CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Fast Money Review Archive — June 2015]
[Tuesday, June 30, 2015]

What happened to Paul Richards’ prediction last week of a deal by Sunday that would send MCC home?

Easy money.

Presumably Tuesday's Halftime panel got paid, which was a nice gig because this time there wasn't a whole lot of work involved.

Judge decided to treat viewers to at least 50 minutes of the United States and Brazil sharing compliments for each other.

Joe Terranova said at the top of the show that traders are going to sell bounces for a while.

Steve Grasso said guys are selling first and asking questions later.

Josh Brown said the 10-month moving average in the S&P has flattened, meaning there's no more uptrend.

Pete Najarian said there's "nervousness everywhere."

Doc said he needs to see the VIX at 20 to start taking off his hedges.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera was given a couple hits from Athens (not with the street chap who thinks women should retire earlier than 58); Mohamed El-Erian's "55%" chance of no deal (see below) is looking better and better.

Kate Kelly in San Juan wasn't heard from.

President Barack Obama said he didn't get to go to the World Cup but that Joe Biden did.

He said one of his best weeks was a time when he scored "27 points."

He said the United States has been "monitoring" the Greece situation throughout the year.

The president said, "We view Brazil not as a regional power, but as a global power," which is intended as a facial to "regional power" Russia.

[Monday, June 29, 2015]

Super Bowl champ inspired to enter real estate partly by Carleton Sheets’ flipping infomercials

Diana Olick on Monday's Halftime said pending home sales are at a 9-year high.

But the star realty guest of the program was former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and Carolina Panther Casey Crawford, who is CEO of Movement Mortgage and believes there's "a lot of pent-up demand" (Drink) among millennials for home-buying.

Crawford told Pete Najarian that in 2008, during the mortgage meltdown, companies weren't focused on providing good services and were just trying to survive, which allowed him a niche; he mentioned a gal in the Englewood Cliffs office as having to wait forever for her mortgage approval while Movement aims to close in 7 days.

He also tossed in another "pent-up demand."

According to pro-football-reference.com, Crawford played at 6-6, 255.

Now, the last thing we want to be around here is a killjoy.

But while Judge trumpeted Crawford several times in the program as a "Super Bowl champion," around CNBCfix HQ, the question was, "Ever heard of this guy??"

Unfortunately, the answer was no. And we know why. According to pro-football-reference.com, Crawford lasted 3 seasons, only 1 with Tampa (the good one, amazingly), and in that Super Bowl season apparently only played in 4 regular-season games ... none of the playoffs ... and he had 0 receptions for the season.

Now, no one here is knocking that. Reaching this level is still a tremendous athletic achievement.

The beef here is that Judge is trumpeting this fellow as some kind of NFL champion, which is like crediting Sean Stone for the popularity of "Wall Street."

Crawford on Monday told Judge he was inspired to enter the real estate business by his first NFL tight ends coach.

But this article suggests Crawford was at least partly inspired the same way a lot of Regular Joes are — by a Carleton Sheets infomercial.

Oddly enough, Crawford apparently worked in his dad's hardware store in the Washington, D.C., area, just like a guest on Anthony Scaramucci's "Wall Street Week" a day earlier.

Crawford is already a generous philanthropist. One can't help but root for his company. That Super Bowl victory was probably more lucrative for him than anyone else on the team.

Judge takes the opportunity to bring up FINL, meeting show’s quota of at least 1 mention of UA/NKE/FL/FINL/LULU

It's blasphemy.

Someone on the Halftime Report/Fast Money took on mighty Macy's.

Paul Trussell on Monday's Halftime contended M's "market-share losses are accelerating," leading to EBITDA contraction that could cause a full-year guidance miss.

Trussell said 14% of KORS sales occur at M, a pulverizing blow to the Karen Finerman Retail Bullishness Complex. (She's still on African safari.)

Dr. New Land asked Trussell if JCP is also running out of steam. Trussell said to the contrary, if anything JCP has "stabilized."

"Penney's (sic) is probably part of Macy's problems," Trussell said, an interesting concept that hasn't even been broached since the end of the Ron Johnson Era.

Judge questioned if Trussell isn't underestimating M's REIT potential (snicker). Trussell said he sees the REIT potential "frankly as a long 'if'."

Josh Brown said the "clear winner is J.W. Nordstroms (sic)."

If Germans are tired of Greece, imagine how U.S. business-television viewers feel

Dennis Gartman on Monday's 5 p.m. Fast Money said the euro has bottomed and that Germans are eager to wash their hands of Greece.

Guest host Simon Hobbs (Mel's still on vacation) once again brought in Deirdre Bosa, who possibly has the Cutest Mouth in Television.

What happened to the outrage over the MU downgrade at 24?

Mr. New Land on Monday's Halftime suggested that more than Greece matters this week.

"Quite candidly, I think the jobs report could be a very significant market mover of importance when you look in terms of longer-term investing," Joe said.

Joe said he likes regional banks, GS, MS, IBKR and STI.

But Joe wondered how Sterne Agee was able to "quantify" the notion of CHK being "oversold" and suggested he wouldn't buy the space on a "random call."

Josh Brown said the SYY deal is "rightfully" being blocked.

Pete Najarian said the Oppenheimer downgrade of JPM "makes some sense" after buyers have "prounced" (sic) on the stock and pushed it to 52-week high after 52-week high.

Doc said August 21 puts in SODA were popular. (We can't believe 8 puts aren't popular, but give 'em time.)

Doc suggested SO on the court ruling and the whole "lower for longer" rate theory.

Joe said to keep an eye on the FXY.

Kate Kelly: ‘Easy money’ of 2015 might be over; Doc says it’s just around the corner

In one of the most curious comments of Monday's Halftime Report, Kate Kelly observed that there's a view (translation: hers) that the "easy money" of the 2015 stock market is over.

That drew an instant protest from Jon Najarian, who stated, "I think it's about to happen."

Jeff Saut, who predicted a Greece deal eventually will happen, said Monday's action reminds him of the end of "Trading Places" when someone says "Margin call." Saut suggested people buy the dip.

But Pete Najarian questioned, with the S&P at 2,079, whether the move qualifies as a "dip."

Referring to 2008 from Bear to Lehman, Dr. New Land proceeded to ask Saut a confusing question that we didn't understand about whether this is a "vicious correction" or whether investors have time on their side. Saut, in the category of Dealing With Curveballs On Live Television, flatly said it's "very good advice" for Joe's "watchers."

The Najarians presented a united VIX front.

Pete pointed out that the VIX was at 31 a year ago during the Ebola scare and predicted it goes even higher as Greece, Puerto Rico start to "add up."

Doc said he's hedged with VIX call spreads and S&P 500 put spreads and said he told clients to buy more volatility because "ludicrously" it came down overnight.

Josh Brown said "we've come a long way" since the last time Greece, Italy, Spain etc. were rocking the markets.

Kate Kelly said one hedge fund manager said this reminds him of 2011 and 2012, and that someone predicted over the weekend a 60/40 chance of a deal.

Brown said "calm" should not be confused with "complacency."

Joe crowed that VIRT was proving a good hedge against market volatility.

More from Monday's Halftime later.

[Friday, June 26, 2015]

Jeremy Grantham
didn’t bother to call in

Evidently not realizing Tom Lee was watching, Jim Lebenthal on Friday's Halftime Report downplayed Lee's 5 reasons that stocks could continue to rally, stating, "I really can't think of a time where he's had a bearish note."

Later in the program, Lee dialed in to say he's been an analyst since 1993 and in fact has made "many many bearish calls."

Lebenthal then sort of rewrote history, explaining, "What I said was not faulting you at all. It was acknowledging that you've been bullish since 2009."

Lebenthal stressed that "there's an editorial content that we all have to be aware of," and that when Lee says it's time to sell, that's when his note will be "breaking, breaking news."

Lebenthal claimed he used the same filter for Jeremy Grantham's borderline-bubble case, stating Grantham has "generally been negative" on stocks for a while.

It was unclear what Lee thought of Lebenthal's reaction. "I would be extremely surprised if we're in a bubble," Lee said, explaining he hasn't found "a lot of high bullish conviction."

The highlight of Friday's 5 p.m. Fast Money was the presence of guest host/CNBC superfox Sara Eisen in red.

Jim Lebenthal grumbles about Facebook fundamentals in note, claims he really was talking about Oculus price

Neil Doshi on Friday's Halftime said he initiated FB with a buy because "there's a lot more upside potential," starting with Instagram, which he said could be more than a billion-dollar business.

Jim Lacamp shrugged that Doshi's arguments have been made for a long time.

Doshi said he just got results of a survey of 1,000 mobile users that showed 27% are watching more videos on Facebook than on YouTube.

Jim Lebenthal apparently told Judge's producers that he didn't like FB because of "fundamentals," which struck Judge as odd.

Lebenthal explained, "I was typing pretty quickly," and what he really meant by "fundamentals" was "price."

Lebenthal said if you buy FB, you've gotta have a 10% stop-loss.

Jim Lacamp tried to warn Josh Brown that pullbacks are possible in names such as FB, but Brown didn't care.

Doshi also has a $498 buy on AMZN.

Benign bubble?

Jim Lacamp, who used to be a Larry Kudlow regular and rarely turns up on the Halftime Report, seemed hell-bent Friday to be the soundbite king of Judge's show, starting off with the notion we have both a "bifurcated market" and a "bifurcated populace."

Lacamp declared that "the biggest bubble of all time" is "what the Fed has done with the bond market."

But with that, he ran into a tough hombre in the form of Dan Greenhaus, who questioned if people getting their principal back at the end of the bond's term could really represent a "bubble."

"Never in the history of the planet has so much money been printed to buy any asset class by so many central banks. You simply can't argue that that's not a bubble," Lacamp said, not answering the question.

Greenhaus asked again if someone buying a 2-year Treasury will get their money back in 2 years.

"Not on a real basis. Not after inflation. Not after taxes," Lacamp said, suggesting a different type of "bubble" than the 2000 kind in which $100 assets went to $7 or worse.

Mike Block tried to play referee, stating, "Let's not get caught up in semantics here."

Greenhaus insisted, "It's not semantics."

Block continued, "I'm gonna call it a dislocation."

Josh Brown said bull markets always end in bubbles, and this could go on for "years and years and years," so why sweat it.

Later in the program, Jim Lebenthal got in on the act, admitting that Greenhaus is right, "if- if they hold it through to maturity."

But then, Lebenthal like Block tried to play referee, suggesting that what Lacamp really meant was, "It's the risk that somebody takes a temporary loss, loses their confidence, sells it, and turns a temporary loss into a permanent loss."

"In theory, people should not be trading Treasurys," Greenhaus said.

No updates on Josh doing
L Brands research

Josh Brown on Friday's Halftime suggested one of the catalysts for NKE is "people showing off how much they're working out on social media."

Mike Block said he's not chasing NKE on Friday but "you wanna be involved in this," especially when "everyone's freaking out about macro stuff."

Jim Lebenthal said he's avoiding NKE and UA because "the prices are simply too high." He likes FL and FINL though he said he doesn't own them.

Lebenthal said he'd love to own NKE in the 95-100 range. Mike Block called NKE a "strong dollar play" and one to buy when the dollar takes a hit.

People spend 10 minutes a day on the Halftime Report on a ‘moot point’

Josh Brown on Friday's Halftime said DE was one of the easiest breakouts in recent memory and said 94-95 should act as support. (Presumably Doc exited the trade on Friday's gain after "controlling the upside" with his August call purchase.)

Jim Lebenthal said he likes INTC, IBM or QCOM over MSFT.

Mike Block said to let MU, which didn't hold Guy Adami's $20 level, wash out and look to own it for the "next updraft."

But Jim Lebenthal shrugged off MU as a "commodity stock."

(Guy Adami said on the 5 p.m. show to go ahead and get long MU against 19, which means the $20 level he gave Thursday didn't really mean anything, which means as long as there was high volume, he was going to tell you on Friday to buy it.)

Jim Iuorio told Jackie DeAngelis that the dollar's going higher. But Brian Stutland said it needs to break through 96 to go higher.

Mike Block said ETFC has been a consensus long but he thinks the Fed isn't acting this year and so that stock has gotten "a little ahead of itself."

Jim Lacamp said it's a "moot point" as to when the Fed raises.

Josh Brown said GME's continued existence is "inexplicable," but shorts are "in pain."

[Thursday, June 25, 2015]

Jim Lebenthal actually wonders if Fed will get ‘too aggressive’ in Q2 2016

Ed Yardeni on Thursday's Halftime Report said of the stock market, "There's no compelling buys here" but said there's enough corporate cash in the market that you shouldn't get "too lacksadaisical" (sic).

Josh Brown made some quality points about the bull market not necessarily being 6 years old, because of a 21% drop in 2011 and because it didn't cross the previous all-time high of 2007 until 2013.

Yardeni called biotech too pricey "broadly," not just the ones that don't have any revenue. He said the exuberance in biotech is "on the border of becoming irrational."

Najarians don’t make 5-minute trades (cont’d): Doc claims he can ‘control the upside’ in DE for 2 months

On Thursday's Halftime Report, Jon Najarian said there was a "flood of buying" in DE August 95 calls; he'll be in the trade 3-4 weeks.

Judge actually asked Doc why he doesn't own DE stock as well as calls.

Doc claimed that "for $1.67, I can control the upside between now and the 3rd Friday in August instead of putting $94 on the table to buy the stock."

Sure. He can probably take a ride on I-57 or I-74 and grab a hose and water some fields.

What about Doc’s disbelief that an analyst would downgrade MU at 24?

Resorting to mild hyperbole, Judge on Thursday's Halftime asked Steve Koenig if it's "dangerous" to initiate FEYE at outperform after the stock is up 31% in 3 months.

"We think there's plenty of upside here," Koenig said, explaining that FEYE has a toehold in the malware space.

Then, in an alternative to the Najarian Approach (but without Judge's "5 minutes" claim), Koenig added, "We- we look at our ratings really on a- on a 12-month basis; we're not trying to make a trading call for the next month or so."

Stephen Weiss called Koenig's rating a "technical buy." Weiss said he likes the name and PANW.

Guy Adami on the 5 p.m. Fast Money credited Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs analysts for downgrading MU last week and said if the stock holds $20 on Friday on big volume, you can get long.

TV portfolio contests don’t always approximate reality (a/k/a Josh doesn’t cite Oculus as a bullish FB catalyst)

Josh Brown on Thursday's Halftime said he unloaded SBUX in his Halftime Portfolio, even though "I would not be a seller of Starbucks in real life."

OK.

He said the same for DIS.

He also sold JBHT, "a loser," and added ESRX, VAC and FB.

Panel politely seems to be saying that Carl’s a blowhard

Given a chance to respond to Carl Icahn on Thursday's Halftime Report after Carl's extended dialogue a day earlier, Jim Lebenthal and Josh Brown recommended not trying to time corrections.

"All of this seems like garden-variety noise," scoffed Lebenthal.

Judge said it didn't sound like Icahn was looking for a "garden-variety" pullback.

But Kenny Polcari opined, "I think a lot of it is just, uh, is just Carl kinda making a lot of noise."

Polcari predicted stock gains once there's "clarity" with Greece.

Judge wants analysts to credit Halftime Report for their calls

Judge on Thursday's Halftime said he found it "disingenuous" that Citi and SocGen didn't mention Carl Icahn's revelation in their downgrades of NFLX.

Stephen Weiss called that an "unusual coincidence" and shrugged that of course, Icahn's revelation was part of the rationale.

Jim Lebenthal said sell-side analysts are "not gonna get turning points right."

Weiss, quiet for a 2nd day and grim in the opening photo gallery, said hospitals are "cheap" but that he wasn't chasing them Thursday.

Lebenthal said 89 is a "great price" to start buying NSC.

Still wondering when Fleck is going to restart the short fund

Elaine Stokes of Loomis Sayles, plagued by satellite delay at the Morningstar conference on Thursday's Halftime Report, said there are still opportunities to be found in high yield in this "relatively positive" economic environment.

Stokes said she's more concerned about being in Treasurys, where there's potential of negative returns.

Josh Brown said he doesn't own high yield for clients because the returns don't match the risks.

Jim Lebenthal said to avoid high yield because of "interest-rate risk."

Steve Weiss said he'd be "hard-pressed" to find a single manager who sees "any value whatsoever" in high yield.

A joke is made,
and no one laughs

Josh Brown on Thursday's Halftime said of L Brands, "I actually tried to do a little bit of channel-checking at the mall the other day until they called the cops," but the remark drew silence.

"I like everything that I'm seeing," Brown said.

Brown said FIT is "not my cup of tea."

Jim Lebenthal said you can own SPLS and ODP but that if the deal doesn't go through, SPLS is the better name.

Scott Nations told Jackie DeAngelis (in fuchsia) that a "definitive" (snicker) deal with Greece would "crush" gold.

Tyler Mathisen complained about the lighting on the Power Lunch teaser.

Stephen Weiss endorsed FINL. Josh Brown endorsed FL, as did Jim Lebenthal, who said UA and NKE are too pricey.

[Wednesday, June 24, 2015]

Carl issues public service announcement, says he might ‘write a paper on it’

Lessee ... if we had guessed a day earlier that Carl Icahn would be on Wednesday's Halftime Report, we would've predicted he speaks about A) AAPL being the biggest no-brainer in the history of earth; B) he's still long NFLX and C) high yield is dangerously overvalued.

Well, you know what Meat Loaf says about statistics.

Icahn dialed into the show and told Judge, "There's never a right time I guess" to exit a stock such as NFLX.

But, not a problem — because he's got another just as good. "I think Apple is where Netflix was a couple years ago," Icahn said.

That said, Carl spent most of his generous time allotment warning of a 2008 redux.

"I think the market is sort of overheated," Icahn said, before the terminology got stronger.

"I think the public is, is walking into a trap again as they did in '07," said Icahn, who considers it "almost a duty ... to warn people."

Carl explained that in high yield, "For 2%, people are risking 40%. I mean, it's absurd. ... In '07 I saw the same thing."

He said that in 2008, the Fed "literally (sic) saved the country," but after a historically low spree of interest rates, "it's almost deja vu."

"I may write a paper on it," Icahn said, knocking "earnings that are sort of fudged" because of low rates.

Icahn attached a "98%" likelihood to a "dramatic pullback" in stocks.

Joe asked Carl if economic growth can't lift stocks. Carl said, "The economy is finally picking up. I'm not sure though how much of that is artificial because of low interest rates."

Carl concluded that AAPL "could be one of the great stocks of the century."

Wouldn’t it be a ‘worst nightmare’ if he hadn’t already sold the shares?

Judge told Rich Greenfield on Wednesday's Halftime Report that Carl's exit of NFLX (over 2 years basically) is a "big bull's worst nightmare."

Greenfield just shrugged. "People have made a lot of money" in this "sharp rocket ship," Greenfield said.

And, "There's plenty of people just buying it now," Greenfield asserted.

Greenfield, just 2 days removed from his 5 p.m. Fast Money commentary, said his NFLX earnings estimate is below the Street because the company is "aggressively reinvesting" in new markets. Judge wondered if that means if Greenfield's earnings are right, his stock target (950) is wrong.

Stephen Weiss, who was practically shut out in this program, said Greenfield didn't answer Judge's question.

Joe Terranova said you'd think that cash flow would be an obstacle to growth.

Greenfield called NFLX "the one stock you absolutely have to own in the media space right now."

Judge asked Doc about Mark Cuban's "forever" trade in NFLX, but Doc inexplicably didn't bother to say this time that he rode it for a huge quick profit and wishes he'd stuck around for more.

Pete Najarian said there was "huge option paper" in FB. "Technically, it really looks solid," Joe said.

Jay Bowen prevails

In the strange case of the inflammatory article in CIO magazine, Jay Bowen declared victory on Wednesday's Halftime Report.

In Bowen's last appearance, he threatened legal action against CIO. Judge never asked exactly what Bowen would be suing about.

According to what Judge said Wednesday, the mag apologized for using an image of Madoff with the article and also issued a correction to some passage about compliance.

Bowen said Wednesday his lawyers "were poised to- to, um file a libel lawsuit which was only prevented by their retraction, correction and apology."

Meanwhile, Bowen heartily touted GLW and told Judge, "I think a pretty strong case can be made" for stocks to remain range-bound "with a slight upward bias."

Bowen said the euro/dollar is the most important signal on the planet now.

No. 386: Sell market
‘on a granular basis’

Dr. New World opened Wednesday's Halftime Report with one of the most non-committal comments of all time, stating the stock market can "continue to march on" but that "Carl is right" to suggest caution.

So, whatever.

Stephen Weiss said the economy's at an "inflection point" at which it's going to accelerate.

Pete Najarian said he bought GS options on the dip Wednesday.

Doc said if you're not buying protection at historically low volatility levels, "then you're an idiot, quite frankly." (Translation: Open an account at OptionMonster or people on TV will make fun of you.)

Steve "Mr. Correction" Grasso bluntly admitted to Judge that all the folks including himself who have been predicting a plunging S&P have "all been wrong," but undaunted, he insisted, "on a granular basis, you should be selling the market."

Joe Terranova said there's "extreme frustration" on the part of speculators because volume is low, and many are saying "See you in September."

Pete Najarian is still making the argument that Citi is trading under book. (But once it stays above $5, you're gonna see all those institutional investors come in.)

[Tuesday, June 23, 2015]

Evidently passengers, stewardesses looked up Jim Lebenthal’s portfolio, let him hear about it

On Tuesday's Halftime Report, Pete Najarian crowed about the Morgan Stanley airline upgrade.

But in a very curious lament, Jim Lebenthal said he owned UAL and sold it last year and that it was a "very very painful" holding because customers, regulators and employees seem to hate the business — and even the shareholders.

"Everybody hates you when you own these things," Lebenthal said.

Meanwhile, Lebenthal questioned 2016 forecasts for DEO and doesn't think the stock is going anywhere.

After Julia Boorstin described Google's streaming music, Doc took a victory lap over Jay Z's company "circling the drain" and losing another CEO.

Doc even explained what "DOA" stands for.

Pete Najarian said AT&T calls were popular.

Don’t accuse the Najarians of making 5-minute trades (cont’d)

Judge on Tuesday's Halftime had quite a get — supergolfer Jordan Spieth. (Although Joe Kernen and Becky Quick and Squawk Box crew got him after the Masters, so maybe it's not a prestigious booking.)

Judge curiously opened by asking if Spieth is "surprised" to be this good this soon. Spieth humbly said that winning majors was "certainly the plan" though he apparently wasn't envisioning 2 so quickly.

Spieth said he initially got a 4-year Under Armour deal, but they "kinda ripped it up" and did a 10-year deal instead.

Judge asked Spieth if Chambers Way provides a good tune-up for the British Open, kind of a strange question because all the other players who played both events will get the same preparation.

Judge told Spieth that he could "guarantee" Spieth will be back on if Spieth wins the British Open.

Judge admitted he doesn't know whether Under Armour has a golf shoe.

Meanwhile, Jon Najarian, who apparently cashed in big on a quick AMBA flip, said on Tuesday's Halftime Report that he "took about 75% off" of his position, you know, the knock on wood, etc., and managed to mock those who still fault the stock's technicals.

Interview subject apparently doesn’t realize MCC is making a point

Judge on Tuesday's Halftime gave CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera a chance at the opening to report from the streets of Athens, but MCC was drowned out by a bullhorn and (initially) a lousy audio connection.

Moments later, MCC questioned some chap as to whether retiring at 58 seems a little early. This fellow told MCC that for women it should be earlier.

Paul Richards confidently predicted, "The deal will be done by Sunday ... so (if you're in Englewood Cliffs) you'll see Michelle on Monday."

But when it came to the Fed, Judge said he thinks some people in the market need a "reality check" given that 15 of 17 "dots" predict a rate hike this year, and 10 of them see 2.

Jim Lebenthal said he's now thinking this is a "December move" by the Fed.

Jon Najarian said he still thinks it's "December at the earliest."

Paul Richards predicted the Fed would act in October. Jim Lebenthal said there's no press "cronference" (sic) at that meeting. Richards said it doesn't matter.

Richards also dialed down his 116 euro forecast.

If they’re just posters, maybe $500 including frames

Meg Tirrell sat down with Boston Scientific chief Michael Mahoney on Tuesday's Halftime Report, but more interesting than their product discussion was the collection of Monroe Warhols behind them.

Happy Birthday to Jim Iuorio, who turned 50 Tuesday and told Jackie DeAngelis, 22, that the 10-year is going to 2.6%.

Jeff Kilburg said such a move may be "short-lived."

Courtney Reagan reported on eBay banning Confederate flag items but unfortunately in one reference left out the "l."

Doc said there was "strong, unusual activity" in LULU August 72.50 calls. Pete Najarian trumpeted MCD.

[Monday, June 22, 2015]

Mandy. In. Purple.

5 p.m. Fast Money viewers walked into heaven Monday, but more on that later.

Whatever Kool-aid Pete Najarian is drinking, we need some.

Touting DB on Monday's 5 p.m. Fast Money, Najarian actually said, "$45 is not that far away." (This writer is long DB.)

What ... in the world ... is Pete talking about.

Rich Greenfield, long a superstar guest but also a guy who sometimes hosts NFLX conference calls, hung a 950 on the stock in part because the company is "literally lowering the churn rate" with its array of content.

But Tim Seymour said "you'd be crazy to be chasin' it."

On the Halftime Report, Dr. New Land actually endorsed Gene Munster's loopy FB note somehow crediting Oculus as a catalyst.

"I like the call," Joe said, despite stating the real reason the stock should approach 100 is because of how the company has navigated mobile.

Pete Najarian said "it's less about the whole Oculus thing" and said he liked the stock for other reasons and inadvertently suggested that Judge was the one touting Oculus. Judge decided to be a hard ass and declare that it's Munster saying that, not Judge.

Joe admitted that being in the VIX recently in his Halftime Portfolio was a "horrible thing to do." (But Joe hasn't been as bad as Steve "Mr. Correction" Grasso.)

Joe said the market "could be breaking out," led by financials.

Gemma Godfrey said there's "pent-up demand" (Drink) in the auto sector.

Brent Thill advised viewers get a basket of cybersecurity stocks and especially include PANW.

Joe hung a 125 on DIS.

Mandy Drury brought down the house in guest-host attire.

[Friday, June 19, 2015]

Heads they fail to take the tough medicine now; tails they kick the can down the road

On Friday's Halftime Report, Tobias Levkovich, whose mike initially didn't work but was allowed to proceed by Judge, predicted "another 4 or 5%" for the rest of 2015.

That seems modest enough, except Levkovich dismissed the "idiosyncratic moves" in the transports and said — here comes the whopper — he's watching "very firm" hiring intentions and the "unemployed workers uh divided by the number of job- open listings. They're telling us we're gonna get wage increases."

We've heard that one before.

Jim Lebenthal said he's "definitely not" calling a breakout in stocks.

Stephanie Link decided that we're in a "trading range."

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera reported a lot of "withdrarals" (sic) from Greek banks.

Doc for the umpteenth time predicted Draghi will bring out the "$1 trillion bazooka" if there's a Grexit.

Doc apparently looking out for clients while show airs

Josh Brown on Friday's Halftime Report predicted the "acquisition rumor is gonna be a permanent feature" of TWTR shares and claimed the "tech press" has been complimenting Project Lightning.

More importantly, Doc said July 34 calls in TWTR were showing up on HeatSeeker, so he called Bob Peck; he said "this afternoon" (sic the show was barely 15 minutes past noon Eastern time) he took some profits for client accounts.

Bob Pisani said that the IPO market is experiencing its "biggest June since 1999."

Jim Lebenthal called FIT a "one-trick pony."

Doc said he couldn't believe someone downgraded MU last week at a 52-week low.

Why buy PFE at 35 if there are no sellers in C over 55?

Hardeep Walia visited Friday's Halftime Report to talk about the cybersecurity Motif and touted the projected growth in spending.

Judge said that's fine, but he asked if buyers are too late to these stocks.

Stephanie Link said no, saying we're in the "very early innings."

Jim Lebenthal said he's got a position in VDSI.

Doc said he likes "virtually everything" in the cybersecurity Motif.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Link said HSY has "secular headwinds."

Josh Brown said KBH might be setting up for an inverse head-and-shoulders.

Grandpa Jim Lebenthal grumbled that CAG's move could be a bit of a "sugar rush," and he's not sure Jana can do a whole lot to shake it up.

Josh Brown hailed ABBV and especially PFE, stating that if the latter's above 35 you should be long as it's "probably a layup toward 40."

Doc said to get out of BMRN but to hold GILD.

Brown trumpeted FOGO as "casual dining" (has he checked out the prices at the place?).

[Thursday, June 18, 2015]

Uber investor hangs $45 billion on IPO; Doc unable to answer simple question about what he thinks of the Uber IPO (translation: there was nothing about it on HeatSeeker this morning)

One of the more unusual Halftime Report guests recently was Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, dubbed by Judge on Thursday as a "big fan of CNBC."

It turns out Kramer is in the coffee business, saying coffee is his "2nd passion" and that he launched Rockin' & Roastin' because traveling around the world, he was unable to get a really good cup of coffee except "maybe in Europe sometimes."

Coffee is certainly a competitive business. He mentioned that his product is already in grocery stores and hotels, which at a minimum puts him a step ahead of Marcus Lemonis.

But in a reversal, Kramer asked the panel what they think about the Uber IPO that's "supposed to be valued at like 45 billion."

Doc said the Uber IPO will be "huge" (ya think?) but advised Kramer to check out Lyft. "There won't just be 1 winner," Doc said.

But why would Kramer bother with that when he's already an Uber shareholder. He said he got Uber shares through "an entity I can't divulge."

Kramer also asked about the HPQ split. Judge of course turned to Pete, but Pete doesn't trumpet the stock anymore because the momentum has lost and he thinks everyone's waiting for the split.

"I'm not a real big investor in, in uh, the stock market; I prefer stuff that's a little bit safer," said Kramer, evidently unflinching about Judge's 2015 theme of a bubble in the Silicon Valley private market.

Judge asked Kramer to give a "shout-out" from the Halftime crew to the other band members. We have a hard time envisioning Kramer at the next jam session telling the musicians, "Judge says 'hi' by the way," but maybe it happens.

Quite frankly, no one will sell C over 55

Pete Najarian said he's a "little surprised" about the Barclays downgrade of LUV, then brought up again how the airlines recently crossed the 200-day (Drink).

Doc contended the airlines are "overhedged."

Josh Brown likes C because he thinks it has broken through 55 and he says "you're gonna see a whole new wave of buyers coming in here, and, and quite frankly, there are no sellers above this level."

Pete and Doc didn't seem so enthusiastic and mentioned other banks instead.

Doc said ORCL didn't do a good job of preparing the Street for its results. He said he bought a call spread in the name on Thursday morning because "I've got almost 4 times the potential upside as I have risk on the table."

Brown said of ORCL, "This is where you buy it."

Doc also said he bought MBI.

President makes statements, refuses to take any questions

Well, whaddaya know.

On Wednesday's Halftime Report, viewers heard about how they should avoid the bond proxies in this rising-rate environment.

By Thursday, with the S&P 500 suddenly up 20 points, Doc pointed out that utilities were on the way up amid the "lower for longer" mind-set.

Paul Richards, on the other hand, said to get ready for more than one Fed move.

"They'll go at least twice," Richards said.

Richards said people he talks to are "really worried" about Greece, but, "I think a deal's gonna happen."

Richards said to be long the euro to 116½, then sell.

Josh Brown and Pete Najarian both suggested transports are making a "double-bottom."

Doc said people at the Wall Street Decathlon and all kinds of other yuppie events are "loaded" with FitBit. Josh Brown referred to the "iWatch" (sic). Pete Najarian referred to "iWatches" (sic) and said AAPL will eventually "eat their lunch."

Judge brought in Carl Quintanilla to promote "The New High: Extreme Sports," which figures to be a good documentary, something CNBC hardly does anymore.

Commenting on the horrific South Carolina massacre — we might say "unthinkable" but such things unfortunately really aren't anymore — in remarks aired live during the Halftime Report, President Barack Obama made clear the effect such incidents have had on himself; "I've had to make statements like this too many times," and blamed anti-gun politicians for this atrocity.

[Wednesday, June 17, 2015]

Dana Telsey plays both good cop and bad cop with KORS (Tip: TAG stands for ‘Telsey Advisory Group’)

Dr. New World impressively wasted no time on Wednesday's Halftime in challenging Dana Telsey with a "tough question" on her recently bullish KORS call (about a week before the super-tanking).

Telsey admitted that "frankly, handbag slowdown is certainly a concern," and said she lowered her price target to $50 and rating to "market perform."

Judge, sensing rhetoric that didn't match the rating, asked why Telsey isn't issuing a sell on the name.

Telsey said KORS has new products gaining share and that it's still a "quite robust" business.

Jon Najarian reaffirmed that he bought KORS on the plunge and is still holding it for client accounts.

Telsey said it's "gonna take time" for Gap to right the ship.

Doc suggested GPS will change its corporate name to Old Navy; "don't be surprised," he said.

Joe pegs Pete at 6-4,
‘200-whatever’

Judge on Wednesday's pre-Fed Halftime considered the big news of the morning to be Piper's "Underweight" call on BMY, which of course stoked the pistons of Pete Najarian, who called it a "steal" at 65.

Mr. New Land also disagreed with the call and defiantly hung a 75 target on the stock and scoffed at Piper predicting 60 while the stock is at 65.

Jim Lebenthal suggested the Piper analyst was trying to be a "hero."

Given another chance, Joe knocked the "function of these analyst notes" and challenged analysts to go whole hog on the sell call like Einhorn or Whitney Tilson.

5 minutes, or 3 hours — another short-term time frame is suggested but no one gets chippy this time

We always want to see folks get off to a good start, so it was disappointing to see Dr. New World tripped up by Judge in the 4th minute of Wednesday's Halftime.

The subject was a Fed plan.

"Sell utilities. Sell bond proxies," declared Joe, who endorsed regional banks.

Moments later, he admitted he's been thinking Yellen might be more "doversh" (sic) than people think, "which would not be consistent with the strategy that you're asking me for."

Moments later, Joe sputtered, "The rhetoric might be there- the rhetoric might be there to balance what potentially comes in the Eurozone over the next couple of days, but don't believe it. ... Go with the strategy to expect rates to rise."

So, if we've adequately untangled this, it sounds like Joe was saying that Yellen might be overly dovish, which wouldn't play into the sell-bond-proxies trade ... but that you should do the strategy anyway because nobody will believe the dovishness, in which case, wondering if Yellen might be more dovish than people think seems like a pointless endeavor.

Atul Lele told Judge that the Fed will chalk up Q1 to a "soft patch."

Backing Joe's (initial) view, Lele said he's short XLU and wants to be out of bond proxies.

Lele likes GOOG, AAPL, INTC and F.

Jim Lebenthal had a different take, stating, "The overall stock market is going to rally on what will be perceived as a dovish liftoff trajectory."

Joe demanded to know if that's "sustainable."

"Sustainable through the end of today, Joe," Lebenthal said.

Doc at the end of the show said people should ask about "some of the leaks that have coming (sic) been coming out of the Fed."

More than a year since we’ve heard an update on Fleck restarting the short fund

Jim Lebenthal on Wednesday's Halftime said "you can hold" BOBE but he wouldn't initiate a new position, a pair of observations that make absolutely no sense in the same sentence.

Along those lines, Pete Najarian said you can stay in Starbucks, but he's not in it.

Najarian said you can buy FDX at 175 because the pullback "might be overexaggerated."

Pete called Jesse Ventura a "great guy."

Jeff Kilburg told Jackie DeAngelis that it'll be "lower for longer" in interest rates. Anthony Grisanti said he doesn't see 3.0% on the 10-year but something more like 2.49 as next resistance, then 2.63-2.67.

Grisanti said the 2nd rate hike is the one we'll have to worry about.

Pete Najarian said he would avoid the FitBit IPO because he doesn't want to get "trapped" in it; he's not sure it "has the legs."

Doc said he wouldn't chase the FitBit IPO either but said the time to get in is September-October.

Jim Lebenthal wasn't impressed by FitBit. "There's no defensible moat to competition," Lebenthal said.

[Tuesday, June 16, 2015]

Too bad Doc wasn’t present, would’ve told everyone he made money in the Mark Cuban trade but got out of it too soon

Laura Martin told Judge on Tuesday's Halftime Report that she's "not that worried" about BABA racing NFLX to the Chinese market and thus is raising her NFLX price target to 780.

Josh Brown said Martin had a "couple of interesting things" in her report, including that overseas subscribers become more profitable faster than U.S. subscribers.

Martin said "content costs offshore are much lower" than in the U.S., so there's a higher return on capital overseas.

Martin said that a 10-for-1 split makes sense. (Why it makes any more sense than a 5:1 or 1:1 (that means doing nothing), we have no clue.)

Stephen Weiss claimed he likes the stock even though he can never "come to grips" with the valuation.

But Weiss then grumbled that he's "always concerned" when analysts upgrade their targets after the price has already exceeded the previous target; "are they really that committed to it."

Pete Najarian said $32 "is time to finally buy" TWTR. (That's probably a 5-minute trade.)

TWTR long Josh Brown said he's "still disappointed" in management.

Heads, they fail to take the painful medicine now; tails, they kick the can down the road (Drink)

Mohamed El-Erian, a Halftime Report regular regardless of what shop he's working at, told Judge on Tuesday, "There's a 55% probability we do not get a deal" on Greece, explaining that's not just because people are "exaserated" (sic no "p") with the situation but that there is increasing confidence that Europe will be OK with no deal.

El-Erian told Stephen Weiss that in 2010 and 2012 he was really worried about Greece contagion, but he's not anymore.

Back home, El-Erian predicted the Fed will communicate that any tightening cycle will be "shallow" and "conditional."

(However, he didn't say that "if rates are going up for a good reason" (Drink) ...)

Meanwhile, David Herro said Greece's volatility has given long-term investors opportunity in Europe. "The market's already, uh, smelling a Greek ex- exit," and that European financials already have been hit in anticipation, Herro said.

Don’t tell Julie Goodridge what Under Armour is doing

Dom Chu on Tuesday's Halftime Report explained that UA's new share structure is designed to "put the voting power" in the hands of Kevin Plank.

Josh Brown said that doesn't bother him because if you're long the stock, you're long Kevin Plank.

Brown even went so far as to rationalize why GOOG and NYT did favorable share structures. Stephen Weiss implicitly endorsed the practice, stating that if you don't like it, find other stocks to buy.

Brown said he wouldn't short MNST.

Scott Nations told Jackie DeAngelis that "the only catalyst" for gold is if the Fed says no rate hike this year.

Rick Horrow told Judge that he would "guarantee" that if there's a story in the Cardinals-Astros hacking report, Rob Manfred will get to the bottom of it.

Maybe not 5 minutes, but 3 days: Pete still chippy over Judge’s strangely chippy comment

Pete Najarian on Tuesday's Halftime Report admitted he and Judge were "jousting" a day ago about whether Pete makes calls for the next 5 minutes.

Then Pete (that picture above is not from Tuesday) pointed to the fact that on Tuesday, he was excited about hot XLF calls for December, apparently as some kind of longer-term validation.

"I wasn't suggesting you can't make money in financials," Judge protested, insisting he was merely pointing out that Pete and Andrew Wellington have "totally" different time horizons.

Pete chortled, "Well, he was 5 years, and I wasn't 5 minutes."

No, but earlier in the program, Pete pointed out that he's in CAH June 90 calls that expire Friday.

3 gaps, 1 episode

Stephen Weiss on Tuesday's Halftime Report struggled to answer Judge's question as to whether GPS can regain its mojo and wasn't really convincing.

About half an hour later, Herb Greenberg declared of GOOG, "There's a 24% gap between GAAP and non-GAAP earnings!"

Herb was contending that stock-based compensation in GOOG, which he heard about from one of the smartest tech investors he knows, is one of the "great risks that nobody's talking about."

At first he thought, who cares, but once he looked at it, "My eyes popped out of my head," because "they're growing so much faster than revenue."

Josh Brown suggested that CSCO did the same thing way back in the day but made up for it with buybacks.

Herb insisted, "I guarantee" that this issue will be "front and center" in the next 2 quarters.

Brown said that if you're Google, what should really keep you awake at night is Facebook.

More from Tuesday's Halftime later.

[Monday, June 15, 2015]

Maybe he should have Pachter do bank estimates since Pachter was No. 1 in StarMine 3 of the last 11 14 years

Talk about thin-skinned.

Judge's Halftime crew on Monday sounded crestfallen, or even downright offended, that star guest Andrew Wellington doesn't like banks ... and even sought to convince him that he really sort of does.

Wellington said he won't own banks because it's necessary to get the earnings forecasts right, and that having worked in the sector, he finds it too difficult.

Sarat Sethi said he agrees with that but said he's "started nibbling" on the regionals and wondered if Wellington doesn't think there's opportunity there.

Wellington responded that in the early days, he owned a regional bank that became one of the worst investments in the history of the firm.

Pete Najarian stressed that the Halftime crew can like banks and not be taking the other side of Wellington on this subject because the Halftime crew is making short-term calls, not 5-year calls.

Judge for some reason bristled that it's not about the next 5 minutes.

Pete agreed and indicated it's "somewhere in the very middle term."

Dr. New World pointed out that Wellington likes NDAQ and AMP. Wellington said he likes financial services, just not financials.

Wellington could've and should've pointed out that banks in a rising-rate environment is seen by many as a lay-up trade, and there really is no such thing.

Wellington, who said he always owns just 33 stocks, told Steve Weiss that he can get small-cap-type returns by owning large caps, without the small-cap risks.

Weiss clumsily explained how a financial-services fund got Ocwen wrong.

Mandy wants Pete’s opinion on leopard-print outfit

Jim Keenan on Monday's Halftime Report asserted that high yield is more tied to corporate earnings than interest-rate swings, and, uncorking an old favorite of CNBC, added, "If rates are moving because the economy's improving" (Drink), then high-yield will do OK.

Dr. New World told Keenan that at some point, bond liquidity is going to be "somewhat limited" and wondered about ETFs.

Keenan said the ETFs are "great tools" to manage risk and get in and out of positions quickly.

Judge let Keenan speak for about as long as Bill Clinton got at the 1988 Democratic Convention.

Keenan actually said "the market's volatile" (snicker).

If it’s really a momentum stock, why would you be buying it on the way down?

For the longest time, Pete Najarian pounded the table for MU.

"Micron's going higher. It's going higher. Micron's going higher. It's going higher. Micron's going higher. It's going higher. Micron's going higher. It's going higher. Micron's going higher. It's going higher," Pete would say.

But on Monday's Halftime, he admitted that he has "unfortunately" been watching the stock fall, and he even predicted "continued weakness" in the stock.

Stephen Weiss said he owns MU indirectly through funds and their story is that INTC might buy MU, not compete with it.

Weiss asserted that MU is a "momentum stock." Then he said that everybody hates the stock so much, it's a "great entry point."

But Sarat Sethi said MU has got enough issues aside from INTC, and if INTC decides to compete in the space, look out below.

Joe is the latest to think a CEO’s background will better monetize TWTR

Stephen Weiss on Monday's Halftime Report said he wouldn't buy TWTR.

Mr. New Land warned that the stock could fall more on its earnings.

Off on a typical cause-effect confusion, Joe said that TWTR needs "someone with Wall Street experience" as CEO, and he thinks there's someone there fitting that bill.

Pete Najarian said there was "very aggressive buying" in INVN September 18 calls. Pete said he'll be in these options for "2 to 4 weeks" (Drink).

Jon Najarian buzzed in via satellite to say that ZU June 14 calls were popular. He said people are still looking for upside in calls that expire Friday.

Joe Terranova concluded his CMCSA explanation with a strange question for Judge about the age for taking kids to the movies. Judge had no clue.

Sarat Sethi predicted a Greece-closure correction will be "so short-lived." Steve Weiss said it's too hard to time corrections.

Joe Terranova said that European yields are the most important thing to watch.

Stephen Weiss called the CVS-Target deal a "win-win situation."

Pete Najarian said not to chase the builders; they're "almost impossible" to trade.

Phil LeBeau mentioned the impact on "United Technology (sic)" shares of its news at the Paris Air Show. Sarat Sethi touted HON, then claimed oil prices are part of the reason for fewer jet orders this year.

Morgan Brennan, who is very pretty, spoke about TheDecathlon.org and congratulated Doc for his performance in the 500-meter row, while she thought her own time of "about 2:15" was great but given what others did, maybe not.

Unfortunately, Brennan delivered stark news for males considering attending this event: "Not a lot of women showed up," Brennan said.

[Friday, June 12, 2015]

Dick didn’t have the right ‘cadence’ or ‘iteration’

Judge continues to refuse to address the cockamamie idea of Ross Levinsohn — expressed on Judge's own show — that TWTR should buy YHOO.

If you're wondering why such a view hasn't come up in the discussion about whether this individual should be chosen to lead Twitter, you're not alone.

On Friday's Halftime Report, Bob Peck told Judge that Dick Costolo's ouster is a "catalyst for change" even though there's no sign of any change at the moment including in the stock price.

Peck claimed that what sank Dick was, "At the end of the day it was a lack of product, um, cadence, iteration."

Yeah ... sure ...

What are all these great products that Twitter is supposed to be doing. Why isn't Chris Sacca in charge and making it the next Facebook.

Peck rattled off Ross Levinsohn, Adam Bain and Mike McCue as CEO candidates and, as he did Thursday afternoon, suggested Bain has worked with Levinsohn so if Bain doesn't get the job he might stay if Levinsohn gets the job (perhaps to help with that acquisition of Yahoo and then we'll see where Marissa Mayer fits in).

Peck said there was "a little bit of angst" between Dick and the "industry."

Peck may have been ahead of the curve on Costolo's employment, but he's behind the curve on the company. Dick's out not because of Dick, but because this company's going nowhere. As a social media hotshot, it's done. Honestly it really "never was." It's more a vehicle for abuse and parodies than anything else; just look up Gasparino's feed. It's benefited from enormous free advertising from CNBC and all kinds of other media for many years, and not enough people use it and it just can't be monetized in any kind of grand scale, which makes it much like Yahoo circa 2001.

Josh Brown grumbled that the Twitter conference call yesterday was the "most laid-back, casual" that a termination could be, like a "support group in a church basement somewhere ... these guys are dressed in black, everyone looks miserable. There's no passion."

Peck conceded he cut the price target from 44 to 40 and that he doubts there's an "imminent" deal. (But there's all kinds of "iteration" that is going to be discovered and exploited.)

Doc said, "There is no upside call speculation in this name. Almost none."

Look at the Silicon Valley diversity in possible TWTR CEO picks

Jon Najarian on Friday's Halftime said he bought 1 of the 5 S&P dogs this year, KORS, reporting that he got in at 46 and has already taken gargantuan profits as it's now 48 but that clients are still long and he thinks it gets to the mid-50s.

Jim Lebenthal gushed about KORS, saying he's interested in the stock because of the "complete shellacking" in the past year.

But at least 3 or 4 times Lebenthal, despite liking a $48 price, insisted you may not want to buy now; "it's just a question of when."

Doc said SNDK is getting "very interesting."

Josh Brown though contended that "there's absolutely no sign" that any of those 5 names (he said 6) are anything but falling knives at this point.

So, it’s the Tony Dwyer formula

Well, it wasn't as bad as Matthew Rhodes-Kropf's M&A "snap." But it's worse than Dan Greenhaus' "sideways correction."

Dubravko Lakos, JPMorgan's head of U.S. equity strategy, said on Friday's Halftime Report that it's a "likelihood" that the market experiences a 5-10% correction around the Fed's hike.

He said he would "most likely" buy that dip, but it would depend on the Fed's "tone" and "guidance."

Lakos, who likes banks but not so much utilities, said he looks at the "shareholder yield" as favoring stocks over bonds through this year.

LLY may not have
cured Alzheimer’s

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's Halftime invoked Joe, saying LLY has been in the "penalty box" (Drink) for years but now has new things in the pipeline and he likes the stock.

But Lebenthal cautioned that "it's not quite clear" that Lilly has the answer for Alzheimer's.

Josh Brown said he wouldn't buy LLY because it's kind of extended.

Doc said Carolina Panthers owner "Richardson" is getting richer off of BOJA.

Jim Lebenthal said MDLZ is fighting organic-food headwinds, and the "valuations here make no sense to me."

Josh Brown predicted URBN sees 30 before 40.

Jim Iuorio said there's a "tiny bit" of downside potential to corn.

Doc said he's in FCAU.

Mark Rubin helped Judge promote the Wall Street Decathlon with tiny Morgan Brennan and CNBC producer Shannan Siemens, who is from Louisville.

At the end of the program, Judge actually brought up the once-popular "may be tough for some folks to want to be long going into the weekend" (haven't heard that one since at least October, maybe not since 2013 really).

[Thursday, June 11, 2015]

We wuz wrong — Dick didn’t really work out (a/k/a TWTR enters YHOO commodity land)

Well, it looks like this page's defense of Dick Costolo did ... absolutely no good.

Bob Peck, who has been hinting to Judge about Costolo's exit since the beginning of the year (albeit with caveats), was basically right.

We still can't quite figure out all the pressure. Zuck's stock was an instant disaster for about a year and a half. He stuck around. TWTR by contrast has spent much of its public life trading north of its IPO.

If Dick is the scapegoat for monthly active users, this is just bizarre.

The news happened Thursday afterhours. Karen Finerman on the 5 p.m. Fast Money said it was interesting that the stock was up "only" $1.90. She said bulls can be heartened by 3 things, the CEO is out, the door is "certainly more open" to an acquisition than a day ago, and also that they didn't guide down, which makes the stock to her "sorta interesting."

Finerman said change was "needed."

Guy Adami said it would "probably" make a lot of sense for either GOOG or AAPL to buy TWTR.

Adami at least twice claimed the company has been "mismanaged" (without stating what he would do to boost MAUs) and called it a buy against 35. Finerman said she agreed.

Dan Nathan actually complained that the stock has been a "train wreck" for all the suckers people who decided to buy it in the 40s and 50s and sell it in the 30s. (That's Dick's fault too.)

Peck turned up on the show and suggested that Chris Sacca's recent post was a difference-maker.

Then Peck rattled off his list of possible replacements — headed by Ross Levinsohn, a fine executive but one who declared on CNBC recently the utterly cockamamie notion that TWTR should buy YHOO.

Peck also suggested Mike McCue, Evan Williams, Adam Bain and Kevin Systrom but said he doesn't see Marissa Mayer or Anthony Noto as likely candidates.

The Fast Money gang is missing the boat here. Dick is stepping down because this is like Yahoo 2001. It's over. All the ideas, a few decent and many dumb, have been heard. There's no way to monetize this "product" at least in the ways that Wall Street fat cats somehow envision.

We'll take the other side of Fast Money's enthusiasm. This feels like a sell.

Dan Niles didn't sound nearly as excited about the move as Karen Finerman did.

Kara Swisher's phone connection unfortunately was so bad, she sounded like the adults on the old Peanuts cartoons, and we honestly aren't even sure what she said.

If Peck is right, Twitter might hire a talented person (that would be Levinsohn) whose grand plan is one of the most knuckleheaded ever shared, buying YHOO.

The apparent hope of Finerman, Nathan, Adami, etc. is either it gets bought for a huge premium, or it somehow buys something else far more valuable like Jerry Yang did with BABA back in the day.

Regardless, TWTR is no longer a September call-up, but Kevin Maas or Mike Pagliarulo in Year 3. #nomorepotential. It's over.

OK, we get it: Pimco apparently has a lot more Treasury exposure than just 8.5%

In a strange equivocation, Pimco CIO Scott Mather told Judge on Thursday's Halftime that the graphic showing Pimco's U.S. Treasury allocation falling from 23.4% in April 2015 to 8.5% in May 2015 is "100% accurate of course" ... only to go out of his way to indicate how it's not really that accurate.

First, Mather explained the change in the numbers this way: "For us, it's an implementation around these turning points."

Whatever that means.

Then he said the 8.5% "includes a lot of other things" such as options and swaps and inflation-like securities.

"We didn't shift as much as that number would suggest over the last month," Mather said, insisting duration matters more than market value.

Nevertheless, Doc said the change was a "massive move" and questioned what kind of liquidity Pimco was able to find in that transition.

Mather said he expects the Fed to move in September. Judge still decided to ask how confident Mather is that the Fed will move this year. "We think they should move," Mather said, saying there's a "good case" that "they're already behind the curve" and indicating he's "pretty confident" of a September move.

Mather said of the liquidity-in-the-bond-market question, "Some of the claims seem a little bit exaggerated."

Later, Stephen Antczak sat in with the gang and said that in the bond market, "The buy side has gotten less diverse."

Herb’s can’t-lose strategy

On a day that CTXS jumped a robust 7%, Herb Greenberg sought to explain on Thursday's Halftime Report how his bear case was also a bull case.

Herb explained that he thought CTXS would underperform because it was a mess, but that sort of analysis would potentially dovetail with an activist who might see it as a promising target and if that happens, the stock's probably a buy.

Whatever.

Judge said Herb was describing a cycle of "hope to despair and back again."

Doc somehow said Herb was "spot on."

Josh Brown said you can't short YELP because it can always get bought out, but if nobody's making offers now, when will they ever. Nevertheless he thinks it gets under 50 and wouldn't be long either.

adidas loses chance at WNBA, development league deal

Josh Brown on Thursday's Halftime said getting the LULU founder out of the picture might be positive for the stock.

Pete Najarian said he might get into the stock by the end of the day.

"If Chip Wilson wants out, I want in," Pete said.

Jon Najarian said that Nike getting the NBA deal freezes out adidas from the women's league and the developmental league. (Look at all that lost revenue.)

Josh Brown said of BOX, "sell it."

Brown also said to sell FOXA.

Pete backed a 205 target on FDX.

Doc said AMGN goes "well over 160."

The Najarians said JPM June 69 calls were popular.

Jon Najarian said GPS 38.50 calls were popular and with the aid of a chart gloated that he was buying Thursday around the bottom. He said he's long.

Josh Brown touted WETF.

Pete Najarian touted VOYA.

[Wednesday, June 10, 2015]

‘There can be sideways corrections’

For the longest time, various folks on CNBC have warned of looming corrections.

But perhaps we've been having one for 6 months, according to Dan Greenhaus on Wednesday's Halftime Report.

"Corrections aren't always downward in nature. They- there can be sideways corrections," Greenhaus claimed.

A non-downward correction.

Is this a great bull market, or what?!?

But if you thought that sounded goofy, check out the material from Harvard Business School Professor Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, who, pointing to an enormous sample size of 6 (specifically 1904 and 1929), said merger waves tend to end with "precipitous declines" in stock market value.

Rhodes-Kropf suggested the current M&A market is being driven "by debt market misvaluation" and even cited "Moody's mistakes."

Judge suggested that Rhodes-Kropf was describing a scenario in which rates rise and sink M&A activity, which sinks stocks.

Rhodes-Kropf said it happens faster than that; "something goes wrong in these deals," and there's "sort of a snap."

Perma-correction-monger (downward not sideways) Steve Grasso on the 5 p.m. Fast Money said we might have a "head-fake rally," but then it's "more, more, more pressure going forward."

According to a search of StarMine site, Pachter won in 2015 and 2008, finished 3rd in 2012, 2nd in 2006, in the ‘Software’ category

Mark Mahaney on Wednesday's Halftime Report said he thinks NFLX will split and gushed that customer satisfaction is rising and that the company is "really ramping into international markets."

On the 5 p.m. Fast Money, Melissa Lee brought in perma-NFLX-correction-monger (downward not sideways) Michael Pachter, who stuck by his 270 target and, as he typically does, implied that the stock buyers have it wrong.

"I'm wrong on the share price, and I'm gonna be wrong as long as investors suspend disbelief and are willing to pay for subscriber growth only," Pachter said.

The point here isn't to slam Pachter, seemingly an affable chap who probably has many good calls.

It's to point out how the analyst space can represent not a whole lot of value added or even the reverse, particularly when TV goes to this well often for insight.

Declaring "nobody asks me whether they should buy or sell a stock," Pachter boasted that he has won the StarMine Award for earnings accuracy multiple times. "It's the 3rd time I've won it in 11 years," he said.

"People pay me for being right about earnings," he said.

(In a tweet in May, he actually said it's 3 times since 2001. The listings on the StarMine site go back to 2002.)

So if his specialty is earnings, 1) why does he issue price targets that are just for fun, and 2) why is he opining on television for about the 5th year in a row that Amazon's going to muscle into this space and wipe out Netflix?

He's so bashful about his stock calls that he not only appeared Wednesday, but also fielded questions about it on CNBC on Monday.

Melissa Lee somehow said, "I respect all these reasons that you're laying out Michael."

It's fine to respect a person. It's loopy to respect a ghastly unrealized argument that has proven disastrous to anyone who actually believed it.

Lee nevertheless told her panel, "Gotta respect him for sticking to the guns."

Can't imagine why.

Doc: Buy TWTR under $35

Meanwhile in the Web space, Mark Mahaney explained on Wednesday's Halftime how he dropped his BABA price target a grand $5, from $110 to $105. (This writer is long BABA.)

Mahaney said the company recently clarified estimates on a couple of "relatively material" events, for having to stop the online lotteries it was running on government orders and also the "price cuts for their group-buying platform."

Mahaney said he's on the "sidelines" regarding Twitter, stating the re-acceleration in user growth hasn't happened despite company promises.

"Quite frankly, I think Twitter will be fine over the longer term," said Josh Brown, quite a pronouncement.

Doc said he thinks TWTR will break 35, then you can buy between 30-32.

Doc made air quotes when referring to Mark Cuban's "forever" trade in NFLX.

Score one for print media

Stephanie Link, who has a non-Cramer job and isn't really on the Halftime Report anymore, turned up Wednesday and wasted no time in uncorking the cliches.

"If rates are going up for the right reasons (Drink), that's a good thing," Link said.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera came loaded with sources on the Germany-Greece report/rumor, explaining that while the sources held differing views of this rumor, they agree that any disbursement would be small.

Richard Moroney told Judge that the transports are a "really good barometer" of the economy and currently represent a "yellow flag."

Jim Iuorio predicted $3 nat gas within a month and a half.

In one of the craziest bits of analysis recently, Josh Brown said Citigroup suggested drones could supersede GoPro's business. Pete Najarian nevertheless called the stock a buy in the mid-50s.

Doc said he likes NVDA and reported unusual call activity in BAX.

Judge held up Steve Schwarzman's article in the WSJ and, as the Dow climbed 250 points, demanded to know the real risks of liquidity in the bond market.

As Judge related a Citi note about a possible "rush for the exit" in corporate bonds, Josh Brown contended, "The big fallacy is that if only we would let Wall Street's investment banks back into this game, they'll protect us when there's an overwhelming amount of sellers. They'll come in and stand and buy. It's such a lie, it's almost a joke."

[Tuesday, June 9, 2015]

First the 5% correction,
then the ‘rip higher’

Tony Dwyer admitted to Judge on Tuesday's Halftime Report that he's been in the correction camp (Drink) "for the better part of the year."

But he said he's "not even thinking about" changing his 2,340 year-end S&P forecast.

Dwyer thinks a Fed hike that maybe is earlier than some expect will spook the market into a 5% correction, then there will be a "rip higher in valuation," pointing to 1997 as a time with a single rate hike.

Steve Grasso said stocks might have a bit of a bounce in them, "but I think the risk is still to the downside."

No. 386 predicted a 10% selloff "probably in short order."

Gemma Godfrey said it's time to "profit from the panic," citing the Dax pullback. "We would actually be buyers on dips," Godfrey said.

Godfrey said of Greece, "It's very likely they're gonna muddle through."

Josh Brown suggested world indexes will pull a "mean reversion" turnaround on U.S. indexes and that the global trade will catch up.

Pete Najarian reported "huge" upside call-buying in BAC.

Dr. New Land said financials are leading the market and then rather clumsily suggested Tuesday's technicals, depending on how they finish the day, could provide something of a short-term floor.

Karen Finerman lit up the 5 p.m. Fast Money with her new va-va-voom black dress.

Doc says 3-4 times that the hot ATVI 25 and 25.50 calls expire within days

Josh Brown said on Tuesday's Halftime Report he doesn't know if a split would matter to NFLX though Judge suggested the stock would take off on the announcement.

Pete Najarian said he agreed with Judge because splits "open up that access."

Doc said ATVI 25 and 25.50 calls that expire in a couple days were hot; he made that observation about the time frame often.

Pete Najarian said WFM 40 calls expiring this week and next were being bought aggressively.

Pete Najarian lamented that airlines broke the 200-day moving average recently. (But if Delta has that refinery, why is it going down?)

(Then on the 5 p.m. Fast Money, Pete restated that airlines have broken charts.)

Pete Najarian called LULU "absolutely" a buy. Josh Brown curiously said he'd want to buy the stock over 70.

Brown said he'd prefer to buy ETSY when it's higher after results have come in.

Joe outlined activities over the past week affecting JOY before stating he doesn't like the stock because it's too tied to Appalachia coal.

Josh Brown said he wouldn't hold his breath for a GM-Fiat merger.

In an interesting conversation without much of a news hook, Nion McEvoy said his prized olive oil sells for $28 a bottle.

Intel interview about as exciting as the company’s stock

Tuesday's Halftime Report featured CNBC's Jon Fortt with Intel's Brian Krzanich and Lisa Lambert, who touted the company's diversity initiatives.

Krzanich said Asian markets continue to be soft, North America is "looking strong," and he assured Fortt, whose questions were quite long, that the company will still grow and hire with the Altera attrition.

Pete Najarian said the Altera deal puts INTC "in the right spot" but that Intel will have to show a year from now and beyond that it can grow.

[Monday, September 8, 2015]

How did Adam Parker miss the
All-America list in 2011-2014?

It was pretty much all AAPL, all day at CNBC on Monday, but Judge did produce Adam Parker on Monday's Halftime Report making a curiously almost double-bullish call on U.S. stocks and U.S. high yield.

Shrugging off bubble concerns, Parker indicated that at this moment, high yield seems to offer a superior risk/reward, which Judge found curious.

"It's more a note for asset allocators Scott than it was for you know my normal core constituency of U.S. equity investors," Parker said.

But Parker also contended that we're in a "once in 40-year setup" where the "bottom-up guys" are too low in stock estimates.

Meanwhile, Ron Kruszewski refused to tell Judge the price Stifel is paying for the Barclays unit.

In one of the longest windups in history, Stephen Weiss asked Kruszewski how Stifel will stand apart in the great wealth-management business. Kruszewski said they will take "capability" and marry it with "the old-line culture."

Jim Lebenthal said he added JCP in his Halftime Portfolio. Stephanie Link's name was mentioned during the conversation for the first time in months.

Stephen Weiss said that it's a "CEO's nightmare" to have a stock go up when his/her departure is announced. But he said in Deutsche Bank's situation, "Part of this is a nod to regulators," and he called it a "good move."

Joe Terranova predicted TSLA "takes out" 279.

Judge during the Triple Crown discussion made sure to mention the Wheels Up reference and pass off Kenny Dichter's "$20 million in media value" estimate as gospel.

Regarding that company in Cupertino, Toni Sacconaghi, differing with Carl Icahn, said, "I struggle to see" why Apple would try to manufacture a television.

Karen Finerman on the 5 p.m. Fast Money was practically beside herself (in chic new blue outfit) after Dom Chu's report of the purported "Triple Crown Curse."

Dan Dicker: Fracking
stocks ‘front-loaded’

He's not the only person arguing against the fracking space.

But Dan Dicker's sit-down with the Halftime crew on Monday produced some decent crude for thought as Judge demanded Dicker defend terms like "Ponzi" and "pyramid."

Dicker asserted that fracking is all about low-hanging fruit, that the easy oil's been made and that the stock multiples are based on "front-loaded" returns from "diamond" acreage that can't be sustained over time.

Mr. New World said he's known Dicker for "many many years" and that he's surprised that Dicker would be sounding so bearish on shale after previously expressing bullishness on the sector, and hasn't it survived the apocalypse.

Dicker said there's still "a lot of capital chasing oil" and he's surprised the "apocalypse" hasn't happened.

Jim Lebenthal said he didn't want to offend Dicker because they just met, but "it just glares" to him that shale production actually continues to get more efficient; "those curves keep moving to the right."

Dicker contended that Einhorn is wrong about 2 things, stating PXD and EOG are big enough to be among the survivors, and also that Einhorn thinks oil is crashing long-term whereas Dicker expects "another boom" down the road.

For now, Dicker expects a "double-dip recession in oil prices," probably in the "low 40s ... in the next several quarters."

Meanwhile, it was interesting to hear Ultimate Airline Cheerleader Pete Najarian start to go south on the stocks now that the momentum has stalled.

"It's very very disturbing," Pete said, gingerly calling the names "oversold down here" but stating he'll play them "only in the options."

Steve weiss called airlines "compelling buy opportunities" but acknowledged "clearly there are weak hands."

More from Monday's shows later.

[Friday, June 5, 2015]

Most accurate analysis of the day

Perhaps Judge has stumbled onto something — concerts to eat up the often ineffective 2nd half-hour of the Halftime Report.

Friday's Halftime brought an appearance by Gooding, who articulately explained how his group delivers financial advice with its performances.

Honestly, we wouldn't have minded hearing Gooding opine on the housing market; he probably could've outdone what James Grosfeld offered a day ago.

Gooding said he advises "slow and steady" to get ahead in the markets, and "really stay away from the same-day lenders."

Steve Liesman for some reason stood there for minutes, then bailed when the performance began. Gooding's lyrics went like this: "'Cause it hurts ... you don't want to ... let anybody love you, anybody love you." Even some CNBCers know that feeling well.

Realistically, Ackman
should start covering

It's one of those stocks you've sort of forgotten about — which is basically good news for HLF longs.

That was basically the message on Friday's Halftime of controversial HLF watcher Tim Ramey, who thinks the beleaguered company is close to putting its problems behind it.

Ramey admitted, "I certainly don't have any data points" to justify a pending resolution, but he thinks it's clear the company has done "a lot of work" in delivering data to the FTC, and then there's the "body language of Herbalife itself" that indicates "they're feeling pretty good about the position they're in."

Ackman has failed spectacularly here, as the public and regulators do not share his concerns about this company, however bad it might be. (This writer has no position in HLF and never has.)

Judge suggested a couple times that there's criminal potential. Ramey told Judge, "We've done a ton of work on the company for sure, and we don't see any evidence of criminal behavior anywhere really."

Judge questioned how the FTC could render a decision in 60-90 days if there's actually a criminal investigation in progress.

"I don't think there's a criminal investigation of Herbalife," Ramey said.

Ramey told Judge he sees very long odds for a company shutdown. "The chance of that is next to zero," he said, predicting a fine instead just because the feds took the time to look.

He said the HLF probe was for "politically motivated purposes ... the volume of complaints just wasn't there," and that given the FTC's presence, they're "likely to find something."

Who booked this laughable segment?

It's one of the strangest, most overpromised features we've heard on the Halftime Report.

Judge on Friday brought in Brian Reynolds with a purported doomsday forecast.

Except it was far more euphoria than doomsday.

Reynolds predicted "the credit market is going to get better over the next 3 or 4 years, even better than it has been the last 6 years. And eventually, we're gonna put on so much leverage that that leverage will blow up at some point, probably a couple of years after the yield curve inverts."

"People are buying corporate bonds now more aggressively than ever," he added.

Pressed by Stephen Weiss as to a time for the big bust, Reynolds said it would take "at least a year" for the yield curve to invert. "So I think you have at least 3 years left in the bull market, probably 4, 5 or 6."

In a first on the Halftime Report, Josh Brown actually invoked "Cocktail," shrugging, "Everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn't end."

Judge & Josh thought they’d look cool in jeans

Steve Liesman said on Friday's Halftime he doubts a June rate hike, partly because of the "lame 2nd-quarter rebound," and he thinks September has become a more "solid call."

Rob Sechan curiously said of the Fed, in a kind of contradiction, "They should've gone already, but it's way too early for them to move right now."

Judge carped at Liesman for telling him where Dudley was.

Jeff Currie said the key OPEC observation is that it's moving from a quota-based system "to going to capacity."

Currie said he wants to call the group "OPIC — Organization of Petroleum Investing Countries."

The Wheels Up guy, Kenny Dichter, predicted "$20 million of value" to his company if American Pharoah wins the Belmont (seen on NBC). We're sure it's a fine company, but we're not interested in touting Mike Murphy's pet projects (JuicePress would be the other).

Thank goodness Rob Sechan honored his TV appearance with appropriate attire, as did Doc and Weiss on a lesser level, while Judge (who struggled with the prompter during Gooding's introduction) and Josh Brown figured they'd just be cool.

[Thursday, June 4, 2015]

Dick’s job looks safe (cont’d)

Scott Devitt told Judge on Thursday's Halftime Report that Chris Sacca's TWTR observations were a "very thoughtful missive," suggesting several points match what Devitt has suggested previously.

But then, the money question. Judge asked Devitt is Dick is still running the place in December.

Devitt's clumsy response was, "I believe that if product improvements do accelerate, and the company executes on a plan that would- would look similar to this, then he absolutely is. If not, it would be more challenging."

Joe Terranova suggested that if TWTR has a bad quarter, "the stock's really in trouble."

Pete Najarian said it's a "huge problem" if a billion people have tried Twitter and less than 300 million remain regular users.

Jon Najarian said he "kicked myself" for not buying TWTR the last time it was around 36 before it rose on promises by Dick that "have not been fulfilled yet," and so he's "tempted" to buy it here.

‘May well be a bubble
in the Treasury market’

Revisiting one of our favorite topics of the spring, Mr. New World on Thursday's Halftime offered an interpretation of Christine Lagarde.

"She's telling you she's worried about the liquidity in the bond market," Joe said, admitting that when Pete talked about it a couple months ago, "I didn't believe there was an issue. There clearly is an issue."

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, sitting in with the gang, said of bonds, "There are whole myriad of reasons about why this could be happening."

Suni Harford said everyone's watching Europe when it's the non-farm payrolls that are more important.

Harford later opined, "There's no bubble in corporate bonds," though "there may well be a bubble in the Treasury market."

Steve Grasso pointed to DE as being "totally dependent on the Fed," but with easy money receding, stocks will come in; "this is a sell signal for the overall market."

Jim Iuorio predicted the euro goes "a little higher."

Suni Harford downplayed Greece being a big deal.

Pete: Buy JWN around 70

Judge hyped his housing conversation on Thursday's Halftime as though it were "Rocky IV," but in actuality the conversation produced as much firepower as the Tampa Bay Lightning offense.

James Grosfeld called the state of housing a "mixed bag" that's doing "reasonably well."

Bill Pulte suggested the housing and homebuilding space are doing fine and are only subejct to the noise of interest rates.

Addressing his big personal investment, Grosfeld said that at BlackRock, "the business model is simple, and very effective."

Doc impressively admitted it was "pretty painful" when WYNN plunged below $100 for OptionMonster clients, but he thinks after the rebound, it's a hold.

Pete Najarian called JWN "an absolute steal" around 70. Joe said 110 is where the "panic" and "protection" is in SJM.

"I'm a big Johnnie Walker guy," said Pete Najarian.

"I have absolutely no clue where the price of oil is going," Joe conceded.

Pete Najarian said to keep an eye on BMY, and Doc said he bought MU for M&A. Joe said to look at CNX.

[Wednesday, June 3, 2015]

No matter what he tries, Judge fails to make a conversation about the 10-year rate interesting

Howard Lutnick on Wednesday's Halftime said central banks have put a "bomb (sic almost thought he said "bond") blanket" on the bond market for so long, "the world's trying to buck up against that bomb blanket."

Lutnick spent most of his appearance gushing about how great rising rates are for BGC and how it's all going to work out great as the central banks very slowly take their feet off the gas pedals.

"We love volatility," Lutnick said.

Doc asked Lutnick about liquidity in the muni market. Lutnick said they used to be interest-rate plays but have become a "credit story."

Despite what Judge said, Gene seems to think ecommerce really is in its ‘infancy’

There's the AAPL car, the MSFT cloud and the AMZN ... quarterly guidance.

Gene Munster was practically in hog heaven on Wednesday's Halftime with his Amazon upgrade, stating the guidance should be higher and that he thinks "people will get more comfortable on the whole margin story."

Judge said he wanted to "sort of take issue" with the comment in Piper's note that "ecommerce is still in its infancy."

Munster said people's estimates of current ecommerce range from 6.5% to 10% of all sales, but he asserted, "Ultimately that number's gonna be 30% in 10, 20 years."

Munster also said AMZN's message for the last 2 conference calls has been that they're focusing on "productivity" margins.

Jim Lebenthal said to him, that means spending on "driverless cars and drone delivery."

Jim Lebenthal thinks Fed chairmen don’t care about stock prices

Steve Liesman said on Wednesday's Halftime that "Scott did a service here" by comparing the remarks of both Yellen and Bernanke on stock valuations.

Liesman sort of took issue with Bernanke, stating that however you measure it, we've had a "stellar expansion" of stocks.

Jon Najarian, refusing to pick between Bernanke and Yellen, said "both are right."

Jim Lebenthal though claimed "they're both wrong" and somehow claimed, "I don't think either of them really care about what the level of stocks are (sic verb)."

"Why is a former Fed head opining on anything?" Lebenthal demanded.

Liesman bristled at that, objecting that Bernanke is just "part of the whole cacophony" of folks with an opinion to share.

Kevin Kelly pointed out that German automakers are the ones really in high gear.

Liesman, making an argument for Tim Seymour, said "all financial research shows (wonder which global funds sponsor that type of research) that people are overinvested in their home base. That they are not globally diversified." Somebody actually linked that to Peter Lynch, who retired, oh, about a quarter of a century ago.

Biotech is so much fun when you pick only the winners

Jon Najarian actually said on Wednesday's Halftime that he added HOG to his Halftime Portfolio because "there's gonna be a lot of focus on Harley over the next several months of the campaign," because Scott Walker is going to be riding motorcycles.

Given that we're only talking fictional portfolios that even the traders aren't too interested in, we're not really going to waste any time on that.

Pete Najarian said YHOO's NFL deal is "not gonna move the needle that much."

Jim Lebenthal called the AAL selloff "a little overdone."

Josh Brown said he likes LNKD and said there are rumors of activist involvement.

Scott Nations said crude prices are going to keep falling. Brian Stutland said he'd buy around 58½ and sell around 61½.

Doc said June 61 calls in AIG were being bought "with abandon."

Josh Brown touted LYV on the prospects of a strong concert season. Jim Lebenthal took the moment to tout JCP again. Doc touted HRTX again, stating it has a "godsend" drug.

[Tuesday, June 2, 2015]

CNBC graphics editor forgot to get a final answer from Pete on SWK

They had typed it in, ready to insert "2 weeks" or, in what would be a mild upset, "3-4 weeks" or even "6 weeks."

Yet, as Pete Najarian said on Tuesday's Halftime that SWK July 105 calls were hot, he admitted, "I tried to get in, Scott. I have not been able to get in yet."

So, as of the airing of the program, he's not in SWK for approximately ... anything.

2% a year for 10 years

In a crisp discussion about a stark forecast, Meb Faber on Tuesday's Halftime Report warned Judge he was going to say "a lot of the same things I said last time I was here in March," namely that we're in "late stages of a U.S. bull market."

But Faber really caught Judge's attention in contending, "Future returns, we're lookin' at, we think 2% a year going forward (sic 2 words redundant) in the next 10 years."

Faber said the "really cheap stuff" is in Europe, Greece, Russia and Brazil, and he thinks those spaces can still bring double-digit returns in the next decade.

Pete Najarian rightly pointed out that most viewers don't want to invest in Russia and asked Faber for U.S. choices, if any. Faber said "financials and energy" are the cheapest sectors and generally, buying the cheapest sectors is a good strategy.

Analyst says Intel deal
fails the ‘giggles test’

In another crisp feature of Tuesday's Halftime, Ambrish Srivastava told Judge, "We don't hold anything back" when making downgrades, such as the takedown he gave INTC, stating he doesn't think ALTR's growth is that great and also it brings up "questions on the balance sheet."

Pete Najarian, a permanent Intel Defender, suggested to Srivastava that this deal "could provide them the growth that they need."

Srivastava said Altera can bring Intel co-processors, but that even if the growth there exceeds expectations, it's still a small portion of Intel's current DCG business. Given the price, "It just doesn't pass the, uh, smell test or the giggles test for me."

Jim Lebenthal wants folks to know he’s not necessarily cheering the 1%

Jim Lebenthal on Tuesday's Halftime Report contended that "the real story" at TIF, "leaving the morality aside," is that "the 1%ers are getting wealthier."

We didn't know that people getting ahead is a "morality" issue. Would it be better if the 1%ers got poorer? That everyone got closer to $0 income? That sprinters got slower? That big league pitchers threw in the 80s?

Refreshingly expressing no such morality concerns, Pete Najarian questioned why TIF is getting into the "entry level."

In an intriguing, if a bit too flip, conversation, Moven founder Brett King told Bob Pisani his company is "a bank account in an app."

King asserted that banks and tellers and branches are going away, but we'll just say, we've heard those predictions for about 20 years now ... and they're still here.

Josh Brown identified DE and FL as short-squeeze candidates. Jim Lebenthal suggested MKC.

Phil LeBeau said the automakers posted "very very strong numbers for the month of May."

Jim Lebenthal said the auto numbers are "very bullish for the economy."

"GM to me right now is a slam dunk," said Josh Brown.

[Monday, June 1, 2015]

How come Pete isn’t calling for WMT, MCD, UPS to buy refineries

Well, someone finally told him to stuff it.

One of Pete Najarian's favorite refrains (there are many) is that omg, Delta was so awesome to buy that refinery.

While we don't doubt that, so far, the refinery has worked for Delta (at least Pete and Karen say it has, but this article disagrees), just compare DAL with other airlines over the last 5 years, and it's all the same chart. And United, JetBlue and Southwest don't own refineries.

So, fair point, a little bit overstated.

Last Wednesday (we just happened to catch up with this) on the 5 p.m. Fast Money, Karen Finerman (that lovely picture is from Monday, not Wednesday, see below) told Pete the buck is going to stop as far as she's concerned, "In hindsight, that turned out to be a great deal. Still I would say, I wouldn't want my airline doing that."

"Wow," Pete said sarcastically but in a friendly way.

"It turned out to be right, but I don't- I don't agree with the decision-making process," Finerman said.

You go, Ms. Finerman.

If the refinery business is so important to every business sensitive to fuel costs, then how come Burger King isn't buying a refinery? Or another Pete favorite, TJMaxx? Or grocery stores?

This page isn't carping at Delta.

We're carping at Pete Najarian, because we're sick of hearing about it.

OptionMonster bust: Wealth-management clients get long WYNN April 30

No, we're not picking on the Najarians. (Then again, it's not like they're taking us out to Denny's for a Grand Slam.)

Yes, they often have good calls.

We'd taken notice recently of Pete Najarian touting European banks, namely DB and CS. (This writer is long DB).

Both enjoyed a robust March, only to see (especially in the case of DB) the wheels fall off in May. (The 5-year low of DB by the way was $27.81 on Jan. 12, so might as well get prepared for the retest.)

But while checking out those run-of-the-mill calls, we noticed a much bigger clunker: Doc on April 30 reporting that he bought WYNN for OptionMonster wealth-management clients, the primary rationale likely being a $20 fall that happened April 29 and appeared to stabilize but Doc's stated primary reason being that "Steve Wynn is a winner."

The shares closed April 30 at $111. On Monday, they were $98.

Of course, we flag other folks' blunders too, but as Vito says to Mike in the garden; "just wasn't enough time."

Elon Musk: Incentives aren’t ‘necessary,’ just ‘helpful’

It was enough to actually make Tim Seymour warn up to TSLA.

Mel, chic with straight hair, on Monday's 5 p.m. Fast Money replayed Elon Musk's comments on incentives in which Musk explained, "The voters, uh, want, want a particular thing to happen."

But so far, Musk's companies aren't really making things for voters, but toys for rich guys.

See, the thing about governments, though they always sort of tend to be having financial difficulties, there's a lot of stuff they compel themselves to spend money on, and it's not really that hard to get it.

Longtime TSLA critic Tim Seymour (Drink), who is supposedly an emerging markets expert (and we didn't think Tesla is a Russia play), said he's "getting a little bit more interested" in the stock.

Meanwhile, Guy Adami pinned a 155 on AAPL based on "pattern recognition" but opined, "The genius of Apple is, they make people feel like they need, they- they're compelled to own their products. I mean, watch notwithstanding, most of their stuff is pretty ubiquitous at this point right. I mean everybody makes a cool phone, everybody makes these little tablets now, lap- right. And they're all pretty much the same, except there's still a cachet associated with Apple. They- Their genius is making you believe that you absolutely need to own everything they put out there."

Karen Finerman said of AAPL, "I'm not in it for the car. At all," which puts her at odds with the Icahns.

Guy Adami said to buy KORS. (We suspect that's going to be WYNN-like, but whatever.)

Stephen Weiss sounds offended to hear biotech dubbed ‘lottery tickets’

Mark Travis on Monday's Halftime Report opted to point out that he avoids biotech "all the time," in part because he's "morally opposed to losing other people's money."

Travis even suggested biotech stocks are "more like lottery tickets than investments."

But Steve Weiss chafed at that assessment and got Travis to agree that it's not really like a lottery ticket for growth investors who specialize in this area.

Travis touted PTEN and hung a "high 20s" price on the shares. He also called LUK a "mini-Berkshire Hathaway."

Curiously, Travis touted Britain's Royal Mail, which he said has privatized the U.K.'s mail service and charges twice what the U.S. Postal Service charges to mail a letter.

Doc gets ‘ballsy’

Joe Terranova raised eyebrows about Bob Pisani's report on Monday's Halftime over including Chinese shares in the MSCI that Joe thinks would turn the EEM into "more of a trading vehicle."

Joe said such a move would make the EEM "far more volatile" and something that "you don't wanna play with" if you're a basic passive investor.

Judge insisted the EEM is a "real-deal investment vehicle."

Joe also took up his newfound favorite subject — whether Einhorn's right about PXD — with Steven Kopits, who's thinking $85 crude is coming in a few months.

Joe asked Kopits how PXD, EOG and other frackers would do at 85 crude. Kopits allowed the fracking names are "likely to have a hard restart" and are "probably overpriced," but the market would overlook that.

Doc said ZTS October 55 calls were hot and being financed by selling puts, someone going "straight out ballsy long."

Doc said he owns some. Judge asked for a holding period and got "probably 6-8 weeks."

Remember late 2010; Pete and Joe said all the institutional buyers would plunge into C when it holds $5

As Pete and Judge got tangled on Monday's Halftime over how well banks have done this year, Stephen Weiss bragged that he hasn't sold C for a couple of years and asserted still that "the risk/reward to me is extremely attractive."

Congrats. Never heard that one before.

Weiss claims C has 10% downside and a "compelling case" for 40% upside.

Pete Najarian said "totally agree" to that.

Dr. New Land credited Citigroup for its "excellent job" of eliminating assets and said "you might have to be patient" but backed Pete's $60 target.

Savita Subramanian, who looked great in red and put a 2,200 on the S&P for 2015, contended that stock valuation has "very little" short-term predictive power as to market direction.

Stephen Weiss made the argument he makes every show; "there's no place else to go" besides stocks.

Joe called TXN an opportunity and Pete called BMY a "gift."

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