour.

Steve Grasso argued on Thursday's Fast Money that TSLA is expanding into China and expanding its product line, and that too many people wrongly view it as a "tech stock still."

So, 205 is a level "where you can probably step in," Grasso said.

Tim Seymour, suddenly claiming in the last week that he's the Godfather of Bearish Tesla calls, said the market is "plunging under the weight of valuations" (the same market he said has a better global growth story than people think) and that Tesla won't make money for a couple of years and in general, "at these levels, the party is over, the momentum is broken."

Grasso said the stock has to hold 180, then 185, then 190 to be a buy.

Guy Adami actually claimed that "Tim's been spot-on" with this bearishness, when in fact Tim's been spot-boneheaded, admitting on the show that he's really been wrong for the last 100 points and is only claiming he's been right for a couple weeks.

Adami said he agrees with Seymour on TSLA, "Feels like it wants to go down from here."

Brian Kelly said to "wait till 175" to buy TSLA.

How could it be that no one likes C trading less than tangible book at these levels??

Out of the blue, Mel asked Thursday's Fast Money panel what stocks they'd actually be buying right now.

Tim Seymour offered TSO, then TM at 100 (claiming the automakers are "kitchen-sinking it"), and finally AMZN at 250, a level where Seymour would "back up the truck," which annoyed Guy Adami (who somehow isn't annoyed by "kitchen-sinking it" or "at the end of the day" or "it's not the rise in rates, it's the speed/reasons at/for which they rise," or "GM looks really good here" or "Macy's is still my favorite in the space").

Brian Kelly stated, "I wouldn't wanna back up the truck on anything at this point in time (sic last 2 words the old Patty Edwards redundancy) but suggested GLNG and ANDE (so if he's not backing up the truck, is he just sliding a few shares into the back seat?).

Guy Adami suggested BA, BX and NEM.

Steve Grasso said he can't do it, because stocks "haven't really come in enough."

What Brian is really suggesting is that shorts might be trying to dupe reporters into scaring people

John Jannarone gets asked about his nickname, but never his outrageous buy-ARO call, by the partisan Fast Money crowd, which did at least produce one good question for JJ Flash on Thursday.

Jannarone said Coatue and Lone Pine and other hedge funds have overlapping positions in a lot of names and when one starts selling, others are inclined to, and it becomes an environment where they "take risk off the table."

Brian Kelly rightly wondered, how come we never hear any stories about how these hedge funds are adding positions when stocks are on the way up. Jannarone conceded that's a valid point.

Guy Adami likes his notion that ETF unwinding is what sank biotechs, to the point he repeated it Thursday, stressing, "It's just my theory."

Adami later said, in the presence of Larry McDonald, that "Yeah, I think I am optimistic" on the biotech space; "biotech to me is not in a bubble."

We just figured out:
95 + 15 doesn’t = 100

Larry McDonald visited with Thursday's Fast Money crew to say that companies are playing a game with earnings warnings.

McDonald said it used to be about 50/50 or 60/40 of those that would warn vs. those that would preannounce a beat.

Now, he said, it's "95 earnings warnings vs. 15 raises."

Apparently, in a sample size of 110.

McDonald suggested there's a trend to this in stocks such as FSLR and URBN, where they have a "big draft down" and then make a big move up.

McDonald conceded this is a "normal market analysis" that likely wouldn't apply if the broader market goes as haywire as Carter Worth thinks.

Whew! Someone actually is
taking a look at C

Tim Seymour said on Thursday's Fast Money he likes JPM into the report.

Steve Grasso revealed that C is "gaining a little bit of attention from me," and at this point "might have a little bit of a baseline."

Guy Adami, at the end of the day, referred to Brian Marshall as a "good-lookin' guy with the steely blue eyes" (Translation: That's likely how Mel and/or Karen describes him off-camera), and then insisted IBM is plagued by legacy hardware issues and lack of visibility and size, they "can't turn this ship around that quickly."

Steve Grasso said if you want to take a flier on WFM, "I would buy 20%" now with a 49 stop.

Brian Kelly said to "take profit" in RAD.

Guy Adami called ALLY "way too dicey" and advised viewers to "let the dust settle."

Tim Seymour actually reminded people he made MCD his laughable "Times Square trade," then bragged that his suggestion of long MCD/short BKW is up 6% in 3 days. (Great. But 1) what does that have to do with Times Square?, and 2) does this mean the "party's over" for BKW because some knucklehead in Europe sold S&P futures at 3:30 a.m. without telling anybody why, or who he was?) Seymour said, "Stay in McDonald's."

Scott Nations said it was a "healthy day and not a crazy day" for the VIX. (Nice parsing. Nice mumbo jumbo semantics that we've "groan" to love from the CNBC Options Wing.)

Nations said someone bought 8,000 May 20 calls in the VIX, and claimed there's been a "triple top" in the VIX at 21.25, a day after Guy Adami said there are no triple tops.

Tim Seymour said the stock market could be higher Friday; "it doesn't all happen in 1 day."

Seymour's Final Trade was to get out of the long EEM/short SPY trade. Brian Kelly said UNG, Steve Grasso (who earlier in the show said he wouldn't buy anything here) said HPQ, and Guy Adami said BIG.

OMG ... How come the Halftime gang hasn’t been warning viewers about the TAM bubble?

John Fichthorn, like many critics of "momentum" stocks in the last couple weeks, crowed about the Nasdaq's slide on Thursday's Halftime Report.

"We think this is a topping formation," Fichthorn said. "It clearly does look like an equity bubble in certain sectors."

This "bubble," according to Fichthorn, relates to "TAM investing," which refers to "Total Available Market."

"If we shift from TAM investing to real earnings investing, there's a long way to go on the downside in a lot of these very expensive sectors," Fichthorn asserted.

So, if we understand this correctly ... right now we're in a "TAM-off environment" ... and if the market recovers, it'll be a "TAM-on environment." #stopthat #blush #don'tyouwritethatagain

Meanwhile, Fichthorn said DDD went from 50 to 100 back to the 50s, and "we think the stock's headed to 20 ... a lot of offshore pressure in this space."

Judge asked Fichthorn, why not short the whole market. There, Fichthorn paused, claiming not everything is a bubble. "I'm not gonna short Microsoft," he said. (Nobody asked him why he wasn't shorting MSFT.)

Asserting his credentials, Fichthorn claimed, "I was a short seller in the Internet bubble."

He said that, "between the TAM," there could be "80% downside" in software and other names.

All well and good, except when Judge asked for Fichthorn's latest short, viewers got a stammer rather than an answer; eventually Fichthorn pointed to VIP Shops as one of those "classic Chinese equities that's too good to be true."

Fichthorn took specific issue with TSLA, citing "3 strange subsidies." One from the U.S. government, one in the form of Norway taxing non-electric vehicles, and one regarding the benefit of driving them in HOV lanes.

"We think they've maxed sales in their existing markets, and now they're lookin' to China," Fichthorn said.

Pete Najarian moments later took issue with that. "By the way, Tesla keeps bouncing off 208, consistently," Pete said.

Doc claims viewers aren’t as smart as John Fichthorn

Jon Najarian claimed on Thursday's Halftime Report that viewers should listen to Fichthorn but they should "get short exposure through options," because "he's a pro, he can manage his risk better" with stocks, whereas viewers are "not as nimble ... not as able to hedge as he is."

Really. What was Fichthorn's return last year. Or the year before. Surely they were going to tell us. Didn't think so.

Stephanie Link told Fichthorn, "I don't think the story is over" in ServiceNow.

But Fichthorn asserted that old tech is flexing its muscle in the cloud space and asked, "Are the incumbents just gonna roll over and die."

"I think the incumbents are gonna roll over and buy," Link said.

What happens if Nasdaq Composite is up 100 points on Friday?

Jon Najarian continues to clue in viewers on the apparent wealth-management activity of OptionMonster.

Doc informed viewers on Thursday's Halftime Report that he trades in a "tax-deferred status," that being IRAs and 401(k)s, for "both myself and my clients."

So evidently, when Doc tells Judge he plans to be in an options trade for "a couple weeks," the clients and their IRAs are in it for a couple weeks also.

Anyway, Doc said you had to be trimming Thursday because "you had stupid amounts of gains" on Wednesday, declaring "the lack of a trend" in 2014 stocks, which is a good point.

Najarian pointed to PG as a strong stock, and said he wants TWTR with a 3-handle. "I'm looking at that one if it pierces 40," Najarian said.

Pete Najarian said "it's those mo-mo names" that are taking the hit while CAT, DE, MSFT, INTC and HPQ are fine.

Pete also pointed to the difference between big pharma and biotech.

Stephanie Link said, "Overnight we got really bad China data."

Link said she still likes FB, ACN and XLNX, but AMZN not so much.

Joe Greco said the Halftime Report is a "perfect microcosm of what the market's doing."

Carl no longer doubts that John Donahoe cares about eBay

Judge barely got a moment on Thursday's Halftime with Kathleen Smith, who asserted "there is froth" in the markets, but it's "not as crazy" as 2000.

"The market is self-correcting right now," Smith said.

Smith said ALLY "should've had a lower price on it."

She also said IPOs need to start showing profitability.

Kate Kelly said SAC/Point 72 got a judge's settlement approval.

In a tiresome, overly extended chat, Carl Icahn insisted his EBAY agitation "worked out very well," basically because John Donahoe's passion surfaced; "I realized that in talking to him ... John wants what's good for the company. John wants to enhance value."

Carl told Judge he doesn't yet consider Donahoe great. "I'll call him a great CEO if the stock goes to 150," Icahn said.

Carl also said he'd disagree "somewhat" that he capitulated. "I think we got some, some great stuff out of it."

As always, Carl reminded Judge how great he did with BIIB and Forest Labs.

Carl said "we have a lot of hedges on" in the stock market presently.

Bill Miller’s probably right

Judge on Thursday's Halftime Report once again claimed that the new Fidelity non-HFT exchange or whatever it is is a "direct fallout from this conversation" that gooses sales of Michael Lewis' book. (And how is it "fallout"? Did someone get fired?)

Doc said he's got an HFT article going up on CNBC.com on Friday.

Jon Najarian told Judge he agrees with Bill Miller on the prospects for subprime investing, because nowadays people have to put "30, 40% down," which is what makes the difference.

Stephanie Link said there are "fewer players right now" in subprime.

Judge led the panel in chuckles about Miller's claim that 6 months from now you'll be able to throw a dart at the market and whatever it hits will be up. "It's always a stock-picker's market," Pete Najarian claimed.

Pete's Final Trade was CBS. Stephanie Link said RDS and Jon Najarian said SE.

[Wednesday, April 9, 2014]

Dan Nathan’s goal:
Drive P, YELP to $0

Guy Adami, who occasionally is wrong about S&P direction, hit one out of the park this week.

Adami on Wednesday's Fast Money reminded viewers that he was saying Monday it was "too early in the month" to do the outside month, hence a bounce-back rally, and Wednesday asserted, "I think it'll probably continue tomorrow," with Friday a question mark.

Karen Finerman mentioned being long P and URI and stated she will look for more gains; "this is not enough of a bounce-back for me to wanna take any off."

Dan Nathan, though, claimed that the last couple weeks proved "investors showed their hand on some of these high-fliers" and that some of them are "just not gonna work anymore."

Nathan said Facebook might be one of the survivors, but "Yelp or Pandora, never do it again." What "it" is, we don't know. (This writer is long FB.) (This writer is long P.)

Pete Najarian told Mel, "Well, you know, the market's been in this incredible range quite frankly," and Pete said 86 calls in the QQQ were hot.

Pete also said that options buying on Monday in P was indication that people thought the selling was nearly done, "this is enough; this is ready to rally."

In case you haven’t figured it out for yourself, your watch will determine if you’re tired

Melissa Lee, showing off a new wearable watch by Intel (well, it's better than drinking the rum that the Flavien guy serves them), observed, "They all look like old Casio watches."

Guest Mike Bell, of Intel, said the appeal of the Basis watch is not so much what it looks like, but "it's the technology inside of it," and that all INTC wants to do is build all the parts for all the wearables.

Bell actually claimed the watch will provide extraordinary analysis. "It can tell you, you know, if you're feeling tired, if you got a good night's sleep last night," Bell said.

"I think the best technology is invisible technology," Bell added, saying watches will "look as good as they function."

Pete Najarian again pounded the table for INTC, saying it's hiring guys like Bell and getting into mobile. But Nathan snarled that while the dividend's nice, don't buy INTC on hopes of them getting this watch right.

Mel twice used air quotes after the Intel presentation

Bob Peck first told Wednesday's Fast Money crew that if Sheryl Sandberg exits FB, it would be a setback for the shares; "she's such a big leader there." (But she's presumably not the one in charge of landing Oculus and WhatsApp).

Peck said FB was buoyed by word that the quarter, which had been sluggish, "all of a sudden reversed, and accelerated."

He said he's looking for north of $2.4 billion in revenue, margins "around 50% or so."

Peck pointed out that FB started out publicly with no mobile revenue, and after 6 quarters, it's getting 50% of its revenue from mobile, illustrating the kind of scale that WhatsApp can bring.

CNBC's cute Morgan Brennan reported that there are now 2 Facebook apps for phones, which some might balk at, but it "solidifies its strategy in messaging."

Pete Najarian called FB a "very exciting stock" at 56 when he didn't buy it and then conceded, "I've missed it maybe, but I think I might get a 2nd chance before earnings."

Peck told Karen Finerman that FB's quarter is not really a "read-through" to Google.

Uh-oh! We could be talking about Heather Bellini again behind her back!

Red Hat's Jim Whitehurst should've known that when he spoke about lower margins on Wednesday's Fast Money, one person in particular (hint: he always "defines" his risk) wouldn't believe him.

First, Whitehurst raised a few eyebrows in describing his company as "kind of an arms provider" for the likes of Google and Amazon, who have been cutting cloud prices.

Karen Finerman wondered, "Are we near the end of that?" Whitehurst responded that it's a case of "both Google and Amazon being very farsighted ... both companies are pricing into Moore's Law."

Whitehurst explained some were apparently asleep at the switch when evaluating his apparently controversial outlook (we had no idea). He said the company "took up our cash flow guidance ... we also took down our margins ... for some reason that message got lost at least with a couple analysts."

Whitehurst reiterated that margins were apparently lowered to improve "cash flow guidance," which "we thought was a pretty bullish indicator."

Guy Adami concluded that the margins were lowered indeed "for the right reasons, not because they're being squeezed."

"How do you know that?!" charged Dan Nathan, who grumbled, "There's gaps all over this chart ... it seems like the jury's still out on this one."

Already looking good:
Karen’s exit of GM

(Unofficial) GM spokesman Phil LeBeau told Wednesday's Fast Money that TM is conducting the "2nd-largest recall in the history of Toyota."

Phil said the "big debate" is "whether or not this is a bottom" in GM shares.

Karen Finerman told LeBeau she's always had trouble getting an answer as to how many cars in a recall are actually repaired. LeBeau said, "About 65 to 70% will actually get fixed."

Guy Adami and Pete Najarian teamed to say that apparently 32½ is the place to grab the stock. But Pete grumbled, "Volatility is just not there."

Karen Finerman said Ally is subject to a government overhang, trades at a "small discount to tangible book value," so no need to rush.

S&P roars 20 points; Dan Nathan wants it to be like October 1987

Early in Wednesday's Fast Money, Mel actually asked the panelists what they'd be selling.

No surprise, Dan Nathan offered YELP. "I think you're gonna see lower lows ... I don't think the barriers to entry are very high." (Really. Never heard that one before.)

Pete Najarian suggested CZR, despite "very huge short interest," he thinks you can fade it.

Guy Adami insisted it's IBM, "they have issues," then implied the bounce at 175 was historic; "there clearly is a triple bottom."

Karen Finerman basically refused to suggest anything to sell other than a little of the SPYders. "The downdraft was way overdone; I still think there's upside," Finerman said.

Guy: Look for BBBY 62½

Guy Adami said on Wednesday's Fast Money that BBBY is getting close. "If it starts pushing down to 62½, 63 ... I think you buy it."

Karen Finerman agreed, calling it relatively cheap to its historic multiple.

Pete Najarian said both the May 30 calls and June 30 calls in MRC were hot.

Adami said of the MNST run, "I think it continues."

Karen Finerman said HSY was deemed a "sell" by Goldman Sachs.

Pete Najarian said he'd be interested in ISRG at 440.

Dan Nathan noticed someone bought 3,000 May 55 calls in FEYE, which was "one trade that stook (sic) out," because it seemed to him like a "fat premium."

Karen Finerman characterized the state of European banking as, "Extend & pretend is really in full force there."

Dan Nathan said, "I actually bought EWG puts."

Karen’s getting really good at answering the which-class-of-Google-share-is-best question

George Goncalves visited Wednesday's Fast Money to analyze what he sees as entrenched Fed policy. "They're gonna hike eventually, but not anytime soon," he said, suggesting a range-bound 10-year from 2.50-3.0%.

Guy Adami asserted, "I think that TLT's headed to 115."

But Goncalves said it would take a "real deflationary scare" to push rates below 2.50.

Dan Nathan said it would be a "disaster" if the 10-year traded at 2.0%.

Guy Adami made an impervious/Imperva joke after Seema Mody reported the carnage.

Adami did an I-told-you-so on SYMC and said, "I think it goes higher from here."

Pete Najarian bellowed that FFIV is "breakin' out to the upside."

Guy Adami said ADM is approaching the '08 top, so "you gotta be careful here."

Karen Finerman reiterated that whether you want GOOG or GOOGL, "it does not matter," before shrugging, "buy the cheaper one."

Dan Nathan said if you want to play FSLR, use longer-dated calls and not weeklies; he'd like it better closer to 60.

Pete Najarian said he loves both the stock and story of MNKD ... but stresses you should use options to play it. (Especially if you're an OptionMonster wealth-management client.)

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was LNG. Dan Nathan said GDX, Karen Finerman said BAC and Guy Adami said DAL.

Judge doesn’t even know the name of brokerage boss he’s talking to

He was only introduced as "sir."

TradeStation boss Salomon Sredni visited with Wednesday's Halftime Report to explain how he's allowing customers to actually use the system of Brad The Great (Who's Going To Save The Financial Markets).

Sredni said he wants his customers to have the option, and "I don't" believe the market is rigged, but "30% of the orders are being subject to mechanisms" that do not provide the best execution. "It doesn't happen on every order," Sredni said, tossing in an "at the end of the day."

Sredni said 85-90% of his business is retail traders.

Judge had introduced the segment with "There is more fallout today" in the HFT debate.

But where was the fallout? What fallout? A brokerage adding an exchange is "fallout"?

Jon Najarian, who knew the guest's name, said, "I applaud Sal for doing this with TradeStation, but I'd say that nothing that he said refutes what Michael Lewis said about rigged markets."

Then Doc delivered a forearm shiver to Judge's sorry segment, asserting he would've asked Sal if it costs more for customers to use IEX.

The segment got even sorrier when Gemma (The Great) Godfrey (who once associate produced a movie called "Strippers vs Werewolves" (sic)) insisted on putting on her quantum physicist hat (translation: Others aren't as qualified to talk about HFT) and saying that as technology improves, "You're going to see a growing inequality" in the markets. (So why doesn't she join Occupy now?)

Mike Murphy advised viewers that using limit orders "eliminates a lot of this."

Shocker of the day: OptionMonster apparently is in the wealth-management business

Marcus Lemonis would have a field day with this.

Jon Najarian was asked on Wednesday's Halftime Report what he likes in the stock market, and said this:

"For me, and for our wealth management clients, I am still in the U.S."

"Wealth management?"

With all due respect, there's been some lousy marketing here ... because in all the Najarians' years on Fast Money/Halftime, we've never had the impression that OptionMonster (or even TradeMonster) is into the "wealth management" space. (Keep in mind, that now means competing with Barry Ritholtz.)

In fact, a quick perusal of the OptionMonster "About Us" page says the firm "provides stock market insight, option trade ideas, and options education to meet the needs of do-it-yourself investors." (Sic key terminology "do-it-yourself.") (Extra translation: Don't blame us if/when your spotty plays on implied volatility go bad.)

The word "wealth" does not appear on the page, according to our browser search.

The "Premium Services" tab does not feature the word "wealth" either but refers to "active traders" and "all traders."

It does, however, mention "One-on-One Coaching" (sic caps), which is evidently how the "wealth management" may occur.

Call us old-fashioned ... but scalping 2 weeks' (at most) worth of profit when an EBAY 55/60 call spread gets hot seems more like "measuring risk" than "wealth management."

But if that's the business they're in, they perhaps oughta let their viewers know.

Steve Weiss gets away with saying ‘p----d off’

If he comes back and wins, it'll be bigger than the 1978 Yankees.

Simon Baker finally showed up on the Halftime Report, telling Judge on Wednesday that he's dropping HIMX and GRPN from his disastrous Playbook Playoffs portfolio in favor of GOOGL. (Which means GRPN finally seems like a Buy-Buy-Buy.)

"It's early on in the tournament," Baker assured, and his firm tends to be "much more prudent than pragmatic," whatever that means.

Stephen Weiss bellowed, "I'll be so pissed off if he does better because right now he's keeping me off the bottom."

Baker said GOOGL has a better valuation than FB and now has its bearings back after the divestiture of Motorola Mobility. (Actually, as loopy as Oculus was, at least it wasn't $12 billion for a handful of tired cell phone patents.)

Weiss argued that "Google's search metrics are declining," whereas Facebook's are improving. Baker at first protested, then said it's about more than search.

Judge admired Baker's excellent suit (he was actually wearing jeans) but cracked, "It's spring, not fall."

‘Big squeeze in the meat complex’

Bryant VanCronkhite suggested on Wednesday's Halftime Report that the S&P 500 isn't going straight up.

"I think we need to let the volatility be our friend," said VanCronkhite, explaining he doesn't know whether we'll go "up 10% or down 10% next."

Judge called it "definitely a stock-picker's market." Given that this year has been roughly flat, he's actually right about that for a change.

VanCronkhite recommended Regal Beloit (RBC), which he said will gain margin improvement in 18 months, and GES and a CNBCfix HQ favorite, DENN.

Meanwhile, Chris Gersch was given a soundbite to say the crop report had a lot of interesting stuff, and "we don't know if it's going bullish or bearish."

Judge then turned to Chris Narayanan, who said there's a "big squeeze now in the meat complex" (ouch).

Jon Najarian stoked some rumors that Buffett might be interested in Kellogg, but "I don't really see the kind of paper that indicates that." (Translation: Nobody with early info that will prompt Doc to call for an SEC inquiry is buying the options yet.)

Mike Murphy pointed to DE and TWI (we think that's the Titan he meant) in the ag space. Stephen Weiss mentioned Agco, and then it sounded like he hasn't consulted Tim Seymour on Brazil; "we don't know why it's up."

Yesterday we heard how great Marissa is; now we hear it’s Loeb who deserves all the credit

Speaking of the meat complex, Judge served up some of the red variety to all the Dan Loeb backers (including himself) on Wednesday's Halftime Report.

Judge said he spoke to a source "close to Sotheby's" who said there are "serious questions" about Loeb's stint agitating at YHOO, which Sotheby's seems to find "self-serving."

Judge said Loeb's response is that BID's statement "shows their desperation," and that ... omg ... Third Point has launched a Sotheby's "value" Web site.

Stephen Weiss not surprisingly called Sotheby's statement "one of the stupidest arguments" someone could make, and "for that alone they should be fired."

"Who's self-serving here," Weiss asked, as Judge pointed out the gains in YHOO since Loeb entered.

Mike Murphy concluded, it "speaks to the board in my opinion."

Judge further tried to claim that Loeb was the brains behind Alibaba (sorry, Jerry Yang and Terry Semel, keep trying to fight the good fight). Jon Najarian, who one-upped Judge a couple times Wednesday, pointed out that Loeb didn't initiate that transaction, but still claimed he prevented them from selling too early.

Stunner: Gemma says Europe is more attractive than U.S.

Jon Najarian said on Wednesday's Halftime Report, after stating Gemma Godfrey's first name with a hard "g" (uh oh), that he's interested in previous hot names that have been roasted the last couple weeks, such as SCTY, "those are the stocks I'm lookin' at," and presumably the OptionMonster Wealth Management clients are looking at those as well.

Steve Weiss, though, said he's "not going anywhere near" ISRG until he's got more info.

Doc pointed out that Alcoa might perform its Dow successors (without noting that what the Dow folks really care about is not total return but nominal share price which in AA's case ain't good) and said he likes FIG and BX.

Judge, like us, seemed surprised that buyers finally showed up and prevented another down-70 Nasdaq Composite day; "I was wondering if they were ever gonna show up again."

Mike Murphy said, "I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves with the selloff."

"Pissed off" Stephen Weiss, dubbed the "elder statesman" of the show, said he'd perhaps be more positive on Europe.

That brought agreement from Gemma, who 1) didn't fly all the way to the States to say the U.S. is better and 2) claims "Europe's the place to be able to find more accelerated growth" as the U.S. becomes "stretched," but Gemma is shifting her European focus from Germany to Italy.

Weiss said the question now is whether the momentum stocks have entered a permanent "different phase," or "will the momentum resume."

Mike Murphy thinks HTZ has a "lot of upside."

Uh-oh: GM didn’t hold 34

Mike Murphy on Wednesday's Halftime actually warned against buying GM. "I don't see any reason to try to jump in here," Murphy said, predicting the shares get "a lot closer to $30 a share."

And, he prefers F (Drink).

Gemma Godfrey says Greece's bond rally is good for Greece, but "as an investor, you should be cautious." (Instead of, like, regularly reckless.)

Mike Murphy argued that CSCO is "cheap" and you get "3.3% to hold it."

Steve Weiss said, "It is a good company, but they're too big."

Jon Najarian said he likes CSCO and Murphy's argument.

What happened to the market remaining crushed because all the IPOs are sucking the cash out of it?

Stephen Weiss said on Wednesday's Halftime Report that it seems like "trouble" that LQ "priced below the range."

And, we found it interesting that Judge this time said nothing about Cramer's argument that the market is down because of too many IPOs.

Mike Murphy said he'd own BX instead. Jon Najarian said LQ is easier to price with comps to other hotels than, say, GrubHub.

CNBC newcomer Meg Tirrell, who is cute, said ADMS is among the biotech IPOs. Pressed for a sector call by Judge, Tirrell first waffled with background details before stating that insiders tell her that "the big names are still really, really solid buys."

Judge touted "Meg's rare interview" with PFE's Ian Read.

Stunning Jackie DeAngelis introduced the Futures Now gold chat, but not with the same sexy hair-pulled-back/black jacket outfit (see below) of a day earlier. Jeff Kilburg said, "I like owning gold above 1,300," and even after suggesting an impact from Fed minutes said, "I think it's range-bound." Brian Stutland said gold is in a range from 1,275 to 1,321.

Gemma Godfrey's Final Trade was "Italian industrials." Steve Weiss said IEV, Mike Murphy said FB and Jon Najarian said CG.

[Tuesday, April 8, 2014]

Jackie DeAngelis strikes a pose with hair pulled back, North Face jacket, white watch

Stocks on Tuesday got a respite from the April horror show.

But Strategas' Chris Verrone thinks you better not get complacent.

Verrone said on Tuesday's Fast Money that the market is "not oversold enough," and so "we'd look to fade today's bounce."

Verrone first said the S&P can fall 40-50 points, then identified 1,760 as a great level to buy.

He said, "at the end of the day" (Drink), that "the bulk" of gains will come in Q4.

But he said certain stocks are still appealing, such as MSFT. (That was the only one.)

Guy Adami, for the short term at least, was positive. "I think we'll probably bounce the rest of the week," Adami said.

Karen Finerman told viewers, "I wouldn't fade this rally. I actually believe in this rally," and again touted GOOG (or is it GOOGL?), saying she's "happy to own it here."

Anthony Scaramucci explained that we've had "broad-based profit-taking, and some hiccup in the market," but "what I'm most worried about is the Fed tapering" (snicker).

"I think you pick stocks," said Tim Seymour. "I bought Apple, a couple days ago."

CNBC's gorrrrjus Jackie DeAngelis hit one out of the park with her on-location Dominion Resources report. Karen Finerman said that if Russia were to cut off the nat gas spigot to Ukraine, that would be "hugely positive for Golar."

OMG — GM is holding 34!!!

(Unofficial) General Motors spokesman Phil LeBeau tried to assure Fast Money viewers on Tuesday that NHTSA's $7,000-a-day fine of GM for lack of "complete" disclosure actually matters.

"It's symbolic of how NHTSA feels about the lack of information coming from General Motors," LeBeau said.

Karen Finerman was practically beside herself. "Isn't it symbolic of NHTSA doing nothing?" Finerman asked rhetorically, calling the tactic "embarrassing."

Guy Adami agreed with Finerman. "It's like an NBA fine, it's a joke." He pointed to that awesome level of 34 and cautioned, "The longer it stays here, the more nervous I get."

Tim Seymour said of GM, "I like it at 34.50."

Mel didn't ask anyone if he/she likes it better than F.

Bored Karen reads Web sites while JJ Flash’s appearance is announced

In an obviously ongoing installment — "lessee, once a week we have to have Mel wearing Google Glasses" — Tuesday's Fast Money brought in Mashable's Pete Pachal to ... talk about Google Glass, for no particular reason.

Pachal said the narrative is changing about the Glasses being ideal for certain professionals, and "that automatically kind of makes it a niche (pronounced "neesh") product."

Pachal also said that other developers have been cherry-picking Glass features and in effect "taking out all of the Googleness."

Mel suggested that, given the importance of Android, Google should appreciate that. But Pachal said there's a limit to how much free-lancing Google wants to accept.

JJ Flash was introduced to recap that horrid ARO call to explain, rather interestingly actually, that if someone besides KO buys MNST, then KO's operating profit falls 3%, but if KO does the buying, then its operating income goes up 10%.

We know nothing about math or anything else. But there's gotta be a catch, or else this already would've been done.

Anthony Scaramucci said KO is a solid long-term core holding for a portfolio, but it's "gonna probably tread water here near-term."

Dan Nathan is even more bored than Karen, writes show to report EWZ options moves

As always, Alcoa earnings get a mention on CNBC; on Tuesday's Fast Money, Guy Adami called the stock a "microcosm" of the market — beating on EPS, disappointing on revenues. (Which, quite frankly, is a gripe we've been hearing on CNBC since Roger Ailes ran the place.) (Now he just thinks he's cool because he signed Gasparino.)

Adami thinks the stock could get "north of 14."

Tim Seymour said he likes FCX and SCCO.

Elsewhere, Seymour said he'd be selling Brazil, buying Korea and avoiding Mexico.

Dan Nathan though wrote in to say the EWZ had a "massive intraday reversal," and there was a "lot of put-buying."

Mel caught doing hair flip
(even the mike was jostled)

Dr. Emil Kakkis, chief of Ultragenyx, which we'd never before heard of honestly, had to endure several questions from Mel on Tuesday's Fast Money about whether his new potential drugs will be billion-dollar entities, given that they're only for a small amount of the population.

"If they're not expensive, they never get developed," Kakkis explained.

See, it's always a tricky tightrope for biotech CEOs who need to assure the Fast Money crowd that they're developing profitable new treatments while assuring the government folks that they won't charge too much. (The bigger question is why are we making more progress in virtual-reality headsets than in treating a bunch of diseases ... but whatever.)

Tim Seymour warned that the Nasdaq biotech index "right now looks a little bit like a falling knife."

Fast Money loves nothing more than airline CEOs (well, maybe independent movie studio vice chairmen), so HA's Mark Dunkerley was an ideal guest, stating his airline is a play on global growth of people who can "contemplate international trips."

Guy Adami, who said he was grasping for something to throw at Dunkerley, wondered why March traffic was a disappointment. (Or, as Guy always likes to put it, something like, "OK, your March traffic, it was — you know what, let's just call it a disappointment.") Dunkerley said a "little bit" of it was "the Easter effect," and that new routes tend to have a lower load factor.

Anthony Scaramucci said not only is HA good, so are DAL and AAL.

Tim Seymour called Tesla's leasing to companies a "very positive thing," but he wondered how much of that is priced in, and predicted "a little more weakness to go" in the stock.

Guy Adami said of NKE, "This is really interesting right here," advocating a buy with a 70 stop.

Anthony Scaramucci said of DPS, "I would avoid this name."

Tim Seymour said he needs to see $8 in NOK. (And who in the world is interested in buying this stock.)

Karen Finerman said NAT had a secondary, and there's a "lot of supply on the market."

Karen is the only one who takes the Times Square stock segment seriously

Fast Money on Tuesday decided to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Times Square with an interview with Bob Greifeld. He doesn't come around anymore since Facebook, Flash Crash and Michael Lewis' book by having traders name the stocks they like associated with Times Square.

And, Tim Seymour laughably came up with MCD.

Yeesh.

Tim said he's long MCD and short BKW. (And perhaps neutral on Mobile Telesystems.)

Anthony Scaramucci feebly offered up DRI, "there's a lot of value," he said, noting that management has "typically" been unfriendly to shareholders.

Karen Finerman, who impressively was the only one putting effort into this, made an interesting call on CBSO. "People have been talking about the demise of outdoor advertising for years, and yet, it doesn't seem to be happening," said Finerman, who might as well have been referring to this Web site you wish. But, given the overhang of CBS ownership, "I would wait a little," Finerman said.

Guy Adami offered PHG, what he called "actually a really interesting stock."

Mike Khouw said May 30 calls in MS were hot, and given that buyers only needed a 5% move to profit and the stock normally moves 4% on average for earnings, buyers were getting "a lot of optionality" for the price.

Tim Seymour said, "I actually own Starwood."

Seymour's Final Trade was to sell India. Anthony Scaramucci said long MS. Karen Finerman said NVGS. Guy Adami said FDO.

FSLR: ‘The best-looking stock in the entire market’

Josh Brown on Tuesday's Halftime Report offered high praise for a regular Gordon Johnson target, First Solar.

In fact, FSLR is possibly "the best-looking stock in the entire market right now," Brown said. "I would be all over the stock here." (It's kinda funny to think of him substituting "woman" and "Kate Upton" for "stock" in those sentences.)

Pete Najarian wasn't convinced, demanding Brown define "best."

Brown said it's relative to peers and market, plus internals and momentum. (But we thought momentum is dead with all kinds of technical damage and everyone's too complacent?)

"Solar is going to explode across this country in the next 10 years," Brown asserted.

Mr. New Land grumbled, "I'll take my EOG over Josh's First Solar."

Jim Lebenthal seems to blame Pete’s VIX-trading enthusiasm for a 3-year-ago bungle

Bob Pisani, encroaching a bit on Pete Najarian's turf, declared on Tuesday's Halftime Report that the VIX isn't reflecting the real fear in the stock market.

"There is fear, but it's not being expressed in the VIX," Pisani said, before he was the victim of a camera-feed freeze.

Pete Najarian tried to issue a back-dated Brag Trade, telling Judge that people should've been buying the VIX under 13 and perhaps taking some off now around 15½.

Judge scoffed, stating he wants Pete to address what it means for the market.

Jim Lebenthal jumped in to inform Pete, "3 years ago I got in the VIX and it was a terrible mistake, long the VIX ... the VIX is broken ... I can't tell you why, I think it has to do with quantitative easing."

Pete insisted the VIX is not broken, there are just so many "instruments" now to protect.

Pisani got reconnected and pointed to how people can short the XLK or buy options and do the same with EEM to express their fears. But Pisani said of EEM, "that is a crowded short."

Pete Najarian rightly pointed out that the standard VIX basically measures the S&P 500, and the reason the VIX isn't surging is because we haven't seen a big scare in the S&P yet.

Whew — another afternoon where Zuck didn’t buy something for multiple billions

Jordan Rohan on Tuesday's Halftime Report backed several Internet names, including FB in an argument that unfortunately made almost no sense. (This writer is long FB.)

Quizzed by Mr. New Land on the name, Rohan asserted, "The magnitude of the upside will have this- will, will force downstream my numbers to go up the most."

Ummmm ... Yeah .... Sure.

Rohan even admitted that the WhatsApp (that one's OK) and Oculus (that one's loopy) deals were overpriced. "I couldn't even come close to explaining what they paid there," said Rohan, but it affirms to him that the company is "very confident about their core business," and he expects "another inflection-point quarter."

He noted his own price target. "Facebook's 82; I believe in that one," Rohan said, perhaps distinguishing himself from Pachter.

Jim Lebenthal cautioned, "Facebook really troubles me," because "they're using their stock" as though it's "funny money."

Brown: Marissa Mayer has shown ‘zero ability’ to convert cash to growth

Jordan Rohan's defending of YHOO on Tuesday's Halftime was better-received than his FB call, telling the panel it's not just Alibaba; "I'm also pointing to earnings-related outperformance" and claiming shares are "essentially cheaper now than they were a year ago."

Rohan sees YHOO as a "sum of parts (sic no "the") story" and sees Alibaba north of $200 billion, "there's a lot of upside here."

Pete Najarian endorsed that YHOO call. But Josh Brown was anything but convinced about Marissa Mayer's leadership.

"She has demonstrated zero ability so far ... to put this cash to work and get a return on her investment," Brown said, saying he doesn't believe "the presence of cash is reason enough to buy a tech stock."

But Najarian argued that the cash is a disproportionate amount of the market cap, unlike at AAPL.

Mr. New Land offered high praise — somehow to Mayer, and not Jerry Yang or Terry Semel. "Let's give her credit. The stock was 25 last summer. The stock is 35 now. Let's give her credit," Joe said.

Joe says NFLX not worth owning if it doesn’t reach 450

One reason some Nasdaq giants are slumping: Lofty standards.

Mr. New World told Judge on Tuesday's Halftime, "You don't buy these falling knives," and then asserted that the question for NFLX is whether Amazon's gonna jump in and steal all those customers with an offer linked to the higher price of Prime it gets back to 450; "if it's not, I don't wanna buy it."

Given that $450 would mean a 28% gain from here, that would be the equivalent of $247 IBM, one of Joe's "quality names" Tuesday.

Invoking pop culture at least 2 weeks late, Joe explained, "As Eminen (sic last consonant) said, here comes the cold water ... Everyone's too complacent."

Joe evidently wasn't swayed by the 475 NFLX target of Jordan Rohan, who said there is always talk of competition, but "at the end of the day, the real story here remains Netflix."

Nevertheless, Pete Najarian, who for a long time has pounded the table for NFLX international growth, said "Netflix is the one questionable one though" of Rohan's bull calls.

Near the end of the show, addressing NFLX and FB, Joe said, "I don't believe in the story," a strange comment.

Steve Suttmeier was pessimistic, stating "the Nasdaq has all the technical damage" and that sentiment has changed from "buy the dips to sell the rallies," and we'll take the other side of that one.

Suttmeier said the biotech index NBI "does look positioned to fall further," from 2,280 to 2,200.

Joe asserted that "financials are trading awful." Pete Najarian bristled, stating the damage is "almost exclusively" in GS and MS, and oh yes, C.

Suttmeier grudgingly conceded that financials relative to the S&P have a "double bottom."

In the optimistic wing, we had Josh Brown, who said, "Intel and IBM are on fire," DE and CAT look good, and in general, "Maybe there's a bounce overdue."

Jim Lebenthal shrugged, "I think this is just a rotation that we're goin' through right here."

Pete Najarian said chips "are not overvalued."

Brown asked Suttmeier if emerging markets could decouple from the S&P 500. Suttmeier said yes, for a while. "On a near-term basis, you can see rotation," Suttmeier said.

Wouldn’t mind seeing numbers on which Motif builder has made the most sales

Hardeep Walia's "Motif" portfolios, which act in his words as "customizable no-fee ETFs," are at least an interesting subject to talk about (even though the pricing and exit-ability and perhaps even usefulness of these things sound a little dicey); on Tuesday's Halftime he trumpeted the "Renter Nation" Motif, which plays the "growth of rental REITs" and is "skewed towards the West Coast."

He also said "Modern Warfare," based on smart bombs and drones, is doing well.

Plus, there is the "Recent IPOs," in which Walia said it's "Peter Lynch meets Jack Bogle."

Unlike that VIX trade of 3 years ago, Jim Lebenthal praised the concept. But Dr. New World was mixed. "Renter Nation I think is very intriguing; the IPO motif scares me a little," Joe said.

Walia said the site is motifinvesting.com. The screen text said the Motifs are buyable for a $9.95 commission.

Joe declares he’ll never make the GM-over-F mistake again

Mr. New World demonstrated on Tuesday's Halftime that he tends to tune out the daily Halftime/Fast Money GM/F discussions.

"I wish Petey wold've told me about the Ford story in China," Joe said, acknowledging F has been "late to the party," but "Ford looks good."

Judge couldn't resist, asking panelists whether F or GM is better.

Joe offered, "The temptation is to say GM; I've made that mistake in the past; I'm not gonna make it again."

Jim Lebenthal said JCP can "absolutely" make money, it has a "perfectly fine piece of the pie" and the pie just needs to get bigger; "they will survive; you'll make money in the stock."

Josh Brown agreed, predicting the next 2 points in JCP are more likely to be higher than lower.

Pete Najarian said "I think Express Scripts is the better trade" than GILD.

If Josh had listened to Steve Suttmeier, he wouldn’t have sold BIS so fast

We figured John Brown's BIS would be a bust.

It wasn't — but only because Brown quickly exited, which seems a dubious strategy in the trade-limited 2014 Playbook Playoffs.

"To some extent I got lucky," Brown admitted. "I got out of it this morning." All well and good, but then when he's forced to hold Intel from August into year-end because he's out of trades, he can't blame us.

Dr. New Land correctly informed a confused Judge that PANW stalled after he dropped it from the portfolio. "The best thing that I did was getting out of Palo Alto when I did," Joe said.

Judge, in a semi-impressive recoil, got Joe to mention that it rose 26% while in his portfolio; "that's kinda my point."

Pete Najarian said Oscar Schafer's INXN is the "most interesting of the 3" picks Schafer made on Squawk Box (with BIOS and RLD).

Joe said INXN "plays a role in the European recoverly (sic)" and "co-location."

Jim Iuorio doubts the export of nat gas. "I actually don't believe it's gonna happen," he said but it's "probably going higher from here." Anthony Grisanti said "no doubt" it's going higher.

Josh Brown opined, "I think the dividend payers are really overowned" and that "preferreds are a way-underappreciated area of the market," claiming he's "been buying PFF since the start of the year."

Jim Lebenthal said dividend payers have to be able to grow the dividends to be attractive.

Mr. New Land advised viewers to "go buy DVY," but the "2014 story" will be "capex and growth."

Pete Najarian said the EBAY May 55/60 call spread was hot.

Joe Terranova said "the yen is making a huge move ... they need a massive policy response."

Josh Brown said there's "very strong potential for European QE."

Jim Lebenthal's Final Trade was C (snicker); "I think you've got an easy 10 to 15%." Joe Terranova said FXY, Pete Najarian said EBAY and Josh Brown said ADI.

[Monday, April 7, 2014]

Henry Blodget calls market
‘incredibly expensive’ after
Business Insider turned
down $100 million offer

Evidently, at the end of last year, it wasn't expensive enough.

Henry Blodget on Monday's Halftime Report (see below, after the day's Fast Money material) referred to stocks as both "incredibly expensive" and "very, very expensive."

Apparently, so is Blodget's parent company, Business Insider, which ... brace yourself (even though it's old news) ... actually turned down a $100 million offer for its ... um, entity ... according to, of all people, Charles Gasparino.

We never really believed Gasparino's report. We also have trouble believing "Business Insider" really has much to do with "Business," given that the main home-page headlines at this moment at this Buzzfeed-junior operation include modern diets, coffee chemistry, a stolen Macbook and 10 incredible new watches to add to your collection. (Uh oh, now we've done it; they're gonna start posting 5 of our sentences from each item and gaming Google but providing a handy link here for readers who want to see the 6th and 7th.)

Trader defines his risk!
(Translation: Loses on options)

Brian Kelly on Monday's Fast Money pointed to the EWZ's ascent and said it's too much to get in here, rather he'd be looking for a "42ish" level.

Dan Nathan grumbled/admitted that EWZ and EEM were being beaten down a bit too much; "it almost feels like people were short this at the bottom."

Nathan then admitted he was long 42 puts in the EEM. "I lost money; I defined my risk," he said.

Congrats to Nathan on his definition.

Dennis Gartman has never before seen a steep morning reversal

You know how those purported military experts tend to go on cable TV and complain about how "America's always fighting the last war."

Well, Dennis Gartman always tends to be fighting yesterday's trade, no more so than when he admitted on Monday's Fast Money that "I got scared" on Friday.

"Friday morning I came back from the gym," said Gartman, and was feeling good, only to discover that between 11 and 11:15 a.m., everything changed. "I really haven't seen anything quite like that," Gartman said.

Gartman told Mel he's down to "nearly zero" equity exposure.

Gartman said stocks may not be done. "I'm afraid, it could be a lot lower," he said, and then going where Guy Adami wouldn't, suggested the possibility of "an outside reversal month. That's really, really important ... reversal months, very rare."

Karen caught smirking about
her awful Pandora buy

Everyone who's long P (this writer is long P) will concede it's been a horrible trade for a couple of weeks.

At least some of us can chuckle about it, as Karen Finerman sheepishly told Monday's Fast Money that after plunging into it Friday, "I have nothing good to say about it so far; it's really been a terrible trade," while acknowledging, "I probably will buy more if it goes down."

Perhaps Finerman was buoyed by what Dan Nathan spotted in the options market, which was some big buyer of the May 31/35 Pandora call spread.

Still wondering if Larry Altman called the top on March 14

Guy Adami on Monday's Fast Money was the voice of optimism.

"I think we're way too early in the month for this selloff to be, uh, for it to continue. I think you're gonna see a bounce from these levels," Adami predicted.

Honestly, we'll take any day the Nasdaq Composite is not down 75 points as a minor miracle.

Karen Finerman said she would "absolutely hold" the big banks, with a lower bar going into earnings given the recent stock depression.

Missing the thrust of what's happened, Finerman revealed, "The only thing I did buy today was Google ... the multiple does not reflect a mo-mo multiple."

Fine and good, but the market hasn't been trashing stocks for being high-multiple, it's been trashing them for being winners.

Brian Kelly called GOOG a "very crowded trade." Kelly then tried to claim AKS, X, TSCO, HD and LOW are all important. (That ranks up there with, "A team with 2 starting quarterbacks is really a team with no starting quarterbacks.")

Dan Nathan predicted a "battleground" in AAPL for a couple of weeks and predicted "a couple quarters" of probably disappointing iPhone sales.

Nathan said NKE and SBUX are at "really crucial" levels.

Guy Adami said if gold was going to rally, it should've done so during the Ukrainian crisis (which is actually still in progress).

Adami said he does like LNKD, perhaps against 158; "I think the risk/reward sets up well."

He’ll probably be banned from Fast Money: Dan Niles actually implies that raising Amazon Prime price is a bad sign

Dan Niles, who seems to tell it like it is in the tech space, told Monday's Fast Money crew that it didn't make a lot of sense for certain stocks to have such a great 2013, especially names such as AMZN and GOOG, which missed on 3 out of 4 quarters.

So, the recent selloffs serve to "take out some of the excesses from last year."

Niles pointed to the wide gap between old and new tech and suggested that gap is uncorrected and has to close.

Guy Adami asked Niles about ALTR. Niles delivered inside baseball on "PLD vendors" but said he likes Xilinx better than Altera, though he likes both names, because Altera is losing market share to Xilinx.

Most significantly, Niles said revenue growth isn't what it should be at Amazon, evidenced by the fact "they raised their Prime membership prices." (But what about all the eventual transition to Prime Video subscribers who are going to run Netflix off the map just as soon as they're done buying their way into the Pandora space?)

Mel claimed that people have tried to short AMZN but "everybody who did got their face ripped off actually." Niles said instead of being up 50%, the shares may be down 25-50% if they miss on 3 quarters this year.

 

Mel looks good in red and new hairstyle; briefly flips hair over right shoulder

Andy Wallenstein, who was not the most garrulous Fast Money guest, told Monday's crew that "Marissa is making big bets" on original Yahoo programming (snicker).

Karen Finerman rightly asked, "It's Karen let me ask you something" (that's not the "rightly" part), whether original programming by Yahoo would actually move the needle.

Wallenstein conceded, "Stock-wise, no," but "there is considerable upside if all goes well."

But Guy Adami agreed with Karen that Alibaba, not original programming, will move the YHOO needle.

Karen beams over Guy’s
Church & Dwight reference

Karen Finerman on Monday's Fast Money called SHLD the "most complicated structure I've seen in a while," but added, "I would not short the stock."

However, Finerman was not that impressed by new spinoff Lands' End, "it's really expensive here ... that one I'd rather be short than Sears."

Guy Adami started to talk about Church & Dwight for some reason before urging viewers not to buy PG for the dividend hike.

Adami suggested near the top of the show that PRU could be telling us something. (What it could be telling us that NFLX, P, FB, TWTR, LNKD and IBB aren't, we have no clue.)

Guy said he'd wait for NEM to report, and he'd rather buy it on upward momentum.

Karen Finerman said WWE got a "very disappointing number on subscriptions," and the fact it's a "hedge fund hotel" was sinking the stock. She wouldn't make reservations right now.

Finerman and Adami teamed for the howler of the week when they agreed with straight faces, "Jeff Immelt, total stud."

Yaron Werber’s on; time for Steve Grasso to buy some Clovis Oncology

Biotech watcher Yaron Werber, who has become a regular Fast Money guest, claimed on Monday's edition that "I do think it was time for selloff and consolidation," but he sees large cap now "reasonably priced."

In particular, Werber likes BIIB, which has "3 new product launches."

Guy Adami asserted that big biotech is cheap compared with big pharma and actually is now in "ridiculous value territory," which Yerber basically endorsed. "I don't think there's a bubble at all," Adami said.

Look who did something
different with her hair

Brian Kelly said on Monday's Fast Money that he wouldn't touch VJET; "this is a tough space."

Dan Nathan led the chorus in liking GE; Brian Kelly was the only panelist to pick Kentucky stocks for loopy reasons in a loopy Connecticut stocks-vs.-Kentucky stocks feature of Fast Money.

Seema Mody delivered a report on Citigroup news. This time Karen Finerman didn't call it a buy.

Dan Nathan said he's long TAN puts, which was his Final Trade. Guy Adami said it takes an "iron constitution" to trade solar.

Adami's Final Trade was GGP. Brian Kelly said BG, and Karen Finerman said GOOG.

Judge, Pachter not exactly on the same page on NFLX price target

Michael Pachter joined Monday's Halftime Report to explain his P upgrade (which didn't help the stock a whole lot).

It's based on "migration of ads to local," Pachter said, and the "higher frequency of ads."

Listeners won't mind, Pachter asserted. "You don't pay anything for it, so who's gonna complain," he said.

Pachter, employing Steve Weiss-like chumminess, told Judge he actually advised Don Mattrick not to take the Zynga job (snicker) (as if he listened).

Then, Pachter said, "I was completely wrong on Zynga from 10 to 15 down to 2," but there was no point in downgrading it at 2, and we didn't have the foggiest idea what he meant (because, um, part of that was going up and part of it was going down).

He further stated that Mattrick has about 2,000 employees and needs 1,000 for the core business, so the others are there for new projects, and "If they don't work, you're gonna see people leaving Zynga, but if they do work, then I think he's approp- appropriately staffed."

So, if business ventures don't work, employees aren't really needed. #TradeSchool

Judge asked Pachter what it'll take to drop NFLX "200" points to Pachter's target. Pachter said in fact it's only "130" points away.

No clarification was offered by Judge, asleep at the switch Monday.

Stephanie Link said she likes the P story but not the valuation. "It's come down a lot quicker than I expected," Link admitted.

Josh Brown bluntly stated, "I think Pandora gets bought by Amazon or Google."

2014 stock market’s
biggest fear: An IPO

CNBC's foxy Sheila Dharamarajan, anything but ugly, said on Monday's Halftime Report that stocks were "looking ugly," and many think "it's not over yet."

Bob Pisani though suggested stocks would be inclined to bounce back after a 2% S&P drop.

Paul Hickey, whose appearance purportedly to tout a buying opportunity fell totally flat, said we haven't seen cancellations in the IPO market yet, so it's not flooded, and that high-multiple stocks right now are merely experiencing a "reversion-to-the-mean trade."

Josh Brown actually warned that IPOs by Ally Financial and La Quinta hotels are on the way and got Judge to agree they are a concern.

Brown said the market is undergoing a "correction through rotation," but take note: "These are actually very healthy."

Pete Najarian said the selloff in tech stocks is "not attractive enough" for him to bite, though he thinks older tech is still OK.

Of the high-fliers, "Tesla's very interesting," Pete said, before urging viewers, "I would only do it through calls."

Stephanie Link said that if MPC and APC start to sell off, she'd be interested. (What about trading the market you've got?) Link claimed she likes the FB debacle, explaining, "I like the fact that Facebook is down this much into earnings because I think they're gonna blow it away on earnings."

Josh Brown said a typical correction is 70 days and 13½%.

Brown also noted that small-caps are slumping, but said there are presently gains in emerging markets.

Judge fails to demand Final Trades from shaky Halftime crew

Judge on Monday's Halftime Report not only wore red socks, but tried to sound cool in mentioning Jimmy Superfly Snuka during a report on WWE's slam. "This is really something," said Pete Najarian.

Pete Najarian made a bull case for airlines. "Goldman is a little late to this story," said Pete, citing the same old old old old airline arguments we've heard at least a year "improving demand" and "pricing power" and claiming "all have 10% to the upside."

Mr. New Land, a curmudgeon on Monday, thinks the sector has gotten "a little bit ahead of itself" and that right now it's all about "new planes, new planes, new planes," and who knows if they can fill them.

Joe pointed to Latin America as a sign of airline struggle. Stephanie Link dismissed the sector and said to buy UTX or BEAV instead. Judge invited people to vote with hashtags and, if they're so inclined, sell peanuts at Englewood Cliffs.

Mr. New World tried to blunt a YHOO Fast-Fire, insisting, "I do think they've made the turn," and even used a term we thought was passe, "monetizing mobile."

Josh Brown made little sense in stating he likes YHOO, but "I'm just not bullish on the space."

Stephanie Link thinks SYMC as a "sum of the parts" story can reach the mid-20s.

Josh Brown said "I'd be a buyer" of PFE.

In touting INTC (again) (of course), Pete Najarian grumbled that he's been fighting all these people who have been saying for years that PCs are dead. (Perhaps he should mention that to Shane Smith, who said just that last week on Fast Money.)

Joe Terranova revealed that he dropped MS from his 2014 Playbook Playoffs portfolio. It has "nothing to do with Morgan Stanley at all," Joe stressed.

Stephanie Link said she sold HOT in the Playbook and ... incredibly ... replaced it with GM. "I don't think there's a lot of upside from here," she said of Starwood, but called GM "very hated."

Pete Najarian said DXJ April 48 calls were being "very aggressively bought."

"I'm absolutely in this name," Pete said.

Joe Terranova suggested maybe DXJ options folks are playing the "consumption tax rise."

Dave Briggs made a great call on the NCAA Championship Game, picking the Huskies; even though "I have no idea why I like Connecticut."

Joe Terranova stressed that Japan needs a policy response to the consumption-tax hike.

From ‘incredibly’ to ‘very, very,’
in less than 3 minutes

All anybody watching the Halftime Report really needs to know is, should we stay the course ... or is it time to cash in the retail brokerage account and hand the money to CNBC's newest expert, Steve Stevens, and see if he can come through again on the Seahawks-Cardinals game.

For an opinion, Judge on Monday turned to famed dot-com-bubble watcher Henry Blodget.

Who parsed. And parsed.

"I don't think it's 2000 all over again," said Blodget, before dropping this whopper: "The market as a whole right now is incredibly expensive."

The only problem with that was, approximately 3 minutes later, Blodget said, "The stock market is historically very, very expensive now."

So, from "incredibly" to "very, very," in 3 minutes.

For you language arbitrageurs, that sounds like we just got a bit more oversold.

Judge handled the obligatory company line, bringing up some point Cramer made about the Nasdaq suddenly getting annihilated because there's too many IPOs.

Blodget first argued no, that in 1999 there were 400 IPOs, then said, "Jim's absolutely right."

Blodget further claimed there is a "bigger disparity than there ever has been" between "value" and "growth" names. (Zzzzzzzzzzz.)

Ultimately, Blodget warned that the selloff could be "much worse" than Josh Brown's typical 70 days, 13½%.

Joe on the stock market:
‘Who is left to buy it?’

Not only was Henry Blodget attempting to analyze the stock market on Monday's Halftime Report, so was Dr. New World.

And the truth is, there was a small (seriously) amount of wine served at CNBCfix HQ overnight ... but after listening to Joe Monday, we wondered if we weren't experiencing some sort of a hangover stupor.

Joe explained to Judge that the selloff is "really not that complicated. The world right now is de-risking," before pointing to copper (that's No. 1), yen, Twitter, JCP and SHLD and asserting, "All of those 5, higher today. Why? It's just de-risking. That's all it is. It's not complicated."

Say ... what?

Joe also argued that no one has any money left (apparently because they put it all in NFLX 450 or TSLA 260); it's like AAPL, "who is left to buy it."

(Then again, this is probably where the Steve Stevenses of the world step in and back up the truck, but no one said anything about that.)

"Markets peak on good news ... I think the market's exhausted," Joe said, before opining of an S&P previously up about 1-2 percent in 3 months, the "market needs a correction; this isn't breaking news, we know that."

We do?

Joe also pointed to the POT news with the tongue-twister of the day. "The more important storly (sic) is the departure of Billy Doyle," but he's "willing to hold it" through whatever (much-needed) correction occurs.

More from Monday's Halftime and Fast Money later.

[Friday, April 4, 2014]

Tim Seymour gloats about denouncing TSLA/NFLX valuation, then touts TWTR

It was easily the Bone-headed Commentary of the Day.

Tim Seymour gloated on Friday's Fast Money that he's been saying that the valuations in TSLA and NFLX can't be justified.

Yet, later in the program, Seymour actually said, "At this point actually Twitter does look interesting."

So, apparently even N/A P.E. ratios can be justifiable.

Seymour (by the way, where'd that bowl haircut Friday come from?) nevertheless suggested that "Dick Costello (sic)" should be a little more Zuck-like paranoid about changing business models.

Brian Kelly said "I sold Facebook today" (this writer is long FB) and said he'd rather be in Twitter.

Steve Grasso said Twitter has the potential to have its own YouTube.

Kara Swisher, meeting the terms of the Re/Code partnership, said it's natural for Facebook to be looking at companies in the "secret" computing space because it's a "fast-growing area." (Whew — she didn't say they're looking at Vice, which monetizes 5 ways before the real margins kick in.)

Swisher defended Zuck, stating, "I think he's more emulating Google," and even called the Oculus price (snicker) a "relatively inexpensive way to get into that space."

  

Guy Adami’s favorite term:
‘Potentially an outside month’

Guy Adami opened Friday's Fast Money by dubbing it a "classic reversal day" in stocks, but this has happened 4-5 times in the last year, and "each time it shrugged it off."

However, Guy suggested the possibility of an outside month, and said "1,820 or so" is the next key S&P level.

Steve Grasso observed, "Every time we get a reversal day, the market just ticks higher." But he thinks you can't buy until the S&P crosses 1,900.

Tim Seymour asserted, "This is about rotation ... there's nothing wrong here."

But Brian Kelly questioned if there's nothing wrong and said when people such as himself "start ringing the register," it can get worse.

Adami said, "Rates continue to wanna go lower."

As for new trades, Tim Seymour said, "Korea's very cheap. Mexico's not."

Brian Kelly said, "I'd be short XLF."

Steve Grasso suggested KBH, while Guy Adami suggested PAYX.

Tim Seymour, who only has a problem with some companies' valuations being unjustifiable and not others', said he likes SCTY at 55, and "I would be selling gold at 1,325."

Brian Kelly recommended ADSK in the 3-D printing space.

But Tim Seymour thinks 3-D stocks are ahead of themselves, "This feels like solar to me," years ago, Seymour said.

Seymour endorsed C; "I would be buying at these levels" (Drink).

Steve Grasso said he would wait to see if MYL holds its $50 level.

Guy Adami gloated about a December observation in APC and said it "probably has more room to go."

Brian Kelly said of WDAY, "Stay away from this name."

Asked to pick IPOs they prefer over GRUB, Brian Kelly said CTRL, Tim Seymour said HLT, Guy Adami said LAZ, and Steve Grasso said he wouldn't buy IPOs.

It was Seema on Sina when Mel impressively tapped Seema Mody to report that Weibo is going to be spun off. (The picture above is from Options Action, when Moody was given a better pose.) Tim Seymour said "I think I would" buy Weibo, then claimed "the valuation is actually holding up" in Alibaba, and then made utterly no sense in warning that either Sina, Alibaba or Tencent, or some mix of the 3, could be in trouble; "you should watch out." (Yes, but first you should be clear as to what you're talking about.)

Tim Seymour's Final Trade (snicker) was to sell EWZ and buy EWY. Brian Kelly said SGG. Steve Grasso said PXD, and Guy Adami said SYMC.

Judge, give it a rest: Either accuse someone of wrongdoing, or drop the subject

Rich Repetto, dubbed by Judge the "preeminent exchange analyst on the Street," told Friday's Halftime crew that "the whole argument is just getting so polarized" over HFT, and cautioned that "not everything is black and white."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ...

While we were instantly reaching for the clicker once this segment began, we discovered in fact there was a redeeming value to it, as Repetto clearly explained that when "Joe Smith in Iowa" places orders via TD Ameritrade (that's JJ Kinahan's shop), if it's a market order, then the wholesale broker pays Ameritrade for it, whereas limit orders go to an exchange that provides a rebate if the order is executed.

And, if you're on the Halftime Report or Fast Money and more worried about this than actually acquiring clients, you need to get a life.

Repetto said the Nasdaq probably has the most exposure to HFT, but he thinks this controversy is priced into the stock and that of ICE.

Jon Najarian for whatever reason sought to extend this discussion, pointing out "this has been goin' on for decades plural," and then in an actually intriguing point, said commissions for retail stock trades have been the same since the late '90s, "high-frequency hasn't brought the costs down."

Interesting observation. We'd agree. The only possible counterargument we can think of (and we don't know anything about this, or really anything about anything in general) is that HFT could bring costs down by enabling more order-matching, thus a guy placing an AAPL buy of 10 shares at 530.75 could perhaps because of the presence of HFT gain a better chance of having it filled than perhaps having to make it 530.85.

But maybe not. We really don't know. We just know that the guest list of people summoned to comment on this subject this week has been mostly minor league, and not even Carl Icahn (who's rarely met a corporate board he actually likes) has complained.

Josh Brown: Momentum ETFs are ‘the worst thing you could do’

ETF watcher Andrew McOrmond presumably had no idea what was coming after his brief interview on Friday's Halftime Report was over.

McOrmond first tried to give Judge a lengthy description of the PDP and MTUM, a pair of ETFs that deal in momentum stocks.

Judge told him to keep it short. Mike Murphy questioned if those vehicles are good for small investors, or institutions. McOrmond said there's an "8- or 9-cent spread" for small investors that isn't so bad with larger buys.

Judge stressed that McOrmond isn't necessarily endorsing momentum stocks now, only these vehicles for those wishing to play momentum stocks.

But Josh Brown wasn't at all impressed.

"I think they're terrible," Brown said. "It's actually the worst thing you could do, it's a 1-way ticket to blowing up a portfolio in a market correction."

Brown said the MTUM overloads with the best performers, and then in selloffs, the high-beta gets kicked out in favor of the new flavor of the month, and then investors miss the rebound when the high-beta comes surging back and it's not in the reconstituted group.

Pete Najarian split the middle, grousing that MTUM has no volume and no options, but PDP does, so "there are opportunities out there."

Brown added that these ETFs are relatively new, and "they have yet to see a bear market."

Pete: JPM 65 ‘very easily’

Judge's effort to provoke a debate with JPM watcher David Konrad on Friday's Halftime was short-circuited by a satellite delay that had them talking over each other.

That, and the fact Konrad wasn't particularly interested in arguing.

Konrad acknowledged the company has experienced key departures, including Mike Cavanaugh. So Judge asked why he's upgrading the stock. Konrad asserted "they still have an extremely deep bench," and Cavanaugh's departure reaffirms Konrad's belief that Jamie Dimon will be around at least 3-5 years.

"I think a rotation into JPMorgan sets up well," Konrad said.

Mike Murphy said Cavanaugh's exit is a sign Dimon is staying a while.

Jon Najarian shrugged and said of the stock, "To me it's fair value here at this level."

But Pete Najarian predicted 65 "very easily," even "not too long from now."

Pete’s backdoor Brag Trade:
Not buying FB under 60

On a day when most of the Halftime gang was offering phony concern, Paul Richards was downright optimistic.

Richards said emerging markets are gaining favor because they're a place where "money needs to go."

"Brazil I think is showing signs of real growth again," Richards said.

Not only that, Richards disagreed with the anonymous person who was telling Judge that it's the anti-Goldilocks economy (let's hope it wasn't Doug Kass).

"I think it is Goldilocks," said Richards, who was backed by Mike Murphy, who added, "I think it is a Goldilocks economy right now."

Pete Najarian protested the notion that the whole market's getting whacked. "I don't see as many of the holes," Pete said, pointing to a flat XLF.

But he nonetheless crowed about not buying FB under 60 despite Mike Murphy's warning that he might not get another chance. (This writer is long FB.)

Judge uncorked a new theory, that the WhatsApp deal is the "tipping point" for today's market, even though Facebook rose about 8% in the weeks after that deal.

But of course, Josh Brown was game. "I think it's an important milestone," said Brown, who pointed to the SOCL being down 15%.

Mike Murphy said he's not ready to call a top on FB yet. And, "I think Twitter starts to set up interesting too," Murphy said.

Brown said one troubling sign is that only 73% of the S&P is above the 200-day moving average.

The less-bullish MU fan is asked to make the bull case in the debate

Mike Murphy got the MU trade in motion on Friday's Halftime by first telling viewers it's "trading at less than 10 times earnings."

Pete Najarian told brother Jon that MU has "still plenty of earnings growth in front of them," and he sees $30.

Jon Najarian countered, in what was sort of a give-up, 3rd-and-long handoff, that "these comps get a lot tougher," and there's been a "fair amount of insider selling," and he'd like to buy it at 21.

Murphy was somehow asked to decide the winner and used the old Guy Adami IBM trick of forecasting $3.50 earnings and a 10 multiple. (When we figure out what price that equals, we'll post it.)

Herb Greenberg made a good point, that MU in its previous quarterly call, the "scripted" part, mentioned a "very favorable" outlook for memory and in the last call only said "favorable."

Judge said that "haters" of MU have been "road kill" recently.

Herb concluded with an undeniably correct observation: "It's really a question of what goes on going forward."

Jon Najarian said someone was buying January 25 calls in PBI "very aggressively here." He said he owns the options and the stock and hopes to do so "for several months."

All 4 panelists picked Florida to win Saturday. 3 picked Wisconsin, and Mike Murphy and Jon Najarian picked Wisconsin to win it all.

Josh Brown's Final Trade was to sell GRUB. Pete Najarian said HA, Mike Murphy said MU and Jon Najarian said SPN.

Judge tries to claim Nasdaq is falling 140 points in 2 days because of IPO oversupply

Evidently, no one really knows what's going on in the Nasdaq 100.

But it must not be The Machines Taking Over or HFT, because Judge was forced to try the IPO market on Friday's Halftime Report.

He found a taker in Josh Brown, who asserted, "There's way too much supply here in the market," that it's "out of control," and "you have rubber mascots roaming the floor of the New York Stock Exchange" (but he didn't mean Steve Grasso).

Pete Najarian argued that it's only a slice of the market that's in falling-dagger land. "It's all these high-multiple names," Pete said, scoffing at those (like the guy yesterday) who claim it's like 2000; "look at the P.E.s in the Nasdaq ... not even close."

Mike Murphy said there's actually legitimate demand for these IPOs.

Jon Najarian invoked Bill Gurley from last summer saying things (apparently in the tech IPO market) were getting toppy.

Paul Richards simply called it a "correction in the Nasdaq."

At least viewers got a look at Sheila Dharmarajan. More from Friday's Halftime Report and Fast Money later.

[Thursday, April 3, 2014]

 
 

Karen buys Pandora; Mel scoffs that she’ll never pay anything for the service

Well, this was a sound for sore ears.

As the "momentum" sector once again got annihilated Thursday, Karen Finerman declared on Thursday's Fast Money that she was stepping up to the plate.

"I bought some Pandora," Finerman revealed. "I've been intrigued with their business for a long time ... I actually love the product itself." (This writer is long P.)

Finerman said she bought for the "PA" (we think that's the "personal account") but said if it works, she might buy some with the fund.

Dan Nathan, a regular curmudgeon on this subject who sounds like he's 77 years old when discussing it, asked/told Finerman, "Are they gonna have a Netflix moment from a few years ago when they raised prices and look what happened."

Karen interrupted, "And look what happened — they came back!"

Nathan insisted P has competition that NFLX somehow doesn't, and finds the stock "very vulnerable."

Mel scoffed as well, explaining her own personal price threshold for the service.

Brian Kelly cites sentiment in Business Insider articles as catalyst for stocks

Brian Kelly told Dan Nathan on Thursday's Fast Money that he still likes TWTR because sentiment has gotten "completely out of whack," even pointing to what Business Insider wrote about Facebook a while back.

Nathan blustered that there are "3 reasons why I wouldn't touch this stock right now" but really only mentioned 1, that the stock is still up from the IPO and so the lockup effect could be much worse than Facebook's lockup effect.

"This thing is gonna go lower from here," Nathan said.

Guy Adami conceded, "Technically it does feel like it's broken," and perhaps 40 might be support.

Mel told viewers to vote, and said "we'll tally the volts (sic), votes," but didn't say that after you help CNBC by doing so, you'll be asked to sweep the floors clean of the Hain Celestial crumbs.

Nathan scoffed at YELP, stating "I don't get it," but said if it gets around 65, you can then "pull a Karen" and buy it because "at some point there is some value."

Mel too realizes Karen’s
wearing smokin’ black outfit

Everyone deserves a 2nd (or 3rd) chance.

So, even though John Jannarone recently delivered what would be the Fast Money Bust of the Year front-runner (ARO) except only traders can do that (so Joe's on the hook for SHLD short), we're willing to say he might have a point about BKS being "incredibly cheap."

Might.

Jannarone told Thursday's Fast Money that John Malone's group realized "the playing field is not level when you're competing with Amazon," prompting Mel to derisively state, "And they just realized that now."

Unfazed, Jannarone said there "could still be opportunity here" because the book sales produce cash, and, in perhaps the most intriguing comment of the show, "ebook sales actually plateaued."

Dan Nathan, however, wondered if the world isn't experiencing a "massive secular decline in books."

Whew — an hour of CNBC with no reference to Michael Lewis

Incredibly, there was no HFT on Thursday's Fast Money.

(Even more incredibly, no clips of the Michael Lewis-exchange guy-BATS guy "debate" on Squawk Box several days ago.)

But, there was C. And there was GM.

For whatever reason, perhaps because last time Karen Finerman got in the last word mocking his price target after he was off the air, Dick Bove returned to explain why Citigroup is not a buy.

The Banamex problem is just the "tip of the iceberg," said Bove, pointing to 4 CEOS in 10 years and even more management teams over 15 years.

"The issue is mismanagement in a very complex institution," Bove said.

So, given the opportunity to ask, Karen Finerman demanded Bove explain how the stock goes to 45.

Bove conceded such a move is not a big deal, but related to other banks, "The opportunity is not in this company."

Dan Nathan revealed, "I bought puts in the XLF."

Moments later, Karen Finerman revealed, "We sold our GM ... just feel like it's gonna be a long wait."

Mel deemed that "shocking." Guy Adami made it a Final Trade, as a buy, once Mel stopped giggling about sausage.

Mel caught doing hair flip

Handicapping the current stock market that has seen "momentum" names slaughtered, Guy Adami told viewers of Thursday's Fast Money, "I think Tesla's still the most interesting one."

Dan Nathan warned that these stocks go up fast, but "they have the potential to overshoot on the down side too."

Nathan then uttered the worst comment we've heard in a while: "If you wanna manage the risk in these things ... you gotta cut the position."

Really. We thought you sold if it's not going to go up.

Brian Kelly said he sold his TSLA stake that Tim Seymour accused him of buying at the top and made a "tiny, tiny little profit on it."

Kelly admitted he's still in FEYE and thinks that could get a TSLA-like bounce of a few weeks ago.

Guy Adami said of BA, "I think 120 is sorta your line in the sand."

Karen Finerman praised GrubHub but suggested the stock will open well above the IPO price she is seeking. "This is actually a great business ... I hope they give us stock," Finerman said.

Dan Nathan said COST has a "really bad head & shoulders top," but he thinks it's ready to turn up on any good news. So, Nathan made a bullish investment "defined my risk" and bought April calls.

Wondered if Zuck was going to make Shane Smith an offer by the end of the show, mostly in stock

Vice chief Shane Smith proved extremely articulate on Thursday's Fast Money, but we still aren't really sure what material Vice shows except for a nearly nude tattooed guy walking around an office.

Smith implied that Vice showed YouTube, which suggested 2 minutes for presentations, how it's done. "We were doing 28 minutes on YouTube."

He also said — again, we're not really sure what this company does — that in producing content, "We actually monetize it 5 ways," and then the "real margin" kicks in when "we license it to mobile."

Lee said Vice has all the great demographics, young male.

Smith said if you're going from desktop to mobile, you're too late. It's all mobile now. (And we hoped Zuck wasn't listening.) (This writer is long FB and can't take any more.)

Irwin Simon showed up later and dodged a question that Mel couldn't even ask seriously about whether food price hikes will hurt HAIN.

Simon conceded increases but asked, "How big a percentage is it."

Guy Adami pretended to seriously try to ask whether the last quarter was a "one-off." Simon never answered the question, but did claim, "The fastest-growing, um, you know, demographics, among the population today is college students."

Dan Nathan indicated he had nothing to say about GOOG. Karen Finerman said to skip the arbitrage angle; "it's actually trading pretty efficiently."

Nathan did talk about SODA and the October risk reversal someone put on in selling October 35 puts and buying October 52.50 calls.

Brian Kelly's Final Trade was CNX. Karen Finerman said both HSP and BAC. Dan Nathan said TAN puts.

Day 5 of Michael-Lewis-book-selling and CNBC has yet to identify an entity or individual who should be punished

Josh Brown on Thursday's Halftime sought to advance the HFT debate this way:

"The biggest problem with this debate is the fact that we're not differentiating, between the type of HFT that is market making ... and the more nefarious types of stuff like quote-stuffing," Brown asserted.

OK. Start differentiating.

Brown stated that he respects Charles Schwab but there's no way Schwab is offering ETFs at low cost without the benefit of HFT.

Dominic Chu, reporting on the subject, said "there's a lot of gray area out there."

Judge told the panel, "I've had people suggest to me today via e-mail that Schwab is hypocritical." (Let's hope one of them was not Doug Kass, and that it didn't reach Claire Atkinson of the New York Post.)

Stephen Weiss said Michael Lewis is good at selling books, and the exchange guy who appears with him is good at promoting an exchange (Judge said that according to observers it's not even an exchange, but a "dark pool"), but "the market's not rigged."

Weiss said that HFT users are the same leeches as day-traders. "They're just smarter at it, and quicker at it," Weiss said.

Guest fails to convince Doc that AMZN has already failed at being a Hulu

Mitra Kalita sat in with Thursday's Halftime Report to explain the biggest head-scratcher of the week: Amazon's Fire.

"The reality is, Amazon has no choice," Kalita said. "They have to get into our living rooms somehow."

Jon Najarian balked, wondering why they had to do the box instead of "just having like a Hulu sort of experience."

Kalita responded that Hulu has 10 million subscribers, whereas Netflix has 44 million.

But Doc, unsatisfied with that answer, pressed Kalita why they need the box.

"It's not working for them right now," Kalita repeated, stating the only way this works for Amazon is to get "huge" subscribers.

Kalita said she has the Golden Goose of Moneymaking, the Miracle $79-turned-$99 fee for getting packages in 2 days instead of 4, Amazon Prime ... but doesn't use the video or whatever's offered with it.

Stephen Weiss unfortunately sounded like a knucklehead when opining why Amazon is at it its lows of the year. "There are more options this year to play in. And the momentum's not there," Weiss claimed.

Josh Brown pointed to the quarterly report in February as the reason for Amazon's slump, an accurate point. "Maybe it's in the penalty box till the next quarterly report," Brown suggested.

Kate Kelly misquotes Josh

It was back on Monday, Jan. 27, when this page decided to "predict that LULU gets to 55 faster than one of Pete's banking warhorses, mighty C."

C closed that day at $48.81, according to Yahoo finance. Since then, it has peaked intraday at $51.00 on March 21.

LULU, by contrast, closed Jan. 27 at $46.27. Despite giving C a head start, since then, LULU has traded north of $50 about half the time — and yes, hit $55 on Thursday.

Shoots, scores.

On Thursday's Halftime Report, Josh Brown tried to claim that "Citi's a good value here if you have a lot of patience," but "I don't see the urgency to jump into it."

Kate Kelly, displaying savvy reporting instinct, immediately asked Brown, "Are you contradicting yourself" in asserting it's a potential growth story but advising people hold off.

Brown insisted he never said it's a growth story (that's correct, he did not), but in fact it's a restructuring story.

Kelly waffled like l'eggo my egg'o on Citi's personnel, telling Judge that "potentially" the CFO could get canned; "you have to wonder."

Kelly was on the program to discuss JPM's departures. "They're almost surprisingly unfazed," Kelly said.

Stephanie Link asserted, "They have a very deep bench."

Guest: 2000-like
crash in progress

What David Cassese had to say on Thursday's Halftime was so explosive, either 1) Judge really blew it by not pursuing it, or 2) nobody actually believes it.

Cassese noted the present rotation from new tech into old tech and stated, "We do think it continues."

More importantly, Cassese said he analyzed tech-stock IPOs in the 1990s, "and there's a lot of the same red flags now."

To the point we're at a "bubble," Cassese said. "I think there is," it's "the same level of, of valuation-stretch."

Judge capped off this discussion by having Stephanie Link reveal that Cramer bought IBM, which she thinks is "positioned well" in higher-margin businesses.

Steve Weiss, Steve Liesman debate what economists do

Some of us slept through Thursday's Halftime Report and woke up to find, we didn't miss much.

Judge, apparently deeming HFT something for the end of the program, began by asking his panel if stocks and rates could rise together.

Jon Najarian said they can, but he doesn't think rates are going much higher.

Stephanie Link said, "It's all at the speed of rates" (Drink).

Josh Brown said rates and stocks went up in the 1950s and '60s, but he thinks there's a rotation in place given that the "momentum trade slammed into a wall."

Brown told Judge, "There's no support for the IBB until 200," and said that while he likes the biotech space longer-term, "short-term though, this is a falling knife."

Steve Liesman joined the panel for a chat about "why rates rise." But then he got into it with Steve Weiss over what strategists and economists are really doing and sensed that Weiss doesn't accept the double-talk that exists.

"Everybody's reactionary and everybody's forward-looking," Liesman shrugged.

Jon Najarian said everyone including himself is using credit, so he likes AXP as well as V and MA.

Brown hangs par on DE

Jeff Kilburg said on Thursday's Halftime Report that we have to rethink whether the 10-year is still range-bound.

Anthony Grisanti said he's hedging the jobs report by owning bonds as well as gold.

Jon Najarian said of OPEN, "I like the stock, but I think it pulls back further."

Stephen Weiss said he's not sure he'd short BID.

Josh Brown denounced SEAS. "This thing's a wreck, fundamentally, technically, morally," Brown said.

Stephanie Link said of BKS, "I think you're gonna see a big restructuring coming."

Link's Final Trade was LM. Stephen Weiss said TBF. Josh Brown said DE (again) and predicted "at least $100 a share." Jon Najarian said UPS and said he bought it during the show.

[Wednesday, April 2, 2014]

Pete Najarian appears on
18 of 21 Halftime Report
episodes in March

He's either a workaholic — or he's doing a lot more talking than trading.

Pete Najarian led the Fast Money/Halftime Report pack in March attendance, racking up 18 appearances on Scott Wapner's Halftime Report and 7 more on Melissa Lee's Fast Money.

That's 25 total.

No one else even comes close.

(See, they figured no one was checking. But we were.)

The runner-up was Josh Brown, who managed 15 trips to the Halftime Report, and 2 more to Fast Money in March.

The Fast Money lineup was neatly distributed, with 3 panelists tying for most appearances with 15: Tim Seymour, Guy Adami and Brian Kelly. None appeared on the Halftime Report.

Here's the ledger. There were 21 trading days in March. Twice, the Halftime Report employed a 3-person panel. It should be noted that Steve Grasso delivered soundbites on the Halftime Report when not a panelist, and that Stephen Weiss and Mike Murphy both appeared on the March 31st Halftime as guests to discuss the Playbook competition.

Halftime Report:

Pete Najarian: 18
Josh Brown: 15
Mike Murphy: 11
Jon Najarian: 9
Stephanie Link: 9
Joe Terranova: 8
Stephen Weiss: 5
Anthony Scaramucci: 4
Steve Grasso: 3
Simon Baker: 0

Fast Money:

Tim Seymour: 15
Guy Adami: 15
Brian Kelly: 15
Steve Grasso: 11
Karen Finerman: 10
Pete Najarian: 7
Dan Nathan: 5
Jon Najarian: 4
Josh Brown: 2

It's important to note that most of these panelists deliver occasional soundbites on other CNBC programs. This page does not know how the panelists are paid. We have heard recently that many now receive a per-show fee rather than a fixed compensation, and that this fee could be $500 or as much as $1,000.

Whatever the amount, it's highly possible that for many panelists, just talkin' about it is actually more lucrative than the real thing.

Analyst admits on Fast Money: ‘Clients don’t listen to me’

Well, give him credit for honesty.

Maybe.

Michael Pachter, the semi-regular Fast Money analyst who likes to argue 1) that Netflix is in a bad, unsustainable business model that 2) all kinds of heavyweight competitors are just dying to muscle their way into, had to admit on Wednesday's Fast Money that the Amazon Fire bomb "is actually good for Netflix." (This writer has no position in NFLX or AMZN.)

"I think this thing's gonna fall flat on its face," said Pachter, who nevertheless said that when eventually bundled with Prime Video, "I think it'll help them all around ... I think they can upsell those people Prime."

And, "Ultimately they could capture that Netflix crowd, especially at the lower end," Pachter claimed.

It was Guy Adami, in the most spectacular question we've heard in months on the show (because it was posed here weeks ago), who stood tall in asking Pachter about his 175 NFLX target with an "underperform" rating and what it all means.

"Netflix is caught between pincers," Pachter started to explain, pointing to those baddies on either end of the content provider/cable operator spectrum.

But then he admitted, "That's taking years to play out."

Then, the money quote: "Wedbush clients don't listen to me on this one."

Hmmm.

So what's the point of being a client ... if you don't believe what you're being told?

Pachter seems like a good egg. We wish him the best. This is a catastrophic bungle.

Doc won’t bet against this guy

The Najarians picked up on Wednesday's Fast Money where they left off at Halftime, complaining as Pete did that Amazon Fire pricing is "more than people expected."

Brother Jon agreed. "I don't think that this is the right price point," Doc said.

Guy Adami said "the last quarter was not good" and the AMZN stock "has to prove itself." He recommends "you stay away from it here."

Karen Finerman said "stagnate" several times in predicting that Amazon, if its stock were to "stagnate" for a decade as WMT did, would still be expensive and not completely grow into its valuation by the end of that decade.

And, if Adami suggests, if there's trouble in the quarter, "There's a lot of room down," Finerman said.

Doc added, "The room could be, you know, like an elevator shaft," while backpedaling, "I would not be betting against Bezos."

Karen Finerman observed that "Bezos is a smart guy." (OMG.)

Pete Najarian spoke about one of our favorite subjects, the pricing of Prime (Yippee! Get stuff mailed in 2 days instead of 3-4!), and pointed out that initially a price range was floated, perhaps to $119, and then it ended up being lower, so psychologically, "people could suck that in."

Bust of the Year front-runner: Joe recommends SHLD short, predicts ‘somewhere around 20 bucks’

Yes, he eventually revealed on Twitter that he got out of it.

But Joe Terranova's January short of SHLD is looking like an even bigger disaster than that Apollo-Drago fight in "Rocky IV."

Joe said Jan. 9, a day the shares closed at $42.57, "I truly believe shorting Sears potentially could be as rewarding as shorting JCPenney was a couple years ago," and that shorting SHLD is no longer just a "trade," but a "trend."

On Jan. 10, after a plunge to $36.71, Joe said, "I'm staying with it ... looking for somewhere around 20 bucks."

On Jan. 17, stock closing at $37.58, Joe was even bolder, telling Judge, "I'm building a bigger and bigger short position," targeting a price in the "low 20s."

Joe even said that day, "I've called it the JCPenney of 2014."

Mike Khouw said on Wednesday's Fast Money that there was a big seller of June 65.50 SHLD calls who bought the September 60 calls, perhaps playing a potential short squeeze.

Pete Najarian said he's not playing SHLD, but if he were (drum roll), he would only use options, to make sure he had the "risk defined for me" (Drink).

The stock closed Wednesday at $50.05.

Let’s give it a rest

Seeking an excuse to re-air that weak Michael Lewis-BATS debate on Wednesday's Fast Money, Mel brought in Liquidnet boss Seth Merrin, who first had to take precious minutes to explain what exactly his firm does.

Evidently, it matches up buyers and sellers of big lots, producing an "average execution size" of what Merrin said is bigger than 100 to 300 times what exchanges do.

Merrin asserted, "There are some high-frequency traders that are good, and there are some that are very bad."

As this tiresome story moves into its 4th day, viewers once again realized that the Halftime/Fast Money crew is not quite on the same page.

Jon Najarian on Wednesday's Fast chided the BATS guy for allowing the lapses that enable HFT advantages.

Pete Najarian pointed to "proprietary feeds" but said he takes issue with "the term 'rigged'," because it's "not really an acc- accurate look at the market itself."

See, from what we've heard this week and last Friday, here's the scorecard:

Karen Finerman is concerned about the guy buying 1,000 shares of MSFT.

Kenny Polcari is not concerned about the guy buying 50 shares of KO, he's concerned about the investors in the institutional funds.

But Joe Terranova thinks HFT is an argument in favor of mutual funds and ETFs.

But Stephen Weiss says everybody's in the market the same time.

Judge says it's not about the little guy making a trade, but the little guy getting burned by Flash Crashes "or otherwise."

Josh Brown says HFT is yesterday's news and a declining business in terms of profit.

Josh Brown says HFT is skimming and predatory and questions if players are taking on principal risk.

Pete Najarian and Rob Sechan want the uptick rule reinstated.

No one — (Should this sentence be in bold? Nah, that's overdoing it) — in all of these silly discussions has identified a single person or entity who should be prosecuted, banned, ejected, or punished in any way for whatever is going on here.

And until they can do that ... let's stuff it.

Mel said a "good analyst source" (our guess? Rich Repetto) told her that Nasdaq gets 10% of its revenues from HFT. Guy Adami said, "careful being short the Nasdaq."

Heather Bellini escapes mention

There was a time when Mel would talk about MSFT every episode like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, even when Steven Ballmer was leading its stock nowhere.

Now, at least there's an excuse, with the stock on fire for a change.

Dan Ives told the Fast Money gang Wednesday that investors "finally have a pilot on the plane that's gonna navigate Microsoft towards growth."

In a case of wishful thinking, Pete Najarian asked Ives if the cloud is enough to get him to raise his MSFT price target beyond $40.

Ives said it would take better results out of Nokia and mobile. Karen Finerman wondered if that wasn't too late. Ives basically wrote off that endeavor, calling it a "Hail Mary" and asserting there's a "better chance of me teeing off in the Masters next week."

Guy Adami thinks MSFT can get to 46 or 46½, then you should take profits.

Jon Najarian, on a first-name basis suddenly, said "I think Satya absolutely nailed it."

How come Karen doesn’t chide Doc for suggesting a split as a stock catalyst?

Karen Finerman on Wednesday's Fast Money explained the GOOG share split and speculated there would only be at most a "minuscule" difference for arbitrageurs, so "I would leave that probably to the HFTs."

Shockingly, Jon Najarian suggested the 4-digit nominal price is an impediment to market-cap growth.

"I think they'd be more inclined to buy it if it was 1/10th the price," Najarian said, before mistakenly suggesting, "if it did a 1-for-10" (sic).

Mel caught 1) wearing same dress as Sara Eisen and 2) using air quotes

Guy Adami, admitting setbacks in the TLT on Wednesday's Fast Money, asserted a 115 price target and said, "I still think we see lower rates."

Adami crowed a bit about his positive-news-flow call on TSLA.

Pete Najarian said TSLA has been bouncing off the 50-day.

Guy Adami said of JNPR, "I think there's value there" at 23½.

Pete Najarian gushed about SUNE calls, saying it was the October 20s vs. the 29s, and made SUNE his Final Trade.

Guy Adami suggesetd, "Maybe Twitter's broken for the short term."

Pete Najarian said it's appealing to own URBN as the company buys it back.

Jon Najarian, as he usually does, merely stated positive news about GTAT and failed to make a call.

Karen Finerman said of M, "They are just killin' it" (Drink).

Pete Najarian, pointing to MNKD's big spike, cautioned that they have "nothing on the market yet."

Jon Najarian said MNKD likely won't be a standalone company a year from now.

Pete said the Najarians were unloading MNKD Wednesday. "I trimed; Jon sold," Pete said.

Mel brought in Foodini kingpin Lynette Kucsma to show how to 3-D print food and told viewers, "This seems shocking to most people at home."

Kucsma said the Foodini will cost $1,300, but you can get a Kickstarter deal for $999.

But mostly, the segment was marked by giggling among the Fast Money panelists while they ate chips. (Perhaps they were pouring the Budweiser from the Olympic online-only episodes.)

Doc said he has trade PLUG but is not in it now.

Jon Najarian's Final Trade was OXY. Karen Finerman said PLCE. Guy Adami said LYB.

Say Judge — if there’s a serious outrage here, instead of waiting for authors to expose it, why aren’t you as a journalist busting it wide open?

It's getting old, fast.

Judge on Wednesday's Halftime Report insisted on another HFT showdown, despite the fact the Halftime/Fast Money crew is still not on the same page here.

(See, they needed an excuse to re-air that boring morning debate on Squawk Box Tuesday.)

This time the HFT foil was Peter Nabicht, who told Judge that HFT "is simply a tool," and "I think the numbers can convince people that high-frequency trading is good."

Nabicht insisted that the liquidity element is real; "I'm not confusing it with volume."

After unveiling a chart with 3 reasons why HFT is good, Nabicht started to say, "Let's take a look at the last 10 years," and found himself suddenly cut off by an impatient Judge, who declared Nabicht's statement "misses the point."

"This is not really an argument about the little guy making a small trade," Judge said, but a competition between the HFT guys and the institutions. "It is the little guy who pays the price and gets stomped on if something goes wrong in the markets, like a Flash Crash, or otherwise, and that's the real problem with high-frequency trading."

Nabicht asserted, "Not all high-frequency trading is predatory."

Josh Brown interrupted, "So you're admitting that some is," and demanded an example.

Nabicht said that if anyone, HFT or otherwise, was "front-running" orders, that would be predatory, and that HFT folks are competing with each other and not the little guy.

That brought scoffing from Stephen Weiss, who said, "That's flawed. That's just flawed. That's just flawed, everybody's in the market the same time," telling Nabicht, "You make a lot of great statements, but unfortunately, none are backed up with facts."

Weiss then rolled out the Virtu trade success rate, which prompted a clumsy clarification as to whether Virtu had one bad day or on one bad trade.

Weiss: Rates ‘quickly through 3% over the next month or so’

Pete Najarian — (see, in a way, he's basically an options salesman) — wondered on Wednesday's Halftime Report, if you're long the market, "Why wouldn't you buy protection right now" with volatility low?

Josh Brown asserted that "this is a no child left behind market."

Guest Steve Wieting said Russia represents "receding risk," and said for many hedge funds it's been "very ugly," especially for "guys that tried to catch momentum."

Swieting predicted "upward pressure on rates." Stephen Weiss agreed, stating, "I think rates go quickly through 3% over the next month or so."

Steve Grasso pointed to a later Easter and said "there's a new reason to be bullish."

Jon Najarian, who was practically shut out on the day, pointed to M, DDS, ZUMZ and TGT as names with strength.

Pete Najarian said he likes the rails, UNP and CP, and thinks they "continue to move to the upside," as well as his favorite, the airlines, "they are killin' it."

Steve Grasso said he likes LNG.

Flash: Pete intends to stay in an options trade for 2 weeks

Harald Hendrikse of Nomura entertained one of Fast Money/Halftime's most dreadful cliches favorite subjects, GM, on Wednesday's Halftime and explained his sell rating.

"I'm looking at the macro conditions overall," Hendrikse said, insisting "this is not about the recall at this stage."

Josh Brown said, "It'll be really interesting to see what all the hedge funds who are trapped in this stock do," calling it a "huge, huge hedge-fund holding."

But Stephen Weiss insisted, "Hedge funds aren't stuck in this. This is a very liquid trade."

Hendrikse does recommend BMW, which Jon Najarian likes, but Doc questioned why Hendrikse wasn't more concerned about Mary Barra's testimony.

Anthony Grisanti said the Chilean issue with copper is that the miners aren't yet back in the mines.

Jeff Kilburg, assuming viewers were born yesterday apparently, asserted, "Dr. Copper is kinda being ignored" as a proxy for China growth, and "we should take caution."

Pete Najarian said the May 9/11 call spread in S is hot; "they think it's going higher, but they think it stops at 11." Pete plans to stay in the trade "at least a couple of weeks."

Wolfgang Koester told Judge that some companies apparently were surprised by currency fluctuations. Josh Brown said the market generally understands this, and when it happens to a company, "the stock really shouldn't get beat up too badly."

Pete Najarian called Chik-Fil-A "outstanding" and said "it doesn't feel like you're eating fast food."

Pete's Final Trade was OXY. Jon Najarian said GOGO, Stephen Weiss said SFUN and Josh Brown said DE.

700 multiple, here we come!

Judge was conducting a spirited discussion of Amazon's new whatever with Jordan Rohan on Wednesday's Halftime Report when we heard some of those magic words:

"6 months of Prime free."

OMG. Why would they do that. They should charge tons more. Everyone will pay it.

First, Jon Fortt reported that Amazon is launching FireTV, which we learned is a $99 settop box streaming device.

Rohan then questioned himself, asking, "Why is Amazon doing this," and pointing out that it missed on music (that went to Apple and now Pandora/Spotify) (this writer is long P) and missed on video (that went to Netflix), so "this is their new bet," to make sure it's not left behind in all forms of media, but "I don't think this will work."

Jon Najarian questioned how the $99 price point works with Chromecast at $35, prompting Rohan to suggest Amazon will actually try to package it with a deal that could involve 6 months of Prime free (Oh joy! Get all packages in 2 days (snicker) instead of 3-4 AND NOT HAVE TO PAY EXTRA FOR PRIME!!)

Josh Brown questioned why Amazon is valued as "content play."

Rohan insisted, "We don't value Amazon as a content play at all," stating the company, after starting out in books, where it reigns, is moving less into media and more into consumer goods.

Rohan also said, "Amazon is the Wal-Mart of this generation." (Uh-oh.)

Judge wondered, "Is Jordan underestimating Bezos." (See the image above. Of course.) Stephen Weiss said Amazon simply doesn't want to be left behind in any space, and "they need to stay in the ground everywhere," but as far as this product goes, "it's a nuisance that we have to pay attention to it today."

Weiss ambiguously concluded, "I like the stock," but valuation keeps him away.

More from Wednesday's Halftime and Fast Money later.

[Tuesday, April 1, 2014]

Paul Hickey says some variation of ‘they’ 11 times in 1 response

This has to be a record of sorts.

For whatever reason, Paul Hickey, who recommended BIIB, MYL and FB as Q2 "breakout stocks" on Tuesday's Fast Money while pointing to lingering weather effects, sure got tripped up by Brian Kelly's excellent question, "What does weather have to do with Facebook?" (This writer is long FB.)

"All these stocks went up fast, and they went down fast, and the fact is that- thee- they're- they're- they- they don't go against (sic) according to the economy, you know, they're- they're- they- they- they're very little (sic), they're not cyclical, biotechs, again," Hickey said.

(Yep. He should've just said, "They have nothing to do with the weather, which is why we like them now.")

Dan Nathan then stated that GILD is a "defensive" name while FB is a "speculative" name. Facebook, Nathan contended, "makes a product that basically kills people, or it kills productivity for people," and "I'd much rather put my money in Gilead."

Tim Seymour’s priorities are warped

Hopefully once CNBC is through with GM, it can wrap it up with HFT and Michael Lewis.

Tim Seymour on Tuesday's Fast Money was missing the boat when he stated, "I don't care about people that are faster than me, I care about people that have preferential treatment, or that are getting inside information."

Seriously? He's concerned about someone getting a peek at Mobile Telesystems' numbers?

Seymour, like many on the show, should be concerned about landing accounts. Make a sale. You're supposedly in business to manage money, not carp about HFT on TV. Get some clients. Make a sale. Visit the countries you're talking about on television. Recruit dollars.

Unless, of course, the primary goal is actually talking the talk on TV and making a living that way.

Steve Grasso said of HFT, "The real problem is fragmentation."

Now, see, that one's kind of bogus too, because these folks really have yet to identify what the problem even is, as evidenced by this page reporting (see below) that various Fast Money/Halftime panelists can't even get their stories straight and agree as to whether HFT is a pro- or anti-mutual fund argument or whether the guy buying 50 shares KO/1,000 shares of MSFT is getting screwed or not affected.

Brian Kelly shrugged on Tuesday that "you're talking about the minutiae of it."

Mel apologizes for
‘being very opaque’

Enough with General Motors, already.

The Fast Money gang talks about this name like it's Pandora (rather than, say, Xerox).

Unfortunately on Tuesday's Fast Money, things went awry when Mel started asking Sterne Agee analyst Mike Ward about the impact of Mary Barra's testimony.

"The recall belongs to the old GM," said Ward, who seemed to think the future's bright.

Mel first got herself in trouble saying "per se." (See, that's Harvard-speak.)

Ward clarified, "The liability if there are lawsuits belongs to the old GM."

Despite attending Harvard, Mel still didn't get it.

"OK. Uh, can you explain that to me? I mean, this in various- (sic) I'm sorry that I'm being very opaque about this," Lee told Ward, who had to explain that the suits stem from pre-2009.

Ward seemed reluctant to pick a winner among auto stocks. "They do move as a group," he said.

Meanwhile, Tim Seymour predicted GM would face a fine of "1% of revs."

Seymour tried to claim that F and GM have been trading "very, very similar."

But Mel said she looked it up since Seymour said that a day earlier (see, stuff on Fast Money tends to get repeated ya think?????), and since Jan. 10 in fact, Ford is up while GM is down.

Caught with this important fact, Seymour insisted, "They're all a buy."

Seymour at one point revealed, "I bought it last week."

Brian Kelly said, "I would buy GM, and I would use 33 as my stop."

As if Mel didn't hear him the first time, Kelly had to say again, "Tomorrow morning I'd buy GM right here."

Steve Grasso said to wait for GM to stabilize over 36.

Dan Nathan predicted nevertheless, "There's gonna be some tape bombs."

But Nathan suggested the stock could reach 37½ in the "very near term."

It didn't take long for Nathan to uncork the Options Market B.S., which was, "I'm long April 34 calls that define my risk." (Which means, if the stock spends the month under 34, his calls are worth $0 while your stock is worth probably 80-90% of what you paid for it. But he's the one who "defined his risk.")

Eamon Javers helpfully pointed out that Mary Barra's remarks were "very carefully lawyered, and very carefully parsed."

Javers also suggested this was "Scandal Management 101."

We hoped that was the end of it, but Lee later brought in Jack Nerad, who contended that the recall controversy "has not had much effect on sales of GM brands."

Lee suggested that if GM is pressured to compensate people and doesn't, it's "bad optics."

Nerad agreed. But he cited Toyota's recovery from recall issues involving cars on the market and said, "I think this will get in the rear-view mirror of most consumers very very quickly."

Grasso: April great for casinos

Steve Grasso told viewers of Tusday's Fast Money that "April, seasonality-wise, is a great month to invest in casinos," in part because of the "Sweet 16."

Huh??

Grasso said he likes LVS or WYNN because of Singapore exposure. But Tim Seymour said "we were shorting Melco about 3 weeks ago" around 44 or 45 (and probably using the proceeds to get long Mobile Telesystems or CZZ whose managements he of course meets regularly).

Seymour said that with EEM at 43, "I would be selling upside."

Regarding EM, Mel chortled, "I wonder what Jay Carney thinks. No, I'm just kidding, I really don't give a rat's you know what what he thinks." (At least he didn't have to apologize for being "opaque" about why current GM isn't liable for pre-bankruptcy recalls.)

Dan Nathan admitted he bought EEM puts low and "I got carried out," but maintained, "I'll be a seller again at 42."

Brian Kelly said he likes UAL at 45.50; "that's where you buy that."

Nathan said of ISRG, "I would not chase this stock."

Tim Seymour said CLF "I think is trapped in a range."

Brian Kelly said RAD "bounced off 6.20."

Steve Grasso said KBH is in a place it "should probably be bought."

Dan Nathan said June 60/70 call spreads in CRM were hot.

Google Glass wearer Robert Scoble, in a great little interview that shed more light on this goofy product than we've heard to date, asserted, "It's not doomed long term," but "this product is deeply flawed."

Scoble said "I can't do live video with it," as advertised, and that to get Google+ or Facebook requires talking, which was difficult at a concert.

Dan Nathan said maybe AAPL can pull off the glasses someday but GOOG can't; "we're in the 1st pitch of the 1st inning."

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was IBN. Brian Kelly said AMD, Steve Grasso said HPQ, Dan Nathan said COST and that he "defined my risk," and Mel looked dynamite in green sleeveless top and chic gray skirt.

Josh Brown accuses
HFT industry of ‘skimming’

Well, now it's all settled.

After a roughly 10-minute debate on high-frequency trading on Tuesday's Halftime Report, we still hardly had any clue what's going on here.

Defender Manoj Narang insisted all the retail brokerages route orders through HFT firms, "nobody has been a bigger beneficiary of the high-frequency-trading revolution than the so-called little guy," and then mentioned one of our favorite Halftime terms, "co-located," before asserting that HFT brings "price improvement."

Just a day ago on Fast Money, Karen Finerman was concerned about the person buying 1,000 shares of MSFT.

But on Tuesday's Halftime, Kenny Polcari scoffed that it has nothing to do with someone buying 50 shares of KO.

So, the skeptics aren't really on the same page.

Rather, Polcari bellowed, "We're talking about the individual investor who participates through the institutions."

Except Dr. New World said a day ago that HFT actually is an argument for people to use mutual funds and ETFs.

Like we just said, the stories aren't exactly on the same page here.

Anyway, Narang dismissed Polcari's remarks: "That was stated rather vehemently but nonetheless it's still false."

"It's NOT false!" Polcari bellowed.

But Narang didn't really get to the institutional investor thing except to say Bank of America and many others have apparently invested in this type of process.

And, "There's no front-running going on in high-frequency trading," Narang insisted.

Josh Brown, who a day ago was telling Mark Cuban that HFT is a 2010 story and that the players are fleeing, this time demanded Narang explain why HFT is not just "skimming."

"Do you take any principal risk at all?" Brown demanded.

"Of course," Narang said.

Pointing to Knight Capital's increasing work but lower margins over time, as well as the CME being worth more than stock exchanges, Narang said competition has lowered costs for all participants, and that negative HFT commentary comes from "disgruntled bloggers" and "disgruntled ex-traders."

Polcari blurted that HFT is "damaging ... market structure."

We have no idea whether it is or isn't, but 1) Brown said yesterday HFT profits are down from $5 billion in 2009 to $1 billion last year, and 2) Halftime Report and Fast Money air for a total of 2 hours each day, so if market structure is gradually being damaged, you wouldn't know it from CNBC's program schedule.

Nobody tried to take this conversation to the next level, perhaps suggesting what Steve Stevens could do on CNBC's "Money Talks" (snicker) if allowed a millisecond-early peak at the betting lines.

Pete Najarian tried to take middle ground, offering solutions for problems we're not even sure exist, claiming "there should not be 2 separate feeds" for public and private, and then backing Rob Sechan's idea of yesterday, argued that reinstating the "uptick rule" would improve the "forced market making." Narang said he partly agrees, but it was too much inside baseball for us to know what the heck they're talking about.

‘Beginning of a new bull market’

Josh Brown was most effusive of Tuesday's Halftime Report panel, telling Judge, "I think this is the beginning of a new bull market," and pointed to ag plays DBA and MOO as underperforming for a few years and ready to bust out.

When the "moo" music played, Brown said it "sounds like my wedding night."

Pete Najarian stated, "I still think the shift is going towards the big-cap names."

Stephanie Link predicted, "I think it's gonna be snapback spring."

Liz Ann Sonders, who is extremely good-looking, almost ridiculously good-looking actually, said there will be "bouts of, of momentum-chasing," but that the market isn't dominated by overvalued big-caps like in 1999.

Sonders tepidly endorsed the XLY but predicted we're "probably going to see profit-taking."

"I actually think a correction would be healthy here," Sonders said.

Josh issues DDD Brag Trade

Steve Milunovich told Judge on Tuesday's Halftime Report that he's happy to talk about 3-D printing instead of AAPL for a change.

Acknowledging 3-D is "a bit controversial," Milunovich argues it's a "truly disruptive technology."

Wisely not allowing a long spiel, Judge asked Milunovich why he prefers SSYS over DDD. Milunovich said SSYS has higher earnings growth and is more focused, but both could win.

Josh Brown, who used to champion this space as early innings but sold out shortly after Andrew Left trashed his position on Fast Money, said he sold "close to the top of the hype cycle," and he's not compelled to buy back.

Pete Najarian asked Milunovich if HPQ was getting into the 3-D space. Milunovich said there are 7 technologies in 3-D printing and HPQ will probably dabble in "a couple of those."

Here’s a flash: Pete will hold his calls for about 2 weeks, unless they skyrocket quickly

Pete Najarian on Tuesday's Halftime Report said WYNN and LVS "both are phenomenal companies," but he likes WYNN for the "quality of the folks that are going to the Wynn Resorts."

Pete also mentioned Macau, as well as "Catoi" (sic).

Stephanie Link instead endorsed LVS. "My point is valuation," Link said.

Josh Brown said both are right, but Stephanie's point is better.

Stephanie Link said of UAL, "I still think it's too expensive," but she prefers LUV.

Pete Najarian said he likes UAL but thinks there "might be other names" with "more thrust" in the space.

Pete also backed YHOO; "there's a lot of reasons right now to think that Yahoo can go a lot higher."

Josh Brown said the volume in ISRG's big day could be a "sea change" in the stock.

Pete Najarian said SUNE bulls were rolling up the April 20-21 calls into May 23 calls. Pete's in the position, and told Judge he'll be in it for ...

Flash: Nike refuses to insist Tiger play in the Masters while injured

Brian Stutland said on Tuesday's Halftime that "I think the run is a little overdone here" in commodities.

Jim Iuorio said he thinks silver has room to bounce.

NKE golf chief Cindy Davis told Judge that the company is giving Tiger an ovation; "we applaud him for taking the right steps."

Judge thanked Davis for answering a question about Tiger's breaking news instead of just discussing the new resin golf ball.

Pete Najarian stammered that he likes NKE and UA.

Stephanie Link said Cramer likes NKE and has been "buying it all week."

Link's Final Trade was LII. Pete Najarian said QCOM, which he said will "explode through these highs." Josh Brown said MOO.

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