Today. Thank god youre here. We have some news comcast is reporting and when you report on a company like comcast, there are many Different Things that people watch. Not necessarily the bottom line number but let me give that to you any way. Earnings per share, 52 cents that was up almost 27 year over year it was 3 cents ahead of expectations consolidated revenue grew 10 . 9. 8 to 21 21. 2 billion. That is above expectations of 20. 855 consolidateded revenue was one of the things that people might look at, but maybe more so is ebita growth Strong Revenue and ebita growth increasing by 10 . First half ebita growth the best in six years a lot of this, sorkin you see the main cylinder . Squawk box. Part of it. Film revenue up crazy Nbc Universal, outstanding quarter according to the company, grew ebita by 20 Comcast Cable delivered what the company is calling a great quarter is a strong balance between financial growth and solid subscriber metrics you watched this over the years. What do we need to look at in terms of ads highspeed internet ads those are the ones people care the most about. People will look at video subs down 34,000. But thats for the most part, there were a handful of quarters where i would argue this is close to flat. There were a handful of quarters they were up marginally, people thought that was remarkable. Theme parks up 15. 6 revenue to 1. 3 billion higher attendance and per capita spending on the success of harry potter and hollywood the openings of minion park in japan, and volcano bay in orlando. The ebita for theme parks up 17. 3 to 550 we went over most of the metrics in Comcast Cable cable revenue was up 5. 5 to 1 billion. Cable ebita up 5. 4 to 5 5. 3 billion. Anything else . What do you think of this talk that comcast should buy verizon . The report from yesterday came out while squawk was on i think that its not going to happen the wireless business is a terrible business. Yes so the question is whether you need it streej it strategicy defensively at some point. If you look at sprint and tmobile, do you let them merge s that a bigger bite five years from now or smaller bite i think you have five years. I dont think you have to do something right now. I do think longterm, if you own the pipe, you want a wireless option you need more of a wireless option tofrnlgt your point right now we saw theyre able to raise prices still actually increase the number of broadband consumers. Verizon has to lower prices. The churn is terrible. You dont need to be in that business why do that you dont have to you have time. I think time is on your side now. The problem is you never know when time wont be on your side. Thats the harder part to figure out. What i find most interesting about this issue is actually nbcu has a product that they could use on their own for wireless except the government doesnt legal them we have spectrum that was given to us because of the titanic remember all of this broadcast is done over spectrum that could be used for ovther things if the government would loosen up the rules they have about it you wouldnt have to go out and get somebody elses spectrum thats another subject. Thats my free market utopia down the road. Remember when ge was selling nbc . That network was mired in it was in fifth place it quietly has become number one. Three or four years or something. Quiquietly. While youre competing with this new content finding it in different places talking to the producer about how kids view media. My kids dont have a show on tv that they tune in to you mean at a certain date or a certain time they watch netflix, youtube and not on a tv. Did you see fate of the furious . I havent seen any of those theyre great so campy minions, thats what we did i watch old movies. I dont know in media deal news, viacom reportedly out of the running to buy Scripps Networks that leads Discovery Communications as the sole suitor scripps and discovery have agreed on a price believed to be at least 90 a share 95 maybe even. Everything needs to be finished before the deal is done. Everything is expected to be finalized in a few days. Facebook shares rising to an all time high based on better than expected numbers across the board. Jowl jew Julia Boorstin joins us now. Advertising surpassed expectations revenue grew by 45 to 9. 32 billion, earnings growing 19 cents higher than expected i spoke with Sheryl Sandberg last night, the coo about where theyre pushing to drive revenue next our goal is to be a platform for content advertisers. Were making early investments and kick starting the system to get video views on facebook. On the call last night, Mark Zuckerberg talked about potential business that messenger can generate down the line were starting to put some ads into the product just to see the basic parameters on how that performs how people like the ads or they dont. How they work for businesses get an understanding of that. Zuckerberg warned that the ad volume on messenger would be very small but its important to get businesses to use messenger to interact with customers. Thank you very much for that. For more on facebooks earnings, we want to bring in an analyst from mones cristi harden co it seems like it never ends. The street was looking for 43 growth in advertising. They post 49 it doesnt stop. So is there anything youre worried about with the company yeah. A couple things you have to consider right now you could be operating in an environment of peak margins. As we move towards video, theres going to be a rise in content cost associated with that when you look at amazon and netflix spending a combined 10 billion, at what point is Mark Zuckerberg willing to go to compete for those tv audiences so the news feed is maxed out. They cant stuff more ads. Unless they charge more for the ads. Video, when Sheryl Sandberg says episodic video viewing, does she mean episodes of television . Charging commercials like we do on a tv network . Exactly its two prongs. One is the shortform content theyre trying to do, which is on the cheap the longform more premium types of experiences we will startiversary th promotional data plans the average revenue per user has been slowing for four quarters so they will need new levers like video to yuf soffset the decline. What do you think the stock is worth . Theoretically you can make the case for at least 25 higher from here. Im neutral rated becaus af aforementioned risks, but its not that hard to sharpen your pencil in terms of a value play, how do you compare this to google to snap, we have not mentioned snap yet. Yeah. Or even twitter i think google is without question the most favorable risk reward tradeoff it is trading ten times ebita. Numbers continued to grow. Commentary from them on the new growth levers like youtube and hardware will be and the cloud are bullish. When you consider facebook, theres more risk to the story there as it relates to the margin on snap, well have to see on august 10th. Is julia still with us . I was going to mention the Regulatory Risk on facebook. We saw the fine that google paid we know about the potential overhang of other fines or payments that may have to get made to satisfy regulators in europe where do you see facebook . I mean, i think a lot of the risk that facebook faces on that is related to the multiple, and could be driven from amazon. I think amazon faces the greatest risk. If you see greater scrutiny placed on amazon that could translate to heightened concerns on facebook. We want to switch gears to amazon youve been writing about Regulatory Risks in the wake of the whole foods deal what do you think will happen to amazon honestly this could be the first trillion dollar company. Theres very low risk for the ftc to not approve this deal if they do rubber stamp it as yes, theres very little to stop this have you read his piece he thinks its not a good idea for them to approve it. You think this is you think this is a transformational deal for amazon. Amazon will say privately, no, no, no, its a small transaction. Hopefully it will help consumers. Well run it independently you dont believe any of that . No the argument is its only 2 of growth stream. Heres the play. Once you enter into that, what you do is you drive Gross Margins to virtually zero on the food side. Another deflationary component of the economy, which will drive more and more demand and touch points for the consumer. Then you go to prepared foods, an 8 800 billion industry, which is bigger than grocery that they can tap into the restaurant market then with the rollout of 5g, better ability to predict preferences, which will drive people away from brands and more into privately labeled goods, making every product about function and price rather than branl brand. I talked about the depth of the energizer bunny now i will push back. Both of you should be excited about this isnt this what capitalism is all about . Isnt this whats called progress yeah, absolutely. Im pro capitalist i work in the Financial Services industry hes pro capitalist did you read the but his piece really raises a concern about this deal. Heres the way i look at it the internet has changed the game as Companies Get bigger, its better and better for the consumer you are Getting Better prices, better experiences, better data. The question is to what point is it better . For the consumer or better for society because so many people you think wont be working . Whats the negotiaative . You also have to think about tax revenue to jurisdictions, to local and federal just jury dictiric jurisdictions. Things i dont worry about. Lets assume youre right at what point is it the role of the regulate toor to step in . To believe youre correct, a regulator not only has to decide that thats happening now, they have to more importantly predict that this will happen in the future thats a much higher hurdle. I dont know if this is correct, all im doing is pose questions. I love when people pose smart questions. Totally novel idea for you. The way i print it in the report, i call it amazons contract with america. The contract is well let you get bigger as long as you give us better and better prices. Is that a good thing ultimately at the end of the ay when you think about retailers and whatnot, its all the way down the supply chain. When you talk about restaurants, its not just food its down to the seat. Down to the cow. Im trying to nail the harm harm is employment, loss of tax revenues to jurisdictions. What else . Loss of brands. So. So what . Well, i mean loss of brands im not can i add that i think you assume total success from amazon the brand its all going to be private label all i hear is Millennials Want to know it was crafted by hand from some individual in a developing country and it sounds totally ant antithetical to everything youre discussing that amazon will do to the world amazon has been nothing but good for society to date the whole foods deal may be a turning point and people need to consider the broader implications of this deal. I agree there was a world before brands, before somebody wanted i hate to say its different this time. But you think its different the. Any time i say that im wrong, but ultimately the internet changes the equation. And its just to be considered i shop on amazon i have so many brown boxes im on prime i think its a great conversation i think they are important issues the question is what do you do about them we will continue if anything we will continue to talk about them if you havent read his piece, its very interesting when you say this guy thinks amazon is going to a trillion dollars, buy, buy, buy its not, you have a hold on the stock. I have a hold on the stock. If it goes through, theres nothing to stop it. Why do you have the hold . Because youre seeing escalating conversations and growing chorus of concern on the regulatory side. That could impact the multiplei will you upgrade it i cant say that now. You have some company with people that have mentioned one guy who has not been right in 10, 15, 20 years about anything short said to short amazon at 1,000. I wont mention names, because he would love to have his name mentioned. But he shorted 1,000 he just tries to get his name out there. Im telling you, worry when youre in the company with this guy. He has been wrong no one is talking about shorting this guy was at 1,000 over the next 12 months, are there opportunities that could appreciate faster . Thats the premise im just warning you. Youre on the wrong side with this clown im hedging effectively who is the clown . I would never mention that would make his day believe me hes invisible basically cant get on tv anymore i wouldnt dare short amazon. Especially not until the print tonight. If you say never goes back and checks what he say no one else does either. I dont think he manages much money. Thanks. Thanks. Coming up, Senate Republicans i know who it is. Thank you the next step possible skinny repeal. Kayla tausche will explain what that means next. Whuuuuuat . Rtgage offer from the bank today. You never just get one offer. Go to lendingtree. Com and shop multiple loan offers for free free . Yeah. Could save thousands. You should probably buy me dinner. No. Go to lendingtree. Com for a new home loan or refinance. Receive up to five free offers and choose the loan thats right for you. Our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. Go to lendingtree. Com right now. A used car, hey youve gotta see this. Cno. N. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. Welcome back to squawk box. Big movers in europe to tell you about. Shares of astrazeneca having their worst day ever after the companys experimental lung cancer drug failed a major test. Shares of the Pharmaceutical Company are down 6 . Shares of diageo shooting higher after the Company Reported better than expected results. The Company Announcing a 1. 9 billion buyback. The ceo of diageo will join squaux stre squawk on the street later this morning. Shefrn she said shell said. Im sorry. Youre supposed to describe companies in female form thats hurricanes companies, you should do it shell says profits triple last quarter despite a pullback in oil prices. Europes Biggest Oil Company reporting revenues of 72 72. 1 billion in q2. 4. 3 billion more than expected Deutsche Bank shares are under pressure after revenues dropped 10 . The fixed income trading business underperformed. Thats a bank in the spotlight a lot lately Senate Republicans falling short of the votes needed to repeal obamacare for the second time in 24 hours leadership is working to pass a stripped down skinny repeal. Kayla tausche joins us with more on what that means and whether it will pass. Theyre getting creative here skinny repeal would repeal the mandates from the Affordable Care act and the medical device act, but still require a fuel agreement at a later date. When the cbo scored a similar bill in the past, it found 16 Million People would be uninsured. A senior democratic aide said the cbo told lawmakers that premiums would rise by 20 the likelihood of passing appears slim, with a group of bipartisan governors urging to write lawmakers to work with governors to solve problems that we can all agree on. The white house spent yesterday celebrating a deal to bring a new foxconn factory to wisconsin. The deal will bring about 10 billion in investment. The possibility of up to 13,000 jobs when this investment is complete, foxconn has the potential to create more manufacturing jobs than weve seen in many, many decades chairman, i thank you for your investment in the American Worker they appreciate it they will not let you down at the white house the president was flanked by House Speaker paul ryan, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and his soninlaw, that would seem to provide university between the white house and lawmakers despite reports overnight of potential infighting and palace intrigue at the white house. What is the latest with smooshsmoc scaramucci he was condemning a leak of his financial forms, showing what he made and what he was worth this year. But in the tweet where he talked about contacting the fbi and the Justice Department about the leaks, he tagged Reince Priebus which led some to believe that he was going to be notifying the fbi and the Justice Department about Reince Priebus, which there have been reports that scaramucci believe reince has been out to get him. The fbi was contacted about investigating reince, but then scaramucci tweets this morning, nope, thats not correct i want to read you the exact tweet. He said wrong, tweet was Public Notice to leakers that all Senior Administration officials are helping to end illegal leaks at reince45. The timing and the content and the people you tag in the tweets in the history, supposed history between those two. A lot of intrigue. You how about you, with your timing youre a genius. Genius genius when you went down there i am not going to dispute that all right did you catch her joke . Chances of repeal are slim i like that fat chance we talked about one of our you remember j. W. Wald, our friend he said he pointed out that skinny isnew adjectiv for everything skinny margaritas, skinny bundles. Great minds. Coming up, wall streets fear gauge trading at an alltime low. Well talk strategy as we head into the busiest day of earnings heres a look at yesterdays s p 500 winners and losers hatter ] [ intense music playing ] its here, but its going by fast. The opportunity