check out dr. pepper, reporting a decline of fourth quarter sales volume as it struggles to get americans to drink more soda. it did beat estimates. the stock is up 3%. back to you. >> everybody get through the storm safely. see you back here tomorrow. that's it for "power lunch." >> "street signs" begins right now. the big story this hour is that big wall. you are looking at a live weather loop of a massive winter storm beginning to pound the east coast. it is now moving toward the midatlantic after hitting the south. nearly 300,000 people without power at this hour. some 6,000 flights have been delayed or canceled. to put this into better perspective because some people say why do we care, 93 million people right now, about a third of america, are under some kind of a weather advisory. it will hit the economy. >> indeed it will. that is our question, what it

means to your money. we are cnbc. we are taking a look at the good, the bad and the downright ugly of all this winter weather. why not start with the good. auto repair companies like pep boys and monroe muffler could get a boost from big storms. let's bring in bret jordan from bb & t capital markets. i believe you just wrote a note on this precise topic. what is the key takeaway? >> well, certainly it's an abnormally cold and extreme winter. we looked at the december weather patterns and they were about 7% below 100 year average and january's gotten worse. so massive vehicle population, old vehicles on average, almost 12 years old in the country, and facing this type of winter weather, you are certainly seeing an increase in parts and service demand. >> you are talking to a guy whose car is in the shop literally as we speak, because of some of the road conditions here. is this a net new business or is this merely a pull forward from other maintenance? >> well, not really. this is a business that the soft winters, the warm winters we

have had the last several years, a lot of compound wear has built up. this winter is forcing cars into the shop. nobody buys car parts because they make them feel good. you don't buy them because it's not a fashion trend. you buy them because you need them. this is a vehicle population that needs to be driven for work or school and again, extreme weather drives brake pads, front end repair and tire demand. >> maybe you can explain something for me. year to date, the performance of pep boys and munro muffler are down. we have had terrible weather year to date. why is it not showing up in their share price? >> you see a fair amount of trade. if you look at pressures in the space, the chinese tire tariff ended in 2012. customers are coming in trying to buy the cheapest parts available. these cars are almost 12 years old and this is a business where trade down has negatively impacted comps. if you look at the aftermarket and parts across the board,

including folks who sell parts to private installers, that group has significantly outperformed market. comp store sales, you see the industry demand across the board has certainly seen growth. >> manny, moe, jack and bret. appreciate your time. thank you. let's move into the likely bad. restaurants, perhaps taking another big hit because of all this bad weather. joining us now, bob, if i need a pair of jeans, the weather may delay my purchase but i will go get them. i may not go back and eat at a restaurant because it was cold. is this a huge net loss of business? >> you know, to be fair, i think a lot of investors are loathe to talk about this whole concept affecting restaurants. weather is transient, it comes and goes. yes, we will lose some sales likely for some chains, but there's a cabin fever effect and i think a lot of restaurant chains will actually see a pickup just as soon as the sun comes out and the roads clear and you're tired of cooking.

>> weather is an easy thing to blame, isn't it. to a certain degree, we have already seen a number of restaurant chains wheeling out the weather as their excuse. to what degree is it a real excuse and which chains are the most exposed to the bad weather? >> that's fair, mandy. a lot of times it can be used as camouflage for deeper systemic problems. you know, within our universe, what we've heard clearly is the upper midwest, the northeast into the midatlantic have been most heavily affected. i think the chains with the most geographic exposure to those regions. panera bread will see an effect when they report next week. we will likely see impact for ruby tuesday, they have significant exposure there. remember, buffalo wild also has a pretty heavy exposure within those markets even though their same store sales certainly didn't appear to be affected. i think the impact will vary significantly by chain. >> who is most exposed, then? >> you know, to be fair, i think

given the storms we have seen, the most likely will be the ones i just mentioned. no doubt panera will have some effect. cracker barrel likely will have some effect. buffalo wild has had some effect though not as much. i think ruby tuesday will have some. it's an issue for the whole industry although i think geography will clearly impact which chains get hurt the worst. >> you mentioned at the beginning of the interview that the weather is fleeting. thank goodness for that. is there any such thing as pent-up demand once we get out of that cabin fever and get out there and get back into the restaurants, is there pent-up demand or not so much for restaurants? >> you know, what i would say is there is clearly an underlying improvement in the trend for a lot of restaurant chains. we will see that as we get deeper into the first calendar quarter and into the second quarter. i think that's when ultimately the sun comes out, the weather gets warm, it gets more normal and we will see better sales and earnings for these brands. >> can't happen a moment too soon. always great to see you. thank you very much.

we have done the good, the bad. now for the ugly. the downright ugly. the roads and highways are taking a beating from this weather and giving a beating to the cars such as that of our dear friend brian here. morgan brennan has more. >> reporter: you want ugly? this is ugly. the numbers are just as bad. here in new jersey where we are, the transportation department has already filled more than 25,000 potholes in january alone. that's more than twice the amount they filled during the same time last year. in new york city, the d.o.t. telling me that this year through february 7th, it's filled nearly 69,000 potholes. that's 83% more than last year during the same time, 107% more than in 2012. out in the midwest, we are seeing similar issues. all of this, of course, shining a light on asphalt. municipalities already incurring costs thanks to road salt shortages and record high propane prices. this could be one more cost for them. we won't know the extent of the

damage or just how much asphalt will be needed until the weather gets a little bit warmer. that's when towns and cities assess what will be patched versus repaved. when you repave a street, that's where the real expense is. there is one silver lining. that's the fact the asphalt market has been depressed since the downturn thanks to sluggish construction. prices have remained flat so unlike road salt, where we are seeing shortages and prices spike, with asphalt, there should be plenty to go around. we have a few more weeks with bad weather. we'll have to see just how bad this will be for municipalities then. back to you guys. >> thank you very much. almost third world road conditions around here. by the way, if you're looking at asphalt companies, the biggest is that one right there. vulcan materials, number one maker of asphalt. it's already up more than 10% this year. snow may be a big story in the east, but out west, it is a completely different story.

california is suffering from an epic drought and it could have a huge impact on what we eat and how much we pay. let's get to jane wells live at the world ag expo. >> reporter: i want to show you real quickly some video we shot a few minutes ago. governor brown is touring this show right now. president obama's expected to come to this region of the state for the first time on friday. they will hear a lot about the politics of water, what does it mean for you. i don't have to tell you, you don't have to be an economist to know food, dairy and beef prices are already high. as we look at video, the big question is will they go higher because of the drought. here's an interesting example. california is the number one dairy state. dairyman tom barcellis is buying alfalfa hay, paying 20% more, says it could go up to 75%. that doesn't mean he will necessarily pass it on to you. >> the milk price really here now is at an all time high so we do have some margin. >> this is alfalfa.

>> reporter: less water-intensive crops are being grown across the state. the stuff he sells to whole foods is going to go up unless there's more rain or the state frees up some water for farmers currently being used to help save fish. >> we have been brought to our knees by a political drought that goes on every year. now with the severe drought over the past two years, it's like the knockout punch. >> we have some of the highest prices right now in california agriculture in part because of the drought but primarily because of demand from abroad. so farmers will survive this. it will cost a lot of money but there will be changes. but they will survive this. >> reporter: that's interesting what vernon crowder says. prices are already high and they are making money so they may be able to eat some of the margins here. another thing to see is this friday when the president gets here, what will he say about competing bills in congress to provide relief? the republicans have a bill that

wants to transfer some of the water from the fish to the farmers. the democrats don't want that to happen. i think we know where he will fall on that. back to you. >> jane wells, thank you very much for that. talking of the president, we are currently waiting on him to sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers. that's a few hundred thousand people from the current $7.25 to $10.10. we are just waiting for him. you can see there live the white house and when he comes to the podium, and makes his remarks, we will bring that to you here on cnbc. as we wait on deck, just what do investors care more about right now with regard to the market. do they care more about earnings. or the federal reserve? we got a street fight ahead. plus as most of the country freezes, will that company absolutely soar trying to keep us warm? the ceo of owens corning is coming up. if you say your name is pat

and your zip code happens to be 92661, open your window right now. look out, because we know more about you than you realize. kind of creepy. we will explain ahead. plus the sharks did not bite but we will take a bite out of some beer flavored ice cream. a. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

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this is the hot debate in the stock market right now.

as stocks have recovered the last few months and years, do investors care more about the fed and its easy money policies or corporate earnings and good old-fashioned numbers? battle lines have been drawn. seema mody making the case for earnings. steve liesman making the case for the fed. seema, start with you. make the case. >> earnings continue to surprise to the upside which tells us that the fundamental story on why you should invest in stocks is improving. that's what i'm hearing as the catalyst behind stocks recovering. according to thompson reuters blended earnings growth rate for the quarter has risen to 9.5%, the highest since q-3 of 2011 and if you think yeah, yeah, earnings being boosted by lowering expenses, you're probably wrong because revenue growth is slowly coming back. in fact, 68% of companies have actually beat revenue expectations which is at a 2 1/2 year high. in fact, the tech sector is sporting a revenue growth rate five times higher than the s&p 500. companies like google and facebook posting double digit revenue growth as more consumers go digital. lastly, if you are still not

sold on earnings driving stocks higher, companies that have beat estimates on their top and bottom line have outperformed the s&p 500 by about two percentage points on average in the five days following reports that missed on bottom and top have underperformed by 5.6% which clearly indicates that wall street is paying attention to earnings and is rewarding the companies that top wall street consensus. >> seema, stay right there. you have made your case. steve, make your case for the federal reserve. >> i'm just really disappointed that somebody with the market acumen' somebody like seema doesn't see who follows the tape almost as good as pisani does, maybe better, can't follow -- i submit exhibit a, seema. if you look at my first chart, there's my three points, my three defenses right there. market pops at 830 yesterday when yellen testimony released, accelerates during the testimony and what i believe is a total

obliteration of your argument, the earnings forecasts have declined. let me submit exhibit a, my first chart. you can see the s&p futures and when they moved. that's my second chart. that's okay. these are the earnings forecasts. you can see between the third and seventh, earnings have come down. we both know that the market is a forward discounting mechanism here. so it's not today's earnings that's moving the market, it's tomorrow's. now i present exhibit b which was to be my exhibit a, as you can see the tale of the tape. the s&p futures, 830 yesterday. we were down, we reversed on the release of yellen's testimony. i rest my case. >> what did janet yellen tell us we didn't already know? we knew the fed would stay highly accommodative. what did she tell us? >> an excellent but anticipated rebuttal. i think the fact that she made the same argument that the market knew but from a different person and i believe as i said yesterday, owned these remarks as well as she owned the policy, was calming to the market.

now, i would say if you told me earnings were falling more precipitously than they have been i wouldn't think the market would do that. but i think yellen was like a gate that opened up that allowed money to come in that was coming in anyway. >> i think yellen was already priced in, the fed has been priced in. it's earnings that have been coming out day after day. that's what has been helping stocks move higher. >> how do you explain why the market goes up when the actual earnings forecast, forward earnings forecast have come down? >> that's forward. we are looking at actual earnings growth. >> the market is not trading on yesterday. it's trading on tomorrow and six months from now. >> depends on who you talk to. >> couple things. i can answer that question, steve, because we are the best case in the world, right. we are that cleanest dirty shirt in a bag of laundry so as bad as we may look, perhaps we are the best option. i think you both are right. why can't it be both? bless you, by the way. why can't it be both? the fed has helped earnings by

driving corporate borrowing costs down. if i can cut my balance sheet -- if i can cut one side of the balance sheet down by refinancing debt like a homeowner refinances their mortgage, i increased profits. >> i think that's right. i will also say that i think there was some residual risk that was out there about the transition. i think to an extent, that was alleviated. by the way, we're not out of the woods yet. yellen has not had really new situations in which we can judge her decision making yet. >> yeah. that's absolutely true. if you took one of your very famous surveys right now today, steve, and you asked exactly that same question to the respondents, for example, what's more important in terms of driving the market from here, is it the fed or is it earnings and actual numbers, what do you think it would come out at percentage wise? >> you know, this was a huge value doing this segment because i have an excellent question for my next cnbc fed survey. i don't know how it would come out. i'm going to put that question on there. because the market has been driven higher and i think in terms of if you ask people to

judge, i think it depends on what state of policy we're in right now. i do know one thing which has been interesting we tracked in the fed survey which is the extent to which the market thinks we are -- apologize. the president about to sign an order raising the minimum wage. let's go to the white house. >> thank you, guys. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much. everybody have a seat. have a seat. welcome to the white house, everybody. i know you had to come here before you go buy some shovels and some salt. it sounds like we may get a little snow. but i very much appreciate everybody being here. i want to thank first and foremost, the workers who are with me here this afternoon.

and i want to thank two champions for all hard-working americans. we've got secretary of labor tom perez. he's in the house. where's tom? right here. tom's right here. i didn't know where he was. and we've got outstanding congressman who is used to snow because he's from minnesota, congressman keith ellison. now, it's been just over two weeks since i delivered my state of the union address and i said this year would be a year of action and i meant it. over the past 14 days, i have ordered an across the board reform of our job training

programs to train folks with the skills that employers need and then match them up with good jobs that are ready to be filled right now. i directed the treasury to create something we're calling myra. and that's a new way for americans to start saving for retirement. you can start with as little as $25, $50 and start building up a little bit of a nest egg. and get tax benefits for doing so. we have rallied the leaders of some of america's biggest high tech companies to help us make sure that all of our kids have access to high speed internet and up-to-date technology in their classrooms so that they're learning the skills that they need for the new economy. we brought together business leaders who are committed to hiring more unemployed americans, particularly long-term unemployed, who oftentimes are discriminated against. they're in a catch 22.

they haven't had a job for awhile and then the employer's not willing to look at their resume because they haven't had a job for awhile. so the point is, i'm eager to work with congress whenever i can find opportunities to expand opportunities for more families. but wherever i can act on my own, without congress, by using my pen to take executive actions or picking up the phone and rallying folks around a common cause, that's what i'm going to do. and so that brings me to the issue we're going to talk about today. after the worst economic crisis in generations, our economy has been growing for the past four years. and our businesses have created 8 1/2 million new jobs.

unemployment rate has come down. but while those at the top are doing better than ever, corporate profits have been high, stock market has been high, average wages have barely budged. so you have too many americans who are working harder than ever before just to get by, but they can't seem to get ahead. can't seem to make all the ends meet. and that's been true since long before the recession hit. we've got to reverse those trends. we've got to build an economy that works for everybody, not just the fortunate few. and we've got to restore opportunity for everybody so that no matter who you are, no matter how you started out, no matter what you look like, no matter what your last name is, you can get ahead in america if you're willing to work hard and take responsibility for your life. so the opportunity agenda i have

laid out will help us do just that. part one of this agenda is more new jobs that pay a good wage. jobs in manufacturing and exports and energy and innovation. part two, we got to train the folks with the skills to fill those jobs. part three, we got to make sure every child gets a world class education. and part four, we've got to make sure that the economy rewards hard work for every american. making hard work pay off with economic security and decent wages and benefits is what we're about here today. it means making sure women earn equal pay for equal work. it means making sure workers have the chance to save for a

dignified retirement. it means access to affordable health insurance that gives you the freedom to change jobs or be your own boss, and the peace of mind that it will be there for you when you get sick and you need it most. so if you know anybody who doesn't have health insurance right now, send them to healthcare.gov. website's working. sign them up. you can get health care for less than your cell phone bill for a lot of folks. but it also means that in the wealthiest nation on earth, nobody who works full-time should have to live in poverty. nobody. not here in america.

now, it was one year ago today, one year ago today that i first asked congress to raise the federal minimum wage. a federal minimum wage that in real terms is worth about 20% less than it was when ronald reagan took office. 20% less, a fifth less. so this afternoon, i have invited some of the folks who would see a raise if we raised that federal minimum wage. they happened to join me here at the white house. and like most workers in their situation, they're not teenagers. they look like teenagers, some of them are very young-looking. but they are not teenagers taking on their first job. they're adults. average age is 35 years old. a majority of lower wage jobs are held by women. many of them have children that

they're supporting. these are americans who work full-time, often to support a family, and if the minimum wage had kept pace with our economic productivity, they would already be getting paid well over $10 an hour. instead, the minimum wage is still just $7.25. when congress refuses to raise it, it loses value because there's a little bit of inflation. everything else starts costing a little more even though inflation has been pretty low, it's still costing a little bit more each year. that means each dollar isn't going as far and they've got a little bit less. so over the past year, the failure of congress to act was the equivalent of a $200 pay cut for these folks, for a typical minimum wage worker. that's a month worth of groceries. maybe two months worth of electricity. it makes a big difference for a lot of families. now, the good news is that in

the year since i first asked congress to raise the minimum wage, six states went ahead and passed laws to raise theirs. we appreciate that. we've got more states and cities and counties that are taking steps to raise their minimum wage as we speak. and a lot of companies are doing it, too. not out of charity, but because they have discovered it's good business. two weeks ago i visited a costco store in maryland. costco is a very profitable company. its stock has done great. it's expanded all over the place. but their philosophy is higher wages are a smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. if employees are happy and feel like the company is invested in them, then they're going to do

more for the company. they're going to go above and beyond. and when i was over at the costco store, i was meeting folks who had started off at the cash register and now were in supervisory positions and had been there for 20 years. you could see the kind of pride they had in the company because the company cared about them. i even received a letter the next day from a woman who saw my visit on tv. she decided to apply for a job at costco. she said let me apply for a job at costco, they look like they do a good job. so across the country, owners of small and large businesses are recognizing that fair wages and higher profits go hand in hand. it's good for the bottom line. and as america's chief executive, i agree. so while congress decides what it's going to do and i hope this year, and i'm going to work this year and urge this year that

they actually pass a law, today i'm going to do what i can to help raise working americans' wages. so today -- [ applause ] so today i'm issuing an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. this will make a difference for folks. right now, there's a dishwasher at randolph air force base in texas making $7.76 an hour. $7.76 an hour. there's a fast food worker at andrews right down the street

making $8.91 an hour. there's a laundry worker at camp dodge in iowa making $9.03 an hour. once i sign this order starting next year as their contracts come up, each of them and many of their fellow co-workers are going to get a raise. by the way, that includes folks who get paid in tips. they will get a raise, too. tip wages have gone up even slower than the regular minimum wage. so just as it's good for companies across the country, this will be good for america's bottom line, for contractors and taxpayers. the opponents of the minimum wage have been using the same arguments for years and time and again, they have been proven wrong. raising the minimum wage is good for business and it's good for workers and it's good for the economy.

puts more money in these folks' pockets. that means they've got some money to go shopping. which in turn means the business has more customers. which means they may hire more workers and make more of a profit. let's not forget, not only is it good for the economy, it's the right thing to do. there's a simple moral principle at stake. if you take responsibility and you work as hard as these folks work, if you work full-time, you shouldn't be living in poverty. not in america. we believe that. and this executive order will cover americans with disabilities because this principle doesn't just apply to some of us. it applies to all of us. so i'm going to keep doing whatever i can to raise working americans' wages and i would ask

any business leader out there, any governor, any mayor, any local leader listening, do what you can to raise your employees' wages, to raise the wages of citizens in your jurisdiction. they will support these efforts. a majority of americans, not just democrats, not just independents but republicans, too, support raising the minimum wage. it's the right thing to do. so that's something congress should keep in mind this year. there's a bill right now in front of both the house and the senate that would boost america's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, just like i'm doing with this executive action. it's easy to remember, 10.10. 10.10. let's get that done. raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10, wouldn't just raise wages for minimum wage workers. its effect would lift wages for

about 28 million americans. it would lift millions of americans out of poverty immediately. it would help millions more work their way out of poverty without requiring a single dollar in new taxes or spending. it's the right thing to do. just last month, 600 economists, including seven nobel prize winners, wrote the leaders of houses of congress to remind them that the bill before congress would have little or no negative effect on hiring, on jobs. so it's not going to depress the economy. it will boost the economy. yes! it will give more businesses, more customers with more money to spend. it will grow the economy for everybody. so yeah, he's excited about it. so members of congress have a pretty clear choice to make right now. raise our workers' wages, grow

our economy, or let wages stagnate further and give workers what amounts to another pay cut this year. restore unemployment insurance for americans still looking for that job, or expose them further to hardship. members of congress, you can help people make progress in their own lives or you can hinder that progress. every american deserves to know where your elected representative stands on this issue. so ask your senator, ask your representative in the house, do you support raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. if they say yes, tell them good job. they don't hear that that often. give them a pat on the back, give them a hug, let them know, way to go. that's the right thing to do. if they say no, be polite.

i mean, don't just yell at them but say why not? ask them to reconsider siding with an overwhelming majority of americans. encourage them to say yes. give america a raise. i'm about to sign this executive order. when you hear me talking about my pen and my phone to make a difference for middle class americans and those working to get in the middle class, this is exactly what i mean. i'm going to do what i can. congress should do what it needs to do. i will not give up on this fight no matter how long it takes. america deserves a raise. working families deserve to know some more economic security in their own lives. we've got to create new jobs, strengthen the middle class, build new ladders of opportunity for folks working their way into the middle class. just like these folks are doing right here. there are millions of americans who could just use a little bit of boost. millions of americans outside of

washington who are tired of the old stale political arguments, or tired of folks just looking out for people who can afford big lobbyists and big campaign contributions. there are folks out there who want to see us restore an economy that works for everybody. and get back to our founding vision of opportunity for all. so i know you guys will work with me but go out there and organize some more. thank you, everybody. let's give americans a raise right now. i'm going to sign this. >> as you can see, the president of the united states explaining why he is signing an executive order to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 an hour currently to $10.10. let's bring in john harwood on this. john, even though this particular order only benefits a minority of american workers, to what degree does it set the stage for congress to be able to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers?

>> well, the president hopes it sets the stage but there's no guarantee at all of that. remember, it's a very tiny number of people affected, just a few hundred thousand people. the president is hoping for two effects. one, that companies who are federal contractors will then be influenced if they have to pay minimum wage or this higher minimum wage on their federal contract, they will pay it for their other workers so there will be a response within the corporate community and secondly, he's hoping because this is very popular, if you look at polling, significant majority of americans favor this, that he can put some pressure on republicans to give on this, just as the house gave to him on the debt limit yesterday, trying to avoid a political problem. republicans want to run on obamacare. he's hoping they will decide not to make a stand on minimum wage but there's no guarantee of that. in fact, the smart money would be that this will not happen this year. the democrats will simply campaign on it. >> john, let's move on to the other issue in washington, the

debt ceiling. expected to have basically i don't want to call it a cursory vote but i understand some things may have changed in the last few hours? what's going on? >> they are on a vote to shut down potential filibuster on this. the vote's gone on for some time, which suggests they've got a problem getting the votes. the challenge of the debt limit is everybody knows it has to be done but nobody wants to vote for it and it's typically the prerogative of the minority in any chamber to vote against it. republicans are not the president's party, they don't control the chamber, they all want to vote against it, but they also want it to pass. so the challenge is who gets the short straw, who has to go with democrats to vote with the 55 democrats to make a 60 vote majority to get past the filibuster. they appear not to have them yet. i think they will get them eventually, but it's proving to be more difficult than they anticipated. john boehner got enough republicans in the house

yesterday to vote with democrats to pass it, but mitch mcconnell, unlike john boehner, has got a primary challenge this year so he doesn't have any incentive to go out and work to get those votes and they've got to figure out where they're going to come from. >> john harwood in washington, d.c., thank you very much. appreciate it. we will take a short break, folks. coming up after the break, the ceo of owens corning will be on. will the cold drive us to the store to buy more insulation? >> that's what he's hoping. he's smiling away.

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shares of owens corning up right now just under 9% today, the company posting a profit in its insulation business, announcing its first quarterly dividend in 14 years. let's bring in the chairman and

ceo of owens corning. he's got good reason to smile. perhaps the pink panther -- he has a pink tie on. that is just good coordination, mike. thanks for joining us. in your call, you note 20% margins in roofing materials and other composites. are y you are very confident in this. how are you keeping margins at these levels? >> well, thanks for having me on the show. we reported a great 2013 result today. i think the market's reacted very positively. we always said owens corning has great businesses in great industries. we make very useful products. we make insulation products, roofing products, composites to go into cars, into windmill blades, infrastructure. our business has been able to use technology products and capabilities to give our customers, you know, products that help them make money in the marketplace. working with our customers, we have been able to continue to grow our business, maintain our margins and put up pretty successful financial results. >> if we take a look at that pie chart, it seems insulation is at

36%, the majority of your business by sales. moving forward, do you expect that to be a bigger chunk? certainly with all this winter weather i would imagine a lot of people might be running out to try and lower their heating bills and insulate their homes more. >> well, you know, we have two good trends affecting our insulation business. first of all, obviously in new construction which we're seeing growth in the u.s. new construction market, insulation's a very important construction material in new construction. we are seeing building codes in new construction that are encouraging higher levels of energy efficiency. that's giving us some macro growth for insulation business. then beyond that, as you said, it's been a very, very cold winter. generally what we find is when people have severe weather conditions, they appreciate really good roofs, they appreciate very well insulated houses. so we would hope with improvement in house prices, with people having some equity back in their homes, with people wanting to invest back in their house, we would see some growth in both the reroof market on the roofing side and also the reinsulation market for insulation. >> do you think we will build more new homes in the second

half of 2014 than we built in the second half of 2013? in america? >> i do. i think we're in a housing recovery. clearly with a combination of some interest rate hikes in the second half of last year and then also the weather, it feels like right now maybe the construction industry is going sideways or paused a little bit but the underlying demographics and underlying need for households in the united states is still very, very strong. as we've seen house prices improve, you are obviously seeing people with more equity in their homes. we are seeing the mortgage market get a little better a step at a time. all these things are making homes more affordable for americans. with continued progress in the economy, i think you will see people continue to understand that buying a house is a great investment and that will spur some construction activity through 2014 with i think some improvement in the second half. >> all that being said, how are you going to improve shareholder value? i took a look at your last year, over the past year you only gained about 2.3% in your share

price. what more can you do to say to investors we are going to give you a better return than that? >> well, you know, i think in 2013, maybe our investors had a little bit of just show me attitude in terms of the performance of the company. i think with the report that we delivered today and the big runup we have seen in our stock just in the first 45 days of this year, maybe we have delivered on the just show me. so we said last year that we would grow earnings by more than $100 million. we said all three of our businesses would improve. i think during the year, there was some skepticism whether the underlying momentum in our business was that strong, and today, what we reported is all three businesses had improved in 2013. that actually all of them improved in both the third and fourth quarter. we gave forward guidance that said 2014 will be another year of big growth. i think the markets rewarded us. last but not least, we also declared a dividend today. i think expressing not only our confidence in our current balance sheet but our confidence in our outlook. generally i think investors have warmed to that message and that's the game plan for our

company in order to return value to shareholders. >> mike thaman, thank you for joining "street signs." >> thank you for having me. while the president was speaking, we received this breaking news in to cnbc. new york yankees shortstop derek jeter saying on his facebook page that this year, his 20th, will be his final season. he's 39 years old, has had a lot of injuries. it's his final season. 3316 hits, tenth on the all time list. he will be unfortunately leaving the yankees to suffer in his 30,000 square foot mansion on the beaches of warm florida. they call it st. jetersburg because it's in st. petersburg and the house is just that big. no cell phones allowed. big loss for the yankees. jeter's a great guy, captain clutch. >> captain clutch. go enjoy your home. >> what was your favorite baseball player? >> oh, my goodness. so many, i can't possibly count. we'll discuss it at length afterwards. what does your solar panel say about you? a lot, apparently. eamon javers has been following this story and it has a creepy edge to it. >> reporter: yeah, a little bit.

we have been talking about this concept of big data analytics but what is data is really a question. you think of excel spreadsheets and other things but one firm, a firm called haystack dna is actually looking at google earth satellite images of homes in california. take a look at this picture the folks gave us. what you will see is they are isolating those homes that have solar panels on the roof and what they can do with this massive computing power is look at the entire state of california, they can match that up with the name and address of the person who lives in that house and come up with a data base of people who have spent a lot of money to put a pretty expensive piece of green tech up on their roof. that's a data base that's valuable to marketers, to political consultants and others because it gives you a sense of people who have expendable income and also who are interested in environmentally sensitive products. also, if you take a look at some of the other findings here, some of them are just weird, including this one. let me go back and give you some of the stats. they found 2.96% of the homes in

orange county have solar panels, 4.2% of california households with income over $200,000 have solar panels. the most popular zip code for solaris 92694. 92694. that's laredo ranch, california, where 12.5% of the homes have solar panels. they're looking at things like name. people who have an opposite gender name, boy named sue, they tend to skew democraticdemocrat. >> that's weird. thank you very much. with us here now the president and co-founder of that company, haystack dna. michael simon. also joining us is a mark rotenberg. there's no easy way to put this. what's the difference between careful marketing with satellites and spying? >> you know, i think that there

is a -- >> the satellite is there looking down on us. that used to be spying. >> well, we're using public information to derive observations that help us make predictions about how consumers might respond to a particular offering or have an interest in a particular candidate or in a particular product. all information is available to the general public on the internet, in fact, and we're just using it to make smart judgments that help companies make good marketing decisions. >> you say it's public information, but as a member of the public, what if i want to opt out, can i do that? >> companies that are doing this well i think will succeed, and the companies that are doing it well are ones that pay a lot of attention to security so things don't happen to them like what happened to target recently and also pay attention to privacy, allow companies to opt out in an easy and straightforward fashion and also help consumers cut through the din of a lot of noise of marketing out there

that's not going to be interesting to them. >> as the individual it feels i can't opt out to having my data crunched. mark, to you. does it bother you about this privacy issue? >> it seems a little creepy because what's going on is that the image is being taken and the google cars are going up and down the streets looking in the windows. how do people get this information about me? it feels a bit like spying. >> maybe we should not be tough on michael, we should be tough on google. you say you're just using stuff that's already out there, right? if you're not going to do it, somebody else is going to do it. >> we can't go backwards. it's really going to be those that use this technology responsibly and effectively that are going to rise to the top and those that do it in a clumsy or crude way that are going to sink to the bottom. >> certainly we're going to be talking a whole lot more about this over the next months. >> i wish we could now but our

time got completely sliced and diced. >> thank you for coming on. up next, it is happy hour here on "street signs." it's always happy hour in australia. beer flavored ice cream coming up next. killed call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. [ male announcer ] and we do. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections,

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i have been making super premium -- >> last night's "shark tank" you saw two guys make a pitch for beer flavored ice cream. it didn't go well. joining us now in hopes that they will cream the competition, i know, steve and larry. larry, steve, thank you very much for coming back on. >> thanks for having us. >> again, i'm not going to beat around the bush. it was tough for you. >> it was brutal. >> what happened? >> we focused a lot on the product. we didn't realize that was only half the battle. >> you have to know the numbers, my friend. they asked you for the numbers, i don't know. >> didn't you practice for hours? >> we did. >> not on the numbers though. >> not on the numbers. >> it was a lot of -- the pitch is what they really wanted you to know, and we spent months on our pitch and we knocked that out of the park. >> there's a lot of real successful investors that watch

cnbc. this is your chance to make your pitch. tell me you know your numbers. >> we have some numbers but we still need help. we need help -- we need a strategic investor to come in and take our company from point "a" to point "z." we can get from point "a" to point "b." we're there right now but -- >> i bet a lot of our viewers are out there thinking i want to try some of this. where can we get it? >> you can get it on our online store. we know how to get the ice cream. the infrastructure to get it in the stores is hard. mark cuban hit that, he said how are you going to distribute it, mass produce it. we worked out a lot of things but there are some things we really struggled with. we need that investor or that person who knows the system. >> right. it's got a bit of a salty caramel flavor. it's delicious. >> you know how to make ice cream. it's excellent. >> and be sure to catch "shark tank" on cnbc every tuesday at 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. eastern time. >> cheers. >> cheers. >> delicious. >> it's good. it's very good.

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the shell brought him great fame. ♪ but then, one day, he noticed that everybody could have a magic seashell. [ indistinct talking ] [ male announcer ] right there in their trading platform. ♪ [ indistinct talking continues ] [ male announcer ] so the magic shell went back to being a...shell. get live squawks right in your trading platform with think or swim from td ameritrade. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans here at the new york stock exchange. >> and that would make me bill gri griffith. a mixed market today, plus a lot more on today's program. in a few minutes we'll be taking you live to the goldman sachs internet and technology conference for an exclusive interview with m