microsoft corporation is the world's largest software company.ve or six years, technology has really swept the world. schoumacher: every year for the last decade, microsoft's share of the mke for personal computer operating systems has stood above 90%. was microsoft's unprecedented success due to its superior innovation and marketing prowess, or was it abusing its monopoly power to stifle competition? some of microsoft's business practices raised serious questions with its competitors and with the government. the united states government decided to file an antitrust lawsuit against the microsoft corporation. the standard oil case in 1911 defined the rules of competition in the industrial age. but could the government apply 20th century law to the 21st century economic order? it all started in 1975 when bill gates and his friend paul allen formed a partnership. we can do anything. schoumacher: the software and operating systems created by two young men in a garage and the company they founded played a major role in the information revolution. micr

, shouldn't have to apologize for microsoft. they make a tremendous amount of money, but no longer really a growth company. feel more to me like a utility company and even in the area that has been their main stay which is software, they don't seem to have the cool factor. that now belongs to google, android, even belongs to facebook. why have they not been able to innovate as effectively as some of the other companies? >> you know, oftentimes microsoft doesn't get credit for innovating. they do office 365, cloud-based office version. sky drive. you can edit documents in the cloud. need anything running on the desk top. doing many of the same things the other guys are doing but seen as the old out of step company. >> they often do it second, lance. >> and that's very true and that's one of the problems for microsoft. they are not putting themselves in a leadership position and it's very few areas. microsoft, throwing a ton at the wall right now, trying with tablets, phones, and cloud-based stuff. making a lot of money, but not g

microsoft appealed that ruling.01, two years after judge jackson's monopoly ruling, the u.s. department of justice and microsoft reached an agreement to settle the case. as for bill gates, the man at the forefront of the personal computer revolution, he is now a full-time philanthropist. he stepped down as microsoft ceo in january 2000 and gradually reduced his full-time role with the company. in june 2008, he relinquished his last full-time position with microsoft, turning his attention to the bill and melinda gates foundation, the world's largest philanthropic organization, which he cochairs with his wife. the couple now has three children. their second daughter, phoebe, was born in 2002. gates remains involved with microsoft as its nonexecutive chairman and largest shareholder. well, that's this edition of 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm lesley stahl. thank you for joining us. captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ] i took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male an

so what's next for microsoft?ecause we care not about where our stock has been, but where it's going. when the stock bottomed after downgrades, it was trading a measly 10 times earnings, 3% yield. that's way too cheap for a company like this, any catalyst ahead. the stock has moved up more than 11% since then. i do not think it is done. if microsoft is finally getting credit for the non-pc businesses and this quarter tells me it's the case, then i believe the stock is still very cheap and it can go much higher as the bears and neutral types have to go positive, and neutral guys, well, let's just say, don't be left behind, because the new x-box launches in a few weeks time. here's the bottom line, even the best analysts can get bad grades sometimes, but when a host of analysts starts downgrading a stock that's already very cheap like they did with microsoft, you have to wonder if maybe the negatives they are worried about are already baked into the share price. mike merler at bernstein, he nailed it. don't feel bad

>> they brought microsoft public back in the day of goldman.was the closest research analyst to bill gates, yet these analysts simultaneously downgraded microsoft back on april 11th, right before the company reported based on what they thought would be weakness across the board because of how bad the pc market is. then there was a third downgrade in the quarter. this was probably the most painful of all. the downgrade begins, quote, after maintaining advisers september, 2008, we are downgrading microsoft to neutral and trimming our price objective to $33. bank of america actually came close to the numbers. the estimates weren't far off. but they got the thesis of the direction of the stock wrong. banc of america never came. it belonged to the microsoft bull, not to the bears. i feel bad. when you see downgrade, it seems like the bears analysts didn't think of microsoft as a play on personal computers. that's where they went wrong. because when microsoft reported, what mattered was not the pcs but these other business, the cloud business, entert

on microsoft?slike microsoft in the earnings. it could have a nice pop, but typically the pops don't last with this stock. and given what we heard out of intel about the current pc atmosphere, i just can't see microsoft having a huge upside surprise. >> at least they are willing to use their cash, okay? >> are any of these three that you're playing right now today ahead of the numbers? >> we own ibm and made nice money in ibm. we trimmed it a couple weeks ago. i would love to buy it back at $200. that's the one i like. i wouldn't get back with microsoft. google, wait for a pullback. that stock is volatile and i'm waiting to see the metrics like costs improve and a lot of their operating leverage. >> google has pulled back from $840 to $768. it's a pretty decent sized pullback, number one. number two, it's sitting right at the longer term trend line. if it's going to bounce, it would bounce here. i agree with stephanie, i think this is an important quarter for google to allow our fears that the adve

would you sink $2 billion into microsoft right now?rtainly would put it in there right now. i think for the first time in a heck of a long time microsoft is actually a really intriguing story here. i think that this long, lumbering whale is about to start swimming like a shark. when you look at its products, there's a lot to get excited about. whether it's windows 8 and the prospects there in mobile and in tablet. the skype acquisition i think was brilliant. there's much more growth there. i think the easiest place to see just how finally cutting edge microsoft has become is in gaming. and the things that are ahead for thexbox. particularly xbox live. >> carter, let's look at the chart. this was dead money for a long time. what about now? >> that's right. so the chart's appealing in the sense that there's a lot of wisdom in price action. the stock has been moving up since december. and what's also important is that it's breaking above the down trend it's been in for the better part of a year. finally, relative strength. of all the thin

would you buy microsoft at 29?buy it just-- we know you own it and i would buy it just for you and my friends. stuart: goldman sachs doesn't say neutral, they say sell it. >> anyone that derives earnings from outside the border, microsoft growth rate is outside of the borders, you're going to see it not just pc's, but stuart, give you good advice on the microsoft stuff. stuart: i hear you. ed butowsky, thank you very much indeed. short, sharp, to the point. and we're at 14-8 where we are. the message of president obama's tax plan, you heard it, force the rich to pay their quote, fair share. one of the patriotic millionaires is willing to pay 50% of income in taxes. did you bring your checkbook with you. do you think that 50% is legit? why don't you take out your checkbook and write that check right now. will do you it? >> i did not believe taxation is is a voluntary process. stuart: that man, he'll join us again at 10:35 this morning. fun and games on "varney & company." do i have a deal for you. how would you like

what about microsoft? take microsoft private? note this morning from sherlund -- he's going to be on "squawk on the street" -- raises that as one alternative to try and unlock some kind of value. >> apple should go private. it's time for china to go private. look. i think there is a level. david, help me here. there is a level where you won't be able to raise that much money to be able to bring microsoft private. >> it is impossible. yeah. unless they expect the market to decline by another 70% from here, then it becomes a lot more possible. >> wait. if apple came through -- say apple traded $100 a share. it may be right for tim cook to wake up, the siesta may be long since over and he takes the company private. >> there are a number of people who bought this stock recently because of that 10%, 1 % free cash flow yield. that's a big free cash flow yield, jim. you don't see that too often, not to mention a 3% dividend yield that goes along with it. those are pretty strong numbers for microsoft despite what's obviously a declining

a number of downgrades for microsoft. we found a microsoft bull. he found him and he's coming on. he's a brave man. back over to you. >> you sort of know those stories. a lot of people in new york thinking the midwest is flyover country. minneapolis has a little secret. it is one of the best economies in the united states. the unemployment rate is below the national average and there are a ton of fortune 500 companies. this is a city that defies expectation. >> it does. minneapolis is known for its snowy reputation. the economy here is red hot. >> straddling both banks, minneapolis has a population of 387,000 and the 48th largest in the u.s. t jobs here pay significantly more. >> in 2012, it was ranked one of the best cities for young adults. five of those are within the city of minneapolis. and of course, target. target is one of the most visible employers. >> the $545 million downtown stadium. and then the downtown target center. and while minneapolis is known as the home of major consumer brands including 3m, general mills and best buy, many others have also made a name for the

microsoft, when was a last day you saw a two or three-day move out of microsoft. bank of america, it was a 7% sell-off and everybody was ringing their hands saying it was over for the banks. it wasn't. then you look at arch coal. take a look at walter, clifford or clf as we call it, cliff -- >> that has been a dog. it has been a dog, right? >> that's why michael santolli and jim cramer were dead balls on when they said you have to buy these stocks. take a look at the moves they have made, outsized moves versus the market. like i say, cliff, in particular, up almost 11%. >> let's bring in our guest right now to find out how long this big cap rally is going to last if you should in fact keep bidding on the big caps. robert sloyer is here. robert, do you see anything from a technical standpoint to lead you to believe this rally is about to be done? >> well, there's a couple points i think you have to look at. first off, when we tracker into immediate indicator that is last one or two quarters in duration, they are over bought territory. the second point, this is the

the expectation was 68 cents for microsoft and they turned 72 cents. revenues, they expected $20.5 billion. they got $20.49 billion. let me ask jon fortt if you've got anymore on that, before we get back to david garrity on this. >> i do, bill. taking a look at the divisions and how they performed the for microsoft, windows, windows live came in at $5.7 billion. that's a little light with a $5.97 that a lot on the street expected. server and tools also slightly light at $5.04 billion. the business division, a little bit light at $6.3 billion versus $6.5 expected. entertainment and devices did better than expected, $2.53 billion versus about a $2.18 consensus, and the online division also a little better than expected at $832 million versus less than $800 expected. so those business, those enterprise dependent groups and tools, the business division, underperforming a little bit, as we've seen several other companies do in this earnings season so far, guys. >> david garrity, what do you think of that? the business division, the biggest provider of reven

and microsoft obviously as well. the movement in microsoft, although we haven't seen microsoft move that way in three or four years. >> and apple, you throw these names together and people's expectations have been lowered to the point where people, to take a flyer, may not be so bad. >> i'd sell microsoft, it was up 6%. i doubt there's a takeover in the offing. so i had to take some money off the table. >> microsoft hasn't been above 200 since last september. >> we'll get more on that in a minute. meantime, top trades for today's session. grasso? >> everyone's looking at the s&p. that's your high from 2007 opinion everyone was eyeballing that. we flirted with it. on the trading level, still long on coal, sold a lot of my positions. i think we're frothy here. if banks are good, the market's good. >> josh? >> i would say that the banks could work here, but i want to get back to the emerging markets point that i made. the under-performance there is such that you almost have to be looking at the sector if you have no exp

i want to move on to microsoft.vable how we continue to watch microsoft with this dramatic move. microsoft does not move like this. there is no way to get a confirmation on this yet. showing a lot of backing. both the what they think about steve ballmer. we will see what they think about splitting up the company. stuart: believe me, nicole, we will be following microsoft. i have to talk more about this housing number. i will call it negative news from housing. 4.92 million existing homes being sold in america at the current pace. that is down from the month before. down .6%. this seems to be a reversal of the previous of trend in housing and it is kind of bad news for the world market. >> you are right, stuart. stuart: a booming market would over six again sales. >> exactly. stuart: anything to add, charles? charles: the price went up significantly. also, the amount of time a house is on the market. that is improving. the big red flag continues to be only 30% of buyers were first-time buyers. stuart: they cannot get

can we flip back to microsoft in the aftermarket?do have news that their chief financial officer, peter klein, who's been in the role for about four years is stepping down. peter klein is stepping down. he will leave the company at the end of the current fiscal year after nearly four years in that role, but 11 years at the company. mark, when you see a management change like that, it does make you wonder what about the stability of the company. that's a big role there. >> well, you're right in some way, and i can't comment about the peter klein situation, but clearly the company and top management sees a need for a change at this time, and it's probably something that's been planned, and it probably is the most appropriate time -- david: mark, forgive me, these things are popping fast and furious here. google numbers are out, and the after market likes it. gld, dennis. >> a nice beat on earnings per share, $11.58 per share, wall street was looking at $10.66, so that's a nice surprise after disappointments with the previous two guys.

microsoft windows topping blackberry.rding to a new report both these companies are they disted to fight for scraps? or can microsoft and its partner really gain significant market share? let's ask the software analyst at james montgomery. what do you say? >> there's two things that need to happen for microsoft to gain any kind of traction in this smartphone market. number one is leverage of strength in the enterprise business, the corporate business. obviously very strong in that. the second thing is they need to leverage the strength in the xbox bit. on the corporate side, microsoft is a standard on the desk stop and laptop environment that we all know. they need to simply leverage that and extend it to the mobile platform, including smartphones and the tab lett market. if they do that, then they can successfully have a much better, on the xbox side, they simply need to do a better job of marketing the other consumer devices available to the xbox community. the xbox is a very successful consilt. 40 million plus live use

right now microsoft has to rethink a lot.y have a stable balance sheet at 3.2% yield, but right now it is on its way down, i agree. >> wow. so the fundamentals and the technicals, right in step. thanks very much to you both. we appreciate and it we'll see you soon. >> thank you. >> okay, maria. >> all right. we've got about 30 minutes to go in the session. the dow still down about 21 points. the s&p, a bit more, about 6.5 points, at least percentage wise. >> have you heard this one? too big to fail is so over, so yesterday. that's what former fdic chairman shelia bair says. she joins us right after this break to back up that claim. >> and billionaire chairman of liberty media, john malone, with some surprising revelations, including how the fed's policies have helped him grow an even bigger company. that exclusive, just ahead. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 gives me tools

>> microsoft, we got lucky because the last couple days were fantastic for microsoft. then the numbers last night, the pc numbers were so bad, and i just thought, you know what, it's going to be a while before that sentiment changes. had a nice run. sayonara. >> we'll get more on those later in the show. your top today? >> we've been surprised the data out of the china is not getting a better response. the loan data was very good. people's bank of china can continue to stimulate. emerging has about another month to go. second half earnings in emerging, we're expecting 10 to 12% growth, not what you're getting out of the s&p. jpmorgan was on the market today, saying buy emerging. we are there all day long. added to some core positions and some materials which to me look oversold. >> your top trade? >> walter investment, a lot of loan processing, a lot of title companies. what does that tell me? it tells me wells fargo and bank of america are going to hit it hard. but this one, it opened at 34 bucks, ran to 38.50. you take a look at other guys in the group. lender proces

broken windows, a long-time bull tears bearish on microsoft. now two of our tradering square off. >>> first, the rally's last gasp. a breakdown of some of the markets key areas this month raising serious questions of just how long this rally can last and whether a correction is getting closer by the day. we've got bulls and bears on the desk for the next hour as we debate where stock goes from here. we are trading all the movers with john and mike murphy and joe terranova. are you still bullish? am. scott, we are going to have a pullback. we pulled back roughly a second. we know et cetera thit's not go forever. you're starting to see some cracks in the army. you're going to start to see some reasons to get bearish. right now the trend is still up. you see the news out of japan. still backstop,ed by the central banks around the globe. so you still want to stay long. going into earnings season you do want to pull back. you want to be a little defensive. you want to get the overall vibe for how earnings are going to come in. right now still looks

facebook ceo mark zuckerberg and paul allen, microsoft's cofounder. we begin with mark zuckerberg and facebook. if you have a facebook account, you've probably reconnected with an old pal, shared photos with your family, and gotten advice from your friends on what to buy and what to read. but facebook has bigger plans. it wants to turn the entire web into one big social network. lesley stahl first talked with mark zuckerberg in 2008, and three years later, we sat down with mark again. he gave us a preview of his site's new profile page, a change that would affect the 500 million people who were then using facebook, an idea that zuckerberg had cooked up in his dorm room at harvard. >> when you first thought about this--19 years old--is this what you had in mind? did you see this far into the future, or is it way beyond what you dreamed? >> well, it's funny. i mean, when i was getting started, you know, with my roommates in college, you never think that you could build this company or anything like that, right? because, i mean--it just--and we were coll

microsoft is an enormous company.'t go that route typically, the huge stake in the huge company. do you think it makes sense from an activist perspective -- granted, for their part, valueact will sit there for potentially years before they do anything along the lines of activism. >> our strategy is not to be activists. we use activism as a tool -- we want to invest in good companies going through positive change. i'm not an expert on microsoft. i don't have an opinion. but a huge percentage of their return is going to come from the value at the company and only a small percentage of the return is going to come from the positive change that they effect. so my guess is when we look back and say was valueact successful microsoft, most of the answer will be, does microsoft get bigger, more profitable, is their competitive position advantaged? if all those things are true, helping to improve governance, fundamentals matter. >> and finally you were a trusted lieutenant of carl icahn for years. what's the one thing you learn

microsoft is trading down. microsoft, moved their price target from 30 bucks a share down to $27 a share. other analysts downgraded microsoft are not going that aggressively to 27 bucks right now? our office pcs are being upgraded right now to windows 7. windows xp the licenses are expiring. a lot of software in the works, microsoft will benefit from that. two, intel launching a ah new chip processor this summer. that will help. microsoft is offering deals to hewlett-packard as well as dell on licensing fees. so that their units can be somewhat more price competitive as we go forward. don't count out microsoft just yet. maybe goldman sachs is a little aggressive. "morningstar" saying 35 bucks a share, microsoft. ashley: very good. adam, thank you very much. you have a laptop. you have a tablet. you have pc. tracy: we have everything. >> she has a typewriter. tracy: i prefer the typewriter. ashley: old-fashioned, hunt and peck. >>> all right, gold rebounding from yesterday's lows on a weaker dollar but prices, w

- you know, i don't own much microsoft anymore. it was the last of the big tech titans that i got out of my portfolios first quarter. but, it had a pretty decent earnings report last week, and of course the news that an activist investor has taken a stake trying to, of course, extract more money. but it does show you that in a sense, the franchise is in a slow decline, and that's when activist investors get into the mix. that said though, the stock, at $31, has done really well, and is up 10% since i sold it actually. - and what about earnings? what's your view there? - earnings this quarter so far are pretty decent. this is the first quarter where earnings are expected to be slightly lower. 72% of companies are beating, but only about half on revenues. and there have been some misses here and there: bank of america, ibm, yesterday caterpillar had a downbeat earnings report, but the stock did bounce off that news. so, i think investors are actually looking forward a little bit past this slower earnings season. and, you know, last w

cheryl: so microsoft should just buy blackberry? >> absolutely. the reason is microsoft is a huge. ballmer has done a great job with tools and servers but the enterprise space they own that big-time that fit squarely in the cross hairs where pri and manages its own. cheryl: you don't worry about pc sales? >> it is the big overhang on the stock and the issue that investors have is we have not seen the bottom. what i like is the resilience of the enterprise revenue stream. there is a huge amount of revenue making investments and a common platform across the pc and notebook so windows eight does have common characteristics but they are slow to get momentum off the gentlemen thank you very much. >> happy to be here. >> we have 40 minutes to go. a settlement with the insider-trading case against sec capital but there is the catch the past to do with the big bank. we will explain that. where are americans moving? we will to raise the top city's people are packing up and moving into. ♪ my mantra? trust your instincts to make the call. to treat my low testosterone, my doctor and i went wit

let me start with microsoft up here.ith its third quarter results and the decline in pc sales, we've been talking a lot about recently, that's going to be evident in this quarter. and it's also been something that's been battering microsoft's stock. this point is also significant, guys, because it will show the first full quarter of those windows 8 sales. let me take a look at what we're looking at in terms of the estimates. the estimates have been coming down. the consensus estimate, though, is standing around an eps of 68 cents on revenue of $20.6 billion. that is versus 60 cents last year on revenue of $70.4 billion. but i want to say with regard to microsoft estimates, they're quite wide. there's a very wide range there. i think from as low as 64 all the way up to 80. and they have about a 55% positive upside surprise, so about half of the time they beat. let's take a look at what is happening with google. just like with yahoo! it is really all about online ad revenue here, particularly ad revenue that is being gener

microsoft? neil: i in tonight's biz blith,a beg bet on microsoft. but first.ne amazon and ebay watching as lawmakers are close s to passing a bill to help states collect sales tax. >> you know it is ironic one area of our economy that is growing great, has you know great innovation, and just really revolutionized things, is one area that government has not touched that is the internet, specifically internet retailing, now they want to get their happeneds into that. it is horrible. the customer is going to get hurt, and damage the small internet retailers, onc once ag, once government starting meddling is goes kaput. neil: you know they all have a advantage that we don't have that our customers may this tax. they don't. and it is an unfair playing field? >> you know here is the bottom line, if a motivated buyer goes on-line to buy something to get a surprise tax, when they press pay. they -- that may cause them to not baez. thebuy, they have heard earned money, they budgeted. the bottom line is this could seriously hurt the economy but also cause people to seco

microsoft? at od, whatever business you're in, that's the business we're in with premium service like one of the best on-time delivery records and a low claims ratio, we do whatever it takes to make your business our business. od. helping the world keep promises. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announce] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. that was the only thing left of the house. the only thing. red cross helped us and they've literally got us back on our feet. huge outpouring of love just going, "people care." we didn't come out of there saying, "wow, we lost everything!" we came out of there hugging each other, glad that we were okay. neil: i in tonight's biz blith,a beg bet on microsoft. but first. issue one am

microsoft is hiring a lot of people.curity company that dug into the 2000 or so job openings to find out what positions microsoft has to offer and where it is spending money. here's what they found. are you willing to locate, relocate abroad? more than 130 jobs in germany, 30, and 39 in israel. 39 jobs. if you are a gamer, you're in luck. more than 50 open positions related to the xbox or streaming video. they want 250 people to work on the search engine, bing. compared to microsoft office. only 66 jobs in that department. by the way, we found no job openings for windows xp. microsoft plans to pull the plug on the 10-year-old operating system this august but makes a note there also aren't any hardware jobs in the windows phone department either. that tidbit leaves us all in the dark about where the company stands on launching their phone. the closing bell ringing in 26 minutes and change. we have a fund manager stockpicking standards are so high, he could only find 29 stocks out of 5000 u.s. publicly traded ones that fit

microsoft spiking higher after david faber reports that valueact will engage the microsoft board overocks, some of the big losers as furloughs begin for air traffic controllers around the country. the furloughs are part of sequestration and blamed for large numbers of flight delays around the united states. >>> road map today, apple trading higher finally. a day before it reports quarterly results. we're going to talk to an analyst who cut his price target on the stock for a second time in less than one week. find out why he's worried. six flags beating the street thanks largely to spring break. the chairman and ceo will join us live. co-owner of the boston celtics joins us for an exclusive interview a week after the marathon bombings. he will tell us how they have impacted him. >>> bmo cutting price targets on apple. this time to 440 based on earnings screen from verizon. firm cut am's price target last wednesday from 460 to 580. keith bachmann joins us this morning on the news line. good morning to you. >> good morning, carl. >> we make a big deal of two times in one week. you're ta

i think the stock continues to weaken. >> do you like microsoft? >> i do.is another one i'm selling puts on. sold them today, not previously. but i think heather has been dead wrong on this stock. she's bean neutral on it since it was 23. went up through 30, heather. i mean, where were you on that? and now she's cutting to a sell at this level. i don't understand. >> yesterday a midday downgrade from gillis over at bgc, as well. so the street has turned after a couple decent days. >> everyone is looking for an excuse to sell things. everybody. >> you look like you're one of them. >> i just want to know part of the entire space. ibm has dominated the space. i think ibm will beat next week. i've added length in the last couple of day, but this is a late cycle story. the pc technology trade is over. i think the smartphone tablet trade is coming to an end. it's about enterprise software, about cyber security. i bought splk. that's where the ball is going. palo alto. even a name like maximus which doesn't trade much volume, but all you hear about is the advantag

in the meantime, microsoft has a new b-box next month.f microsoft were to buy it and integrate it more fully into the device, i think it would be electric to transform the microsoft portion people like so much, the entertainment device business into a much larger piece of pie. reduce windows' reliance. two things about the criticism of my thinking here, which is occurring with no res nant at jim cramer on twitter t. first thing is people think i have no right to say this thing without knowing it's happening. why is that? what's the big issue here, i don't work for goldman sachs? the second criticism is that i say buying netflix would help their stock also. it's almost as if people are saying that doesn't matter. what matters is the deal will be good for business. to which i say, come on, give me a little credit here. the only reason i'm saying it would be good for stocks is it will be good for business. apple needs something omg, they don't have it, at least in 2013. microsoft needs to minimize it's reliance on windows. netflix can give i

wouldn't cost a lot for microsoft.now if you could see the production costs for a hit like house of cards in microsoft's bottom line. let's not forget, you buy netflix, it's a two for one, buy one, get one. you get visionary ceo reed hastings, too. he might be worth billions of dollars in vision alone, if you can lock him up. of course this is all hypothetical. nobody's expressed one iota of interest in buying netflix. but if microsoft wants its groove back, if it ever had one, make the bid happen for netflix instantly. stick with cramer. >>> all right. i'm not talking enough about north korea, and one of the reasons is because that regimes is nuts and it's very hard to gauge. but i am actually focused on it every minute. why? because when they're that crazy, you ju

microsoft first. a lot of concern around weakness and personal computer sales ahead of its earning report, but the numbers are out, and it beat the street by 4 cents on its bottom line. ceo steve baumer said the bold bets wmade on cloud seices are payingoff. they also announced o.eter klein will b leaving the f the year. it wil name its new cfo in the next several weeks. let's also look at google. shes arep after hou. thenternet giant reporting an eps of $11.58 versus a street estimate of $10.66. however, its quarterly revenue of $13.97 billion came in slightly shy of the $14.09 billion expected by the street. and lastly, big blue ibm, the diversified tech player that is many times seen as a good barometer of what to expect from the broader technology space missed street expectations on its top and bottom line due to a decline in hardware and services sales. its first quarter eps came in at $3 a share versus a $3.05 estimate. the investment group says looking back over the last ten years, ibm's one-da

microsoft is up a full 4% on the trading session. which brings us to bob and kenney, a cnbc contributor. let's talk the big caps. i'll turn to you first. cat has been the canary in the coal mine in terms of global demand. what concerns me about the camera port is it's really a global bellwether. certainly the big defensive type, we have seen it. the big dividend are where people want exposure. >> and you wrote about this this morning. >> these are the guys who make all the stuff behind the walls. the heating and air-conditioning and the bolts. general electric being one of them. tomorrow we're going to get united technologies as well. another company company down tomorrow. we will get that worries me. ibm is the stock market today. that cracking on friday got a lot of people very alarmed. >> it's a bellwether perhaps. >> sue, apple has moved higher today. and it is currently trade iing stock is, of course, of 705 a share. >> tiler, that's a pretty staggering job. they were looking at 42.5 billion $s in revenue. and apple sold almost

where are you on microsoft? >> i think he meant to say you cannot ignore microsoft if you want to be entertained. so that's probably what the complete quote would look like. but, no, i'm -- you know, i think microsoft is going through a very, very interesting time. they have a sort of very profound sort of very significant force of all of the changing devices and is all of the changing services and applications that people want to be able to use inside and outside their business. and microsoft is in a very difficult, you know, period where they don't exactly now how to respond to all of that change that is happening so quickly. they're used to a world where we bought all of our devices and we bought most of our applications that came from microsoft. that world has changed dramatically. if you look at microsoft over any long period of time, a decade or so, they end up investing in the right areas over the long run and they end up usually being successful over the long run. that doesn't necessarily mean they will

wouldn't cost a lot for microsoft.w if you could see the production costs for a hit like house of cards in microsoft's bottom line. let's not forget, you buy netflix, a two for one, buy one, get one. you get visionary ceo reed hastings, too. he might be worth billions of dollars in vision alone. lock him up. of course this is all hypothetical. nobody's expressed interest in buying netflix. but if microsoft wants its groove back, if it ever had one, make the bid happen for net nix instantly. stick with cramer. >> tonight, general wesley clark on the continued escalation with north korea, the president's push to get banks to lend money for homes, people with weaker credit, and with more background checks really help solve the problem of gun crime? all coming up on "kudlow" tonight. companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of

microsoft, google, ibm. stay tuned.for you. ♪ we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and at's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ hey everybody, hi mom... streaming live with a tour of my new place... knowing you can still reach out. ... and now you've seen it. that's powerful. verizon. get mom a lucid 2 by lg for free. ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the oions floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all onhinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ liz: we are going straight to nicole petallides. she's at the new york stock exchange, we got some biotech

guy, seems like a good quarter for microsoft.ins in the afterhours session, which the stock has been able to hold. but it's been a range-bound stock for a decade. >> karen had a great sell the other day. exactly that, the quarter's fine. revenue miss. you can dice it up any way you want. relief rally off the oversold condition. i just don't think this stock is mired between which is now the top end of the range here and 26 1/2, 27. >> i think there's a negativity exhaustion, everybody knows about the windows 8 supposed failure. i think a lot of that is priced in. there's a lot of hidden gems including xbox -- >> sounds like a street fight here. an informal street fight. >> maybe stotomorrow. >> #bull here for hash tag. market stalling after roaring to record highs, which sector should you be betting on? let's ask today's fast adviser, cnbc contributor michael farr of farr, miller & washington. great to speak with you. >> great to be here and go microsoft. i own that stock, i've been sitting on it forever. come on, we've got to ge

the so called facebook ruling will not benefit microsoft.i think it is important for the industry because it encourages companies to do what i think the professor, in fact, has said is a good thing. don't count that against the h-1b numbers. i can tell you, we apply for a green card for every single person it comes to us. we do that, initiate the process in the first 30 days of employment. i don't know what facebook does, but i bet it is about the same. i do think it is appropriate to recognize. i think by and large it is important to find rules that work well across the board. >> if we could follow up on that had been to your second point. on the original proposal we increased $1,000. that generated 3-5000000000 for virginia's first in education in the country. it was very important. the gang of eight increases them on green cards, but not h-1b. is that right? >> that's right. i personally would prefer what was in there. i think you could double the fee on an h-1b. it would raise from $2,350 to 4700. it lasts for three years which would rep

but he's not so happy by somebody within microsoft.he company that's making his beloved xbox is causing him to do this. this is my xbox and this is my ax. yeah. we are watching a murder here. francis murdersing his ex box with his ax. even weeping while he's doing this. >> what happened? why is he axing his xbox? >> he's upset with the microsoft studios creative director. baer apparently there's going to be a new iteration of the xbox where it will always be online. here is the beef. microsoft's creative producer started defending all these online drm devices saying most devices require you to be online today.? really, adam? you're one of the followers. hey, man, what if my internet connection goes down, then i can't play xbox? i kid you non the the what if the electricity goes off? then you wouldn't be able to use your vacuum cleaner. this is how you talk to an xbox customer? are you [ bleep ] kidding me? [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> you can tell he's a teensy bit upset about this. i hope he didn't regret his decision. i think

not stored at microsoft. so because microsoft owns skype now.instant message over skype you would have it there, i would have it there but would not be a record on a server somewhere at microsoft that you could subpoena. melissa: what else is safe besides skype? everybody feels text messaging is safer than elting is that true. >> in a sense it is because the phone companies that provide services don't keep that very, very long. after 30 days, it is pretty much overwritten because it is storage issue for them and management issue. so you can do that. but you know what? here's a clue for the u.s. postal service. i would go out with marketing campaign that says avoid the irs send mail. melissa: that's true. >> i mean, we can solve part of the problem. pick up the phone too. you know. we have forgotten, what is happened here, melissa, we have forgotten how to communicate. everything is digital. sometimes you want to pick up a phone and have a conversation and write somebody a nice note. those requires title 3 intercept other than electronic communic

i know you like microsoft. you still like it? >> absolutely. like i said, after that move, after we broke through 31 to the upside, i sold the calls into it to turn it into a double digit covered right, if you will. in other words, taking that yield, which with the dividend is what, 3%, you knock those covered rights in there and turn it into easy double digits. disney, coach, you can look around. there's still pretty good money flowing into many of these stocks, guys. >> josh lipton's watching the market as he always does for us u. what do you see now? >> check out jc penney, which is moving higher. 47% short interest. now, up some 26% since that low on april 10th of 13.55. jcp confirming today what david faber reported on friday, that the retailer had lined up a $1.75 billion loan arranged by goldman sachs. jcp up about 1.2% right now. back to you. >> it's worth noting look at the chart here that much of the move based on the news happened friday. right after david reported that with just about one hour to go. in fact, i can now support accor