when ackman says he thinks the stock is undervalued -- undervalued compared to what? in your opinion, is he right? if he's right, what should the multiple be? >> well, no, i don't think that proctor is undervalued. i have a three average rating on the stock. i have actually a $62 price target. proctor is trading at, you know, a modest discount to colgate. both colgate and proctor & gamble are relatively expensive stocks compared to others in the market. >> all right. linda, we're going to leave it there. thanks for your time. >> i've got an idea for the ceo. ron johnson. he's going to need a new job soon. >> i was going to say, ackman doesn't have the best recent track record. >> isn't the end game here, though, for ackman to try and break up the company as he did with fortune brands, as he tried to do with target? isn't that where the real value would be unlocked? isn't that the reason to follow him in? if you don't think he's going to be able to break it up, why be there? >> i don't know if that's the strategy. i don't know. >> we have no -- i mean, it could be all

i'm wondering if this increase is appropriate based on this news of bill ackman getting a big stake in the company. and just in general how much influence does a large shareholder have on a couple of the board members, if you know what i mean. >> look, i'm not saying ackman doesn't matter. i'm saying when we put mcdonald on the wall of shame what we said is, is there anything that makes it so the board wakes up and realizes he's not the right guy. and there are some nice people on that board, i'll tell you. smart people. that means that that stock goes higher. what you're seeing is the recognition that ackman -- we're all seeing the same thing, which is the board's waking up and knowing mr. mcdonald just wasn't the right guy. hey, mistakes happen. ask jamie. john in virginia, please. john. >> caller: jim. are you buying yahoo! right now ahead of earnings given that they just had a scandal with the hackers getting passwords and they still haven't is pinned down their ceo yet? >> yahoo! and cnbc have a deal, okay? of which i'm part of. i think ross levinson who i've known as -- remember

procter & gamble rose on a report thats ackman -- >> tech sales continued after a warning of sluggishales, plunging 11%. texas industries broke a ten-quarter streak of losses, posting a quarterly profit and surging 13%. upbeat data didn't dent general's gloom over sluggish earnings. initial state unemployment claims dropped to the lowest level in four years. falling oil costs sent june's import prices falling by the most in more than three years. moody's downgraded italy's bond rating by two notches, just above junk status. further down grades could be on the way. wells fargo will pay $175 million to resolve allegations it charged blacks and hispanics higher rates and fees on mortgages during the housing boom. a government inves fouti 34,000 times wells fargo charged blacks higher fees and rates similar to white borrowerers. but the bank denied guilt insisting it was settling solely for the purr of avoiding contested litigation. >> the smoking gun report the fbi is investigating the chinese company zte for banned computer equipment sales to iran and alleged attempts to cover it up. an

ackman has embraced.us his investments sometimes the two are not the same. jcpenney has not gone well so far. target did not go particularly well. mcdonald's, the end of the year he failed on the campaign but stock went up. gcp, general growth, incredible move there that he made. we'll see where this goes. p & g the fact they hire pr firms, they are always going to do that, some disenchantment, break the glass, whether it comes down on the ceo is the question. unclear whether he has anyone to replace him within the company. >> tonight see you. finally do the european close for the first time in a couple week in half an hour's time. meanwhile if you're tuning in, here is what you might have missed early on this morning. >> announcer: welcome to hour three of "squawk on the street." here is what's happening so far. >> i think the importance of keeping employment up and the economy growing is going to be the important thing, not inflation. >> i believe that we can achieve a grand bargain that will deal with

procter and game bbl rose on an investor william ackman buying into the company. merck had a success ill trial of its new osteoporosis trial. infosys rose. on the plus side, texas industries broke a ten-quarter streak of losses posting a quarterly profit and surge 14g%. upbeat data didn't dent general gloom over sluggish earnings. initial state unemployment claims dropped to the lowest level in four years. >>> falling oil costs sent june's import prices fall big the most in more than three years. >>> moody's downgraded italy's bond grading by two notches just above junk status. more could be on the way. >>> wells fargo will pay $175,000 to resolve allegations that it charged blacks and hispanics more fees during the housing boom. they found 34,000 time wells fargo charged blacks and hispanics higher fees. but the bank which now funds one out of every three mortgages in the u.s. denied guilt insisted it was settling to avoid litigation. >>> the smoking gun reports that zte is being investigated for selling banned equipment sales to iran and trying to cover it up. >

joining us now is spencer ackman, national security writer, a friend of mine, and somebody who has actually dug deep into the foothills of romney's foreign policy. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> so you wrote a great piece today, and the title was the five thinks we learned about how mitt could run the world. number one is he seems to run the world when it comes to afghanistan, egypt, and iran a lot like obama is running the world. >> a lot like if romney hired obama's aides but they had nothing but bad things to say about themselves. you get a lot of rhetoric about how this is failed policy, an overly politicized policy, but i'm going to do the same thing. >> they don't have functional disagreements, but they have sort of big rhetorical agreements. romney says obama has been apologizing for america, and a broad point he makes is that the difference between him and obama is resolve, it is will. he'll have the resolve and there's nothing we can't do if we put our backs into it. that reminds me of early term george w. bush. it was about how much america wanted it. i mean, the realists

ackmann last ackman suggested that the currency probably rally against the u.s.could make a fortune if the hong kong dollar were replaced to a currency other than the greenback in 2015. >> it's one-way valve and you're long. it can't go down more than a percent or two and if it works you can make a lot of money. >> so far he's right to the extent that the currency risen about a half a percentage point against the u.s. dollar but the gains to this point have been small. maybe he'll catch us up on wednesday how the trade to play out from here and as well as hopefully more insight on the plans of proctor & gamble and the management team. we don't know the details on what he's planning there and may get some insight. >> bottom line is you have a collection of the brightest investors and most successful ones out there appearing at cnbc's delivering alpha. we are doing the "halftime" show from there on wednesday and they made some really great calls. that's how you bottom line the whole thing. >> absolutely. even the calls like the ackman hong kong dollar that haven't

procter & gamble rose on a report activist investor william ackman is buying into the company. merck also rose 4% after a successful trial of its new osteoporosis drug. tech struggles continued after infosys warned of sluggish sales, plunging 11%. >>> on the plus side, texas industries broke a ten-quarter streak of losses, posting a quarterly profit and surging 14%. >>> upbeat data didn't dent general gloom over sluggish earnings. initial state unemployment claims dropped to the lowest level in four years. >>> falling oil costs sent june's import prices falling by the most in more than three years. >>> moody's downgraded italy's bond rating by two notches, just above junk status, warning further downgrades could be on the way. >>> wells fargo will pay $175 million to resolve allegations that it charged blacks and hispanics higher rates and fees on mortgages during the housing boom. a government investigation found 34,000 times wells fargo charged blacks and hispanics higher fees and rates compared to similar white borrowers. but the bank, which now funds one out of every three

. >>> plus, find out if anyone on this desk agrees with bill ackman that you could make 15 times your investment in his jc penney. we'll be right back. with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. 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

bill ackman brought a huge stake and will likely push for shake-up. procter & gamble is making its own moves to deal with this situation. >> p&g some say making changes is like the classic cliche of trying to turn the titanic p it seems like the iceberg is ringing loud in cincinnati. part of it, of course, is what it represents for mr. ackman. it is also the board and other investors unhappy with the stock. take a look at the chart. it has the same yield as kimberly clark. but it has been crushed in comparison. kimberly clark, 27% in the last year. p&g flat. their problems begin with emerging market exposure three years ago. seemed like good idea. now the mark receipts slowing and dollar is strong. that's not a good thing. procter raised prices in the last year. competitornot follow. company lost share. analyst i spoke to today also talked about the cost-cutting plan unveiled this winter. consensus, little too late. we will see you due to respond and save his job. there are two business units that could get sold. duracell batteries could fetch $3 bill

ackman even chooses to follow through.in an otherwise down day. >> what was the last biggest activist battle, target? >> that's a very good question. i mean, i can remember home depot had a large market cap when relational investors made a move on them. that's ralph whitworth. you won't be able to obtain an economic position that's large enough to threaten the company or even get enough votes. if you're respected and your plan is respected and you're attacking a company that has restive shareholders you may get traction. >> thanks. let's head over to gary kaminsky who is looking at -- oh, wait a minute. wait a minute. that beard is gone. wow gary. finally got the hint, huh? >> i don't know who was behind it, but i received a phone call. you know? i received the phone call from the -- the phone call from management. management. ♪ hallelujah >> yeah, management. >> you sold out, gary kaminsky. >> i thought you were a rebel. >> hobbs, you were behind it, we all know it. the worldwide viewing public knew you were behind this.

not just bill ackman and a lot to talk to him about with nothing to do with real estate.rocter & gamble for example. and john grey who you rarely hear from. running blackstone's real estate group being my guest at this time. so much to talk about whether it's the purchases of individual housing units to try to make reits and rental units for an reit to why blackstone is buying warehouses off the side of highways. interesting things to discuss and, of course, maybe we'll get to jcpenney just for you, melissa. >> remember a year ago, too, david, delivering alpha is a short hong kong dollar trade and really unusual, a change from strategy. that he's taken in the past. it's not worked out and did do it through options and limited in terms of risk. >> meanwhile -- >> i suspect that mr. mcdonald of ceoo of procter launching an offensive soon. they make some changes just like i thought on johnson & johnson's quarter. could be a catalyst for change. not the canning of mcdonald but certainly set in to motion a lot of interesting ur ininteresting events. >> faster than might have b

>> clearing the way for an investment by bill ackman. his persian square talking about taking more of a share in proctor & gamble. ending on good news. >> hopium here. >> widely owned, up 4%. they make potato chips or something? >> everything. >> they make everything. >> i drive a proctor & gamble car. >> the chips are essential. we have got an exclusive for you. retailers nordstrom, top shelf and top man teaming up. they will be at 14 nordstrom stores across the country starting in september. joining us now from a top shop in new york city, phillip green and pete nordstrom. the president of merchandising. both of you, fantastic to have you on the show. ph philip, what's behind the thinking of teaming high end with middle end and why do you think this is going to work? >> i think, you know, we have spoken to quite a lot of retailerser and american people over the last year and felt by after talking to the people nordstrom had the most compelling proposition in terms of we're going to be unique in their portfolio. both online and in the 1

that was only a couple days after bill ackman said there was a 15 bagger cycle, and joe fresh.to put it in 700 penney stores. that was a positive news cycle too. sdplp they have earnings coming out august the 10th, and the street is expecting per share loss of about 17 cents. is there anything they could potentially say or do to turn around this situation? >> i think they will be down 25% in store to store sales for the second quarter. my guess is they will miss that 17 number. >> referee: it doesn't matter. that is such the game of wall street in this case. you look around here, but they brought it on themselves. ron johnson brought it on themselves by talking about if people will meet or beat. >> right, and i agree that it doesn't matter. do they get traction in the fall? i don't think they will. will they get traction in 2013 if they don't get it in the fall? if they don't start showing gains by then, it will be really hard to make it through. >> jan, thank you for stopping by the studio. coming up next, why dunkin' do when i found out my irregular heartbeat put me at 5 time

why one analyst out there says that ackman's may not the midas touch needed for the stock. look ahead to intel earnings. tradelers give thank you trade ahead of the big report. all that and much more at the top of the hour. >> heavy lineup of earnings and economic reports. rip out of the gate tomorrow morning. we will be all over it tonight. reserve chief ben bernanke speaking about the economy on capitol hill. three of wall street's top strategists will join me telling us how their view. ll beyond investment advice and research analysis. it includes proprietary offerings like our eldercare program, which helps provide for those who came before you. and our financial empowerment program, which helps prepare those who come next. resources like these have made us the number-one trust company. that's why generations of families have come to us to help build their own legacies. >>> welcome back. breaking news during the show tonight. google executive marissa meyer has been named the new ceo of yahoo. starts tomorrow. >> she's just tweeted out i'm incredibly excited to start my

ackman is expected to push for changes in the company's top management and deeper cuts in an effort tove p&g's lagging profitability. back to the banks, wells fargo also reporting its second-quarter profit rose 17%. mortgage banking income climbed. revenue increased over 4% to $22.29 billion. >> let's hit the roadmap for this next hour. jpmorgan posting a beat. will jamie dimon be able to put the london whale behind him? and what could jpm's results signal for the big banks set to report next week. >>> amazon's reported smartphone could be dead on arrival. we'll talk to the man behind the call. that's getting all the chatter this morning in just a moment. >>> plus, with november closing in on us, we'll here from rnc chairman reince priebus for his take on the state of the economy. >>> we first have to check in with capital markets, gary kaminsky. what's on your mind today? >> the markets are acting well. a lot of people attribute it to jpmorgan. this time yesterday, we pointed out the technicals looked a lot like it did in april right after that disappointing fed meeting. i don't think

ackman and -- both down pretty significantly on their positions. >> ackman is up on the year.ith general growth and alexandra baldwin just split. it's his most high-profile position. but he's still doing well. >> give me the broader take on activism again. in annual meeting season now. soon we'll move into proxies. 13ds getting filed. then we'll see if they file with proxy. where are we just in terms of volume? you track this very closely. >> there's about $5 billion of new activist money put in this quarter into activist activist situations. basically on track with last quarter and on track with last year and on track to double 2010. >> double 2010. it has become at least dollar volume wise much more significant. >> activist has. >> and as you know, you track, better performance, even when you follow after announcement typically you do out perform the s&p. >> absolutely. on average close to 1% a month. >> ken squier, thank you as always. >> thank you. >> send it back to you guys. >> thank you very much. still to come on the program we'll revisit what's happening in the shareh

so perhaps bill ackman getting a few believers there when he talks about a 15 to 20 bagger.six to seven years from our interview with him late yesterday at the delivering alpha conference. worth a mention given that performance we're seeing this morning. >> north america's largest railway union pacific has had its best quarter ever. its president and ceo will join us next. rding to ford, the works fuel saver package could literally pay for itself. jim twitchel is this true? yes it's true. how is this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil, your car runs more efficiently, saves gas. you could be doing this right now? yes i could, mike. i'm slowing you down? yes you are. my bad. the works fuel saver package. just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. so, to sum up, you take care of that, you take care of these, you save a bunch of this. that works. >>> welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm sharon epperson at the nymex with breaking news from the u.s. department of energy on natural gas storage levels. natural gas supplies rose by

i would have -- i would have gone instead of with the ackman p&g story. >> it's whether they would able to effect change where a company owns -- >> he owns $2 billion. you know, it's kind of -- >> it's sexy, it's big. and this will be his biggest effort ever. >> well, you have to -- you've got to hand it to him that he's feeling his oats to think that you can effect change. >> we did this at target. you know, he's tried before. there are certain times he's tried. >> he probably wouldn't want you bringing up target. he probably would not want you bringing up target. >> that's in the category of big and challenging. >> right. i mean, target's big. it's $39 billion. it's not $175 billion. >> but that's why i'm saying -- >> $175 billion. i take this a little personally. >> why? >> i'm from cincinnati. >> ah. >> it is cincinnati. it's kind of like the reds. it's got the dolly parton -- you don't know the dolly parton building. >> i don't. i'm going to guess -- >> it's two weird -- the architect wasn't thinking when he built this thing. >> i think he probably was thinking. he's a guy. that's

. >> this was the big bill ackman play. >> that's right. let's take a look at the markets today.ight now you'll see that there are some pressure on futures especially when you take a look at the nasdaq. it's down by ten points. dow futures down by 23 points and s&p futures down by 3.5. april lot of things that happened last night, zynga really raising a lot of questions about what will happen with facebook when it reports later today. that's got people a little bit edge. there's all this talk about whether greece will or won't stay in the euro. most of the time when we talk to people about whether they will stay in the euro, will the euro don't exist in five years or not? you don't often talk about these death by a thousand cuts. whether greece stays in it or not that's a question of the day. let's take a look at oil prices. oil prices are down by 1%, 88.09. the ten year, obviously, huge part of the story. ten year at 1.394%. well below that 1.4%. i'm not sure this is a new record low but near it. steve, you have to be watching this? >> i don't remember seeing a three before afte