292 million-dollar chance -- not "dollar chance," a 292 million chance sarah, those aren't good odds. >> 1 out of 292 doesn't sound that bad for me. for the second largest jackpot in history >> yes, we were just discussing how good those odds really are john's going to have lincoln reid hoffman and tim o'reilly at 4:00 let's get to wapner and the half >> and welcome to the "halftime report." i'm scott wapner our top trade this hour, target amazon what wall street's partner with google means for the shopping wars and your money. with us for the hour today, stephanie link, josh brown, stephanie link, jon najarian let's begin with that partnership between walmart and google express, a deal that escalates a growing battle between the two shopping giants. josh, others are running scared from amazon. not walmart, they seem to be the only ones ready, willing, and able to be able to step up

>> yeah, scott, we've been talking about this on the show a lot. i think, i think most of us were excited about the possibilities of the jet.com acquisition this takes it a step further and walmart and google, if both are going to be successful at what they obviously have to do in the next five to ten years, they kind of need each other google's got to figure out the voice internet because if display internet starts to become a dying incumbent thing, where are they going to put the adds? so if voice and virtual and things like that are going to be next, they've got to have an answer to it and google assistant has to have some utility that's where shopping comes in same for walmart obviously, ecommerce, if that starts going toward voice, sitting in your house and saying, you know what, i think i need new paper towels, having your digital assistant say to you, how many would you like me to order or what brand is a little bit cumbersome. so having consumer preference

stored, walmart already knows what that household buys, in what quantity, what brand they like, what flavor, size, whatever >> i get it, but why is the market ho-hum >> because it's an initiative. it's not a product that's on the shelf yet. so i just think, you have to look at both companies as saying, it's not just about amazon this is what the consumer wants to be able to do we need to work together we have the data, you have the logistics. i love it for both companies >> jeff, is this much ado about nothing? or is this just further evidence that walmart's here to play? and here to stay in a way that other retailers aren't >> yeah, i think they're here to stay, for sure and i definitely think this expands their digital strategy >> not that we're suggesting they're not here to stay you get where i'm going on that? >> of course i get where you're going in terms of the digital strategy and expanding a lot of different initiatives. i get all of that. this is a strategic move this has nothing to do with numbers. and oh, by the way, amazon is a closed loop. so, where else was walmart going to go for that -- this type of a

transaction? google makes a lot of sense, but google's a distant player at this point, in this particular area so this does not move numbers at all. strategically, a good thing. but i totally think much ado about nothing. >> doc >> somebody needs to step up and take on amazon, right? >> sure. and this is a good step towards it >> we've been having this conversation, walmart, amazon, and everybody else, right? maybe it's just amazon and everybody else and we're making too much of walmart. >> target and best buy are in there. best buy on, obviously, a specific vertical. but, to this deal, google stepped up in 2014, beginning of 2014, bought nest, $3.2 billion. they start incorporating that into google home now just like josh says, if you're going to be talking to these digital assistants and so forth, why wouldn't it start ordering or re-ordering for you? and so they needed a partner for that who better than walmart, especially now that they have jet. obviously, google could have gone towards amazon, but then they're more or less -- that's like when yahoo! put them in

charge of their search that would have been a bad move. >> i disagree with the much ado about nothing premise. take a look at walmart versus the xrt, which is the retail sector etf the xrt since a year ago today is down 16%. walmart is up 15%. there are not many retailers that have a chart that looks like that, even on an absolute basis. forget about compared to the sector so this idea that it's much about nothing, i think, is incorrect. >> but the stock is not up because of this news i mean, the stock is not up because of jet.com the stock is actually up -- it's a bit -- >> the stock is up because ecommerce comps are good >> but if you look at target's ecommerce comps, they were amazing. if you look at coach's -- >> that's right. >> it's a distant third. >> any of these companies are doing quite well in terms of internet that's not the issue it's the overhead that these companies have walmart, i would argue, has rallied this year, part and parcel because it's a defensive name by the way, their last quarter wasn't anything great, actually,

quite frankly. but it's a defensive name in a very difficult retail take and i think a lot of people, p.m.s, are kind of hiding in the name not to say they don't deserve some of the credit, but i don't think -- >> they're hiding in the name -- >> they're not hiding in this because of jet.com >> they're hiding in the name, because, right now, what's important is who can survive that's where we are in retail. so walmart is doing things, whether they pay off today or -- >> why are we using the word "hiding. why aren't we talking about simply playing offense in walmart because of jet.com >> i think totally because of jet.com, because it's the only one. and josh, you've said this a lot. it's the only one that has competed successfully with amazon, thus far i think what's interesting, though, is jet.com, walmart, whatever you want to call it, you know, they obviously have shown that you can compete with amazon and target is the one that i've got the eyes on. clearly, their ecommerce is picking up if they can go from a distant third to a legitimate

competitor, then i think what you've got to really wonder is whether amazon has a mote to competition. it's a legitimate question we don't know the answer to it but if target really moves up the ranks there and has ecommerce numbers that start to compete with walmart and amazon, then you've got to worry about -- >> the current multiple on amazon and a lot of the f.a.n.g. stocks assumes a future where each one of them is their own monopolistic fifdom. >> exactly >> and there are no competitors. there is not going to be a single ecommerce giant that serves every customer in the country and no one else gets to play against them. now, i don't suggest it's definitely the walmart/jet combo, but the fact that walmart has a ceo with blood in his eyes and is doing deals with firms like google it, sends a signal to investors stephanie's right. we're not talking about this being additive to roi next quarter. >> no, but i hear stephanie almost, and maybe i'm wrong, i hear you making the case for

target shares today over walmart. am i wrong >> no, no, not target. i think they have a long way ahead of them. i will say, i think costco's decline is an opportunity. i would say that tjx, that quarter was a thing of beauty. and i think that could be bought i do think nike is going to be at a point where you buy it. i actually think some of the stocks that have gotten hit because of the fear of being amazoned, when it's not exactly going to play out, to josh's point, exactly that way, you take advantage of some of these stocks that are down i just don't find a lot of value in walmart at these current levels i understand why it's rallied. i don't think it's because of jet.com. but i do think they are doing the right things i just think there's better value elsewhere. >> but wait, i'm hearing from the control room that we have an image. this is my first personal sighting of a jet.com package in the wild, ladies and gentlemen this is my garage in nassau county, long island. so i asked my wife, i said, sprinkles, why did you order from jet.com when every day, it's piles on piles of amazon.

and she said, it was easy and cheap, i'll probably do it again tomorrow look, this is not to say that, oh, walmart's going to trade 80 times earnings they're not in cloud and doing a lot of the things that amazon is doing. >> they don't need to be the next amazon. they just avoid to being amazoned >> they need to be the walmart of the future, not the walmart of the past. >> shares of ibm down 14% this year, but today morgan stanley is sticking behind big blue, big-time the firm reiterating its outperform rating, calling for a nearly 35% upside from here. it's our call of the day we've also asked pete najarian to call in from somewhere on the road across america. pete, are you there? >> i'm here with you, scott. >> katie huberty says, overweight, reiterates that, and 192 is the price target. that's a big, big jump from here are you buying it, or no >> well, i'm already in it, scott. and actually, part of the reason i'm in that is because of katie huberty.

but actually, she's been the go to when it comes to apple. i think with ibm, she's been like everyone else she's taken the head fake, because the transformational process has taken so long, unfortunately, at ibm. which really means, you wonder right now if genie ra mometty - the clock is actually ticking. the execution she's been performing, it has to happen that's why when you see warren buffett trimming his stake by 30%. when you see the institutional ownership down at eight-year lows, there are some potential opportunities there. i mean, the improvements in the gross margin, services, cloud, those things are starting to happen but is it a little bit late and can they continue and build upon that they've got to get that recovery and if they get the recovery and the processes in place and she's saying for the fourth quarter 2017, then, yes, if they can return to gross profits and get that strong, yes, the transformational process will be in place and i think jenny will still have her job >> here's the problem, right buffett trims a third of his

stake. >> buffett says, i'm not a believer anymore anywhere near the way i used to be whereas katie huberty says the stock can go to 192. who are investors are going to, with all due respect, believe in that larger narrative about where this company can go? >> pete najarian or warren buffett. is that the choice you're giving us >> i've got to go with pete. >> i'm giving you the analyst over -- >> well, yeah. >> over buffett. >> as well respected as katie huberty obviously is, this is not a knock on her this is simply a fact that buffett is buffett >> buffett is buffett. i'm sure he wishes he sold the rest of his stake up there where he sold that 30% pete's talking about. because i believe it was a disguise between 160 and 170, where he basically took his l p lumps at about that level. but i don't think microsoft and amazon can just keep killing each other in pricing for the cloud like they have been. because i think in the previous quarter, they cut prices five

times, judge ibm cited that on their call, as to one of the reasons they had such a disappointing quarter now, katie is saying that she sees a return, a growth in profitability, both the cloud and in services. and i certainly don't think that the cloud can get any worse for ibm than it's been over the last six months >> and that leads us back yet again to amazon. everyone is worried about amazon web services, cloud there, salesforce, the stock is up 36.5% year-to-date there's microsoft with azure or whatever you call it >> azure >> wouldn't do that one today? >> if joe terranova were here, we would >> we would have a fun time. >> he was right, though. >> you asked the question you wouldn't believe, how about believe your own eyes. and i've been in this trade, thankfully i sold it two years ago. i know what it's like from your point of view. if you weren't in it, i think what you would say is, you know what, i with wait for the turn katie huberty's note is not going to be the turn the turn is at least, of course

you have to start to see revenues grow again. it's 19 quarters in a row. >> this is a huge fakeout. because ibm had a sick year last year, the stock price, not the company. and it's already now giving back half of last year's gain from february through december, it went straight up. >> that's because the earnings -- >> katie huberty says that she's in a deep dive on gross margin increases. the deep dive on gross margin, increases our confidence in ibm achieving a back-end loaded year >> i would say at ten times earnings, margins are depressed. it's very tempting, as a value manager, to want to look at this the problem is, the growth area at this company, strategic imperatives. that's cloud, analytics, and data, actually decelerated to only 7% growth last quarter. the quarter itself, in the last couple of quarters, have been helped by taxes and buybacks and so they don't even benefit from a repatriation story, because they've already had a very low tax rate. the quality of the earnings is not good if you would think that the story has legs, i agree with jim. you have until the fourth

quarter, because that's when the mainframe cycle starts the fourth quarter of this year. you're not going to start to really see momentum until next year so, you have time. and in the meantime, you know -- >> but you want to get ahead of it, right? i don't understand your comment. why wouldn't you want a back end-loaded year if you haven't had any front end? the stock's down 14.5% year-to-date >> give me a second, okay? here's the problem with going for gross margins right now. what that really means in a company like ibm is you're doing two things you're trimming heads and trimming r&d budget. think about the technology sector what's the biggest asset you have it's your people, right? where are people going to go work they're generally not going to go to work at ibm. but i've talked to people who work at ibm. the reason they go there is specifically because of the size of the budgets because they know, if it's watson or whatever project it is, there are going to be billions of dollars spent on it. now if you're telling me gross margins are going to be controlled, there's only two ways to do that. cut head count and cut r&d and that's not good for getting good talent into r&d

>> if you want to play services, this dxc technologies is far better they have so much more that they can do in terms of cutting costs, growing the services business they have $10 of earnings power ahead of them. so there are other areas, you know, that you could look at act s accensure is another one there are other places to place that have already proven they have the clients and the relationships and the execution. >> here's what warren buffett told our becky quick back in may. i don't value ibm the same way six years ago when i started buying it. i've revalued it somewhat downward i think if you look back at what they were projecting and how they thought the business would develop, i would say what they've run into is some pretty tough competitors. ibm is a big, strong company, but they've got some big, strong competitors, too >> you know, the service is moat, that's like a thing of the past those people that used to say that are retired >> i think it takes time when these big companies, these legacy companies have all of

these legacy assets on their books, i just think it takes a really long time along how long it took oracle to see an inflection. look how long it's taking cisco. those, at least, are kind of ahead, at least in their transition a little bit farther ahead than ibm. >> pete, last word to you and then i'll get you get back on the road >> you know, katie huberty was early, and i think she, obviously, clearly, she's been wrong and the stock has gone to the downside i agree with the panel there's no reason to jump into this thing it's been all about execution. so if jenny rometty actually can execute and prove out what everybody is looking at, particularly katie right now talking about being able to improve those dprorms and grow in the services and the cloud, then you actually are finding a nice bottom. but there's no reason to be the first guy in i agree and understand what you guys are saying. scott, last thing i've got to tell you you had that great conversation with walmart don't forget, best buy is beating walmart at their own game and nobody brings it up enough best buy has been winning that game on online and competition,

just take a look at what that stock's done year-to-date. >> all right and we will. and we are right now, in fact. it is -- it's up 57% over the past year. pete, thanks >> thanks, man, take care. here's what else is coming up on the "halftime report." >> straight ahead, jon najarian's watching unusual activity in the options market to predict which stocks will move and which way they'll go. his list is straight ahead plus, stephanie link with a whole list of new buys and additions to her portfolio see where she's putting her money to work. the "halftime report" with scott wapner and the traders is back in two minutes for your heart...

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xfinity. the future of awesome. what a difference a day makes. yesterday at this time, our focus was on a rising market, amid reports tax reform could be on its way today, markets falling as president trump talks about the possibilities of a government shutdown our eamon javers is live in washington eamon, what a difference a couple of days make. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, scott i think what's going onhere, you guys are the market experts up there, but i think the market is reacting in different ways and different days to sort of these two simultaneous inputs that we're getting at the same time and we've been getting at the same time throughout the year. here's what i mean by that so, monday night, the president had a relatively establishment-style event at ft. meyer, virginia, talked about afghanistan strategy, stayed on prompter, stayed on mentssage. and tuesday morning, we had this headline that the markets seemed to latch on to in politico

suggesting that there had been some agreements possibly made between white house staff and people on capitol hill about tax reform and last night we had the president off prompter, off message in some ways, very fiery rhetoric in phoenix, arizona and today suggesting he might want a government shutdown in terms of wall spending so what you're getting is two simultaneous messages. on the one hand, there's a message of stability which is that this president and his staff can focus on the blocking and tackling of the legislative agenda at the same time and accomplish things on capitol hill republicans on capitol hill have deep political incentive to pass tax reform and take some of the other steps that the market wants them to take on the other hand, you've got a president who is fighting with those republicans on capitol hill, who's fighting with his own staff in many ways and fighting with his own attorney, and putting up this fiery rhetoric, which is causing all sorts of controversy so those two things are happening at the same time and it seems like the market, sort of based on the headline of the day, is sort of toggling back and forth in terms of the way it reacts. we've been getting these two inputs in terms of the facts that are coming to us all year

long >> eamon, thanks stay with us jim lebenthal, what do you make of all of this >> what i make, the market is responding a lot more to noise these days than the actual signal that's coming out and the problem is, there's not that much economic data to sink your teeth into right now. a lot of macroeconomists are saying, we're due nor an economic slowdown, due for a pullback they're starting to throw a lot of shade on some of the hard data that's coming out, fed regional surveys and things like that however, if you look at the most important thing for the stock market, it's corporate profits and they're growing. the second quarter, i think, was up 10% year over year. and there's no signs of that ebbing you just have products continuing to grow look, we can get a correction at any time and you know, late summer, late august is a good time for that but frankly, with profits growing the way they're expected to in the absence of any trump agenda, this market is fully supported at this level. >> like, the market is still doing stupid stuff, like, look at -- well, look at kansas city southern so last night, some off-the-cuff

remarks, oh, we're going to build a wall and do a government shutdown, like, no one seriously listens to that and says, okay, this is now official doctrine, this is policy but ksu gets hammered because it's the company doing the shipments the from mexico into the u.s. so, we are reacting to this stuff. but then i think you have to take a second stap aep and say,s late august. this isn't real money moving these things it's at the margin, it's day traders gaming other day traders or algos gaming other algos. >> and we've all talked about that ad nauseam, right the economic data actually has been good. the atlanta fed is thinking about a 38 number for the states i doubt it comes in this high. even if it was 3%, that would shock a lot of people. but japan's data points, the company-specific data points -- the companies that i talked to all say that china's doing quite well i think that's one of the reasons you actually have kind of this tilt in the market, this

rotation now back into materials, industrials did quite well yesterday they're taking a little bit of profits today. i don't know what's -- i mean, i get the energy response today from the inventory numbers we'll see if that has legs but you're clearly seeing a shift to more cyclical growth things and sectors in the face of good profits. >> eamon, the other story that's clearly going around and certainly fodder today is this battle between the president and the senate majority leader, mcconnell. and i wonder if that, too, is kind of weighing on the narrative of, you know, tax reform or tax cuts coming. these guys kind of need each other for that to happen, don't they >> they need to work together and they've got shared political interests and those shared political interests are not going to go away but "the new york times" reporting that they had a profanity-laced shouting match on august 9th on a conference call the president is extremely frustrated with mcconnell. mcconnell has been telling people privately that he's concerned that the president might not be able to salvage his

presidency at this early stage, for your allies on capitol hill to be talking about you that way, is kind of astonishing. so, look, tax reform, all these big things, even the debt ceiling lift and keeping the government open, these are tough things to do in a normal year in washington we've seen that in the past. they're very tricky in a very divided government this year is not a normal year and you've got the president up there fighting with his own leadership on capitol hill that adds to the complexity of getting anything done this year at all but i can tell you, i've been talking to some people inside the white house, texting with some folks today one of the people said today, look, the clinton folks, back in the '90s were able to get a lot of stuff done, even while impeachment was going on we feel like this is much less serious than that was. and we feel like we can still get stuff done with lawmakers up on capitol hill. party infighting is a big deal yes, but we feel like we can still get some stuff done. there's some optimism inside the trump -- >> let me ask you this, a lot is being made of the speech last

night in arizona and the fiery nature of it do you anticipate that at some point, and maybe soon, that we're going to see the president start to hit the road to sell some of these critical programs like tax reform, rather than do these campaign events? >> reporter: that's an interesting question it's one of the things a lot of people in the republican party criticized him for not doing in terms of obamacare not going out and explaining in a rally sort of environment what the obamacare proposal was, why he wouldn't to pass it, and what was in the proposal that people should be willing to vote for. that would be the kind of thing that a traditional president would do would go out on the road and sort of use the assembly pul as pulpit and use groups to push for the bill this president hasn't operated that way you know, he likes to attack the media, which he said yesterday was anti-american and was

hurting the country, he doesn't like to push for the specifics inside the bill, but i think that some of the frustration from mitch mcconnell and others on capitol hill is that they like him to continue to operate more like a traditional president does and they would like him to back off some of this other stuff >> yeah, doc >> when we talk about the low interest rates and low inflation, and people go back to 1999, for instance, and they said, well, we had low inflation then, too. and i'm not pointing to anybody on the panel, i'm just motioning to you guys, but the inflation rate back then was 2.68% we're at 1.7 or 1.6 right now. so the inflation is considerably lower. which i think tells you that we could expand further to the upside, with this rally. just pause wibecause with inflai low, with interest rates this low, and the potential that we could get these tax reforms through, i think, that's why you're optimistic about the rest of this year >> so, like, like not facetiously at all, but seriously, how do you -- how do

you do tax reform or cuts or both and build a wall that's not going to solve anything with no money to pay for it -- >> it's $1 billion i mean, he's asking for a $1.8 billion. >> $1 billion? that's like a football stadium >> and cities do that all the time we can't do that as a country? in other words, that doesn't break the bank it's a -- i'm not saying we have to do it, josh i'm just saying that if that's what he wants to get tax reform done, i would throw it to him right now. because that is a much bigger thick, tax reform and repatriation, than like i say -- >> i think the market's going to be waiting throughout the rest of this year, frankly. i hate to say it, because i would love to see tax reform happen just, right now, it feels unimaginable, but what do i know >> we'll leave it there. eamon, thanks so much, as always eamon javers from d.c. jon najarian is tracking unusual activities he'll give you the big reveal and what is likely to happen next let's show you the s&p, give you

a sector check somewhat down day on the street. s&p is down 5. discretionary leading that decline. we're back after this on the "half. coney island has been around for a long, long time. reminds me of how geico has been saving people money for over 75 years. hey, big guy! come on in! let me guess your weight! win a prize! sure, why not. 12 ounces!

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all right, welcome back to the "halftime report." dr. j. making his way to the telestrator, as usual, for, what else, unusual options activity doc, what do you have today? >> actually, judge siena, like you said, two technology stocks, start with siena. they're both september options these are regular expirations, septembers they're buying the 23 calls in siena. pretty aggressively today, judge. if you take a look at the pop

here, about 2,500 of those might not seem like a lot, but they've been buying them for the last three or four days and for the last month, people have been buying upside calls, out all the way until january, i believe, up to about the 29 strike so people have been positioning for this stock to make a pretty significant move between now and january. now, these september calls, obviously, that's just a month away so, i'm in these, probably be in them through labor day and i think you'll like the other one even more, judge because the other one is alibaba. baba, take a look at the activity in this name. oh, my gosh. june it was 125. they were buying the 150 calls in june. it filled a gap, it kept going now it's 175 a share they're buying the next week expiration so that next friday expiration, september 1st, they're buying the 175 calls they're buying at the money, not exactly a huge leveraged bet, but nonetheless, for a stock that's run as much as this one has, you can understand why

rather than putting $175 down, they're just buying these calls and buying them rather aggressively today so i'm likewise in these but since the one-week trade, probably be in it until about tuesday or wednesday next week >> heck of a move for that stock this year. >> look at that nice gap right there. >> stephanie, ciena, you own it? >> i own it. it's shale a very large position for me i think that the valuation and risk reward at low 20s >> better thank your lucky calls. >> i'm crossing my fingers john is right it's a very volatile stock this stock can go from 23 to 29 in one day have had huge moves in their quarters l i like the momentum they're seeing in optical. i think the second half sets up well, thinking that you'll see spend pick up in at&t and verizon. i think you'll see better margins as a result. and they have been growing double digits in india, and i expect that to be a real nice tailwind for the company, as well at 11 1/2 times forward earnings, i like it here >> you know what you didn't

mention, which i think is a very positive thing i think cisco is seeding the optical router market. we're getting out of this business, juniper can take the business >> it could happen and it's been speculated that cisco would take a look at ciena to buy >> i'll take either one. >> yeah. all right. moving along now to sue herrera, who has the latest headlines for us. hi, sue. >> hi, scott indeed, i do here's what's happening at this hour, everyone president trump heading to nevada after holding a campaign-style rally in phoenix, where protesters sparred with police he is now set to give a speech on veterans and unity in reno later today. mr. trump also plans to sign a measure to help disabled veterans appeal decisions on insurance claims canada and mexico accusing president trump of bluffing when it comes to his threat to scrap nafta. the u.s., canada, and mexico opened negotiations last week on the north american free trade agreement. oklahoma city trying to dry

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welcome back to halftime stephanie link always on the hunt for value today she's making a number of moves, as well >> yes >> what are you buying are you buying and selling or just buying? >> just buying you know, we talk about earnings -- >> a statement in and of itself. >> right earnings have been good, we've all talked about them. but some stocks actually haven't reacted very well to earnings and that has been a theme for this particular quarter. so what i'm trying to do is just kind of go through the weeds and see where i have a lot of conviction oracle is one of them. i mentioned it a little bit before i think their transition out is going much more smoothly they're making much more progress i think earnings are at an inflection, as are margins the stock is trading at 16 times forward estimates and down 6% from when they reported a blowout quarter next quarter the next one i've been buying, and we've talked about this for years, is cummins, but i did trim a little bit of this name

ahead of the quarter results, because it had such a nice run, it is now down 10% from its highs. trade's up 14.5 times forward earnings they actually beat and raise, but they didn't see the operating leverage, the margin expansion that people wanted so people sold off the stock. i think that's an opportunity. i think there are one-time warranty costs that impacted margins. and i like the valuation you almost get a 2.7% dividend yield. and the last one was union pacific. this has been all over the place. it has pulled back about 6% as well, following the quarter. we know that volume comparisons get very tough, but this company is doing a very good job in controlling their costs, their operating ratio. they have room to the downside on that. that's a good thing. that means margins are going up. operating leverage should occur. i like this one, it's lagged big time >> i was going to -- so i was going to ask you, along those lines, why not ksu, which josh loves, and sirott owns a lot of, or why not csx, which has its

own issues but why unp because of those it is primarily because it's lagged >> well, that's a big part of it, for sure i'm tempted on csx, given the ceo change, and i've recommended csx, but never pulled the trigger myself i think unp that has one of the largest positions for operating leverage i think their costs are still so high and they just announced a restructuring just last week that i think will help them get even further cost improvement. with the stock only up 2% year-to-date, it's one of the cheapest, too. so i think maybe you have some profit taking in csx or ksu and they go into unp because it has lagged >> all right we have another trader tracker, as well. jim, you're also making moves. you sold out of jcpenney, no, i'm just kidding >> lol, in his dreams! >> i tried to save you >> it's like a daily requirement for you, huh >> couldn't resist >> it's the -- the viewers want

it >> they do they want to know. viewers want to know i even had somebody -- >> okay, winnebago >> winnebago, which you've trimmed. >> the j.cpenney of the road. >> one of our viewers, does jim lebenthal still own all that jcpenney >> the answer is yes, but we're not going to talk about that today. we're going to talk about winnebago. >> go ahead. >> great company look, it's almost up a double. >> you look angry now. >> no, wii'm happy, i'm happy it's a beautiful day, we're talking about stocks what's not to love >> you're not unhappy with me? go ahead winnebago. >> it's been a heroic performer in my portfolio. almost a double in a year and a half it's 50% larger in my portfolio than it's supposed to be, so i'm trimming it, taking about a third of it off. what i think is more important is that i'm not recycling that money back into the markets right now. we've talked for a while, whether it's howard marks, look, you are due for a correction in this market at some point in time i know exactly what i want to

buy. i'm not rushing into it right now. this is not an asset allocation call, okay i'm an equity portfolio manager and i have 20% cash right now. that is dry powder that when i get cheaper prices, i'm going to put it to work and i expect that in the next four to eight weeks. >> all right thank you very much. oh, snap one of our traders is buying tun loved social stock who is it and why? we'll find out next. plus, lowe's, chipotle, footlocker, american eagle, they're all in the blitz today "halftime report" back in two minutes and we'll tell you what's going on with those stocks, why they're moving up or down usaa to me means

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let's do the blitz lowe's, wow. 6% today missed their earnings, steph >> missed their earnings >> all this talk about home depot, let's focus on lowe's now. what's going on here >> lowe's continues to disappoint that's the problem such potential with this company. margins are so depressed, they've got a good store base, but they can't seem to execute consistently it's going to trade at a

discount to home depot for a long time until they can prove it they missed. 7.9% for july comps. so the demand is there, they just can't execute i'd avoid. >> chipotle, trading at lows not seen since 2013. josh brown >> so two things it's got a growth stock multiple and doesn't grow, number one number two, don't say that you'd do any kind of risk management, if you're long this name, as it pierces through these very obvious support levels, time after time 375 was an obvious level where the buyers should have come in they've come in there before on high volume this time, it was like a knife through butter so if you're like saying, oh, i'm about preservation of -- no, you're not can't be long this name. it's a falling knife i don't see what could possibly turn it around with this velocity to the downside at a certain point, it will be a buy. not yet. >> were you throwing shade at ackman there >> it's nothing to do with him i know a million people who are like, oh, it's such a great

product or there are lines at the store. like that kind of first-level thinking this so clearly has been a falling knife for a long time. it's not that there's never going to be a chance to make money here price action is giving you no signs that anyone is willing to own this name. and until that stops, what's the point of laying down in front of it >> footlocker is leading the s&p today, jim however, it's still down 30% in a week >> and 52% year-to-date. i mean, look it's another one of these ground zero stocks within the retail space. frankly, i don't see any catalyst to move this higher in the near-term. there's no reason to rush into it today yes, it's cheap, but nothing's going to move it higher, so stay out of it. >> american eagle outfitters is higher today beat on the top and bottom lines. >> out of the earnings there was a nice pop you also got a nice pop out of express, both of them -- >> his own doc today >> both had double-digit short interests, which is key for some of these pebeaten up retailers.

>> s.n.a.p. shares up 13% over the past week alone. up again today and steve weiss is buying it and joins us right now steve weiss, are you on the phone? >> i am, scott from sunny denver. >> why did this stock finally pique your interest? >> well, as you know, we were short the stocks, puts, i covered those. to me, and i'm not a believer in this company long-term, and i still think it's relatively overvalued however, what i would say is, it reminds me of twitter and facebook facebook ultimately, of course, the company that it is but, twitter had these fits and starts from people that were bottom fishers, that wanted to get involved so i think it's a trade. and i've caught about half the move i bought it yesterday, up 13%. i would like to see the stock trade up to about 18, maybe 20 i won't be there for that period of time. but, in a market where performance is tough to get, this provides, i think, pretty good opportunity with minimal

downside at this level ultimately, i want to be short it again, but right now, i'm happy to be long it. so it's purely a trade but the market report was a good report that came out >> about the facebook teen usage going down. >> correct, correct. and anecdotally it's still a pretty well used product but same issues as twitter does, converting the revenue and justifying the multiple valuation. but especially at the end of the cash flow analysis that's a trade and picking up some of the losses in the airlines. >> it is now up 33% off the low, seven trading days ago which is a very fast move congrats to weiss for catching it it's now at the very interesting juncture it's bumping up against its declining 50-day moving average. this is an obvious area for the rally to stop, figure about 15

or so. if it gets through, it would be first technical sign that there's any kind of life in the buyers here. so i guess we have yet to see but if i were mr. weiss and i'm not and here's probably thankful i'm not, i would be -- that would be like 15.10 in that range. if started to roll down, i would say okay, i did pretty well, don't like this any way, let's move on. >> where did you say you bought it >> yes. >> at what price >> i don't have the count in front of me, up 6% as of right now. that will give you some -- i like the chart in it it looked like it was bottoming a little bit i compared it to the twitter charts and the periodic spurts over the past and it's something that you move your stops up on as stock moves higher and

preserve the gains from the trade. there was an appetite for it before and i think tech still leads the market we're seeing that today. this is what i'm comfortable buying on chipotle, i'm short this morning and that stock has significant downside from here. >> we'll catch you back here enjoy denver >> working, man. >> sure. focused on the dollar. that is next this is not a cloud. this is a tomato tracked from farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see. this is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data

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welcome back, to the halftime report. the u.s. dollar sliding as the euro jumped in early trade, this following positive economic data out of the eurozone. >> the u.s. dollar dipped after president trump threatened scrapping nafta and shutting down the government if he does not get funding for the border wall with that being said, jackie the dollar staying above $93 is looking out west to the grand tetons for direction and it will have yellen and draghi speaking on friday. we'll see if yellen tries to speak about this potential rate hike in december right now the market is not buying it. >> what key levels should investors be watching if they are trade beiing the dollar >> when you look at the chart, 92.30, we hit that spot a couple

of weeks ago if we get through that, 91.50 in that area. jeff is right drag hi will be very important next week at jackson hole and may take down the euro a little bit. there's a bit of a concern on how strong it's been. >> thanks, guys. for more features tune into the live show 1:00 eastern time exclusive orn futures now.cnbc.com. >> we'll take a quick break then we'll do finalras. tde this is where i trade andrs. manage my portfolio. since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. okay. i'm plugged into equities- trade confirmed- and i have global access 24/7. meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do.

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until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. let's do find final trades. >> somebody piled into a whole bunch of nrg calls today, judge. i joined them during the program and nrg and looking for upside there. stock is around 25, they were buying at the 30 -- >> did the trade during the program. >> did the trade during the program, during the commercial break. >> just checking. >> you know, 3m was one of the stocks that did not do well in the recent earning seasons and for the past few days it's down today and i think it will continue to go down. no momentum to the stock. >> josh brown? >> i would continue to fade any and all mexican wall rhetoric, ksu is still on the verge of a breakout and earnings should be very good.

i would stay long that name and not pay attention. >> nice year, up 25% year to date. >> no doubt. >> broadco mmt, they report of the close. free cash flow generator, like it. >> good stuff. thanks to you for watching as well "power lunch" begins right now. >> thank you, scott, here's what on the "power lunch" menu. president trump threatening a government shutdown over the border wall. what are the chances and what o could it mean for your money >> the biggest advertising company cutting theout look and blaming problems in part on the white house. the hot take on president trump straight ahead. 700 million reasons why tonight could be the best night ever tonight's powerball drawing will be the second biggest jackpot of all time the odds and pay day and what i'm going to do with it when