if you want to think of it that way, the studio and tv production units, and the international as julia said. >> it's one thing to bulk up on the news side of this, even on sports the fact that they're looking at entertainment, this is where everyone seems to be most interested in making -- >> the hottest area is scripted series to sell across different platforms. i think that's where you have the efficiencies >> all right crazy here that does it for "closing bell." michael, thank you as always i'll send it over to "fast money" which begins right now. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's times square i'm melissa lee. the markets are on a tear. the dow nearly 200 points up is this the beginning of a year end rally? the man who called the walmart rally in august, ron johnson is here for a victory lap he'll tell us what other retail name could have a walmart-like revival. we'll start with the story breaking moments ago, comcast

reportedly approached 21st century fox to buy all or parts of the company let's get to julia boorstin with the very latest. a developing story, julia, what do you know? >> reporter: the latest is that comcast is in talks not to buy all of fox but certain assets, the entertainment assets it would not include the broadcast network. likely a similar assortment of assets that disney was interested in, plus sky in the uk and star in india those two international assets are particularly important comcast, although its cable assets are here in the u.s., nbc universal is obviously more global but this would really allow comcast to position itself more as an international company. we have confirmed with a source that talks are still happening between fox and disney and it would be with a structure similar to what disney was pursuing now we see fox shares up 5.5% on the news, comcast shares over 1% certainly a lot of movement in

this media space right now, melissa. >> we've had earnings reports since that initial report that david faber had reported about disney being interested in the assets of fox. murdoch said they had the ability to compete in the entertainment business was he just playing the game >> reporter: lachlan murdoch reiterated this as fox's shareholder meeting this week. lachlan murdoch said they do not need more scale, they're fine at the size they are. the message there is we will be fine if one of these deals doesn't happen at the same time, if you listen to the language that lachlan and james murdoch used on their earnings call last week and then on their shareholder call this week, they talked a lot about the value of their brand this is something that both nbc universal, comcast, and disney have been very interested in, this big ip, global bands that can be exploited across multiple platforms, theme parks as well

as television and movies they also talked about their global presence. this is something that both any and comcast are interested in doing more of. and i think that sky in the uk and particularly star in india are very valuable assets for these companies looking for more global exposure. >> a move like this, the international case you made very well, julia, but in terms of domestic, providing something over the top, does this help comcast on that front? >> reporter: i think disney has already laid out its over the top direct to consumer plans they want content, they want brands they want to do a disney direct to consumer brand launching in 2019 comcast has its cable network, they already have xfinity, they're building in different flexibilities. they take some services bundled together with broadband. they have all sorts of different packages but they are still selling tv services i don't know if comcast would do a direct to consumer branded product the way the disney is

with what it's doing for its disney brand of products if you think about the value of those brands, nbc universal has a movie studio they also have the theme parks there are various ways they could take the fox brand and do more with them it's worth noting, we're here in los angeles. the universal studios theme park that's just around the corner, there is a big simpsons ride simpsons is one of those valuable fox brands. >> thank you, julia boorstin in los angeles with the latest on this developing story. it's interesting because you were making the point, tim, but a couple of weeks ago. >> here was fox, going into earnings and before we get into earnings, we get the disney announcement earnings were very constructive, largely. then we had this announcement. the stock has now moved 25% from where we were. it gets back to what's the multiple in this sector? fox has given a lot of ground on their multiple you can make an argument that this changes the dynamic again, if it changes it for fox, it probably changes it for other

people and this wouldn't be the place i would go for value in the sector >> i don't understand why fox would do the deal, it doesn't make any sense from my perspective. content is the name of the game. you own content, you sell the network. why would fox want to sell their content off? it doesn't make any sense at all to me. i don't think a deal like that gets done. >> it's a lot of cash. >> that's fine, but content reigns the value of content, you see it, from the at some point of it's being bid up for a reason that's what's driving the business right now >> it's definitely been a performer in the space whenever there is smoke, there's usually fire when you look at the other networks or the other properties that are in the area, cbs, viacom, these have been -- both been beaten up and it probably puts a bid under the whole space, because people are looking for acquisitions now, one might be better than the other. i do believe fox is better than the other. if you look at viacom, viacom is down 32% year to date. you get something like a cbs down 11% year to date.

i would start looking at those, the boats in the rising tide >> in terms of the mood we're seeing after hours in comcast, does this make comcast a better company with these assets? and i ask this because they've gotten -- they have broadband and could still charge for broadband even if people cut the cord and go to skinny bundles, whatever but that's not the way the stock is traded. the stock is traded as if cutting the cord is comcast's problem as well. >> to answer your question, does it make it a better company, yes. at a reasonable price, it makes it a better company. if they have to overpay for it, it's an entirely different conversation you have disney on the other side, this becomes a bidding war. a couple of things stand out to me tim talked about fox it feels like it has room for the old high, which was $38. viacom, which by the way made a seven-year low today, i think, $22 and change

but at a certain point, listen, i know the viacom quarter wasn't great. the meeting networks was pretty good for viacom. is it deserving of half the valuation of many of its rivals? i don't think it deserves the same valuation but i don't think it should be half the valuation what does that mean? i think just in terms of rising tide type thing, i think viacom should be looked at here >> for more on this developing story, let's bring in michael wolf, author of "the man who owns the news: inside the secret world of rupert murdock. michael, great to have you with us >> thanks for having me. >> what do you make of a comcast plus some of fox's assets tie-up >> i think we should put a stake in the ground and say what we now know, because last week was disney, we had rumors. now it's very clear that fox has put itself up for auction. so i think that we can absolutely say fox is -- there is going to be some transaction

that involves fox assets so fox, 21st century fox, the murdochs as we know them are now almost a thing of the past >> wow that is saying a lot for a family that has really shaped business, the business of news as well as -- >> totally this is a transformational moment so the murdochs are retreating from the media business. rupert murdock, the man that made the modern media business, all of the consolidation we have seen now for nearly 30 years has been trailing murdoch. at this point in time he's going in the opposite direction. that's big >> this, though, michael, assumes that by selling these assets, the news business won't become a stronger part you know, that maybe there is

this notion amongst the murdochs right now that they have to jettison the rest of this stuff so they can focus on news and it can become the powerhouse it once was the roots of the murdoch empire is in news >> rupert murdoch's roots are in news entertainment has always been a larger part of this company. this company grew on the basis of its investments in the entertainment business the news business has been for a long period of time a very good business for the murdochs but it did not put them into the stratospheric and international league the news business now, or for the past number of years, has been a not very good business. so they are retreating to something that it's hard to find the logic here

i mean, i believe that one of the things that rupert murdoch wants to happen is he wants to merge -- he wants to take this company private and he wants to merge the newspaper business, newscorp., back into fox he wants his original business back together. >> hey, michael, it's tim seymour, thanks for joining us you've been saying the media world has been trailing rupert for 30 years are they trailing him now? do i not want to be buying something that the murdochs are selling? shouldn't that be telling us something? >> yeah, if you believe rupert murdoch, if you trust his instincts, and remember the man is now 87 years old, you should be following him but i think you also have to say, is this the rupert murdoch who has set out to lead this business, or is this a rupert murdoch, an 87-year-old rupert

murdoch who is now saying it is the autumn of his years? >> well-said >> michael, thanks so much for phoning us and joining us with your analysis, we do appreciate it, michael wolff. this actually happens with a lot of companies, ceos that are older. >> do you want to take the next point? >> speak louder. i'm just kidding >> welcome back, by theway, we've missed guy for the last couple of days, good to see you. >> i'm waving hi >> if you listen to the murdochs, they were making it clear on their earnings call, this isn't about us needing that scale and if we can't get scale, we're cashing out. i'm not sure that's the case the big boys need to get bigger at a time when antitrust is becoming more defensive on the ability to do that but it's very clear that the media moguls are becoming vertical and becoming bigger to succeed. >> what does this say about

comcast? i mean, is this a deal comcast needs to do? >> i think a little great deal for comcast. i think it's a horrible deal for fox. they're reining in assets that are valuable assets, content assets but i do not think fox makes a deal like that i think it is a bad deal for them >> it's a bad deal for them -- >> for fox i believe you have to own content. that's the stand you have to own content. to divest them or sell them off and just to own the broadcast is not a smart move >> michael makes a good point in that this is the second whiff of reports that fox wants to sell assets a deal will get done, is his thesis other people would come in for these assets who else would come in for these assets does another cable provider want these assets, to your point, to have content >> of course >> well, i mean, let's play the game could a google come swooping in at some point? why not? >> could an amazon come in for these assets >> the nontraditional media

companies, are they out there in the weeds? look, clearly i don't know the answer to that question. i'll say this about -- there's something going to be done with fox. whether it's a good deal or bad deal, they're clearly putting themselves out there i do think the stock continues to trend higher from here. >> for comcast, the international footprint is really interesting because they do have these properties universal is around the world. and it doesn't have the commensurate presence around the world via cable channels for distribution >> right but i think you're on to something on the content arm the superhero content that fox does have, that disney probably wanted to put together with their arm of it. you said amazon, i'll say netflix. maybe you start to see some unbundling of a lot of these different things i don't know if that deal would get done but if fox wants to sell assets, there's a ripe audience that would pay a decent chunk for these assets but i still go back to, look at

the undervalued entities in this sector look at viacom look at cbs. because everything is going to start to be bid up and there's a lot more beta in a name that's down 32% >> superheroes, steve, you are cull straighting the superhero look here with that face >> if this deal goes through and they get sky, that deal is about to close, that will close june 30th there is some question whether that deal gets done. i think it gets done it's an important element. sky, when i'm traveling the globe, that's exactly what i'm we'v watching there's a lot of value to them expanding that footprint in a world where the media business has no borders anymore content is being consumed on a global basis universal i think was a close second this actually puts them in the game now >> the rumor about disney coming in and taking the tv assets away, investors invest in disney for the non-tv assets. i don't see investors buying into this trade. i don't think disney comes in and buys it. >> they're buying the trade.

the stock has now rallied. >> disney doesn't need this trade anymore, they've completely changed the narrative, with one earnings call there is an earnings call where they changed the narrative to the negative this one is to the positive. it's a different story now >> they've changed the narrative. the numbers, the last quarter, that disney recorded a week or so ago were not good i know bob iger is a genius and he changed the narrative but valuation, i do think disney trades at a premium valuation, they deserve it. i don't think they deserve the valuation that they're getting off that quarter which was not very good. you can change all the narratives you want. the proof, as they say, is in the -- what? >> pudding >> doesn't this get worse for netflix? >> i say no. >> we get to a place here where clearly the guys who have distribution are now getting into a stronger content play or the guys that weren't in the case of disney, it's all about distribution for us. >> or the guys with content have much more leverage over netflix. >> they're curating their own

content. they still have the international story. it doesn't seem to be hurting netflix. >> you're telling me there is no competitive threat whatsoever on the content front to netflix if comcast owns its assets plus fox's? >> there's always a threat it's got a lot of momentum behind it. we're also talking about this as if it's a zero sum game. i believe there's going to be a couple of different things that you're paying, whether it's on your app, your laptop, or your television, there's enough room for a lot of these guys to have a lot different streaming. it's not one buyer or one guy holds the whole space. >> this chase for content has been basically derived from netflix's sort of efforts. they went out and spent money, they basically own hollywood they spend as -- >> why >> they see the value in it. now you're seeing other players come in and realize the value. they're just behind the ball here >> disney has gone from a 19 multiple down to 15. viacom's only content. you may not like their content

but why is content trading at a discount content is not king the way it was a year and a half ago. >> one last question before we go to break. who gets the biggest multiple boost from this deal in this space if this deal goes through? >> comcast is a pretty big multiple right now i think comcast is 17 1/2, 18 times forward earnings i'm-pressed to think they'll go much higher than that i get it, it's a disaster. you would have a 50% gain in price to earnings multiple, get it up to a nine, and it's still cheap. i think viacom coming up, much more on these reports that comcast is looking to buy parts of 21st century fox as the story develops a wild day for the market, surging back after a rough week for stocks is this the beginning of a rally? and tesla shares clawing back from bear market territory, down 19% from its 52-week high in september as it is gearing up for its semi truck unveil in

just a few hours will the new vehicle blow your mind as elon musk has promised? we'll have all the details the man who called the walmart rally in august, former jcpenney ceo ron johnson is here we'll tell you what other name could have a walmart-like revival, after that. every day, on every street, in every town, across america. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome

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welcome back to "fast money. we've got an earnings literary -- earnings alert on applied materials. josh lipton has more >> reporter: we initially tipped lower when those results crossed, how moving into the green in after hours here. ceo gary dickerson said applied materials in 2018 can deliver strong double digit growth across all segments. he talked about how the markets are getting stronger with a broad set of demand drivers. by that he meant manufacturers adding more functionality and new demand for display technology memory shipments he said are at record levels. he said industry dynamics remain healthy. he said the customers are healthy as well, they're making a lot of investments but they're also making a lot of money

he gave a bullish forecast for spending on semi equipment moving to display, they noted that was the fastest growing business segment in 2017 this is a company that makes the products that manufacture those lcd and oled displays. display revenue will exceed previous estimates for 2018. it had been for at least 30% and turning to that q1 guide, melissa, q1 semiconductor systems, that's demanand and dr, display is expected to grow 6% but higher in the balance of the year, melissa, back to you >> thank you very much, josh lipton applied materials one of the best performing chip stocks in the smh this year, tim >> think about what's going on in terms of the sell your phone, refresh business think about what's going on in the entire space it's a name that you listen to the performance they're get in their core business. the valuation is not terrible at 19 times relative to the pierce, this is actually extreme value >> where in chips do you go?

>> semi is breaking out, we talked about that a couple of weeks ago, that's still interesting. amat is interesting, they guided hire this stock doubled this year, as you said go back and look at what this stock did from '98 to 2000 the same exact move right now. the levels we're trading at now is exactly where we peaked out about 18 or so years ago if you've been fortunate enough to be in amat, this is a good quarter. i would be taking money off the table 100% >> micron. i've been in and out of the name, i thought i was a genius, the stock is trading at $46 right now so i look kind of silly. around these levels, around the 40, 42 mark, david tell pper, is a double >> i like micron, tomb i do think amat is a stock you

can continue to own, tim hit it on the head, its not super expensive. stick with it, the momentum is is there still ahead, it's a story of the after hours session. comcast looking to buy parts of 12%th century fox. we'll have much more on this story. fox, by the way, is up by about 7% on the news comcast, a parent of this network, is up by 1.2% we'll have all the latest after this i'm melissa lee. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide meantime here's what else is coming up on "fast." >> you just blew my mind >> that's what tesla founder elon musk hopes to do when he unveils his big semi truck hours from now 'rli on the scene. when "fast money" returns.

this is about giving hard working taxpayers bigger paychecks, more take home pay. this is about giving families

that are struggling peace of mind it's about getting this economy to grow faster so we get bigger wages, more jobs, and we put america in the driver's seat in the global economy once again. >> it looks like wall street is the one in the driver's seat the speaker of the house paul ryan doing a bit of a victory lap when the house passed the gop bill and everything is awesome again after a volatile week, the dow soaring up more than 200 points today. the nasdaq made a new record that tax euphoria is add to go the gain tax reform moving along, stocks are flying it's the start of a year end rally, new seasonality, guy. >> holidays come a week away >> gobble, gobble. >> turkey day, you talk about it in june and people chase it until year end there seems to be no exogenous event on the horizon to derail it the market doesn't give you

ample time to sell the highs we've been floating around here for seemingly months which means in my world we continue to grind higher regardless of what you think about sort of the world at large. >> when you really look at what's happening, right, so we're rallying on taxes, or at least something getting done i think we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves the house, this vote is an easy one. when you look at the senate and murkowski and collins and mccain and johnson, there's a lot of reasons why this thing can really get a fist in your face, so to speak. i'm not sure, that would be the thing that can take us off track as far as the year end rally in my opinion, because that's why we indeed rallied today. >> russell tells me things are going to be awesome. >> russell's been throwing fists, you know, any time there's a whiff of taxes you can't tell me that this market isn't needy of a tax deal this is the debate that goes on. i would say this about today's market even though i think bullish

sentiment is at record levels and the market is compaplacenco many things were oversold. if you're looking at relative strength indicators, you have major support. look at the iyt or transports, which we follow obviously not just because some of these companies are important, because dow theorists believe this is a tell for the economy it bounces right off the 200 emerging markets bounced off the trend line all the higher risks and cyclical names got a high yield rally back they needed to happen. i'm not sure one day takes the market out of that trend that it was in yesterday but this was important >> sort of along those lines, if you're a fund manager, right, and you have ridden this rally, a rally you probably never thought would have happened when donald trump was elected parking lot, wouldn't you be inclined to take profits >> no. the narrative is set up, they're riding the wave. the investment, the strategies have changed a lot there's no reason to take money

off the table. the winners will stay well-bid or at least you'll see a decline in selling at year end the losers are going to stay sold >> even without a tax deal >> hold on today was earnings today really was earnings in a shift. >> well -- >> when you walked in this morning, the futures were up eight handles. >> it was both definitely both. >> we saw that curve >> earnings for the last three weeks. >> right, but high yield, everything that we saw shift overnight wasn't -- >> but to tim's point, we don't get a tax deal, we slide right back down. >> we absolutely sell off, we probably have a shallow selloff that should be bought aggressively at the end of the day, we're not up here because of tax we're up here because of really strong earnings, really strong basic global growth, if you will, the narrative there. unless there's a crack in that, i got to tell you, i think the market continues to work >> there is a bit of a crack, real quick, tim can speak far more intelligently about this.

>> what kind of crack are you talking about? >> chinese yields are up 4%. haven't seen that in quite some time they seem to be tapping on the brakes in not stepping on the brakes in terms of their credit markets. again, nobody seems to care yet. i don't know when people start to care. but that's something out there as well. we talk about the yield curve all the time i won't talk about it. >> rates are back at 2013 level. in china, after the people's congress which ended two weeks ago, people are very concerned, they greased the rails, everything was perfect, now they'll tighten it up. look at commodities, copper has been down 10% in the last week and a half oil has run out of a little bit of gas the global economy is chugging along. it's important to watch china. interest rates are still a big deal if you look at the two-year note and the five-year note, it tells you that there are sensitive parts of the global credit curve. i still think that's something you should be watching we'll have all the details

of comcast and 21st century fox. and elon musk's unveil, phil lebeau, musk has been pushing this hard on twitter >> reporter: they say it's going to blow our mind what will elon musk tell us about their electric semi? or will it leave us with more questions than answers that story and "fast money" returns. of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer, and like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet today people in congress and his own administration know

that this president is a clear and present danger who's mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right. our country depends on it. allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. with a level of protection in down markets. so you can head into retirement with confidence. brighthouse financial established by metlife.

let's get back to julia boorstin with more breaking news julia? >> reporter: it seems there is yet more interest in fox's assets now dow jones is reporting that verizon communications is also exploring acquiring parts of fox. of course this comes just on the heels of news that comcast is interested in buying some of those fox assets this after last week, news broke that disney was interested in buying some of those fox assets. it seems like fox is out there now, open to a sale of at least part of its assets, the entertainment assets that of course includes international exposure through assets in latin america as well as sky in the uk and star in india. they're drawing a lot of

interest from u.s. media companies that would like greater international exposure >> fascinating developments, thank you, julia boorstin in los angeles. craig moffett is on the line, thank you for calling in what do you think of verizon jumping into the pool? >> frankly i would be a little surprised about either comcast or verizon but verizon has always said they're not interested in content. and while i suppose it makes sense to explore, they haven't shown all that much interest in following the at&t blueprint or trying to vertically integrate and now with the department of justice questions about whether that deal is possible, i'm not sure they would be in a rush to do it. >> yeah, i actually want to play you a sound bite, from the ceo of liberty media, this is what he said about those vertical deals. >> how many subscription services are consumers going to step up for?

disney for fox, don't know, but my guess that was about getting scale, trying to increase their -- >> for disney? >> for disney, for direct to consumer offering. throw that in with a challenge, the government by entering into the time warner/at&t merger discussions has thrown all that a wrench into anyone's plans i don't know how you can announce a big media deal today and have any confidence you know exactly what the government is going to do. >> your skeptical for those reasons? let's say a comcast was successful in terms of agreeing on a price do you think that it would ultimately be rejected, craig? >> well, i think it would certainly have a reasonably high risk of being rejected remember, effectively what's leaking out of the doj right now in the at&t merger is that they're not happy with the behavioral remedies that they apply to comcast so they're effectively telling you they've got buyers' remorse for having allowed that deal to get through.

so saying that they would allow comcast to do yet another one is a bit of a stretch remember, again, disney approached fox before the news broke that the doj was looking to block the at&t deal when that approach happened, everybody, all of us thought that the at&t deal was highly likely to be approved. now it throws everything up in the air and you really have to wonder how hard somebody like comcast would even try when the risk would be so high. >> let's put aside the regulatory concerns and the possibility that any sort of deal could actually be blocked by the doj does this make sense in your view for comcast to go after these assets or for verizon to go after these assets? does it make you more bullish on comcast or more bullish on verizon? >> well, it depends which assets look, cable networks right now are problematic. and the studio is quite interesting. now, again, could the studio be

merged with comcast for antitrust reasons, again, just on horizontal scale, is a different question but the studio, the fox studio is an attractive studio. there are certainly some attractive sports networks there and some other -- and general entertainment networks that are better than the average cable network. but i don't know that a lot of companies are looking to really significantly increase their exposure to cable networks right now. >> do you like the notion that comcast could gain a more international presence in india, in the uk and europe, as well as in the latin america >> well, yes and no. there aren't a lot of direct synergies other than it would help them ensure distribution of the nbc assets if they had distribution assets elsewhere. there is some merit to that. but there again, i think it's a little hard to say that the nbc assets would have trouble finding their own distribution

at reasonably attractive economics. and outside of that, the satellite business is clearly better elsewhere than it is in the u.s. but the u.s. deterioration in the satellite business is synonymoin some ways a harbinger of things to come everywhere i would be surprised if comcast said i really want satellite as a distribution platform. >> craig, we'll let you go, thanks so much for phoning in, we really appreciate it, craig moffett of moffett nate hanson some serious regulatory hurdles for whoever has apparently stepped in for these assets. >> without question. i think everybody understands that going in. again, how do you trade the stocks on the back of it fox, despite the fact that it's up significantly, a $25 stock a week and a half, two weeks ago, $32 now. i think that continues to trend higher this clearly -- things are in play then names that are undervalued, we mentioned viacom.

talk about a discovery networks, disca, think about that stock, what that's done and the valuation there. so i think all places with content now should get a boost in terms of valuation. >> if we are to believe there are serious and possibly insurmountable regulatory challenges to any of these deals, shouldn't we fade every move higher across the board >> at some point this has been a wake-up call about the value of these assets the assets have been driven to a place where people say, as we talked about on the show, content a year and a half ago was fetching a high multiple now the justice department is saying we won't be comfortable with behavioral commitments like we were before >> you'll be able to find out if it's political with the at&t/time warner with cnn, you'll find out if another deal goes through, that's how you're going to figure it out number two, they'll figure out how to make these deals go through because they see the

environment, they see the landscape. they will shred through whatever they need to to make a deal for investors. tesla scheduled to unveil an electric truck will the new vehicle blow your mind as he promises? we've got the details. plus walmart posting its best day in a decade. ron johnson will be here with an even bigger call on a different retail name. much more "fast money" on this very busy night.

welcome back to "fast money. a big night for tesla coming up. the automaker set to unveil its highly anticipated semi truck at its design studio in hawthorn, california in a few hours. musk has said it will blow your mind fi phil lebeau comes to us from redondo beach. >> reporter: hi, melissa what is it all about beyond the design as you mentioned going into the commercial break, this is all we've seen over the last couple of months along with these teases that this is going to be an incredible reveal, that this is the beast, it will blow your mind it's a silhouette of a semi truck. we'll see it in a couple of hours from now is it a range of 350 to 400 miles as was suggested earlier today, which would be interesting to players in the truck space?

or does it need to be higher than that, 500 or 600 mile range? that would be truly one of those moves that would get trucking companies interested that feeds into the second question do the economics work? and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how incredible the design and the look of this truck is the trucking operators want to know how much money can you save me per mile. finally, when and where will this truck be built. there has been some suggestion that it is likely to be built in 2019 at the fremont plant. but as we talked about, melissa, that plant is already busting at the seams. they probably have capacity in terms of a manufacturing line. but if you go into that plant, there are cars double parked all over the place because there's just not enough space for all the employees out there. as you take a look at shares of tesla, keep in mind we'll see the truck tonight, and then we will finally get some answers to some questions and i can't stress this enough, melissa, i have talked to a number of trucking executives,

people who run logistics operations, all of them say the same thing i really don't care what this truck looks like, i want to know about the economics. does it save me money, will it save me money, then i'll be interested >> i'm sure they don't care if it makes a latte either, which is also promised by elon musk. >> reporter: exactly >> phil lebeau joiningus from redondo beach. part of economics of this, think about trucking and the engines, they're much more fuel efficient these days, you can go farther on a tank of gas the bigger the battery gets, the heavier the truck gets, the smaller the range or the less cargo the truck can transport. it's a difficult thing to balance out. >> i would think for all the reasons you just mentioned, this truck arm that they have is going to make their cars a lot better, they'll have to push technology and efficiency with a lot heavier vehicle than the s or x or whatever else they come

out with on the road if you're looking at a stock of a trading vehicle, you have to look at the 200 day, basically 320. it's had a good rally back, guy pointed out the rally. i would not buy the stock until it overtakes the 200-day moving average at 320, it's an at trading range until proved otherwise. >> i hear what phil says about the fremont factory. if the model 3 ramps productio s as much as elon musk promises, in order to be capable of producing a semi truck >> it hasn't been an issue before it's almost been applauded and again, despite a billion and a half cash burn, it's a company that continues to have the capital markets open to them but it's going to get down to really at some point, it's game time, model 3, 2018. we've got to get there and to be talking about the semi, exhibiwhich is a very interesting concept, if they can get into the light commercial

truck business, it's a massive business for them. right now it doesn't sound like we're there. if you do and if you are, let's price this thing as an auto company. >> all right the thing, by the way, the unveil, is going to be webcast tonight. >> i'm going to linked in. the man who called the walmart rally in august, ron johnn, isos here with an even bolder call. much more "fast money" after this more great camera features and more power. and more than just unlimited data, we give you unlimited plans with hbo included for life. because you deserve more entertainment. and more spokespeople. talking like this, saying the word more. at&t. it's time for more. am i too close? i feel like i'm too close. get the iphone 8 and with all at&t unlimited plans, get hbo for life. only from at&t.

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welcome back to "fast money. it is the amazing race big box giant walmart going head to head with online retailer amazon in the race to claim dominance in the retail space. after blowout earnings today, walmart had its best day in nine years. the shares soared nearly 11%, sending the stock to record highs. it is up 44% this year while rival amazon is up 52% russell trailing behind amazon a little, a monster run in the last three months, jumping 23% our next guest, ron johnson, founder and ceo of enjoy.com, said a few months ago that walmart was amazon's biggest threat welcome back to the show, ron. >> thank you, good to be here. >> how worried should amazon be is walmart being the vulture >> i think they should be really worried. this is a decade-long prize fight, every quarter is a new round. walmart's coming back. and if you think about it, they've forward deployed

inventory into things called warehouses that are really stores they're lower cost to operate than amazon's distribution system they're learning how to use those stores to serve customers. sometimes the customer does the logistics. at times they bring it to them they've been at a lower cost operation than amazon. >> walmart is making pretty big investments when it comes to buying online properties, expanding its online presence which has paid off in the last couple of quarters we've seen a depredation in the quarters for u.s. only, it's only 36. is this a race to the bottom it doesn't matter? >> it's not, because if you think about it, walmart has said we're not going to be adding stores we're going to invest in making our distribution and irrelevant more productive. for decades, that's a lot of capital. now they have to put their money, they put their money into digital competition. amazon is going to have to drive the physical footprint to

compete. and that's going to be the capital. >> do you see the stores as being, you know, an ability for them to actually distribute? they're not million square foot facilitation centers like amazon has, that allows them to take the online orders and distribute them properly. i don't see the solution for them to find the store and actually use it as an availab v asset. >> half of america lives within seven miles of a walmart half of what you buy in amazon is in a walmart store, all those core commodities and stuff having that distribution footprint with that inventory forward deployed is a comparative advantage that's hard to beat >> ron, when you talk about that physical presence, and, you know, i've been looking at this, when you look at walmart and walmart's customer basically is an amazon prime customer i think walmart could steal market share from amazon versus vice-versa, basically. >> right

>> who does amazon come for if they need that type of warehousing or stores? is it a target >> it's target i would think it would be target whole foods is the grocery what target is to mass. it's the upscale discounter. target has made a lot of investments on new brands, cleaning up the store. its image. the prime customer is heavily that target young mom. so i think there's a big synergy there. that would be a big bold move. if they need to move, target's got 1500 stores on main and main of every city in the country >> you made a great call on walmart, ron, kudos to you >> he should be right here >> is there another retailer that is poised for another walmart-like revival >> i don't know about that but i would say target got unduly hammered yesterday they're basically doing what they said they would do. brian's taking a long perspective. he's competing on product now. he's improved pricing, he's fixing the stores. he's working on distribution

he's working on every element all at the same time target is going to compete better than people think >> if you had to choose to put one dollar to work in one of those, which one would you choose >> for the next decade, i would pick walmart >> ron, thank you. >> ron played would you rather >> he did. ron johnson. >> mr. johnson, real quick merchandise inventories at walmart were up 7/10ths of 1% year over year that's how they unlock margins going forward. they finally figured it out. to your point, they absolutely can compete with amazon. >> all right coming up next, final tre.ad well, it's earnings season once again. >>yeah. lot of tech companies are reporting today. and, how's it looking? >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him? >>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better.

yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. one estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade. approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could help pay some of what medicare doesn't, saving you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you've learned that taking informed steps along the way really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™.

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and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪ time for the final trade tim. >> if you think there's momentum here, stay in the iyt. >> xot on the weekends >> you know what's really hidden under the radar? >> what has been hidden under the radar, steve >> pulte homes up against the flat to down s&p stay in the homebuilders but target, if i got two final trades, target would have been my other one >> you don't but you already threw it out >> you know who came up with the idea for the apple stores, anybody know >> ron johnson >> genius! you like the animal planet >> very much so, yes

>> i watch it all the time apparently not enough people watch it but discovery communications on all this noise we talk about at the top of the show, that will get you. >> be nice to the tigers >> i'm melissa lee, see yo my mission is simple to make you money. i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there's always a bull market somewhere, and i promise to help you find it. "mad money" starts now hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money. welcome to cramerica other people want to make friends, i'm just trying to make you some money my job isn't just to entertain you but to educate and teach you. call me at 1-800-743-cnbc or tweet me @jimcramer. don't be so quick to ascribe today's epic rally to the fact that house of the representatives passed their