we begin with carl icahn. it takes a certain breed of stock market investor to thrive in queasy times, and icahn is one of that breed. he has a knack of turning someone else's loss into profit for himself. but he can also help others improve their bottom line through the so-called icahn lift, an upward bounce that often happens when he starts buying a beleaguered stock. when the financial crisis hit in 2008, many investors were tearing their hair out, but not icahn. the state of the economy changes, but icahn's investment philosophy remains the same. as he told leslie stahl in march of 2008, carl icahn looks to pounce while everyone else is losing their shirts. >> the day we visited icahn enterprises, the stock market was swinging wildly, at one point, dropping 300 points. so has this been a bad day? this is not a great day. >> tough day, tough day. >> wow, this is beautiful. look at your view. icahn works in a skyscraper suite overlooking new york's central park. >> i think i lost today. >> you did? >> yeah. >

without carl icahn. there still isn't tp how much are you sitting on to invest. >> well about $10 billion with mine and ap. we have that much liquidity. >> that's all yours, we should point out. >> about 6.5 billion tonight if we want to. i believe in a big war chest. i think that's a mistake that a -- >> how do you write a a check for 65% of the fund would you, for one deal. >> it's not the fund. >> i understand it's you. you never write a check for 65% -- >> i said we could. i didn't say i would. >> you almost add write a pretty big check for clorox. would you? >> absolutely. >> really? >> if you look at our record, and i'm proud to say, we made, since 1990, 27 -- 25% annualized return. but the real big money is made like when we get control of one of these, clean them up. like the casino. paying 300 million and sell them for a billion three, receive ep years later. better than oil companies. maying 330 in '05. in the '06 we sold it for a billion five. so you want to get control of them. i think the th

. >> up next, forget the carl icahn's of the world. the new breed shaking up the boards. >> and m&a rainmaker with three companies that may need an activist to help boost their stock. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are, or

and later today, we'll have carl icahn. back to you guys in the studio. >> never know what's going to come out of carl's mouth. thank you, david. keep the tweets coming. barnes & noble, this is the question -- barnes & noble spinning off its nook business in what could be one of the last nails in the coffin. if they were to go by the wayside, what should be done with all that retail real estate? tweet us. we have some of your ideas after the break. but first, breaking news out of the cme group. we'll get chicago pmi data right after this break. suno sunoco, top of the list being acquired by etp. aspirin is just old school. people will have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. that's why we developed bayer advanced aspirin with micro particles. now we're challenging you to put it to the test. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. yeah, scott. i was just about to use... that's a bunch of ground-up paper, lad! scotts ez seed absorbs and holds water better. it's guaranteed to grow grass anywhere, even i

and don't miss an exclusive interview with billionaire activist investor carl icahn.t's all ahead in just a few on "closing bell," guys. >>> all right. last pick of the cnbc stocks draft, last pick. >> brian, can i call you brian? facebook is going to stay on the board. with the seventh and final pick i'm going to ft. worth, texas. >> no way. >> yes, it is. and it's radio shack. >> oh, sorry, guy adami. we love you. but your draft pick is our disaster du jour. radio shack, ticker rsh, is not looking so hot today. in fact, it's looking particularly low. 3.6% to the downside to be exact. so why don't we add in some sunshine with shares of dollar tree. that stock was actually left unpicked in our stocks draft. and today trading at an all-time high. dollar tree saw a round of upgrades last week which may be carrying over into today's trade. although as we speak it's down about 0.6%. still hitting a new high in trade today. well, do check out streetsigns .cnbc.com for the rest of the stocks drafted by our seven all-star traders. and comment ri and analysis from herb and cr

carl icahn will be interviewed exclusively by david faber this afternoon. those looking for corporate governance have been more successful. today on "squawk box," bill ackman said he was feeling optimistic going into the shareholder meeting for canadian pacific. that's going to be held in about two weeks. ackman saying he's actually never gone into a proxy contest with this much of a suspected lead. an independent advisory firm saying 94% of shareholders support ackman's shake-up of management and the board, and that stock has actually returned 76% on top of ackman's investment on an annualized basis. now, ackman's pershing square is two of the winningest activists around and the third is yahoo! and even though the investment has underperformed the s&p 500 by about 7 percentage points, he has nominated four directors to the board, including himself. and scott, we'll definitely be watching to see what happens at yahoo! we've been following it since he started investing in august. proxy season just around the corner. we're going to revisit, recalibrate some o

you probably saw bill ackman this morning, this afternoon we're going to hear from carl icahn. right now kayla tausche -- >> the activist journalist. the hedge fund community fond of the phrase past performance not indicative of future returns. even though they're some of the best performing activists out there, they have a lot at stake this proxy season. we want to start with bill ackman's square. perhaps the winningest in the crop facing a fight over railroads at canadian pacific nominating seven directors and shareholder support for ackman is growing ahead of that meeting on may 17th. and this morning on "squawk box" he says he's never gone into a vote with such a lead, to use his words. but boosted dividend to shareholders and ackman's investment has already made 76% on an annualized basis. stay tuned for what's going to happen in just about two weeks time. >> let's bring in jeff kilburg now. did you know jeff played center at notre dame? >> i did not know that. >> meet an irishman. which one of these activist investors would you be following? can you make money by doing it

carl icahn's offer is already out there. i'm concerned with this level of uncertainty. we like the yield, but i recommend moving to the sidelines. listen, you want some ag play, you want i want you to go by dupont. 3% yield is much better. on april 11th joe asked about cost plus, cpwm. given the excitement in retail, i had to take a closer look. it's a special retailer of casual home furnishings and entertainment products in the united states. it's just not growing fast enough. my focus is pier one. that's a better alternative. on april 12th, chuck asked about irobot, irbt. the company's home care robots consist of those vacuum cleaners, plus the government industrial robots perform tests, multipurpose tests for local police and fire and first responders. exciting story. but the guidance last quarter was terrible, disappointing. it's led us to believe it's got government budget exposure that i think will crimp the earnings. we welcome them to enlighten us more about the business. right now we think your stock is too expensiv

. >> that was carl icahn making it clear he is not involved in research in motion. continuing to plunge prompting to some see if it's an attractive buy. that was at about $13 a share and down more from the last time and hitting a valuation that seems like somebody is bound to accept in. >> is it value investor and it's a drive by accident of a valuation that you cannot help but look at. the balance sheet is in pristine shape and have quite a bit of a revenue base and they do make money. it's what we call a melting ice cube and you wonder how quickly the business will go away. >> you have no guidance. >> you will only know in hindsight. the thing that is gravitationally driveing it towards it is i believe it is up for sale. i believe that the recent comments do open the door wide open. you have the two cofounders out. this is i believe up for sale. >> the ceos knew. the guy comes in and he is brand-new. >> he was in. >> newly in the seat and willing to put the company up for sale. that's any stumbling block. he want to be a ceo of a company. >> i think that the situa

>> carl icahn on his victory at cbr. we'll ask him about a couple other stocks, including research in motion and anvalin. our short sellers piling in and what other internet stocks are short sellers setting their sights on. we'll talk to one venture capitalist who invests in stocks that you can invest in as well. that's at the top of the hour on "fast." see you then. >> see you in ten minutes, melissa. >>> investors are getting ready for another jam-packed day. meanwhile -- >> announcer: tomorrow, labor market and services sector. there's a lot more investors need to watch for when the market opens. we'll round it all up when the "closing bell" returns. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my wo

i want to know if carl icahn takes control of cvr energy, what impact might that have on uan?don't think it would have much at all. this is a limited partnership. but you know what? i can't say for certain. i've got to make some calls on that one and i will come back to you. let's go to matthew in new york. matthew? >> caller: hey, jim, big new york knicks boo-yah. >> looking good boo-yah, what can i tell you? and fun to watch. i'll give them that boo-yah. what's up? >> caller: yes, sir. i bought this stock six months ago and it has nose dived. it's cld, cloud peak energy. >> came and went. >> sell, sell, sell! >> not working anymore because coal be done. not with nat gas going through too, you cannot own coal. david in florida, david? >> caller: hi, i was wondering what you thought of mgm resorts international. >> i think mgm's okay. i've been a big las vegas sands backer more than wynn because of the internal dispute, i want to stick with las vegas sands. let's go to mehrad in washington. >> caller: washington boo-yah to ya, jim. >> what's going on? >> caller: what do you th

after the bell, carl icahn updates his attempt to require cvr energy and well get his take on how theoversy surrounding chesapeake ceo, audrey mclendon is inl pacting that stock. that's coming up, scott. >> all right, we look forward to that. as we head to break, here is are how the major commodities are trading. it is mixed picture on your screen. we're back in a moment. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. [ barking ] appears buster's been busy. yeah, scott. i was just about to use... that's a bunch of ground-up paper, lad! scotts ez seed absorbs and holds water better. it's guaranteed to grow grass anywhere, even if you miss a day of watering. [ scott ] seed your lawn

those creditors which include carl icahn had given them until 10:00 a.m.astern today to strike a deal to restructure harbin ger's control of light squared. in february, the fcc pulled a waiver that would have let them build hair mobile network. and coming up on the show, move over disany worney world, angry breaking in to the theme park business. with the spark miles card from capital one, thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! here's my spark card. and here's your wool. why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! the spiked heels are working. wow! who are you wearing? uhhh, his cousin. [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! >>> mobile gaming sensation angry birds catapulted to new height this is weekend with the opening of its first official angry birds theme park in finland. tom mackenzie sat down with the ceo of

carl icahn is proceeding pretty well with his desire to take over the company.mmendation on this? where do you stand on this icahn bid? >> we don't actually cover cvr energy. but i will say, to make a more general point, refining domestically is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this domestic oil boom. why is that? well, because right now, there is a very widespread between the price of crude in the united states, west texas intermediate or wti, and all the overseas grades of crude like brent. that means domestic refiners are cashing in with extremely lucrative margins with capturing that delta. cvr is one of the refiners but there are many others that stand to benefit from this. we think there will be a disconnect between domestic and overseas crude prices just like there is a disconnect between domestic and overseas natural gas prices for indefinite future. >> and i see one of your top picks is actually chevron with a strong buy there and a $125 price target. thank you very much. it's an interesting call. thank you. >> thank you. >>> second quarter kicking o

cvr energy removing an obstacle to carl icahn's bid to the company.rning solid demand. this is good news at spain's auction of $3.3 billion in two and ten-year bonds. yields did move slightly higher. comments, questions, shoot us an e-mail. before we go, we've got some earnings. >> 59 cents versus expectation of 58 cents for verizon. this is a yielder, that's for sure. you got a revenue number? >> the yield is 2%. on verizon. >> has it gone up to that point? >> that's the difficult depend is 2%. the yield is 5.3%. >> i'm sorry. right, right, right. >> revenue 29.24 versus 28.17. >> i guess it's the wire line. 4.7% year over year quarterly revenue growth in wireless. >> 734 net retail customer additions in the first quarter. you have fios still, right? >> yes. >> 180,000 net new fios video connections in the first quarter of 2012. >> right. 8.1% year-over-year increase -- 63% of the consumer revenue generated by fios. >> can't tell where it's going to open at this point. still a big spread between the bid and ask. looks pretty solid. don't see any outl

carl icahn says he holds 69% of the company's shares.lion for the remaining -- last night, it was stuck and then they changed it. you've got a long time here. >> i do. i have an entire 20 seconds. >> tomorrow, our guest host,

also amlin spurped a takeover bid from bristol-myers and is fending off a lawsuit by carl icahn. >> i like did today. we haven't seen this in a while. i don't know if you consider this the pharmaceutical sector when you start thinking about baby infor formula. >> why do they need the cash? >> pfizer has become a bloated big old mess. >> so they get all this money -- >> they'll use it for research and probably see it in divide dividends. largest story is pfizer trying to get its act together. some people think it's become too much. the question of course can you put it into research and get anything for the research. or they could turn and you willy buy biotech stuff. but if you missed the story over the weekend, the "new york times" reporting that walmart silenced its own internal investigation of allegations made by former executive of its subsidiary in mexico. the allegations suggested that the mexican division orchestrated a campaign of bribery to grab market dominance. i don't know if you saw this story, but it was just unbelievable. and just went on forever and also was so detail

that audience includes some familiar faces, david tepper, carl icahn, those who scooped up the debt atthan it's trading at now and want to make sure lightsquared makes good. if those don't produce an agreement that falcone sees as favorable, bankruptcy would be the preferred option. in a statement falcone says the rationale behind voluntary filing is to complete the vision to complete the plan to build the network and protect the company from those creditors who are more interested in a quick flip, some of those we just named. if chosen that plan would see falcone as the so-called debtor. normally that situation requires lending a life line to the unit but he says it makes enough cash to avoid that at least in the near term. one thing that is clear as this gate comes up on redemptions, if you are an investor and don't feel good about the fact so much money has gone into this project that might not actually happen, you are not able to get your money out of that fund, so that is something investors are not happy about. guys, back to you. >> kayla, they haven't cleared up what they're goi