tv Fast Money CNBC May 10, 2023 5:00pm-6:00pm EDT
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the ship is righted, and if florida is going to cause more problems ken, thank you and, you know, we look ahead to finishing that call, and, of course, following up on the rest of earnings. a lot of movers including unity software, which is now up almost 12%. that's going to do it for "overtime. "fast money" begins right now. right now on "fast," disney doldrums shares dropping after the company posted decline in streaming subscribers. but can bob iger recapture the magic? the man who wrote the book on disney will join us to break down the results. and treasury turmoil the yield on the shortest term t-bill hitting the highest level in two decades one of our traders lays out how they are playing this move and what happens if the u.s. defaults on its death. plus, google gains you that's ultra pullback and a pot stock loses its buzz i'm melissa lee, this is "fast money," we're live at the nasdaq market site in the heart of
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times square we start off with disney's post earnings drop. the entertainment giant shares near after hours lows. improved streaming losses. the conference call is under way. julia boorstin is listening in julia? >> melissa, bob iger saying the company is on track to meet or exceed its target of $5.5 billion in cost savings. he also announced a new approach to the streaming business. the company plans to roll together an app that combines hulu content into disney plus by the end of this year what iger called a significant step towards creating a growth business he said this will create more opportunities for eadvertisers and driving engagement, which would minimize turn. he noted they will continue to offer separate disney plus, hulu, and espn plus apps and give that as another option. he announced plans to launch an ad-tier disney plus in europe.
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t and as for the ad-free version, iger saying they do expect to raise prices on disney plus by the end of this year the company also announcing that they will be removing certain content from the streaming platform, part of a kur ration process, and taking an impairment charge between $1.5 and $1.8 billion meanwhile, worth noting that losses at disney's streaming division were smaller than analysts expected. a loss of $659 million in the quarter, down from a more than $1 billion loss in the prior quarter. melissa? >> julia, to put the subscriber loss overall into perspective, this was mostly because of hot star losses, because they didn't get cricket. so, in actuality, their core subscribers they have right now, they're more profitable in theory than the prior miss >> yeah, i think the attention has really shifted to that average revenue per user number. if you look at the breakdown of average rev newel per user, there is actually growth in the average revenue per user of 20%
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in the u.s. and canada so, those subscribers are paying 20% more but if you look at those hot starts in india, they are actually paying 20% less than they did a year ago. so, a tale of two very different types of subscribers to disney plus obviously they want to be maximizing profitability, they've talked a lot about cost-cutting, the fact that their losses are declining, but they really are focused on these price increases. the fact they already rolled out a price increase and now they're going to be planning to increase prices on the ad-free tier, they want to make sure everything they are doing in the streaming business is not chasing growth at all costs >> all right, julia, thank you keep us posted on developments from that conference call. tim, you own this one, what did you make of this quarter >> the average revenue per user, 714 versus 595 last quarter, that's really impressive pricing power is impressive here the concept of a lot more ad supported in the model for a company that really knows how to
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do this, certainly from their days in linear tv, and what we see going on with netflix, so -- you know, that's all great the streaming losses you just explained, parks are excellent, studios got some -- got a few things going on. there's not been great command there's been a lot of promotional expenses around indiana jones that are eating into operating losses. the plan is there's not a lot to get excited about in this stock right now and the share price, which is basically at a five-year level of lost money, if you think about it on some level, you could have bought this stock at 95 bucks, that's much farther back, despite all that's gone on it's great that the company is more focused on streaming profitability. it is great that you have, i think, the ability here to have different levers to pull the assets are great at disney the streaming business is better than it was. i guess it's half full on the glass. >> courtney, your take >> yeah, i don't think people should necessarily be subscribed -- surprised with what you are seeing with the
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subscribers right now. iger said they were going to focus on profitability, not necessarily growth and that's what you're seeing with the numbers today and really, this is greating on specifically their streaming services, but their parks came in really strong and was expected to come in strong and that's what i like about them over, you know, comparing them to a netflix for example. they have such a better diversified business that continues to be really strong and will offset even, you know, some loss of subscribers i do still like this here. i think you are just seeing negativity on the streaming specifically >> i think the parks, tim and courtney touched on it, the parks are just killing it at this point and when i look at a chart and i look back to the pandemic low, should this be in the same ballpark as a pandemic low when we knew the parks were going to be shut down the answer is no it's in the sameock, where did it trade $80 on the pandemic low? it's trading now in the mid 90s, mid to upper 90s so, if they're going to be more efficient, if it's going to be
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streaming, maybe it shouldn't be as it rebounded above $200 a year later after the pandemic low, but this is giving the stock away just to make it very simple, and not get caught up in all the different numbers, way too cheap. >> but the multiple's not giving it away at all >> well, the multiple, if you look back to where the multiple was during a year after the pandemic -- >> well, they were not making money. >> exactly it was crazy the multiple that people were willing to pay now it seems like it's a true value stock. >> i actually disagree i think that if we look at what was happening during the pandemic, a bunch of things that were so incredibly favorable to disney launching a streaming business you had people stuck at home you had money that was free, you had growth numbers that were just, sky's the limit, and therefore, valuations that in hindsight were just way too overdone so, i -- to me, i think disney's not -- this isn't the huge discount here. i just think that -- if you look
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at what's happened in the space, if you look at paramount, which i told after that disastrous quarter, just couldn't take it anymore, they actually, you know, had subscriber growth, and so, here i'm wondering, okay, they raised some prices, i think $3 on 8 to 11, that's a hefty price increase how much more can they do for raising prices to the extent that that's part of the bull story? i don't really know. so, i think it's actually not crazy. i'm just pretending you're dan >> the point i was making is, when it traded to the low, when parks were closed, and they were factoring as it was never -- everything was death, literally and figuratively, everything was death and the parks were never going to come back those parks numbers were $16 billion. >> how do you view the streaming services in conjunction with this >> you should get a higher multiple, but streaming has been a disaster for -- >> it's been a drag.
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>> losing money. >> they have to focus on profitability, but they're in an environment where netflix has proven, i don't want to say it's proven to be king, but it's proven to have this advantage. tim, you own both, right >> and they should be the king of content, right? >> disney should be. >> yeah. >> disney should be. we've got a writers' strike coming up, a lot of speculation who is better off here and i think disney's going to do okay and i think the streaming slate seems to have a pretty big backlog for disney and netflix netflix is a more exciting story. they are generating cash flow. it's a simpler business. it's easier to assess. i can't wait to speak to jimmy stewart about all of this. because streaming companies are looked at so differently than they were two yeefrms ago. how wrong were we? very, i guess. or is this just that growing pain they all need to go through to figure out profitability? because right now, those losses are costing everyone >> all right, for more on disney's earnings, let's bring in james stewart, who joins us on the fast line, he is a cnbc
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contributor. jim what did you make of this quarter? >> well, i guess i would call it modest progress, given the iger strategy of focusing on cost and cost-cutting and eventually profitability. it will be interesting if he's going to come up with an estimate on streaming. we did see, you know, p a decline in the losses of streaming, but at the same time, you see the forces that are afflicting disney, the fairly significant decline in the linear programming, you know, the traditional tv, cable, business, which is going down. an and again, the overall operating income is not as good as it looks, because they had that billion dollar one-time charge a year ago, so, there was actually, when you strip that out, it was a little decline again in the quarterly earnings. i think investors were a little bit disappointed in that great performance at the theme parks, no question about it, but you had the reopening in china,
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theme parks is -- can only grow so much. we know. they can only raise prices so much more there. you can only squeeze so many more people into those parks and so, that's just kind of a given. i think streaming is still the story, and we still haven't seen a model here that looks like it's ever going to rival the profitability that they enjoyed in the glory days of cable >> so, do you think that the best days of disney are behind it i'm just wondering, you know iger, you know how he, you know, what his sort of playbook is and i'm just wondering what you think of how he's thinking of this -- of the return here, i mean, it seems like it's going to be harder than ever for disney to reclaim its so-called magic, given the competition in the streaming landscape, and that's sort of the focus right now of investors how can they reach profitability there. >> yeah, this is tough disney's a great company i don't think they had any choice they were confronted with this situation that, you know, really shook up that wonderfully profitability world they enjoyed
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for so long. but this is a fiercely competitive environment. i was just in l.a. for awhile, and i talked to a lot of studio people who were saying that, you know, netflix and amazon and, you know, to some extent apple, the spending race is still under way. they are still pouring the billions of dollars into that, and disney, if they want to play in that league, has no choice but to compete now, the writers' strike is going to help them probably more than anyone else, because there's a truce in the arms race there. how long that goes on, we don't know, but that's only pushing it down the road, because spending is all going to have to m coback how much can you cost-cut and still main thain that subscriber base, which has kind of flattened out. if you cut too much and you don't have the new programming, you know, people -- so easy, you just stop the subscription and wait until they come up with something new that you want. it's a very, very tough business, i think, and you've got these unbelievably deep pocketed competitors in amazon and netflix that you're up against.
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>> james, when you see the offering, where he's combining hulu and disney, is that just out of the sheer fact that most people in a certain age group are never going to buy disney streaming? do you think that's going to move the needle for them that would be a little more palatable, if you have a hulu with disney, because you'll get it as a bonus. >> yes, i mean, there's no question that the disney plus brand is very, like, family-focused, and, you know, child friendly, teen, you know, they've -- and that's good in some ways, it's got a very clear identity, but it's not going to be big enough to get to the netflix and amazon numbers and if streaming really is the scale business that everyone says it is, and as far as i can tell, it is, because there's almost no marginal cost, when you add another subscriber, yes, they've got to get beyond that core brand identity. and hulu may be a path to do that
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if not, we'll have to see. >> yeah, appreciate your thoughts, as always. jim stewart of "the new york times. what do we want to know on the conference call, tim >> well, we want to hear a little bit about just the soap opera in florida and what that means with desantis and this feud i think to the extent that we want to get a little bit more insight into their, you know, how they're talking about this new megabundle it is a new concept, and it is the sense that the companies that used to be part of the cable bundle, and the linear tv heyday, are thinking about things a little bit mir. a little bit more of an ad model. this is just the part that i think we're all struggling, what we're supposed to pay for these companies. i look at, like, a warner brothers discovery, which has been so destroyed, but if you actually look at the numbers they just posted, and they said they're going to be profitable a year in advance. a lot of analysts have upgraded
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this stock and if you look at a free cash yield, it's pretty exciting. so, i say a lot of these co company -- especially the media-focused part of their businesses have been priced down streami ing we know loses money. i think we've written streaming down to nothing. and i think it's getting kind of interesting here >> karen >> i -- have we written it down to nothing >> feels like it >> i doubt know. if that's the case, then yes, maybe it's one of your things, you know, most attractive when they go from terrible, which seems to be right now in the streaming space, to just bad, if there is some improvement. >> and to steve's point, sorry, because i mean, steve was talking about -- the parks business and seemingly studio in a different world where studio are kind of clicking away here, and so, the streaming business is -- is, to me, almost been priced to nothing in that sense. >> remember, though, they do have a ton of debt >> yep >> i mean, it's not -- i'm not saying they have a balance sheet problem, i'm just saying, you know, that's another expense and they're not going to be able to roll it over so cheaply.
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coming up, we're watching rob bib hood shares on the move after reporting. we'll bring you the numbers straight ahead. first, shares offal f af al soaring with a.i. updates. don't go anywhere. "fast money" back in two i'm not going to be nervous. financially, i'm the flight attendant in that situation. the relief that comes over people once they know they've got a guide to help them through, i definitely feel privileged to be in that position. ♪♪ asking the right question i definitely feel privileged can greatly impact your future. - are, are you qualified to do this? - what? - especially when it comes to your finances. - are you a certified financial planner™? - i'm a cfp® professional. - cfp® professionals are committed to acting in your best interest. that's why it's gotta be a cfp®.
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welcome back to "fast money. shares of alphabet topping the tape as the tech giant announces a new folding phone and what's next for a.i. in search. deidre bosa joins us now i imagine the jump in stock was not because of the foldable phone, but because of a.i. >> it's interesting, because for the first portion of the conference, it was kind of just flat there wasn't a lot of excitement about it, but once they showed how search would work, that is when the stock really took off and kind of tells you what investors have been looking for. generative a.i. is going to make search stronger. here's their words on a.i. >> we are at an exciting inflection point we have an opportunity to make a.i. even more helpful for
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pe people, for businesses, for communities, for everyone. we've been applying a.i. to make our products radically more helpful for awhile with generative a.i., we are taking the next step with the bold and responsible approach, we are reimagining all our core products, including search >> so, it wasn't just words, because he has been saying something similar for a very, very long time there was a very effective, about 90-second video, it spoked how this new idea of search would work it pulls in not just those ten links that you get from a typical search, but videos and images and suggestions and summaries. it doesn't displace the advertisements, but change the model for them and that's what was so key and critical and they showed it in a very effective way through some scripted demos and some live demos. but the company had a lot to prove, because at the last a.i. meeting, it was really botched
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in terms of these demos. the fact it went off smoothly and showed a new way of search is, you know, what got investors excited, and perhaps give google the edge for now over microsoft and chatgpt. we'll see how they respond to that next phase of the a.i. arms race >> well, it was smart to do a video demonstration as opposed to a live demonstration. it limits the room for error there. the implication that you were saying is that they're showing how search works and it doesn't displacing advertisers, so, the b baseline this is new search would be as profitable as search right now? >> as profitable is a good question and maybe that's why the stock didn't go up 8%, it only went up 4%, because that's still a big question we don't know exactly how it's going to work. the google team would say, it's going to give them more tools to be better brand aware, but we don't know that yet, and we know that search as it exists right now for google is such a
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profitable buzz, how could anyone ever replicate that but they showed they are bringing a.i. from the back end front and center >> deidre, thank you deidre bosa at the google development conference karen, you have a trade on for this >> yeah, when google sold off when all this microsoft went off, i went on the 110 that expires next friday. it was a good day to take it off. i liked so many things about it that i liked i liked that they actually had something big and, you know, showy, we always joke about, you know, the a.i. pixie dust being sp spread around, google can't find any -- they found it today the yadidea that google has notg in a.i., that's absurd here they were proving some of that some of the things were interesting and fun some of them were kind of -- the forced clapping by all the developers there, when the fondue pizza, or the writing the children's -- >> what's fondue pizza >> it's a whole thing --
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>> and why don't they serve that to us here >> they might. >> sounds good >> some of the things about the phone, i thought there was interesting elements and they tried to be mindful of the -- wanting to protect your privacy. so, one of the things that i found was interesting was this tracking -- we will tell you if you are a tracking device that is not yours on your phone >> oh. >> and also, i think apple was involved with that, as well. i thought that was interesting people are concerned about that. so -- and they had some goofy fun things with what you can do with the -- your background page, things like that, our your screensaver. and i thought they did a really good job, they showed they are very much in the race. to your question about how profitable will it be, i don't know, but they have been considered to be asleep for the last two, three months and, i mean, they got a lot of share to pro protect. >> yeah. >> that's a hard job to protect share against microsoft, who is so gung-ho to take some.
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so, i think the different valuation reflects fear that google will lose some, i think th it's too wide. >> they knew what they needed to do today we saw this with facebook, they stopped talking about the meta verse, they're talking about a.i. a.i. and cost-cutting i think this is all really positive right now it is still one of your more expensive stocks and we'll probably talk about this later, because we're still in this higher for longer likely rate environment that i think is, you know, likely going to continue to post pressure on these. so, we do have a position that you want to own your googles, i'm not actually adding to it right now but i'm happy to see the way they announced today. coming up, robinhood on the rise the company adding users for the first time in two-year-olds. bring you the headlines from the quarter and the conference call next. plus, the debt ceiling, recession fears, causing a lot of commotion in the treasury market how one of our traders is playing the moves. you're watching "fast money. back right after this.
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experience the best. ♪ ♪ we're getting some headlines out of disney's conference call. let's go to julia boorstin >> well, bob iger fielding a question about hulu, saying that in the last earnings call and recently he's been saying that everything is on the table when it comes to hulu, but in the past three months that he's been studying this, he said it's clear that the combination of the content on disney plus with general entertainment, of course, hulu is general entertainment, is a very strong combination from a subscriber perspective in terms of
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retention, and also advertising. so, he said -- he indicated that at this point, the deal with hulu is in the hands of comcast and they'll have to have that negotiation with them. but they are -- they do see real value in having general entertainment, such as hulu, combined with disney plus. he said if hulu is that solution, we are bullish about it there is this pre-negotiated deal with comcast, in which comcast already pre-negotiated to sell disney its minority stake, guaranteeing disney a price value in hulu, in its entirety at a minimum of $27.5 billion. so, it's going to be interesting to see how that valuation plays out, but certainly this is news that iger is so committed toll having that general entertainment piece and sounds like it will be likely through hulu one other note here, melissa he was asked a question about a.i., he joked that he hopes some day the questions on an earnings call can be answered with a.i., but he did say that a.i. is being used to create
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efficiencies, ultimately to better serve consumers, but they already do understand how it could be disruptive and difficult to manage, especially from an ip perspective, and they have their lawyers working on that now we see disney shares now down over 4%. back over to you >> julia, thank you. julia boorstin. let's get to an earnings alert on robinhood the fin-tech posted a top line feat in its increase in monthly active users in two years. that call is under way kristina has the details >> the online brokerage hasn't posted a profit since 2021 but its q-1 results show it is pearing back operating expenses, increasing monthly active uses and $77 up from 64 bucks a user last quarter, driven by securities trading and net interest income. on the media call that just happened before the analyst call, i was able to ask the cfo about reducing operating expenses since that's been a major overhang for the company
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he said they're going to continue to look at third party spending they're going to skrcrutinize a incremental dollars and questions if open job postings are necessary or if certain roles need to be back filled he called it a pruning stage the company announcing that next week they will offer 24 hours of trading five days a week trading names like apple and amazon and tesla but that's really not expected to move the needle too much. but other platforms and trading at 8:00 p.m., so, now you can satisfy that itch to trade at 1:00 in the morning. the company plans to enter into retirement advisory services, they also just mentioned that on the media call the ceo will be on cnbc tomorrow at 8:45 eastern, shares are still higher with this beat. melissa? >> kristina, thank you what's the catalyst for hood what's going to move the needle here >> well, profitability is certainly a good place to start. and they haven't proven that it was a really good quarter,
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sequentially their as sets grew 26%. you think about what their investors hold, the demographic of the people in that. but in terms of the growth sequentially in the customer base, but a 16% growth in revenues, but i -- i get back to where we were with this company. what sets them apart what is really their special sauce? what do they do? 24/7 on brokerage, who cares doesn't do anything. i don't think they have, really, the scale to compete improvements in net interest income, i don't think that's something to get excited about in the new world we're in. but you know, this is a stock, surprisingly, only a 3% short interest i just looked at that i thought it was going to be a lot higher and would have expected that would be a reason to maybe get behind the stock for the next couple days >> on a technical basis, the stock came in trading below all of its moving averages now it's above the 50 and the 100-day. the 200-day is at $9.69. if you look at all the rally
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that happens now, unless it crosses over to the upside, $10.20, this just another lower high i wouldn't get sucked in until you get trading above the 200 and above 10s the. >> $10 >> if carter braxton worth were here -- >> pair of twos. >> to the penny. >> buying it here, no one has an edge. coming up, beauty buys why karen thinks you s ulta is to be a big mover. plus, t-llbi gains one trader's eyes are on that. more when "fast money" returns
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welcome back to "fast money. stocks closing mixed after this morning. cooler than expected inflation report the dow ending just in the red just down 30%. the s&p up half a percent and the nasdaq up more than 1% a move in the treasury markets catching our traders' eyes the one-month t-bill rising to levels not seen since at least august 2001. the yield now at 5.4%. karen, you mentioned this as a trade that you were in the other night. monday >> yes, i find it so
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fascinating. clearly, there is this hitch in the curve, because of the default occurring prior to the maturity of the one-month bill so, that's the reason why it's there. i just think the most likely outcomes are good, which is -- the most likely. it pays on time. the second most likely, it pays shortly after on time. the third most likely, it doesn't pay on time, but continues to acrete interest and gets paid. and the last one being, really bad, but i think the likelyhood -- >> what is the really bad one? >> the really bad one is just, you know, russia-type default of u.s. debt, all right that's not going to happen that's not going to happen and so, i think that it's a really interesting scenario. tomorrow, if you go on treasury direct, you can bid on bonds, there's a -- you don't have to bid. you can say, i'm going along with the group, however, whatever that price may be, and they're doing 35 billion of one years tomorrow may 11th, and then they are --
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one month, so, i don't know if it's 10th or 11th, you -- you'll know, but you could know before that it wouldn't be shocking that we just see the can kicked, that's okay, too. >> right so, your best case scenario you is will get paid -- >> i will get paid on time i will get paid on time. >> even if it's -- >> i hope you get paid on time i hope -- you better get paid on time or heads are going to roll >> california defaulted on their debt, they issued ious at the same rate at whatever dealt was maturing, this happened to be 3.75% and it wasn't that long that you had ious and then got the payment in areerprrears wit interest that could happen. >> for more, let's bring in bill foster from moody's investor service. great to have you with us. thank you for joining us is karen's trade, does that sound right in terms of the scenarios she's laid out >> well, we certainly expect the
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u.s. government to continue to honor its debt we don't expect an interest payment to be missed we -- that's our base case there's a lot of noise, obviously, around the debt limit issue, we've seen the same thing in prior episodes, but ultimately, we think a deal will get done and the x-date won't be crossed and the treasury will continue to pay its debt on time and in full. >> i want to make clear to the audience that you are an analyst at moody's, you're not -- you wouldn't be part of the downgrading of u.s. debt, but is it possible that the u.s. doesn't even have to default to have a downgrade happen to it and so then what happens to the curve? >> well, i am the sovereign -- >> you would downgrade the debt? >> well, i'm responsible for the sovereign credit rating, but ultimately, the short answer is, our definition of a default is a missed interest payment. any other payments that might be missed in regards to social security, prioritization of over payments, that's not a default so, it would have to be a missed interest payment would need to occur for downgrade to happen. >> oh. okay
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because i -- i was under this -- some other ratings agencies, it could just be -- sort of like a terrible functioning of the u.s. government could trigger a downgrade. >> yeah, i guess the question, bill, is on august 5th of 2011, s&p downgraded the u.s. to a aaa-plus that was a day the music died, and karen brought this up recently, it actually had a massive rally in the treasury market after that, for different reasons, some of them were because of what was going on in european sovereign markets but can you just talk about, again, the perception of the u.s. and the credit worthiness as it goes into an overall rating and, you know, maybe what s&p was thinking, but what you might be thinking, despite the fact that they're going to pay and until they default >> well, from our perspective the u.s. has a very strong credit profile and the things that stand out for the u.s. versus over aaa-rated -- that's
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the highest rating we have, 12 sovereigns with that rating. the fact that the u.s. has the global reserve currency of choice, 60% of global reserves are in the u.s. dollar and you have the deepest, most liquid bond market in the world, that removes the risk of any foreign exchange for the u.s. government and any funding risk, generally. it's the largest economy in the world, extremely resilient to shock. we've seen that time and time again. that really helps buffer the credit profile for the u.s even in a situation where we might have a missed interest payment, those types of things really help keep it close to aaa. if we had a missed interest payment, the scenario would be first, if it was resolved within 15 days, we would keep that rating very close to aaa, probably at aa-1, provided there was a resolution within the next -- before the next interest payment in 15 days and the debt limit was resolved >> so, there's a little bit of a grace period
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note to the treasury and lawmakers. you have a window of time here to prevent a downgrade bill, great to have you with us. thank you for clarifying these issues for us. do appreciate it >> thank you for having me >> bill foster so, now we know. >> he's the guy. >> he is the guy -- >> big shot. >> yeah. >> and he holds the market -- >> i think we have to call him billy big shot >> mr. foster. but it sounds like your trade is -- >> well, he expects -- i don't know, maybe he -- i hope so. i think so i think so we want to say cooler heads will prevail and, you know, in the government, but that would just be silly to say that yet i do think that will happen. we'll get a deal >> all right a lot of clouds hanging over the markets these days, but nobody seems to have told the vix the volatility index is sitting below 17, but why? let's bring in chris sidiel.
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so many people say, but the vix is 17, the vix is 16, what's going on here? we have -- regional bank crisis, the debt ceiling, are there technical reasons why the vix is suppressed >> yeah, well, i think it's important to understand a couple of things, right the vix right now is still trading at a decent premium to what realized volatility is doing right now, right so, s&p 30 days realized volatility is roughly about 13, the vix is about 17. vix june futures are at 2050 so, though volatility may feel low in relax to all the fear that's going on, the actual price moves in the s&p really doesn't warrant a bigger move. the market moving at 10 to 50 basis points a day, it's really difficult to get, you know, big spikes and implied volatility with that price action however, you know, what we noticed throughout the year is that the hedges that were put on in 2022, you know, a lot of people kind of telegraphed the
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whole inflation theme, it really led traders to kind of get exhausted in their appetite. it can get brutal just buying puts so, a lot of people are puking up that exposure this year and one of the other bigger points, the implementation of the short dated options have been used as a form of yield enhancement, so, what you're seeing is, a lot of advisers are engaging in these type of systematic options selling programs that just naturally lead to suppressed volatility across the board, which obviously has implications on vix and implied vol. >> kris, it's tim. thank you for joining us the concept of volatility in the world where a fed is always there and the fed put has been there is different than a world where the fed is seemingly going to let the market do what it wants to do. i'm not sure that the fed is going to do that, but do you think about this from a structural perspective, and maybe from a secular perspective, if we're in this era where the fed really does have to be focused on inflation?
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>> yeah, absolutely. and i think a lot of traders, including myself, are kind of calling bluff on the fact that, you know, the fed put is no longer there i think what you're seeing is this -- this hesitancy from the market to believe that the fed won't be supportive of equity markets, and i think the banking crisis kind of reaffirmed that you saw the fed immediately step in and talk about you you know, really hammering that down and that's why you saw implied vol get destroyed. gave it all up within a week so, i think, you know, market participants aren't really believing that >> kris, great to see you. thank you for answering our questions. kris sidial. for more options action, tune into the full show, friday, 5:30 p.m. eastern time. coming up, here's an ugly chart, but our karen sees a beautiful buying opportunity in ulta coming soon find out what level she's watching to make up some ground. that next -- that trade is next. "fast money" is back in two.
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pull-back this month, down 8.5% since touching all-time hikes on may 1st. the stuck up 7% on the year. but is now the right time to buy this one karen? >> well -- >> what do you think >> what do i think i have to give -- not kudos to me, because i owned at it $562 that was an all-time high. and didn't sell it but then kudos to guy, i said, look at this, it opened on its high and closed a lot lower. and he's like, ah, this is terrible this is, look out below, maybe at, like, $485 you could buy it. so, excellent call by guy, it's been down $58 since then and actually was down five bucks lower than that earlier today, so, it's getting very close and i can tell i'm not going to be able to wait and i'm going to end up buying it here. i really like it they'll report earnings later this mornth. they've been crushing it the valuation is as an
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attractive as it's been in a long time. kudos to guy so, really, you know, i'm skeptical of the whole charting thing but i do see that there is value in it, and so -- learning. >> courtney? >> yeah, ulta, i mean, has been -- it's a position i've liked for a long time. i think it's something you want to own i think it's going to have a trend that's going to continue they really hit kind of all spectrums of the income level, so, regardless of what happens with inflation, you can buy your grocery store makeup, the same place you can buy your high end makeup there and i think that's going to continue to benefit them especially as they get into more target stores. i think this is going to be a longer term story. i like the fact it's pulled back here i think it's something you want to own. coming up, canada's crush. we're breaking down the quarter with the ceo that's next, much more "fast money" in two. hool wisdom, with a passion for what's possible. that's what you get from the morgan stanley client experience.
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do you need mulch? what, we have a ton of mulch. welcome back to "fast money. pot stock trulieve lower today after q-1 results. the company falling short of revenue estimates but benefits from record 4/20 sales the senate banking committee is set to take up a key piece of legislation that the cannabis industry views as a financial l lifeline joining us is prove leatrulieves
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ceo, kim rivers. >> thank you for having me >> pricing has been a real issue in recent quarters i'm wondering what you're seeing going on i know you are more insulated from the pressure on wholesale pricing, but there is sort of a knock-on effect. if those prices go lower branded prices also feel the pressure, so, what are you experiencing right now >> yeah, i mean, we are certainly seeing continued pressure on wallet, which has continued from last year, and we're seeing some tradedown as consumers shift to the value segment, certainly that's our fastest growing segment across our portfolio. but the good news for cannabis, we did have record-breaking traffic and transactions for 4/20 we sold over 386,000 units that day, and so, demand is still strong but we are certainly as a cash business, we are certainly continuing to see some wallet pressure happening across the country, along with some price compression, for sure.
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>> hey, kim, it's tim. and clearly no question about demand in the cannabis space it's really more about profitability, some of it that's very structural within the industry, some related to the i illicit markets. congrats on being something that has more flexibility in terms of your balance sheet, in your ability to generate operating free cash flow from operations how do you see that in the next 12 to 18 months playing out for trulieve can you play offense here? i know your cap-x budget has been cut, that's mostly just a function of projects running their course and now being in a position to see new supply come online but someone in the middle of this industry, and invested in it, as well, i kind of think it's a great time for companies with strong balance sheets to play offense >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, i think, look, having optionality has been a key differentiator for us, as long as we've been in business. and being in a situation where we are able to eat what we kill also is really key for us, and
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that's certainly something that we're continuing to focus on to your point, tim, we have spent, you know, significant resources in building out our supply chain in advance of catalyst we are investing in florida, for example, the ballot initiative there, which we've crossed enough signatures, over 1 million signatures for placement on the ballot, assuming supreme court approval, which will be a major catalyst for us, with 40% of that market right now, and continuing to invest, obviously, in stores and our retail footprint there ahead of that coming online. that being said, to your point, i think the opportunity as it relates to potential, it remains interesting. i think it's going to get more interesting over the next 12 to 18 months, as we see debt come due and access to capital continue to be more sparse for other companies in both private and public settings. >> do you have a lot of lobbyists in washington right now, kim -- >> we do >> not enough. >> yes, yes, we do
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yes, we do we're very excited about the hearing tomorrow, as you noted tomorrow is a historic day in that we will have a senate hearing on safe banking and expect to hopefully have a markup come out of that hearing. which would put safe banking on the floor for a vote or scheduled actually teed up for a floor vote, which, of course, has not happened to date we have passed and safe banking has passed the house numerous times, but to have it originate with bipartisan support from the senate would be really important. again, as a reminder, safe banking would provide safe harbor for banking and financial institutions to be able to bank cannabis it potentially could lead to having cash out of our dispensaries, so, a more safe environment, and really critical tool for access to capital, particularly for small and diverse businesses, so, it's really going to be important if we can get that across the finish line. >> kim, thank you for joining us nice to see you. kim rivers >> good to see up. >> grasso, y think this is going to work, safe banking? >> i don't think it will pass
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right now. i think you need a clean bill and i think there's a lot of voices on this topic, and i don't think you will see it pass and when you talk about it passing the house, it didn't pass this house and i think the senate has some other stuff going on, too. >> yeah, i agree and by the way, full disclosure, i'm long trulieve personally and in my cannabis etf both houses -- house and senate, you know, anyone that's been following this industry is not banking, sorry for the pun, on safe banking going through, but a narrow bill, steve's talking about a lot of people including chuck schumer have thrown everything in the kitchen sink in, please don't do that i think that's what will get it through. up next, final trades. what do you mean? these straps are mind-blowing! they collect hundreds of data points like hrv and rem sleep, so you know all you need for recovery. and you are? i'm an investor...in invesco qqq, a fund that gives me access to...
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time for the final trade tim? >> a streaming outcast seemingly, wbd i think is actually delevering and growing better than the bigger players wbd. >> karen >> yes guy really thanks for the guidance you saved me a lot of money so far, but i can't wait anymore, i have to buy some ulta. >> courtney? >> disney. i think you want to own for the long run i'd buy on weakness here
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>> steve >> apple, going to be trading above 200 shortly. >> all right, thank you for watching "fast money." we'll see you back here tomorrow at 5:00. meantime, do not go anywhere "mad money" with jim cramer starts right now 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 a little money my job is not just to entertain, but to engine indicate, teach, put it in context. call me, 1-800-743-cnbc, or tweet me at #madtweets we can rebound from our lows like today, the dow ultimately declining 30 points, s&p
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