telling you, we're having a stronger day the s&p is up over a half percent. the dow is well ahead of that. we'll keep a close eye on the nasdaq composite as they will on tech check that starts now. good tuesday morning carl quintanilla the markets bounce back. another move higher for the chips. upgrade for kla, nvidia named a top pick and exclusive sound from bob iger his exit interview as he prepares to leave disney

and what growth slowdown saw for a company braze. the stock shooting higher and the ceo joins us this hour, jon. >> micron seeing a jump following strong quarterly results, beating on top and bottom lines the ceo joined "squawk on the street" touting data center sales that grew 70% year over year the chip maker estimates beat investor expectations, but it is trailing the overall semi marked which is up 40% in 12 months nearly double the nasdaq there's a lot of back and forth on what's hot between semiconductors, software names, semis hadn't been running, now they are a lot depends on what demand looks like going out from here we had this narrative that the demand for semiconductors will

be huge into the foreseeable future see if that remains true >> look, it is all about the outlook here micron moved higher, i have to think a huge amount of that is because of what the ceo said, saying they think supply chain shortages will ease in 2022. a lot of optimism, not across the board but certain areas. easing of shortages could be a good tail wind >> revenue guide forfiscal q2 is a little above the street, gross margins ahead, capex in line as you said about the space, can't just talk semis as a who moj news beast there are different dynamics depending on the end market in this case. >> there will. this is a stock if you show a full year chart had been higher early in the year. i think there are all kinds of

questions about really how the data center plays out. right now, i sent a lot of demand for cloud services and transformation marvel moved higher, had matt murphy talking about the increase in guidance based on some of that if things cool and we learned in the past couple weeks outlooks for various reasons, why it is covid variant or otherwise can shift. what does that mean, carl. >> a bunch of names responding to micron, jpm, 115, wells, carl ackerman named it a top pick earlier this month joins us this morning. great to see you what do you think was the bigger up side surprise, the supply chain discussion or just the guide, period.

>> as far as guidance goes, what's happening in the automotive market as you said earlier, that's resulting in moderation of memory pricing that's much better than expected >> can you take the supply chain discussion ab optimism as a lens to look at the entire space. how much do we need to zoom in on that. >> it is a great question. you step back to us, micron is a value to growth story. it is becoming more critical in the data center and increasingly in automotive.

becoming a larger portion of the semi demand. 20% of demand five years ago now over 30% micron should continue to outperform as we think of the overall market, we are seeing better demand for data center and for automotive areas of the market we like micron going to 2022, but you referenced marvell earlier, they're top ideas in 2022, in part because all three companies are levered to strong product cycle in data center and 5g from infrastructure standpoint and mobile phone standpoint we think are critical areas. >> carl, i would love to hear more about broader thoughts on the sector, whether anything is

to be gleaned from the bullish outlook going into next year we heard from micron. do you think any of these companies are poorly positioned compared to the rest of the universe, you mentioned some picks. what are ones you're most cautious on? >> that is a great question. i think all semis should do well next year. we believe it should grow. but we prefer companies exposed to automotive restocking opportunity. and in the data center space we believe you should be exposed more to the optical upgrade cycle, and you should be exposed more to android ecosystem in smart phones, including micron, that's how we would characterize the relative positioning within

semis. we don't think semis are going to do poorly next year frankly, we think they do well we would highlight those companies that should outperform broader. >> what do you expect to see happen with inventories going forward. i wonder in a state like the one we're in if customers have had to promise to take on levels of inventory in order to get allocated, and if there's any degree of demand slowed down, could there be inventory issue in 2022, do you have insight into how that played out >> we do in memory, frankly, you are seeing a moderation of inventory in the channel for pcs, servers, and for mobile phone mobile phones have the higher amount of inventory across all end markets. you are seeing that down in data center and in pc markets,

critical areas as you think about opportunity for next year, we would highlight as beneficiaries why? they're more exposed to 5g, these are longer duration product areas that you are not so reliant on a sell through that's how we would characterize that opportunity >> finally, not to get to macro, we talk about tightening financial conditions, input costs weighing on margins for 2022 when you think about would be head winds to enterprise i.t. investment, is that the last thing corporates cut down spending on? >> i think it is the last thing corporates cut back spending on. if data is increasingly important in our economy, the

analysis of that data, storage of that data are critical. semis play a key important role in that area of the market i think i.t. spending, 5g are durable areas of the market going into 2022. >> interesting to see how corporates do the calculus micron helping out today, up 9% as you can see thanks, good to see you. >> thank you >> julia tech stocks rebounding this morning. recouping almost all losses yesterday. e-commerce has been hit particularly hard. mike santoli has more on that. >> julia, bouncing today, some e-commerce stocks, a lot of beaten down areas, more of a

reflux look how the etf that tracks online commerce plays, and clicks, long online commerce, short physical stores have done. this makes it look like e-commerce is in free fall what it is doing is giving back a big chunk of outperformance we had. seems like this is what happens when you had a covid surge in a world doesn't seem intense locking down nobody thinks it is indefinite dynamic. these stocks are getting hurt on net basis, still retaining up side i will say they have travel related stocks in there, not pure shopping at home. one final element, seemed like a play run too many times, rushed for the textbook stay at home plays when things go soft in terms of macro economy that seems like it is not that

much of a tight linkage as before. >> i wonder how much of what we're looking at is e-commerce, how much direct to consumer. i look at stitch fix, peloton, they've performed in the past period of time, few weeks or month. looked at shopify, commerce play but more of a platform play. and it has done better any sense you have of dynamics as you look at these >> you hit on it if you're a narrowly focused single product set direct to consumer, the market perceives there not being tremendous room to operate that's why those underperformed to a fair degree the other part is omni channel is a big deal. companies that had target, walmart, to figure things out are somewhat more super scale players in this area, make it a

little tough for the pure plays to navigate. >> mike, explain what's going on with these stocks that are so exposed to the omicron variant i see movie theater stock up 4%, you have gym stocks that are up, live nation up 6%. what's going on? i understand there was a pull back, this seems like a dramatic move >> it is dramatic in the short term, julia. absolutely there's a clinching and unclinching effect every time you have one of these scares, this started the day after thanksgiving, you had a few weeks people were on guard about it the market says well, that's nothing but reopening trade in the making let's get positioned for when that will be the move. from certain levels, i see perking up of certainly pure play travel numbers haven't really suffered lately, at least not yet. people are resorting to a little

of that. very noisy environment here in year end when you have so many stocks that got swamped in the last several years, you don't know if they're balancing or people perceive new life in those themes going into next year. >> your point about not drawing broad conclusions from the late year trading, mike, is a good one. i wonder if it kind of explains what you have been talking about, explains the twos tens, the idea that we're going to power through this in some fashion. >> right very low appetite for broad restrictions, curtailments of activity so far that's part of it we're also starting from a high base of growth in terms of fourth quarter numbers they've gone down scale, nominal growth above 10% point to nominal growth, key for earnings and overall revenue pies you can whittle it down a little and not be in the precarious position where the economy is at stall speed.

>> mike santoli, thank you after the break, exclusive insights from bob iger's exit interview. his thoughts on streaming landscape, some of his biggest regrets, including not thinking of youtube himself "tech check" just getting started. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. only comcast business' secure network solutions give you the power of sd-wan and advanced security integrated on our activecore platform so you can control your network from anywhere, anytime. it's network management redefined. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities.

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let's check alibaba. saying little confidence the performance will improve in the near term, although they say, guys, the stock is still inexpensive at this point. shifting gears, bob iger steps down as disney chairman end of the year. david faber sat down with him to talk about his tenure. we have been focused on streaming. that's something you talked about with him as well. >> of course, julia, something you are focused on as well on your coverage of the company it is an important component of the strategy we can remember in august of 2015 on the earnings conference call when for the first time iger addressed sub erosion at

the giant cash flow property espn since then, no secret linear ecosystem has been in decline. iger acknowledges that as well >> i think you're seeing migration to more digital direct to consumer forms of entertainment distribution being in that business on a larger scale, i think that will provide more growth for the company than traditional media platforms and just the migration, erosion of old media platforms and new ones, we're playing in that space more aggressively than we would have, obviously without disney plus and without hulu as well people are consuming things in different ways entertainment in the home is replacing the linear channel consumption in the home. when you go back to the question you asked about the future of

the business, it is not bright at all it's eroding before our eyes >> and continues to erode before our eyes it was a long interview, opportunity to talk about so many different things, best decisions which he talked about the decision to buy pixar, worst decisions as well. youtube came up. >> remember when youtube was sold one of the things i rued, when youtube emerged, that we didn't see it first i am the one that put america's funniest videos on abc in 1989, user generated content kind of funny. youtube started as it evolved tremendously. why didn't i think of that i don't know >> missed that one worth $300 billion now, based on revenue. >> youtube would have been smart. >> that gets me to worst decision is there one that comes to mind in terms of a bad decision you made over the 16 plus years?

>> i made some bad decisions fortunately they weren't monumental it would have brought me down. i can't think of the worst decision i made, some bone head creative decisions, green lit things i probably shouldn't have that's easy. it is interesting. i try to be honest, candid in terms of assessment of myself. i definitely made bad decisions, sometimes people, sometimes product. nothing gigantic >> and nothing comes to mind you can share? >> bunch of little things. >> that's a pretty good tenure. >> i lasted a long time, i guess it suggests i didn't make any really big bad decisions >> and of course his tenure is coming to an end, the reason we sat down for the long interview. you covered the company closely as well, and as you know, we

started with direct to consumer is key of mind for so many, although we don't want to forget about things like the parks, we were there in front of the "star wars" attraction still an important component for this company >> yeah, parks are important if you think about the part of the business iger transformed, it comes down to that moment where back in august that year he said espn is having trouble, we're going to work to address that if you think about how much he transformed the company with the growth of disney plus, espn plus, a bundle of hulu, espn plus, disney plus, i wonder if there's a sense he wanted that fox content. there were questions about the fox deal bigger picture. is that what it is about, building a company that can be direct to consumer with enough content on its own. >> without a doubt as you point out, fox bid was

crucial in bulking up, making more robust the offering for direct to consumer at some point during the rest of the day, perhaps we'll share more on his thoughts about fox you point out there had been criticism about the price paid his point, we sold rsns at a decent price, regional sports network because of decline, and he points out sky sale, our parent company helped to buy at a high price he says the adjusted price is not as big as you think. those assets are key that continues to be a question for mr. chapek in terms of integration and ability to make more robust the to consumer offerings. shares are having a strong day. >> david, put on your historian hat for a moment along with strategy hat that you always have on. i think iger and legacy, i think

pixar, marvel, lucas film, getting each of those under 10 million in retrospect seems like a yard sale. interesting that he pointed out youtube. my recollection, sure, it was user generated content, they were stealing premium content to get popular, including "snl. not sure youtube would be youtube if disney had bought it. >> you're right. we can go through those exercises with companies, what if, what if. the question is what would have become of if it had gone that route. that's a good point. there's plenty of conflicts if disney stepped up to buy youtube at that point. iger's point is it should have at least occurred to us, given history of having success with user generated content that this could become something of great significance there are plenty of misses for the companies. your point is a good one the series of acquisitions, beginning with pixar, moving on

as well to marvel and lucas film we were sitting there in front of the millenium falcon. that was key to sort of bulking up the company those franchises, it appears again, you know, at the time those of us in the financial media may criticize some of the price. i remember doing so with jobs and iger when they came on air, i think i was sitting here, saying i forget what the multiple was, it was a high multiple, not really understanding all the different things they were getting and what they were doing in terms of rejuvenating the animation part of disney, which iger points out really continues to be much of the key engine for creativity at the company. >> yeah. you forget how challenged disney animation had been in some ways prior to the pixar deal. finally, david, i hesitate to bring it up, alec sherman got some anonymous media predictions

for 2022, one was iger would return as disney ceo in the coming year. certainly there's zero indication of that in early conversation. >> i think he makes it extraordinarily clearest leaving and not coming back. i would be shocked if that prediction were to come true >> remarkable. remembering the times he did delay his departure. and looking at his transformation of the company over the years, shift direct to consumer, mass acquisitions. a fascinating interview. thank you so much. meanwhile, coming up, we are going into the met a verse >> it is july july here i am as an avatar inside meta work rooms apps welcome to the metaverse i will show you coming up. with water dripping from the ceiling. you never know when something like this will happen.

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welcome back to "tech check. carl quintanilla with jon fortt and julia abnboorstin >> general mills, one of the biggest laggers in the s&p 500 revenues topped estimates, profits were light on rising costs. despite price increases on many products the company expects more hikes in the next six months workers at kellogg approved a new contract to end a two and a half month strike. members can meet back at work next monday. and boeing shares jump after ups orders freight planes. they remain down 7% on the year. big consumer electronics show in vegas will go on

organizers confirm ces opens two weeks from tomorrow. participants must show proof of vaccination, wear face coverings indoors, and encouraged to test for covid before heading to vegas. carl, back to you. >> thanks very much. we mentioned movers in action today, especially surrounding semis. josh lipton has more >> carl, get to the movers start with micron. ripping higher on a strong earnings report. coming off a strong november as well when it surged 20%. more broadly, step back, look at the tracks that chips. the etf still in the red for the month, first negative month in three, worth highlighting sit riks jumping on a report that they're considering a joint bid for the software maker that stock enjoying the first positive month in three best

months since march 2020. solar edge technologies, yesterday, the worst day since may 4th. today, different named a top pick at cowen. julia, back to you >> let's stay with this theme. stocks bouncing after yesterday's sharp selloff. joining us, cnbc contributor thank you for joining us tell us what you're seeing now that the rally is over, what's the divergence you see in the tech space >> i think the everything rally is over. people dumped some more speculative growth focused names, they've fled those names and at the same time we've seen stocks like apple outperform i think it goes back to some of the growth focused unprofitable

names have taken a beating lately as the journal reported today. more than 300 unprofitable growth names are down more than 50% from highs, compared to nasdaq broader nasdaq down 8% from highs. there's big divergence from the speculative growth space and some other winners >> what about this coming at the rate hike cycle. what can you take from history to understand what will happen next year. >> one of the themes keeps coming up in conversations with investors, are we going to go back to or stay in this low yield environment, go back to sluggish growth. that was the perform for tech to flourish tech did well in the past decade now i hear investors ask is that environment going to come to an end. inflation is one of the biggest wild cards they're asking how much are

yields going to rise going back to 2015, when the fed was first lifting off the first time since the financial crisis, i was surprised to see amazon and netflix were two of the best performers in the s&p 500 this year i think it goes to show that the sector is tough to bet against, even though a lot of people are calling for this rotation into more cyclical corners of the market now >> i wonder how you are thinking about remarkably wide dispersion in 22 year end s&p targets, strategists are all over the map. even those that think they're getting multiple compression next year admit s&p earnings are looking to be pretty good at this point, whether it is a result of growth or buy backs or what have you. >> one thing i keep hearing, seems like earnings will grow more and more important. we're seeing that with the micron move. huge moves we're seeing in tech

and software companies after their earnings some of the biggest moves after earnings of the past decade. in terms of dispersion, that speaks to just the number of challenges ahead right now, it is the variant obviously inflation at the forefront, supply chain issues around the globe it seems like wildcard after wildcard keeps coming our way and that's reflected in that dispersion you are talking about. >> five big stocks holding up the s&p, microsoft, nvidia, alphabet, tesla. there tends to be thought out of this, into that. what if none of these things is safe safe. how much risk do you see in the five stocks if they get -- >> that's a good question. i think it goes back to what we talked about earlier

i feel like for so long people were calling for rotation away from those stocks. it just hasn't happened yet. it is like the boy who cried wolf i have spoken to retail investors, many piled into the market the past year, they kind of considered those stocks the safety plays, piling into the tesla, apple, amazons of the world. and they view them as bulletproof. if that changes, that's definitely a big risk to the market and some stocks have seen weakness and that's on the broader market in recent weeks. >> thank you very much great to have you and talk about where we are in terms of earnings and markets for the coming year. jon, as we said earlier, strategists having to wrestle with unknowns, not just near term but for coming quarters, inflation, global growth,

omicron, supply chain should sum it up well. >> yeah. there are always unknowns. last couple years had an extra helping for sure now after the break, how to invest in the metaverse. some public companies making the biggest bets on a new reality. back in a moment

day one of a three-part series on the metaverse. what investors need to know about this phenomenon. and we may be years away from a connected, immersive world many metaverses are part of the metaverse. mark zuckerberg's vision of the metaverse is fully immersive with vr head sets. people are already exploring virtual world without hardware >> let's build an avatar >> it allows anyone to build an avatar >> i have earrings. >> you can explore, talk to other avatars, play black jack in a virtual casino, buy digital real estate. companies can buy ad space

row blocks was an early pioneer of virtual worlds where you play games and attend virtual concerts now you can buy products to outfit your avatar you can buy and use the digital currency to acquire virtual goods. >> you want the immersive experience, you need a head set. i am wearing the quest two >> meta is working to bring remote workers into a similar space. this is facebook work rooms, designed for meetings. a sign of what a professional piece of the metaverse will look like another promising case for vr head sets, fitness one of the companies leading the way, fit xr, offers dancing, boxing, high intensity training classes in a virtual space

>> it was a lot of fun to build the avatars, explore the virtual worlds in 2d and vr. for some, it took awhile to load the websites and set things up this is better than some previous generations, isn't as easy as setting up an iphone this is the hand control this is how i moved my hands around i could put it down, it would capture hand movement here a lot going on there tomorrow, we dive into more milestones that are coming up for the metaverse to make it more accessible. it is certainly off to a start, jon. >> just so people can see, here's the box that comes in that you were just holding up. i got one here of my own, even though i am skeptic of certain parts of the metaverse, i'm not down on the entire experience. i wonder, was there anything in the metaverse that was better

than doing it in real life or is it just a fall back opportunity? >> so jon, we have to go into facebook work rooms, horizon work rooms, and we have to put on a head set and try to have a meeting. you and i brainstorm, we do it on the phone or microsoft teams. i am curious if it feels more like we're in the room, having a real brainstorming session i was impressed by the white board, the fact i could stand up, felt like i was writing on the monitor behind me by pressing with my hand control. that was impressive. i thought one thing was that in this virtual world i did feel like i had actually met these people in person more than talking on zoom, people that work at meta it is early days i am trying to figure out how to make the most of virtual worlds.

this technology will only get more sophisticated i would rather see you in person or a hologram which we'll talk about later rather than a cartoon character version of you. the question is what does it look like in two or three years. >> yeah. i think we now have a challenge to be the first show to do a segment entirely in the metaverse. jon, i think we can make that happen i noticed two things one is that the revenue chain from ralph lauren is not beholden to supply constraints that's one interesting thing and i heard yesterday reed hoffman say how important live music is to the new technology. >> we've already seen a lot of entertainment happen in the metaverse. fortnite has concerts. it is a videogame. yes. people build avatars and go and experience the virtual world of fortnite i would say the videogame companies are ones most ahead of

the curve in terms of bringing people into virtual worlds, giving them different experiences. i think when you look at people being stuck at home during the pandemic, maybe that's a little more appealing than when you can get out and about and buy tickets to a real concert. i think we'll increasingly see entertainment, people are doing more fitness stuff, and we mentioned ralph lauren nike talking about selling virtual goods. these are branding companies companies that want to make sure their brand is out there on every platform people are willing to spend money. >> such good insight, especially given your historical intelligence on the evolution of the tech, julia. can't wait to hear more. one more buzz word to mention is similar, but unrelated, web3 jack door see saying you don't own web3

the vcs and their lps do elon musk says has anyone seen it i can't find it. and chris dixon says first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, we are here door see said you're a fund determined to be a media empire that can't be ignored, not gandhi fascinating series of conversations all over the place about sort of technology that is meant to be decentralized. as the journal pointed out with crypto, a lot of it owned by big players. sad to see the billionaires turned on the multimillionaires. very strange that dorsey and musk are against this web3 idea, not against the idea but against the idea it is decentralized or pushes by investors with a history of wanting to make profit down the line, arguing they're going to shape this.

in their shaping of it, they're going to keep it from being the sort of helpful anarchy that it otherwise would have been. do you think that will be a theme going forward about web 3 and how different it is from web 2.0? >> 100%. let's take a step back here. what is web 3. what is web 1. that's the first generation of internet, defined by search and google web 2 has been defined as being about social and mobile. that's what web 2. all about the apps you can have on the phone what is web 3. people say it is about decentralized internet built by, of, for the people i would say the metaverse is adjacent to or part of web 3 for metaverse to be real, it has to be inter-operable, built on block chain. i think those things are closely connected.

the concern that i hear from some sources now is that what we're seeing is that they're pushing an nft world, trying to raise prices of what things are selling for, virtual goods, trying to make a market that they then profit from. they are trying to take what's supposed to be open of the people >> throw in quick, difference between web 3.0 and web 3. be careful know what the person on the other side of the table is talking about. >> meantime, going to break, another big call in telecom. ubs expects a strong end to the year they maintain a buy on at&t. price target 34. back in a moment at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan

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after the break, shares of cloud marketing platform braze popping after reporting reports. you see emth there up 14.5%. the ceo joins us next.

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we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. we focus so much on problems with high growth software in recent weeks cloud marketing firm braze popping after reporting results for the first time since its ipo. revenue beat 63% year over year. joining us braze ceo bill magnuson bill, welcome. clearly, we can see a lot is going right here i want to point out the market cap is over $6 billion revenue in the quarter just over $64 million. quite a valuation here tell me about how you're structuring yourselves for growth and to what degree you're being cautious based on what the demand environment might be in '22? >> yeah. i think when you look at braze's

addressable market we're still very much in the early innings and we're benefitting from tailwinds and trends that have been pushing momentum in our direction and compounding with each other when you look across at the board, the move to first-party data which i'm sure you guys have spoken a lot about in the last few months as we see the rdfa and the digitization happening through covid and we in the customer engagement space have seen ranges in the interdisciplinary activity all of these are benefiting braze and leading to additional tailwinds and you combine that with just how early we are in this market. we are still investing heavily and we see a ton of opportunity ahead of us. >> i wonder, in your investment fore growth, which of course, is important, to what degree do you hedge to potential downside in how you hire or how you structure the infrastructure that you need for growth because if demand does slack off

at some point even temporarily to the total addressable market figure that you mentioned, how are you prepared to handle it? >> i think that comes down to the diversity across the dimensions of geography and across verticals with the different use cases that we service. if we go back to the early days of 2020 in the first couple of quarters, what we saw were slowdowns and in-person commerce and events and travel and such, but in our own customer base we saw massive acceleration in businesses that would be providing things like digital services and when we look across geographies and verticals that we have, we have ability to quickly pivot and change our own focus and definitely when we look at revenue growth, the total amount of revenue growth was not a surprise, but the composition was because we saw a lot of growth in financial services and a lot of growth in health and wellness and we saw other categories like travel and

hospitality went down, but braze is able to operate across all these different verticals, so as long as we've got the finger on the pulse from the consumer standpoint and we have visibility in the pipeline, we can put investment in the right place and check the ownside risks. >> bill, the stock there now down 15.5% the ceo of braze, thank you. >> thank you >> meantime, you missed part of the show don't forget to follow and subscribe to our podcast the s&p is up better than 1% "tech check" is back in a moment we love our new home. lots of windows, great light- but the birds. they're back. yes, i hear them.

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s&p, awfully close to session highs at 4615. we were at 4620. hard to say what drives the intraday trading and there was a bloomberg report this morning that the antivirals at pfizer and merck could be seeing some regulatory clearance as soon as this week and it did, i think, tend to cohen side with the leg up that we got this morning. we're slowly getting a sense of the reaction of this omicron strain which we got the report yesterday which is now 73%, new cases, julia the consumer electronics show is

going on with testing and other protocols? >> yeah. disney shares up 3%. that exposure. >> yeah. definitely helping things out. melissa lee is in for the judge this morning let's get to the half. welcome to "the halftime report." i'm melissa lee and i'm in for scott wapner should you trust this rebound and is the santa claus rally still on we'll debate that and the best place for your money in the remaining few days of the year into 2022. our investment committee, jason snipe, jenny harrington, steve weiss and josh brown let's get a look at the markets at this hour, the stocks are higher and the s&p down ever off the worst levels since the beginning of the month and 1.3% and s&p 500 just off session highs of 4622 and we are at 4617 and nasdaq up by 1 1/4% and take a look at the russell up 2 1