'Fast Money' Recap: Mother Merrill
It was a volatile week in the market with the whipsaw action keeping traders and investors on their toes. The crew at CNBC's "Fast Money" reviewed which companies fared well and which CEO's did not.
Drama at Merrill
Speculation is making the rounds on Wall Street that Stan O'Neal will be removed as CEO and Chairman of the Board from
Merrill Lynch
(MER)
possibly this weekend.
CNBC's
Charlie Gasparino joined the "Fast Money" crew to discuss what he is hearing about O'Neal leaving. Gasparino says rumors are out that Larry Fink the CEO of BlackRock could be named the new Chairman and the CEO position might be split between Greg Flemming and Bob McCann. Gasparino told viewers that O'Neal is telling people close to the situation that he will be gone soon.
Najarian declares he still would be a buyer of Merrill and that if O'Neal doesn't go, he expects the stock to go down to $55. However, Macke advocates shorting Merrill when O'Neal leaves and he compared it to the short of
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Report
when Bob Nardelli left. Gasparino predicts the stock will pop if Merrill gets the right guy in. Macke would love to see the stock pop, so he can short it.
Action Heroes
In late breaking news, Dylan Ratigan reported that activist investor Carl Icahn has sent a letter to the board of
BEA Systems
(BEAS)
saying its time to come to the negotiating table with
Oracle
(ORCL) - Get Report
. Rumors are that BEA Systems wants $21 share and Oracle offered $17. The offer is set to expire on Sunday. Finerman agrees with Icahn and thinks the deal will get done.
(Check out Icahn's portfolio on Stockpickr.com at
.)
Tech Ticking Up
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
trades up 15% after profits and revenues handily beat Wall Street estimates. Jeff Macke remarks that the earnings were great especially from Microsoft and the shorts are getting crushed. Karen Finerman feels the market is very confusing with tech performing well, but many financial stocks doing poorly. Guy Adami prefers
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
here and noted that the Citigroup analyst put a $33 price target on the name. Najarian favors
Apple
undefined
and he would stay away from everything in the chip sector. .
Najarian noted the options in
Yahoo
(YHOO)
were every active Friday. He also pointed out that
(GOOG) - Get Report
and Yahoo are moving together. Macke declares that Yahoo is getting it together and he is long the stock. However, he tells traders they can't be short the financials in front of a possible
Federal Reserve
rate cut and you can't be short technology with MSFT earnings.
Economic Thoughts
Next week the Federal Reserve will meet to decide on interest rates and the jobs report will be released. Najarian states that the Fed is going to cut and that's why the financials flew Friday. In his opinion, its the jobs report that investors should pay attention to. He advocates staying with the good sectors like technology and asset mangers and avoid the rest. Macke and Finerman agree that the jobs number will be the best indicator for the economy.
Earnings Week Ahead
Crude oil hits another record Friday trading above $92. Adami points out that
Exxon
(XOM) - Get Report
isn't rallying into record oil prices and suggests the company might miss earnings. XOM has a rich valuation and the price action signals that it may move lower.
Adami admits that Exxon scares him in front of earnings. He warns that if Exxon reports bad results, it could take the Dow lower. Finerman mentioned that Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda is looking to buy 16% of
Tesoro
(TSO)
. She envisions the deal playing out as follows:
- Kerkorian tenders 16% position
- Kerkorian picks representatives on board
- Kerkorian makes a bid for entire company or another firm will make a bid
Finerman recommends buying TSO, if it comes in $1. Najarian would also like to buy it on a $1 pullback.
Procter & Gamble
(PG) - Get Report
is also set to report earnings on Tuesday before the open. One of Macke's favorite trades is Procter in front of earnings. Finerman likes Procter as well and
Kraft
(KFT)
which reports earnings on Wednesday before the open. Adami joins in and agrees that Procter will trade higher.
Reporting on Wednesday is
Manitowoc
(MTW) - Get Report
which Najarian is partial to. He thinks Manitowoc will give investors a picture of how construction is doing in China and India.
Quicker than the Ticker
The team likes to revisit their trading ideas and grade themselves. Here are the ideas that worked out well.
On October 23rd Najarian said buy
Vmware
(VMW) - Get Report
. He nailed the call and the stock has risen 10%.
On September 27th Macke recommending buying
Yahoo
(YHOO)
. Macke was right and the stock appreciated 20% since his call.
On September 20th Adami said buy
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
. Adami was on the money and Microsoft killed Wall Street's estimates and traded up 11%.
Fast Fire
Unfortunately, not every trade worked so well and the team admits where they went wrong.
On October 5th Macke recommending buying
Coach
(COH)
. Macke was way off and Coach fell 21% since his call. Macke maintains that investors should buy the dips.
On October 15th Najarian turned bullish on tech and he favored
Broadcom
(BRCM)
. He dropped the ball on BRCM and the stock fell 16% after disappointing earnings. He advised investors to move on from the stock.
On September 12th Adami said he loved
Zimmer Holdings
(ZMH)
. Since his call the stock has dropped 15% but Adami isn't giving up on the name. He thinks the baby boomer story is still in play on ZMH.
On October 1st Finerman advised investors to buy put options on
Garmin
(GRMN) - Get Report
. The stock has risen 9% since her call and she is now admitting defeat and moving on.
Pops & Drops
Pops -
Merck
(MRK) - Get Report
traded up 8%. For Adami the valuation is a bit rich, but the stock still looks good.
Goldman Sachs
(GS) - Get Report
traded up 8%. According to Finerman, Goldman is just the cream rising to the top.
DeVry
(DV)
exploded up 47%. A great quarter and 4 upgrades took this stock higher, per Adami.
Deckers Outdoor
(DECK) - Get Report
traded up 34% on strong profits. Macke remarks that the shorts are getting killed in this thing and don't bet against them.
Baidu.com
(BIDU) - Get Report
traded up 12% after profits more than doubled. Najarian recommends sticking with it.
Black and Decker
(BDK)
popped 18% on strong international sales numbers. Macke likes BDK for their overseas exposures.
Monster Worldwide
(MNST) - Get Report
traded up 12% on strong profits. Adami likes the stock and he expects it has room to go higher.
Drops -
Schering Plough
(SGP)
fell 7% after missing Wall Street estimates. Najarian mentions Schering's weak pipeline.
WellCare Health Plans
(WCG) - Get Report
plunged 73% after the FBI raided their offices. Finerman tells investors not to go near this.
Final Trade
The team signs off with their final trade ideas of the week.
- Macke favors Intel (INTC) - Get Report.
- Adami recommends Dell (DELL) - Get Report.
- Finerman says short the United States Oil Fund (USO) - Get Report.
- Najarian grabs a buy ticket for Baker Hughes (BHI) .
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