By the Numbers - Fast Money Recap (10/17/08)

Recap of CNBC's Fast Money, Friday October 17.

Dylan Ratigan began the show with a discussion of the credit markets which acted a little bit better today. Value investor Karen Finerman said it's very hard to find values in a market like this, because valuations change within hours. She says "valuations we're seeing right now are extraordinary if you have a longer-term outlook." Pete Najarian said, "The market made an amazing run higher even with volatility at new highs." He told viewers to look for some value plays even if you have to reduce the earnings yourself.

Time to Buy? - General Mills (GIS), MasterCard (MA), Potash (POT), National-Oilwell Varco (NOV), Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton (HAL), Nabors (NBR), Weatherford (WFT), United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG)

Ratigan discussed comments Warren Buffett made in his op-ed in the New York Times today. Buffett was quoted as saying "even in the Depression, stocks bottomed in the 1930s very early in that decade, even as the economy continued to deteriorate for years." Ratigan asked if now is the time to buy assets. Terranvoa said yes, and he likes names such as General Mills, MasterCard, Potash and National-Oilwell Varco. Karabell pointed out the action in Schlumberger today shows that investors are trading purely on "emotional news." Najarian mentioned that Halliburton, Nabors and Weatherford all report earnings next week. He says "an amazing amount of options traded on the United States Natural Gas Fund."

Chart of the Day

The Baltic Exchange Dry Index made a huge drop and is now down 63% on the year. Karabell says "This index isn't a good indicator of what's going on in a macro way."

By the Numbers - Peabody Energy (BTU), Union Pacific (UNP), Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

Najarian said to take a look at Peabody Energy because its numbers were outstanding. He also likes Union Pacific at $55 per share and Burlington Northern Santa Fe at $75 per share. Ratigan mentioned that Google had a nice day after its earnings report, and Microsoft and Yahoo! report next week. Najarian pointed out Google made a lot of money off their DoubleClick acquisition. Karabell says "even if the economy is contracting, a lot of companies will remove their ad spending from traditional outlets and move toward using Google online."

Buy American - Manpower (MAN), Occidental Petroleum (OXY)

Steve Cortes, the founder of Veracruz LLC, joined the crew to discuss Warren Buffett's op-ed in The New York Times. Cortes said he agrees with Buffett's bullish outlook for U.S. stocks. He says "chaos brings tremendous pain, but it also brings tremendous opportunity." He pointed out that the U.S. has advantages right now that no other country in the world has. Cortes says, "If we enact the right policy, this could be the greatest opportunity in American history to ensure that we remain the world's sole superpower economically and military, for decades and centuries to come." He told viewers to avoid companies with too much international exposure like Manpower. Instead, he said focus on energy stocks like Occidental Petroleum which has an attractive dividend yield and gets a majority of its revenue from the U.S. Cortes says "America should cut capital gains taxes and institute initiatives for massive immigration." Finerman agreed on the immigration stance.

Trader Radar - Honeywell International (HON)

Honeywell International was among the most actively traded stocks in the NYSE today.

Your First Move for Monday October 20th.

Zach Karabell prefers long Schlumberger (SLB).
Karen Finerman recommends long WellPoint (WLP).
Joe Terranova suggests long Potash (POT).
Pete Najarian says MGM Mirage (MGM) is a buy.

Seeking Alpha is not affiliated with CNBC, or Fast Money.
 

Comments

[fatcat:]

These same idiots were recommending the rails six months ago at double the price...they will go lower in this economy..

2008 Oct 18 09:46 AM

[pokernut:]

Is Warren Buffett hyping the market to protect his positions? I think it is likely.This show is would be better served if Dylan Ratigan was fired. He has a big mouth, but no brain.

2008 Oct 18 10:19 AM

[Richard Col...:]

Joan Wickham,
We needed Buffett to speak out and wake up America. The big money listens to successful investors.
Who is Steve Cortes? I agree with his comments and recommendatins Steve Cortez and Buffett sound like true Americans.
Who would you rather listen to? Warren Buffett or Morgan Stanley and the other bankrupt financial institutions?
Thanks Joan for your article.
Daniel Kowkabany

2008 Oct 18 12:38 PM

[ashizashiz:]

Dear Fellow Victims:

Together, daily, we share news of the latest in the greatest financial ripoff in the history of history. Billions---literally--... human beings left to suffer and freeze and starve over the next 5-10 years, as the Plutocrats and Kleptocrats hunker down with their riches, their mansions, their Lamborghinis, etc.

Well, I take my lessons from 2 sources: Mohandas K. Gandhi and Billy Ray Valentine. Gandhi you know, I hope. Valentine, played gracefully by a young Ediie Murphy, was the guy in TRADING PLACES who goes from being poor to rich, at the expense of Winthorp, played gracefully by a skinny Dan Aykroyd. ANYWAY....

So, here's the point:

1. Gandhi organizes a day of "fasting and prayer" to protest British rules in India. Of course, a day of fasting and prayer also means 500 million Indian workers off the job: no trains, no buses, no public works---which effectively leaves 100,000 British ex-pats in India totally cut off from the world. A bad day for the Brits, to say the least.
2. Billy Ray Valentine (Capricorn) points out to Lewis Winthorp--as Winthorp cleans out his shotgun barrel in preparation, one can only assume, for a knee-cap shattering meeting with The Dukes brothers (Randolph and Mortimer Duke, of Duke and Duke Commodities, INC.)---that the way you really get a rich person back is NOT by shooting him, but instead by making him poor.

OK, you with me so far?

Now for the union of Gandhi and Valentine.

It seems to me that the real criminals in all of this are the bankers, the folks in the financial industry, the Paulsons and Bernankes and Fulds and all of the folks who have become wealthy on the backs---and on the debt---of the rest of us. This system of FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING, a system in which money = debt, this system can only function and make millionaires of a few while leaving the rest in the dust if and only if the rest of us choose to play.

Look, what terrified Paulson more than anything---and then he convinced Bush to be terrified, and he convinced the scumbags in Congress to be terrified----was the idea of a financial system, whose very existence is dependent upon growth and therefore upon more and more debt, collapsing because the borrowing cycle had been shut down.

These total assholes admitted it, and they assumed the rest of us wouldn't really get it. They said, flat out, that we are risking a systemic financial collapse unless we can get the credit markets working again.

Look, I want you to PLEASE watch this video RIGHT NOW. Afterwards, come back to my post.

video.google.com/video...

OK, now...here comes my thesis...well, not really...ummmm....more like my proposal.

Let's stop playing! I say, get together with people in your community and come up with a plan so that (a) everyone can eat and (b) everyone can stay warm and (c) everyone has water to drink and (d) EVERYONE STOPS PAYING FOR THINGS THAT ARE MAKING THE MOTHERFUCKERS RICH!!!

To hell with paying taxes! Think about taxes for one second. All of our taxes have to go up, because we have, to this point, lent the FED over a TRILLION dollars---and Scumbag Paulson is giving all of OUR money (money that we have earned through our hard work as teachers, and carpenters, and farmers and police officers, etc.) to the banks so that the credit market will loosen so that the banks will loan us back our money...at interest!!! I say, no more!!!!!!!!!!

I say we need to come together in our communities and protect each other and help each other and go on strike from giving our hard earned money away so that amoral scum like Henry Paulson can make millions more dollars off of us. I am done with that shit!

We cannot do this alone. Alone we are pariah who get nicked by the FBI and thrown in jail and called extremists. I say, this needs to be a mass movement. A mainstream movement of protest against a financial system that CAN ONLY SURVIVE on the growing debt burden of the ordinary folk.

I may not be William Wallace, and while I like Mel Gibson as an actor I find some of his views about religion rather abhorrent...but I will say this: It is time to claim...OUR FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

2008 Oct 18 06:02 PM

[Michael Del...:]

ashizashiz,

You really do have to work on your anger management. While I admire your passion, not paying taxes and not using credit are not really viable options.

Credit has allowed me to buy a house in which to raise my family. Without a mortgage, we would still be living in an apartment and I would not have accumulated $250K in equity in 20 years.

Nobody likes to pay taxes, but somebody has to pay for all those aircraft carriers which come in mighty handy when they are needed. You want a plan where everybody has enough to eat, is warm and has water to drink. Stop paying taxes to your local community and the water to drink will go away pretty quickly. Besides, I want a standard of living for myself and my family that is a little better than basic food, water and heat. I am an American and I enjoy baseball and football games, driving my cars, fishing, having a beer by the barbecue in the back yard, going on vacation for two weeks in the summer, and sending my kids to college so that they will have better opportunities than me.

You don't even know Hank Paulson. While you may disgree with his view on the economy, he is a smart man and if you lived next door to him you might find him to be an alright guy. More people in this country agree with his views than yours. But, its a free country and you are free to express yourself. More people would listen to you if weren't so negative.

Lighten up. Rein in your finances enough so that you can once more sleep at night.

2008 Oct 19 03:36 PM