'Fast Money' Recap: Crisp Apple

The trading panel discusses Apple's impressive earnings.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Oct 21, 2008 7:28 PM EDT

Dylan Ratigan hosted CNBC's "Fast Money" show Tuesday night. He kicked the show off with a discussion of the selloff in the stock market today. Pete Najarian explained that everything that worked Monday gave it back today. He said it was interesting that the volatility index pulled back late in the day.

Jeff Macke said he was shocked to hear that people were buying back into the global growth story. He said he shorted the global growth names through the

S&P 500

at the open.

Ratigan brought up the improvement in the credit markets for the third consecutive day. Karen Finerman says "three days in this market is a huge trend." Guy Adami said the credit markets should improve each day. Macke says "we will know that the credit markets are getting better by themselves when traders take the credit spread off their screens, and when Ben Bernanke stops talking on TV."

Ratigan mentioned that

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

and

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

reported earnings after hours. He said Apple was ahead of expectations but the guidance was lousy. Najarian said he was impressed with Apple's record Mac sales.

Adami said look for a 100-million-share day to signal a capitulation bottom for a trading opportunity. Najarian said

VMware

(VMW) - Get Report

reported great numbers tonight and said investors should watch

EMC

(EMC)

tomorrow.

Ratigan moved the discussion to the weak numbers reported by big industrial names such as

Caterpillar

(CAT) - Get Report

DuPont

(DD) - Get Report

and

(MMM) - Get Report

. Adami said he would rather buy Caterpillar and sell 3M at current valuations.

The traders talked about the continued drop in crude oil prices. Adami said the bigger story is sharp fall in gasoline prices. Macke said he bought some

McDonald's

(MCD) - Get Report

on the basis of the falling price of gas. Najarian pointed out that

Continental Airlines

(CAL) - Get Report

is the most levered to the price of oil right now. He says "if you're looking for a play with or against oil, look at CAL."

Ratigan moved the conversation to the news that Goldman Sachs reiterated its sell call on

Citigroup

because of its tangible book value. Finerman told viewers to stay away from Citigroup. Macke says, "Are you kidding me with how late this downgrade is?"

Adami explained that Goldman hasn't been on fire with its ratings calls lately. He says, "They have been downgrading things on the lows and upgrading things on the highs." Ratigan said the drug names continue to be sensational. Najarian pointed out that

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

had a strong day today and investors should keep an eye on it. He says "

Genentech

(DNA)

is still the one to watch for the Roche story."

Potential Bank Takeovers

CNBC's

Steve Liesman joined the traders to discuss whether a bank takeover is coming, funded by the American taxpayer. He said the Treasury is going to use some of the bailout plan money to recapitalize the good banks so they can buy the weak banks. He said potential "weak bank" targets could be

National City

(NCC)

KeyCorp

(KEY) - Get Report

Comerica

(CMA) - Get Report

and

First Horizon

(FHN) - Get Report

Liesman said six of the strong banks have said they will use the capital to make acquisitions. He says "I am not sure how to pick winners or losers here." He told viewers it might be a better idea to get into the better banks' preferred shares.

Whale Watching

The crew debated whether it's a wise move to follow Kirk Kerkorian into casino stocks. Kerkorian announced that he's going to dump his stake in

Ford Motor

(F) - Get Report

and get away from autos and focus on gambling and energy plays. Najarian said he likes the concept of where Kerkorian is going.

Adami says "

MGM Mirage

(MGM) - Get Report

is now a valuation play, and the stock has a huge short interest." However, he said investors shouldn't look at the gaming sector on the basis of Kerkorian's moves. Macke says "its way to early on the casino names and way to early on the autos." Finerman said she doesn't understand why Kerkorian always tells the market what he's planning to do with his stock positions. Najarian said MGM is too cheap, and he said he bought some the other day.

Trader Radar

Shares of

Netflix

(NFLX) - Get Report

were among the most actively traded stocks on the

Nasdaq

Tuesday.

Final Trade

Macke picked McDonald's. Adami recommended Intel. Finerman likes the

Retail HOLDRs ETF

(RTH) - Get Report

. Najarian said he loves