Transcripts For CNBC Fast Money Halftime Report 20240622 : v

CNBC Fast Money Halftime Report June 22, 2024

Wall street darling. Which is off 37 . From its 52week high. The second worst performer in the entire s p 500. Joe, you used to love it. I used to love it. Whats going on . I used to own it. Whats the problem . Listen, its about competition and allowing others into your business model. And you not understanding that you need to be more dynamic, more diversify and organically grow. Obviously in years past we knew that other was step into the space. That has happened. I think whats discouraging if you think about it, is its domestically oriented. A higher u. S. Dollar. Weve got lower energy costs. You would think that this would translate into a recovery for this company. The Company Needs something. Maybe its a new management team, needs some form of a shakeup. I dont know where the shakeup comes from. Maybe it comes from the activist community. Steve can speak to that better thanky. Something has to happen. Not a name, ive owned in the past. I dont want to own it here. Is this investible . I think its investible at a level. Im not sure at this level. Down 12 , no the ready to say maybe its worth taking a shot. When you look at a stock thats come down a bit. Is it any cheap centre when the earnings come down, the samestore sales come down and its no cheaper. So are they close to a bottom . Maybe its tradier. To me this a good private equity acquisition. Trading at about 10 times ebita and granted thats on numbers that are a little dated. Say its 11 times. It can go out at 15 times ebita, or 13 times from Leonard Green or somebody like that as far as a fundamental story. Maybe its a trade, i dont think its an investment at this level. Traffic down, the pricing scandal in new york city. A stock that seemingly everybody used to love. It was in you know, a portfolio in our playbook competition a year ago. It shows you the level of conviction people had about this name and now its sentiment couldnt be worse. The conviction used to be wellfounded. This was a company that in a very slowgrowth, lowmargin category was fast growth and high margin. They were delivering on a quarterly basis, 810 revenue growth. Could you set your watch by it is whenever you have a life cycle of a growth story. Eventually competition catches up. You know its not like whole foods can keep doing what its doing so wonderfully and all the other supermarket chains are eating crayons. Kroger is up 21 year to date. And safeway is figuring it out. Fairway is killing it. Trader joes, theres always going to be a lot of competition eventually. Heres the interesting thing, 36 is highly significant. You look at 2014, that was the level that was a solid support as youll ever see, and so its not a surprise that this is where it stopped today. And it seems to be holding that being said, i dont know that i want to make a bet that it will continue to hold that level. We dont know what the scandal in new york is going to cost the company or what the reverb rations might be on a national level. This is a big story in the press. Look, the ceo said in his words on the call, trust is broken. Absolutely. Thats the biggest problem. Everybody is talking about competition, thats one of their problems. Image is the other. One of the things when you look at whole foods, you talk about a company thats concerned about their image, like starbucks, like many others out there in the retail space. When you look at the company and you see margins going down. You see traffic going down. You look at kroger and super value reporting in the last week and you see margins going up, earnings going up. Revenue going up. Theres certainly something we we talked about this eddy. You asked at the end of the show. What do i think about whole foods, i said competition is going to kill them. But the image thing is just as big. That puts them in the penalty box i think for right now, i love this stock right here actually at 36. Am i willing to buy it . I dont think i am. Right now theyre in that situation very similar to what we have seen out of gm. Why are you loving it at 36 . I look at this right now, the way they trade, these guys have plenty of growth in front of them. Whether youre talking about the stores, or this 365 concept theyre trying to push out there. The problem is 365, is a 2017 story. Thats pushing it out for another year. But they can expand their stores footprint fast if they chose to and i think that wouldnt be so bad. But theyve got to do something about this declining margin. Good time for our first guest, one of the many analysts downgrading the stock today, chuck gramm of stearns agt. You cut the price target by nearly 40 . That suggests that you maybe were thinking about just pulling the trigger on this thing and hitting a sell on it. Well i think at the end of the day, think you guys alluded to a lot of the negative points, the image point is going to have some lasting effects, weve seen it in the vitamin space where negative press can linger for more than just a quarter it creates a lost uncertainty and we think the other issue here is the 365 concept. On the call the company didnt provide a lot of details on how the store is going to look. I think it brings into question the companys profitability over time. The return on invested capital. Right now the key for us is theres too much uncertainty on a stock that still trades at a high multiple and a margin profile. Because of the competition that looks like its going down and when you dont know the bottom, its hard to step in and buy the stock. Thats why we downgraded. Were you tempted to downgrade it to a sell . It sounds like youre making the case as to why that would have been a reasonable outcome here. No, no, you know, we werent. Think that we have a lot of respect and i dont think this is a management issue, think walter robb is one of the best ceos in retail and i think the brand and the company has staying power over time. Theyll figure it out. Think they got to get tighter on price, they got to develop this Affinity Program that theyve talked about. They got to give some aspects on this remodel program. We think the comps will not stay down in the sub 1 level. But you know can they get back to two to three to 5 is a big unknown right now. Chuck, steve weiss, suppose they go out and they buy some of the a p stores. A p is not in a lot of great neighborhoods, suppose they do that inside, were going to spend money, were going to increase the footprint and drive samestore sales, you know the firstyear sales and make it a more ubiquitous brand. Would that do anything for you . No, i think that would be a bad strategy for them. Think thats some of the issues with new store productivity and where theyre beginning to go into some new markets, you have to question has this Company Started to reach some saturation levels. Think here in the northeast where they are fairly penetrated, i dont really believe thats the answer. I think the 365 concept, interesting in and of itself. I think it just, theres just too many unknowns. What are they trying to do . How much do they cannibalize themselves with the offering . Thats just something that we dont know right now. Are they an acquisition target . Or a private equity takeout as steve weiss suggested earlier . I dont think at this level. And if i were a private equity guy and i came in here, im not sure what steps i would take to fix the business. I dont think its very clearcut. To how you fix the business. I think theyre trying to move on the go. Its a transparent industry. Theres a lot of competition, not just from kroger that you alluded to or costco, but a lot of small niche players and i think trader joes is really, their largest achilles heel at this point in time. Chuck, talk to you soon. Chuck grom, stearn agcrt. The note reads like it should say sell in giant letters on the righthand side of this. Well i dont know how much of that is emotional capitulation for somebody that had a buy on it as its traded down. Of the 365, too many unknown variables at this juncture. Of the business itself, higher level of uncertainty that we have with the model. When i came out yesterday and said sell, its because the company was growing at 10 and selling at a 20 multiple. Selling at twice its growth rate. That hasnt changed that much. Which is why im not putting this investment. Im not saying private equity would take them out. I think at this level its probably reasonable. Theyve got to see the future and weve seen them take private equity positions in Grocery Companies before. That were all on their here heels and do well. I think chuck is wrong with the cannibalization with 365. He is dead wrong. They need to go after trader joes, thats how they do it smaller concept. Priceconscious way to go after it. Thats not the cannibalization problem. Thats going after your competition. Like target, like walmart doing these Smaller Stores to go right after the Dollar Stores of everybody else. Its a different Shopping Experience at trader joes. You cant compare. Whole foods, you feel good about walking in there. You walk into trader joes, this is a little junky. This is lower end. When is the last time were you in trader joes dude . Theres one besides never . I love trader joes. Ive been in there and realtime . Man on the street . I told my analyst if you go into trader joes today, youre fired, because i hate eetding from trader joes. Im willing to tolerate a lot. Dont ever talk about tj like that. Im not arguing food with you. I defer to you. The reality is youve only been in trader joes the day your butler was off and you couldnt get food. Lets go to facebook. Josh, you own it, joe, you sold out of it with my head spinning with all the trades over the last 48 to 72 hours. Im not in at the level that josh is in. I put it on why is the stock down today . I think its the reaction with a lot of folks that got into the stock like myself late, expecting it to pop through 100. Jon najarian a week ago talked about he didnt think its ability to get through it good job by jon. I thought it was going to sustain earnings momentum. Maybe all of the good news was already in it. I dont agree with that think theres a lot of good news fundamentally in this stock and this is a stock that you own for the longterm. I think two to three years from now you talk about a stock thats probably 115. But again what im doing is playing the momentum over the last couple of weeks, i think a lot of folks have played that momentum and it didnt work after earnings, you move on to the next. Theyre spending went up 82 . Josh, cramer suggested today, you sell it and youre going to prove yourself to be a moron. What do you do here . I dont think you sell it. Lets keep in mind whats really happening here. Technically theres nothing wrong. This is a stock thats slightly less than 6 off an alltime high. Which it set recently. Its already 2 off the days low. And really all thats happening is, its filling a gap from july 17th, this is kind of corrective action within a larger bull market trend. For the company. And look, at the end of the day, still a stock thats up 20 year to date. Whats the good news, already in the stock . And thats why even on a good Earnings Report people may be spooked about spending going up. By large number, but the good news may have already been in it. Spending should be going up. They have more Business Opportunities than they can possibly tackle. Laying before them and i would say you havent seen the good news yet. This is a company thats on fire, the monetization that theyll be able to do, with whatsapp, with facebook messenger, youre talking about a billion users for those two products combined. Over the in excouple of years. They havent made a dime from that yet and instagram in the second half of this year, i wont get into the video opportunity. I dont think the good news is priced in. Because i dont even think weve gotten to that point yet. So if the stock has to take a pause after a 20 run from january . Bfd. Thats the word, pause. Jon was right, kudos to him. Great call. Its about instagram and its about video. Thats where the profits are in the future. Thats only going to grow and accelerate. Take your position only a few hours now to trade tomorrows big oil earnings. Exxon chevron on tap. Are they a bargain . Or will the oil slide continue to hit those stocks. Plus look at this chart, an undertheradar shoe stock has blown away the competition, outperforming nike, under armour and adidas. Send us your guesses on who the company is but what if you could see more of what you wanted to know . With fidelitys new active trader pro investing platform, the information thats important to you is all in one place, so finding more insight is easier. Its your idea powered by active trader pro. Another way fidelity gives you a more powerful investing experience. Call our specialists today to get up and running. A one, a two, a three percent cnext. Ack theres gotta be a better way to find the right card. Creditcards. Com lets you compare hundreds of cards to find the one thats right for you. Just search, compare, and apply at creditcards. Com. New citracal pearls. Dedelicious berries and cream. Soft, chewable, calcium plus vitamin d. Only from citracal. My name is jamir dixon and im a locafor pg e. 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I talked to her about the sales growth and what she was saying, this environment where theyre taking higher pricing, charging more for Consumer Products versus lower volumes. Which we continue to see. She said actually she expects to see pricing environment moderate going forward. So investors shouldnt expect these kind of higher prices to continue. As Commodity Prices have eased. She called the last 18 months in terms of commodity moves and Foreign Exchange moves, quote extraordinary. We talked a lot about the international environment, 80 of mondelelzs sales come from overseas. She said her outlook that the consumer stays cautious, doesnt see any change and called out china and brazil where the ceo says shes seeing a diesel brags which jibes with what weve seen in the markets. Deceleration. She focused on innovation and investing and marketing to fight what is a very cautious consumer environment. Certainly investors are on board with the story. They like the margin improvement and the costcut story. The stock is up 25 this year and up nicely 5 right now. Sara eisen at the New York Stock Exchange. Speaking of earnings, four trades on four stocks making news. Josh, giving you first choice. Stratasys is getting hammered. The chart looks like an opencasket funeral. Im not sure if youre still in this what your sell discipline is or what you think is going to happen. The company is a serial disappointer. I would be selling with both hands. Pete, you owned calls in real life and i although of this big move. I dont think its necessarily over. The options expire tomorrow. It was a great opportunity, nice big pop out of wynn. Steve wynn on the call gave everybody a lot of comfort. Even though macao looks awful. And look towards the boston area, theyre expanding up there as well. I think there are reasons to like this stock further. The stock goes over 100. Up 7. 33 today. P g, joe, guidance . Possibly the final flush. I think thats whats going on. Organic growth in 2016 going to be basically flat. The challenge for most companies right now. Can you grow organically . David taylor steps into the ceo role. Stock under 78, the stock was up in the 90s six months ago. I think longerterm this is a name you should own. Black and decker, weiss, beat . Good question. I think expectations or the whisper number, whisper thought, theyve gotten ahead of themselves. This is a stock you want to be in. A wellmanaged company. Two companies now, since it merged and i think this with housing growing and the domestic nature of their business, they are international. Its a good one to own. Its a little pricey. 22 times. Its a little pricey. 22 times. Maybe it comes down a little bit. I dont think that matters, over the next couple of years, youll do well. Coming up, making from green, making green from the greenback. Think thats what that says. 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