and joining us now in a cnbc exclusive is byron wien, vice chairman of blackstone advisory partners. byron, good, as always, to see you. we'll tackle, i'm sure, some of the geopolitical things in the time we have, but i want to begin with earnings, which have come in pretty nicely in the second quarter, but are they as strong as they appear? >> they're really not. if you look at net income, that is probably up about 4%, but earnings are up twice that or even more. that's because of share buybacks and other accounting techniques. so, earnings per share look terrific, but corporate income is not as impressive. >> revenue doesn't look bad, though. >> revenue's okay, but you're not likely, kelly, to get much margin improvement. so, you really need even better revenue increases to keep this up. >> but isn't this what we want? aren't we at the point we'd want to be? in other words, first you'd have profit margins improve, earnings rise, and then finally, towards the middle to later stages of the recovery, revenue starts to increase, and then the hope is that the better macro keeps those rev

. >>> in case you missed it, wall street veteran byron wien talking about biotechs yesterday right herelosing bell." >> i think there are going to be a lot of new drugs introduced in most of the major diseases. i think the biotech area is very favorable. >> ah, we will debate. if the bullish biotech call can make you some money, coming up. >>> also ahead, bank lending and profits are up, but so are regulations and lawsuits and those big settlements the big banks are paying. banks pros will tell us whether the industry is ripe for gains next. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 searching for trade ideas that spark your curiosity tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 can take you in many directions. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you read this. watch that. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you look for what's next. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we can help turn inspiration into action tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 boost your trading iq with the help of tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 our live online workshops tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like identifying market trends. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 now, earn 300 commission-free online trades. call 1-888-628-2419 or go to schwa