so talk to me about the advisability of borrowing to do what mr. icahn says. and if what mr. icahn is as simple as what peter describes, it does seem pretty simple, why doesn't every company do it? >> i think more and more companies are going to do it, tyler. i think we're in this part of what qe does, it allows companies to finance at incredibly distorted levels. and what's happening, i think you're going to see over -- certainly over the next period of weeks and months is that companies -- especially at the front end of the curve pretty darn close to zero after tax. more and more companies unquestionably will take advantage of it. >> let's move on to the broader market, rick. we've got a big rally in stocks right here. what's your recommendation in terms of fixed income? for the longest time we've been hearing stay away with rates at these levels. >> the thing that's pretty amazing at this conference, all people want to talk about is the equity market. people have a strong feeling about the equity market. what do i do with fixed income allocation. you're seeing a big movemen

i think they should probably say mr. icahnld be happy with your investment here and we're taking your opinions, but -- >> i don't think earnings gives him cover at all. that's not the issue. >> i agree. >> carl isn't criticizing the management of this company in terms of earnings. >> he loves tim cook. >> what he's upset about is the management of their balance sheet and what they're doing with the excess cash. if they blow out earnings, they're only generating more cash and more should be returned to shareholders. carl is absolutely right, think about how accretive the buy-back he's talking about would be. we are talking plenty cash flow. $60 a share on $150 billion buy-back on earnings based on the next 12 months of earnings. based on the next 12 months of earnings. i do think carl is probably spot-on in this one. >> not only would it be accretive. it may actually help mr. icahn's position in the stock. >> and every other shareholder. >> i don't think he's worried about every other shareholder but he's worried about his posi

i think they should say, mr. icahnappy with your investment, we're taking your opinions. but -- >> i don't know. i don't think that earnings gives him any cover at all. that's not the issue. karl isn't criticizing management of the company in terms of earnings. >> he loves tim cook. >> what he is upset about is the management of the balance sheet and what they are doing with excess cash. if they burn out earnings they are generating more cash, more should be returned to shareholders, karl is right. think about how creative the bye back would be. we are talking 60 bucks a share, on $150 billion buy back based on 12 month earnings, i think karl is probably spot on on this one. >> it might actually help mr. icahn's position in the stock. >> and every other they're holder. >> i don't think he's worried about every shareholder. i think he's worried about his position. people have been talking about apple and this cash that they have for months and months and years. and the company is not giving it back. that's just not what

mr. icahn bought a total of 4, 291, 000. which led mr. icahn to tweet yesterday, quote, sold block of netflix today. wish to thank reed hastings, ted sa ran dose, netflix team and kevin spacey. mr. icahn still holds about half the shares he bought but the up withes he sold netted him $825 million. certainly not bad and perhaps one of the best trades ever, ty. >> all right. sue, thank you very much. dominic chu, he used to be a trader before he came to his cepses and came over to this side of the business. dom, what have you learned over the years about when it is time to get out of a stock you own? >> you know, it's interesting, you talk about all these different dynamics in the marketplace. if you have the big run that you've had in netflix and see carl icahn taking some profits, take a look at some of the other names we look at as traders that are star performers. the question becomes do these stocks have the ruoom to run further or time to pocket some of the winnings. depends on your risk to

over $20 billion now for mr. icahn. i don't know. a very curious tweet. carl icahn will be on cnbc at noon. coming up next, red sox chairman and tv legislaend tom werner wie with us live. r start and end price. and let it do its thing. wow, more fan mail. my uncle wanted to say thanks for idea hub. he loves how he can click on it and get specific actionable trade ideas with their probabilities throughout the day. [ male announcer ] open an account and get a $150 amazon.com gift card. call 1-888-280-0149 now. optionsxpress by charles schwab. ♪ [ male announcer ] united is rolling out global, satellite-fed wi-fi to connect you even 35,000 feet over the ocean. ♪ that's...wifi friendly. ♪ >>> the boston red sox will try to take a commanding two games to nothing lead in the world series tonight after a dominating victory over the st. louis cardinals in game one. the red sox have had quite the turn around. just last year they had their first losing season in more than a decade. joining us this morning, tom werner is the chairman of the bost

i thought that mr. icahn would sell a lot sooner than this. i don't know what he saw at $60 that you know didn't look like a bargain to him to sell at $200, but he stuck it out the other direction. and i think this is just an indication that the stock has had a run. it's had its run. i don't think that this is an indictment of netflix or that icahn wants to believe in the company. and i think icahn is doing what a prudent investor is going to do in taking a profit. i don't think an indictment of the company. >> he said that the stock may have had its run. do you think that this is sort of the last straw when it comes to believing in this momentum name? there are plenty of investors out there who rode this train for so long. today we had josh at the fast money desk outlining a bearish technical take on the stock. >> i mean sooner or later, cash flow is going to catch up to netflix. and if you look at their net income the last five quarters page one of their investor letter, it's positive you know $85 million or so. $81 million. if you look at f

. >> mr. icahn wants to buy apple for $150 billion? that is choking up jim over here. >> right now?the company sells for $450 billion. obviously everything is related to the size of the situation. and in this case they certainly could do it. >> stop go stop go. not very good we think there has to be some kind of resolution. something like. >> find out if anyone on this desk was interested at buying at that spris. more fast straight ahead. americans take care of business. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future. your retirement. ♪ ♪ ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. ameriprise financial. more within reach. >> welcome back to fast. twitter gave a range. the company intends to sell 70 million shares. is twitter worth it? should you buy it? he joins us on the fast line. sam, great to see you. great to hear from you. what do you think of the pricing her

just wrapped up quite the feisty interview with carl icahn on apple and herbalife, two companies mr. icahn invested in. what did the billionaire investor have to say that gives you a window into what he's going to do next? charlie got it out of him unlike other business reporters. ♪ ♪ if you've got copd like me, hey breathing's hard. know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my obstructed airways for a full 24 hours. spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reve

maybe that would appease mr. icahn. apple has enough cash to do buyback, 150 seems high. always -- david: that was icahn's first offer. you start with the biggest thing you want and whittle it down after compromise. >> exactly. that 60 billion is still relatively conservative. they have 100 billion overseas. if they took out off billion to do the buyback, if they ever get overseas back to the u.s. they could pay off the debt tomorrow. still a relatively conservative authorization. liz: we'll get mark's thoughts on the laptop part of the business. he is with "laptop" magazine. dennis, you have more. >> couple points why isn't the stock going up on what seems to be a nice little beat. in the current quarter apple giving revenue outlook of 55 to 58 billion. it might not be aggressive enough because wall street was looking for 55.7. might want to see a bigger upgrade. on gross margins, understand the gross margins this quarter just reported came in at 3%. apple said they could go down to 36.5 next quarter. year ago quarter, right now the margins were 40%. year before that, ma

mr. icahn's looking at, it's unbelievable business. it's spinning off tons of cash, they're dominating their space. and there's the thing about apple that most people recognize, it's still the coolest. yes, samsung's come up with product but was apple's the coolest. if they innovate in the different product categories it could be a home run stock for '14. >> a quick stock, everybody, on the ecosystem. >> buy apple. if you like apple, buy apple. as far as trading into earnings, last 28 quarters it's beat 56% of the time. average gain on a beat is 4%. average loss for the stock on a miss is negative 4%. >> armh, buy that. >> qualcomm, doing great. finally going through 17 and stay there. >> next, tony james selling blackstone stock this year. should you be buying what he's selling or a sign to get out? investors worried about correction in the u.s., seeking profit elsewhere. unknowingly making bets with too much risk? with fidelity's options platform, we've completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters

mr. icahn wants more than that. they returned 7.8 billion to shareholders in q4.prior quarter. back to you. >> thank you. apple reporting fourth quarter earnings moments ago. we have analyst reaction. we want to shift our attention to a pair of guests with skin in the game. we join scott gerber, owning apple shares, and david pearl, his firm owns about 1.25 million shares of apple and some personally as well. and back with us, alex gauna from jmp securities. good to see you guys. what is your take on the numbers? i guess, let's start with the shareholders. ross, the stock is down here in the extended hours. what's your reaction to the earnings report? >> i thought the earnings report was pretty good. i'm very pleased with it. they're selling a good amount of iphones and ipads and computers, which is what i was really looking at because that's been declining over the last year. but what's there to complain about? it's the best company in the world if you add it all up, in my mind. granted, i own this stock. i'm very pleased with the report so far. >> david, the gui

and so does mr. icahn and i assume many others will follow. >> and will, we haven't forgotten about you, buddy. we'll get to the apple fundamentals in just a second. thanks for your patience. enjoy the dialogue. david, you've been at cnbc 20er yoos. >> fu f years. >> thank you for reminding me. >> you started when you were 8. you remember the day when a ceo would say david, we're going to beat earnings expectations. regulation fd put a clampdown on that for the benefit of investors 37 thatinvestor s. that's what it did. >> we were under reg fd. you were allowed to do that. reg fd stopped you from doing that after a meeting and saying to a number of money managers, we're going to beat the quarter. >> technically, but you also know -- but it stopped. i mean, ceos during the middle of the day, they're not saying this stuff anymore. press releases are before market or aftermarket, it changed the way we communicate. i hear your technical point. i'm just wondering if april, though, the s.e.c. with netflix basica

i did say something about time and i said mr. icahn and myself and all of us, you too, you and mandy, should spend more time helping others as opposed to necessarily writing checks. now that you bring it up, my wife sue and i have our own andrew carnegie pledge. not the buffet pledge but andrew carnegie pledge, to give all of our money away before we died. carnegie says a wealthy person dies disgraced if they go to their maker with one penny. sue and i are on our way. that's the money part, hopefully not the dying part. >> good charity work. bill, i'm glad to see the government shutedown end because people can see your stamp collection in d.c. that was the biggest downside of the shutdown personally. >> thank you. >> thank you. the dow is if now officially down by triple digits. the fed can't win, do as expected, markets sell off. >> bill might have moved the stocks down when he said there's every asset class looks bubbly. >> and also ahead we'll get another check on what gold is doing as we said down post fed decision. >> and tonight

give me your take on what's going on with mr. icahn and basically whether or not you agree with his thesis. >> no, look. it's great. we own it. enhancing shareholder value i'm all for. and i don't think he would disagree with what i would say, which is but be wary of the long term which is it's a consumer products company. you know, wall street is littered with companies that were technologies angels and they fell. >> right. >> consumer innovation passed them by, and they raised their dividend, issued special dividends, bought back stock, and their stocks haven't done well. it's all about innovation. as a shareholder, i want them to focus on the next products. that's the most important. >> are they doing enough for you? >> well, your previous guest pointed out, look, the 5s has done better than expected, and estimates have risen. that's why the stock is up. the stock is up because their next product generation has done better than we thought. >> okay. >> and that's the most important thing here. >> let's broaden it out to the overall m

it appears there will be a continued dialogue between mr. icahn and mr.buyback. last april apple talked about returning $100 billion to shareholder, $60 billion through a buyback and the rest through dividends. but $150 billion, well that, would be well above the current buyback, not that apple could not afford to do it, this is a company that even by lowe low estimates will generate 50 billion or more and that's a low estimate. we will see if other lenders will lend a voice to this. carl icahn perhaps more tenacious, taken more seriously and being taken quite seriously by apple management. >> if i risk doing a little back of the envelope math here, give people a sense of why this is huge a huge number. $150 billion, we're talking in the range of 300 million shares. they've only got about 900 million share outstanding. you're uk abotalking about a ren of a third and that's massive. and it's extremely fluid. >> the shares of apple are up about 1.3%. they could do it. whether they choose to or not, of course, listen, there's got to be some concern in the ap

do you agree with mr. icahn? >> i think there needs to be. i think we'll see that.for a long-term investor is what's next for apple? if we look at the smartphone category, if we look at the tablet category, they're going to become more mature, they're already doing that, it's harder to innovate. when you get to mass adoption and technology cycles, you're going to come down and see margins under pressure. we're looking morality quarter to quarter. if we get to 600, we're going to have to take a real hard look at that weighting in our portfolio. you used to have a couple quarters where you release a phone, great thing. now you have a quarter or two to see what samsung comes out. competition is increasing. we're somewhat skeptical of technology on your wrist. sounds great, commercials for samsung are great but i think that's pretty much where it stops. i don't think that's the next category killer. the tv, we'll look at that. we don't expect the operating margins that the phones have and the tablets. it's going to become tougher. the old days of seeing the big advances

mr. carl icahn. >> thanks for that again.t this hour, and guy it's worth noting it' below the level. >> this has been on a roller coaster. i still think at 5.25, can it trade down to 500? probably. given what we have heard is no man's land. you can see either side. >> 505 is -- that's a level the stock could not get through. i think it's through it but i think you watch that level and if it breaks it you are cautious but until it does this stock is trading as expected. >> let's get to today's buzz kill, facebook. it also comes as the upcoming twitter ipo grabs some more headlines. at this point, pete, do you think that is a buying opportunity? >> i do. i have liked this name for a long time. i have seen the activity has been absolutely off the charts. it is almost giving a little bit of apple type reaction over there where the run has been oextreme that it's not necessarily obviously because of the earnings. you look at the way it's pulled back. i continue to look at the november call buying. i tend to still be very bullish a

. >> mr. icahn, how are you?, hi, charlie, pretty good. >> tell me, you think i was a little too harsh in my assessment, particularly of my assessment calling for a $150 billion buyback? i think apple management may know what to do with the money better than you, but i want you to know i do admire your career. and by the way, an amazing record this year. >> well, i appreciate you saying that. and, you know, i'm not at all upset. you have a right to say what you want, and that's fine. but i, obviously, disagree with you. where do you want me to start? >> go ahead. the floor's yours, you know? i think we need to be fair and balanced, and i'm just going to let you tell me where i've gone wrong, and we'll go on to the next question. >> yeah, sure. the way i look at it is that we have a real problem in this country. i mean, you can say what you want about me, but the problem in this country is that our companies really don't produce enough because they're badly managed for the most part. many good managed. but there's

so with great respect for you, mr. icahnr that objective fact. >> he doesn't have a controlling entrance. he's a significant voice. but you do have regulation issues. you can tell him only what you tell everybody else. and this is a growth story here. he's got a lot to show for it. so to siphon cash off on a short-term basis, and meanwhile, that $150 billion, two-thirds of it is overseas. you'd lose more than $30 billion in taxes to try to repatriate that the way he's talking about it. that'd be crazy. you look at a tech company like blackberry or nokia or motorola, and motorola company is another company he's destroyed, is these are places that you need a cash reserve, that's a volatile business. >> right. understand. let's give rose beth a chance here. >> first of all, i think cook is doing an exemplary job. he has made the transition from the jobs era without a lot of drama, no histrionics, steady as a leader. he has a stream of product enhancements. they are positioned, they keep moving. they keep moving. waiting, we sho

. >> as for the other news involving mr. icahn this week, well, it was apple.d think a little bit about his request for a $150 billion buyback and borrowing of a similar amount, it is a staggering ask one would have to at least surmise here. i mean, take a look at all of the investment grade issuance that's been done of any size over the last, i don't know, many years. if you add up the nine largest bond issuances by investment grade companies, the nine largest, and that's including the one that just took place at verizon, you still don't get to $150 billion. i mean, i know the bond market is over for business but that would be -- size is not even -- it's hard to contemplate something of that action, not to mention going into the market where you're successful in raising that amount of money in one fell swoop or short amount of time and trying to execute a buyback of that type. the stock might run on you. the largest there ever done, microsoft's at $20 billion. so we're going to see dialog dialogue -- the size of his ask here is stratospheric. >> i wonder what'