Meta's Much Needed Moment 12/4/25

Summary

CNBC Halftime Report Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Meta’s Much Needed Moment
Date: December 4, 2025
Host: Scott Wapner
Panelists: Joe Terranova, Stephanie Link, Carrie Firestone, Malcolm Etheridge

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Episode Overview

This episode of CNBC’s Halftime Report zeroes in on the day’s market headlines, placing Meta’s share price surge and strategy shift at center stage. The panel discusses Meta’s pivot away from heavy Metaverse spending, the implications of hiring Apple’s respected UI lead, and broader investment themes—from Apple’s AI relevance, Walmart's AI-powered ascent, and shifts in the tech and retail landscape, to critical updates on stocks like Oracle, Snowflake, Salesforce, and homebuilders.

The conversation is lively and debate-filled, as the panel weighs in with both bullish and skeptical takes. Several notable stock moves and sector trends are dissected, with actionable insights for listeners navigating the final stretch of the trading year.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meta’s Share Surge and Strategic Shift

• Context: Meta’s stock jumps on reports of deep cost cuts in its Metaverse division (Reality Labs), potentially reducing spending by 30% and pivoting more aggressively into AI and data centers.

• Panel Perspectives:

  • Joe Terranova: Applauds Meta’s financial discipline, notes CapEx cuts could add $8 billion to their balance sheet, highlights strong ad and video engagement metrics, and remains bullish.
    Quote: "If you do see 30% cost cuts in Reality Labs, that's another 8 billion for them on the balance sheet. Look, he is going from hardware to AI and data center. That's very, very clear." (02:09)
  • Stephanie Link: Cautions that Meta had run “a bit ahead of itself.” Likes the upside as Meta tightens financial discipline, but stresses the need for measured capital allocation.
    Quote: “If they just have some discipline so they don’t take all the free cash flow and dump it into chips and data center, then that’s what the market wants.” (04:34)

• Memorable Moment: The “devilish” price of $666 for Meta is repeatedly joked about, referencing historical market lows and the potential for future upside.

  Quote:

  • Scott Wapner: “52-week high on the stock is 796. It’s at 666 as we showed—what needs to get this stock back to where you want it to go?” (04:02)

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2. Meta Hires Apple’s UI Lead – Is This a New Device War?

• News: Meta poaches Apple’s long-time Head of User Interface, Alan Dye, to lead a new creative studio in Reality Labs focused on AI glasses.
• Implications: The panel sees this as a tangible sign of Meta’s pivot from speculative Metaverse ambitions toward competitive consumer hardware, especially wearables and AI devices.
  • Malcolm Etheridge: Sees detaching from Apple's “toll” on the App Store as critical for Meta’s margins; believes owning the device layer could redefine the business. Quote: “If they can put you on their own proprietary device...that’s where the opportunity really is for them to improve their margin.” (08:04)
  • Joe Terranova: “I think you have a pivot. I think Zuckerberg is incredibly competitive. I think in 2021, when he introduced Reality Labs, it probably didn’t go as planned...the consumer hardware possibility exists for this company.” (06:28)

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3. Apple: Has the Growth Gone Too Far? Is the AI Story Priced In?

• Stock Moves: Apple has rallied nearly 40% in six months, outperforming many tech peers, while retail investors rotate out of Apple into other Magnificent Seven names.

• Debate: Is Apple’s growth justified? Is the “AI story” already priced in?

  • Stephanie Link: “So it’s a little ahead of itself. Probably not much ahead of itself. And it can take a rest.” (11:37)
  • Malcolm Etheridge: “I just think there’s no AI story right now for Apple. Like we keep asking, is it baked into the story? There is not.” (15:35)
  • Scott Wapner: “You better at this point of the story, you better get AI right now. The stock has run up anticipating that you’re going to get it right.” (12:15)

• Quote Dispute: Scott, Joe, and Malcolm volley humorously about whether past guests said Apple’s AI bet is “in the stock already.”

  • Scott Wapner: “You think I’m making that up?” (14:20)
  • Malcolm Etheridge: “I don’t think it’s in the stock. I’m answering your question directly.” (14:40)

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4. Walmart’s AI-Driven Ascent

• Stock Milestone: Walmart eclipses $900 billion market cap, credited to its aggressive investment and integration of AI across operations, supply chain, and customer experience.

• Panel Take: Walmart’s AI partnership with OpenAI, focus on data-driven experiences, and web interface innovation set it apart from retail rivals like Costco and Target.

  • Stephanie Link: “If you figure out how to use AI on your website, which Walmart has done incredibly well...it remembers what I looked at before and it helps you get places.” (19:54)

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5. Oracle, Snowflake, and Salesforce—Sector Snapshots

• Oracle (CDS Worries, Data Center Debt):
  • Malcolm Etheridge: “About a third of [this year's data center debt] belongs to Oracle specifically...tough story to get excited about.” (21:19)
• Snowflake (Mixed Results):
  • Stephanie Link: “If you have the revenue growth...but you have disappointing margins, you don’t get the operating leverage like we thought...I just think that this is a blip.” (22:31)
• Salesforce (AI Uptake):
  • Malcolm Etheridge: “There’s a lot of reporting...about the slow uptake from enterprise clients to buy these AI tools...that’s what's really weighing on the stock.” (24:53)

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6. Market Rotations and “The Return of the Trend-Followers”

• Joe Terranova: Explains his shift into biotech (XBI) amid stronger flows into real economy sectors, financials, and out of the beaten-down tech names.
  Quote: “I think what’s happened over the last 48 hours... you’re seeing the return of a lot of systematic trend-following algorithms back into the market.” (29:56)

• Financials: Re-building JPMorgan positions; bullish on “Fin5” into year-end due to healthy relative performance and an improving yield curve.

  • Stephanie Link: “I think the momentum is there and...strong relative outperformance.” (31:22)

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7. Listener Stock Moves and Final Trades

• Panelists share recent buys:

  • Joe: XBI, JPMorgan, EQT, Apache
  • Malcolm: CrowdStrike, Netskope
  • Stephanie: Sold some HealthEquity

• Final Trades:

  • Carrie: American Express—cites holiday retail strength and attractive valuation
  • Malcolm: Rocket Mortgage—anticipating impact of pending rate cuts on homebuilder sector
  • Joe: Parker Hannifin—currently his only energy-related position

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Joe Terranova, on Meta:

  “The Reality Labs was going to burn 19 billion this year and 24 billion next year. So if you do see 30% cost cuts, that's another 8 billion for them...” (02:09)

• Malcolm Etheridge, on Meta's next hardware move:

  “If they can put you on their own proprietary device or a less expensive way to get you access to their key apps, that’s where the opportunity is.” (08:04)

• Stephanie Link, on Walmart’s user experience:

  “I'm not a big Walmart shopper but I do use the website and I like it—it's really easy to use and it remembers what I looked at before.” (19:54)

• Joe Terranova, on trend-followers returning:

  “Over the last 48 hours...you're seeing the return of a lot of systematic trend-following algorithms back into the market.” (29:56)

• Scott Wapner, on Apple’s rally:

  “The stock has run up anticipating that you’re going to get [AI] right. You better get it right.” (12:15)

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Important Timestamps & Segments

• Meta’s shift and market reaction: 01:00–05:33
• Meta’s Apple hire and device wars: 05:33–08:50
• Apple’s AI and market story: 09:23–16:21
• Walmart’s AI-driven growth: 16:21–20:32
• Oracle, Snowflake, Salesforce analysis: 20:32–25:37
• Rotations/trend-followers: 29:52–31:00
• Stock moves & trade updates: 31:00–35:09
• Homebuilders & final trades: 43:24–46:25

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Takeaway Themes

• Meta’s discipline is rewarded by the market, but the device pivot may be the bigger long-term driver.
• Apple’s recent run is questioned—AI clarity is a must for future justification.
• AI is transforming retail—Walmart, more than anyone, is benefiting handsomely.
• Investors are rotating, from tech leaders to financials, biotech, and “real economy” sectors.
• Margin and debt concerns are surfacing in enterprise software and cloud (Oracle, Salesforce, Snowflake).
• Final portfolio moves reflect a focus on trend strength, capex discipline, and AI-powered growth.

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This episode delivers robust coverage of the day’s headlines—from Meta’s strategy, device paradigm shifts, and the AI arms race, to retail innovation and sector positioning. The conversation flows naturally, blending analysis with banter and invaluable actionable intelligence for investors.

Transcript

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Carl, thanks so much. Welcome to the Halftime Report. I'm Scott Wobner. Front and center this hour. Meta is a much needed moment. That stock is surging today on reports of a more measured Metaverse effort. We're trading that and today's other big movers with the investment committee. Joining me for the hour today, Joe Terranova, Stephanie Link, Carrie Firestone and Malcolm Etheridge will take you to the markets here. A bit of a mixed picture, Russell. Nas and the S and P are green. The Dow is for all intents and purposes flat. We are talking about this much needed moment, Stephen, for matter, because the stock's having one of its best days in many months on a report that it is planning deep cuts in its Metaverse efforts. So any time Matter talks about getting a little more fit, the stock takes off. That's what's happening today.

[Joe Terranova]

It's exhausting. But this is what Zuckerberg does. They report a quarter, they increase Capex massively. They say next year is going to be even more. The stock four falls and then they find an area and they rejigger things and come up with cost cuts.

[Scott Wapner]

Oh, you better get the stock off this price right now though. You can throw that back up.

No, I'll throw that up.

666.

[Stephanie Link]

You don't show that six.

[Joe Terranova]

Stop that. Anyway, the point being is that that the Reality Labs was going to burn 19 billion this year and 24 billion next year. So if you do see 30% cost cuts in reality labs, that's another 8 billion for them on the balance sheet. Look, he is going from hardware to AI and data center. That's very, very clear. That's why they're raising Capex because they want to be able to continue to grow mid-20s in revenues. @ the same time he's got to keep margins either where they are or expanding and that's why the cost cuts come. So I still think even wherever it is six, six, six, whatever. It's down a lot from when they reported. You know I was buying trading at 18 times forward estimates it's growing 20% in earnings and 26% in re I said and I think margins can stay in the 40% area. So I've been adding and I will continue to buy if this thing actually pulls out. I mean it should be up way more than this in my.

[Scott Wapner]

Opinion. Way.

[Joe Terranova]

More. Yeah.

[Scott Wapner]

Absolutely. 4% not enough. Why more on.

[Joe Terranova]

This? Because it's, it's still down 20% from its.

[Scott Wapner]

Highs. But what, what is so groundbreaking about this announcement.

[Joe Terranova]

Today? Well, they're getting disciplined, right? I mean he's getting a little more disciplined and at the same time all this Capex bend we are seeing monetization. Scott, we talked about how impressions, ad impressions because of I grew 14% in the quarter time spent which is the thing that they are they need. It grew 5%. It grew 40, 30% in videos time.

[Scott Wapner]

Spent. I know but you know the only number that the market cares about right now is how much he's.

[Joe Terranova]

Spending. No but the market cares about.

[Scott Wapner]

Unapologetically so by the.

[Joe Terranova]

Way. No but, but it's leading to growth and monetization. That's my point. On the one hand. On the other hand people got worried about the spend because then what would to margins. Now he's cutting costs and actually you're going to be able to see operating leverage and you know that I love that term. You do and I and well it.

[Scott Wapner]

Works. I'm just, I'm just saying I agree with you know you do carry. So the 52 week high on the stock is 796. It's at 666 as we showed what needs to get this stock back to where you want it to go. He was talking about all this spending on the last call. The market hated it. The stock was underperforming most of the other hyperscalers within this most recent period of time. You could see what the stock is on. Yes, has had, it's had a decent year. Yes. But the rollover is rather pronounced.

[Stephanie Link]

Sure. So the stock was up too much I think got ahead of itself. We in fact had sold some. We sold some better that we talked about here because it was a Real massive overweight for us. So we cut back. Now we have an opportunity, as Jeff said, for people who don't own it, who have watched it go up Eightfold, to say, all right, this is a company that dominates in certain categories. If you look at Instagram and WhatsApp, where they're only now beginning to monetize, Facebook has continued to perform for them. And if they just have as tough said, some discipline so they don't take all the free cash flow and dump it into chips and data center, then that's what the market wants. It is not too expensive in terms of multiple, and I think it has upside left. But when it gets ahead of itself, you know, that's when you have to be careful. By the way, 666 is the point of the low of the market in.

[Scott Wapner]

March. Yes, I know. We all remember that. We all remember that. Okay, so, all right, you're making the analogy there, implying that this thing's got only one way to go from here and that's up into the moon. All right, well, the other big story, obviously, that we've been following as it relates to Meta, is the fact that they have hired away Apple's head of user interface design, Alan Dye. That's a big deal. Okay, enough that Mark Zuckerberg. This is a big deal. Anytime you're going to take somebody of that ilk from Apple and bring them into your fold, it's a big deal. Of which Zuckerberg says, today we are establishing a new creative studio in Reality Labs led by this man who spent nearly 20 years leading design at Apple, new AI glasses. So maybe you have, Joe, a bit of product wars. You have. You're going to have some kind of product wars between Apple and Meta and maybe open AI because of Johnny I've. And all of.

That. What do you think? I think you have a pivot. I think that's what this is. I think Zuckerberg is incredibly competitive. I think he's showing that today. I think in 2021, when he introduced Reality Labs, it probably didn't go as planned. And I think this is an admission of that. I think the consumer hardware possibility exists for this company and I think Steph was right to do what she did in buying it and to want to buy more. Because I think in totality, when you look at the Mag 7, we're going to have this continual rotation between these names based on where the ownership is. And I could tell you that if you think about where ownership is for Metta, it is lower than it was Three and six months ago. The right behavior is happening today. Matter is higher. Where's the capital coming from in the Max 7 the place where the market was excited. Apple Alpha, you know where it's going. It's a one day phenomenon for sure. But that is.

Unfolding. It's not a one day phenomenon. As a matter of fact if you look at JP Morgan's retail radar, retail investors bought this is last week. Okay. In the last week bought in video, bought Tesla, bought Amazon, bought Google bought Microsoft, bought Metta. You know what they sold? The only name out of the group, Apple, Apple was the loan sale. The stock snapped its seven day win streak. So there is a belief it appears among at least that cohort that Metta had sold down too much. You don't own, you don't own.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Meta. I don't but I think we're focusing on the second story you got to is probably the more important one not year of efficiency number two because.

[Scott Wapner]

I think the device wars the device in the guy from Apple and bringing him.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Over. I think so. I think if you think about where Jony I've said the market is going as it relates to AI, the next AI tool is not going to be a device that's in our pocket. It's not going to be the iPhone. It's going to be something else. Maybe it's in wearables, maybe it's not. But for Metta it's important that they figure out how to detach themselves from the Apple app store where they have to pay that toll every single time somebody downloads the app, makes a purchase. So if they can put you on their own proprietary device or a less expensive way to get you access to their, their key apps, that's where the opportunity really is for them to improve their margin. So anything that matter can be doing anybody. They have to steal from anywhere else to help them design the device that we don't mind wearing on our face or our watch or our wrist or anywhere else. I think that's where the true value is long term for this.

[Scott Wapner]

Company. You want to give me some on.

That? No, I think Malcolm spot on with that. And I think ultimately it is going to be something that is a wearable where the consumer can feel something tangible. With all this innovation, I think one of the challenges right now when you hear this from corporations is we're spending the corporations are spending on the AI. How do we really measure what our return is? That's very difficult to do. And I think when you deliver something that's tangible into the hands of the end user, then you have a stronger degree to measure the.

Efficiency. How do we.

[Joe Terranova]

Price? Price per ad is going up 10%. That's monetization on the other parts of their business. Right. So that's really measuring the.

[Scott Wapner]

Oi. Yeah, right. But I'm talking about the universal innovation, not just specific to.

Meta. It's how we feel about Apple here given the news I just told you so retail is buying a lot of everything else they're actually selling Apple relative strength RSI on Wednesday hit 75, its highest level of the year. Over 70. Josh talks about this all the time. Over 70 is considered overbought. Jonathan Krinsky weighs in, says Newton's law, poised for a drop. Have we come in this name too far based on not.

[Stephanie Link]

Much. So Apple plays a role. It's a seesaw. They are not considered the same as the hyperscalers who are spending these hundreds of billions of dollars on chips for data centers. They are considered.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Different. It's the.

[Stephanie Link]

Same. We had this period that now maybe has passed where they got credit for containing themselves in terms of self manufacture, self design chips that weren't as advanced, they weren't out there making all of these circular deals and that carried the stock up.

[Scott Wapner]

15%. Give me a six month on that guys, please. So I can see it as we're talking about it this. Let's put it back up because I asked you the question, okay, it's been a great.

Stock. It's been a great, great stock since.

August. I asked you the question. The stocks had a huge run based on what I said was not much like. So the upgrade cycle. The upgrade cycle is, is finally taking hold in the 17 that the stock is up that much. They're not spending as much as some of the other hyperscalers. So the stock is up that much. Do you feel like that six month move of 39, almost 40% is a justified.

[Stephanie Link]

Move? I think the market tells us what's justified. I think the.

[Scott Wapner]

Market. What do you think that's based on? What is in your mind? What's that? I'm not saying it's not based on anything but I think it's interesting the stock has moved that much when fundamentally you haven't gotten that.

[Stephanie Link]

Much. So it's a little ahead of itself. Probably not much ahead of itself. And it can take a.

[Joe Terranova]

Rest. It was a.

[Scott Wapner]

Massive. Look at.

[Joe Terranova]

That. It was a.

[Scott Wapner]

Massive. That's.

[Joe Terranova]

Right. It's only up 12% on the.

[Stephanie Link]

Year. That's.

[Joe Terranova]

Right. Despite that big move that we've seen.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Since. But I think Kerry said it perfectly. It's the safety trade basically. Right. So we sold out of a lot of the names that had run up Since Liberation Day, April 9, lows in the summer. A lot of the tech names that made up the Mag 7 got sold off. Apple is what you bought as the safety trade because those dollars have to go somewhere now you're up 35 plus percent since then. You have to do something, trim that position and buy the things that have sold.

[Scott Wapner]

Off.

You better at this point of the story, you better get AI right now. Like the stock has run up anticipating that you're going to get it right. You better get it.

Right. Okay, so this all started on August 6th when Tim Cook went to the White House. That is when we began to reverse the skepticism as you identified it, which is accurate, that existed in Apple. That's when I began to take the position that I took. Now I sold out of my personal position last week because I do think we have reached a point where the exuberance has gone a little bit too far. I think the question in front of you with Apple is since August 6th, what has happened? You had the visit with Tim Cook and the president in the Oval Office. You had the rebuilding of.

Positions. So the golden iPad is worth, is worth.

38%. But what it did is what it incentivized. Those that were sitting outside looking in saying we're not going to own the name, they came in once again. And then you add upon that that building of momentum in the stock. The 17 comes out, the uptake looks a lot better. It looks like the recovery in China is taking hold. And I think here you are at 280. It's better than it was. It's better than it was over the previous years. Here you are at 280, better.

Than they were the previous year. So what's their.

Record? So don't go after my giants. So if you, if now you're sitting here at 280 and I think the ultimate question you ask yourself, and I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to this, I, I'm trying to figure out is AI is success in Apple intelligence priced in or not? And I think that's the ultimate.

Answer. How could you, how could you even ask yourself that.

Question? I have asked others that.

Question. I have asked others in the.

Stock, I have asked others that question who have sat on this desk and.

They have said yes it is. You're telling me, who have you asked on this show that said Apple intel their Whole AI strategy is in the.

Stock. There have been individuals. I think Steve might have said that to.

Me. I don't.

Think. I think Jimmy said that to.

Me. No, I don't think.

So. You don't think they said.

That?

No. You think I'm making that.

Up?

Yeah. Really? Come on, that's.

Insulting. I can't imagine. I'm sorry. I can't imagine that somebody on this program said that.

Apple. Jimmy, text me if I didn't.

Ask AI effort, whatever they're going to come up with from AI is in the.

Stock. I asked Jimmy during the commercial break last, last week, do you think Apple Intelligence is in the.

Stock?

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Malcolm? I don't think it's in the stock. I'm answering your question.

[Scott Wapner]

Directly. Thank.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

You. I think that the reason it's run up has a lot more to do with market mechanics than anything else. Right. We talked about, which I just said in August when I said, hey, I'm buying more Apple. And Joe followed me into that trade. I'm kidding. He didn't say that directly, but I saw the opportunity because for one thing it was under owned. Right, we talked about that. Fund managers had to get into it. It's the second largest name in the S&P 500. How could you not own it? And they were afraid of.

[Scott Wapner]

Being. You know it's interesting, according to bank of America growth funds, their largest underweight positions right now, Apple in video, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway. What does that, what does that say if.

Anything? Well, a growth manager is going to look at the revenue growth which has been flat to down over the last several years, years in Apple and that's going to be one of the impediments to owning it for.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Sure.

I just think there's no AI story right now for Apple. Like we keep asking, is it baked into the story? There is.

[Scott Wapner]

No. There.

Is. That's my whole point. There is no AI.

Story. I asked the question, why are.

You arguing I'm going to be in.

This? I said I don't know. I said I don't.

Know. And then I asked the.

[Joe Terranova]

Question. Doesn't even exist at the.

[Stephanie Link]

Company. But there's potential for one. There's.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Potential. I mean they've got the install base, they've got the people who are. Think about it, Jim. The Google phone products have been outperforming everything that Apple can do for the last two years. They've even got commercials out now taking direct shots at iPhone owners. And not enough people are switching to any other device. That tells you how loyal the base is and it tells you how big the opportunity is whenever they finally.

[Scott Wapner]

Deliver. Can we talk about another AI story that no one. I feel not enough people are talking about? Another AI story that not enough people are talking about. Okay. Walmart. Hello. Yeah. Why do I say that? Does that sound ridiculous? The Stock closed above 900 billion in market cap for the first time ever. They have. You can call, you take issue with this statement, whatever you want to do. I feel like they've leaned more heavily into AI than any other retail on the planet. Okay. Supply chain for its super agent. That's a strategy to support various parts, parts of the business. For its partnership with Open Air to help improve their service, it's invested heavily in data centers, robotics, etc. I don't think the stock. Back it out a little bit more, guys, so you can show the run that the stock has had. You own the stock. I don't think you get the move. More than that, please. I don't think you get the move that the stock has had to get to 900 billion in market cap without their, their AI play. People talk about it as we were doing our CFO Council yesterday down in D.C. and Glenn Hutchins was interviewed. Glenn Hutchins and he mentioned Walmart when he was talking about AI companies that have really leaned in and done things.

Right. Yes. And for sure over the last several months those that have paid attention, like you, I have said that Wal Mart is a clear leader in the the usage of AI. In fact they have a relationship with Chat.

GPT. They do. That's what I said. The partnership with Open Air Gentic.

AI, which I have mentioned on the show previously, I know you remember that for sure. Anyway, we bought the stock in October of 2024 at 81. They've captured market share. They've satisfied the desire of the White House which scolded them and said don't you dare pass the tariffs through. They absorb, absorb the cost of the tariffs and they've established themselves really distinctly from Costco, which has been somewhat surprising. I think Costco is behind to your point on the usage. They're there, but they're not there to the degree that I believe Wal Mart is. Now the argument that some people are going to make in full disclosure, I don't look at valuation, that's not my thing. But it is a rich valuation based on historical metrics for both Costco and Walmart. So maybe that's the impediment for future appreciation, but we're certainly going to stay with it based on what we're seeing with the momentum and quality factors.

Maybe you got to pay up. Maybe you got to pay up the stock. The 52 week high in this name is 114.89. It's barely off of that right now. Steph, you want to weigh in on that? I mean I feel like they have differentiated themselves in other ways than, than AI but they've leaned so heavily into it that I just don't think that it's an accident that they've done that. And the stock looks like.

[Joe Terranova]

That. Well, they're doing it. And they're also taking massive share 2 years, 121% from the likes of Target, from the likes of the dollar stores. They're taking share across the board on the retail front and that's because AI is helping them. But the key for Wal Mart and the key for retail in my mind will always be traffic. Can they get people in the stores? And they get, once they get people in the stores, they can then target those people using AI to help sell merchandise. And that's why transactions have been above trend as well. So congratulations to you for owning it. I've always thought it was just way too expensive and I always, you know, I can't compare it to Target anymore. Target's lost their way. But I mean 11 times for Target, 35 times for Walmart, I just can't get.

[Stephanie Link]

There.

Yeah, one point I would make on Walmart and I'm glad, although sorry for Target. If you figure out how to use AI on your website which, which Walmart has done, has done incredibly well and I'm not a big Walmart shopper but I do use the website and I like, it's really easy to use and it remembers what I looked at before and it helps you get places in a way.

[Joe Terranova]

That'S. And Walmart plus was all part of.

[Stephanie Link]

That. It's really, you know, look for beach towels. I mean it's incredible what they help you.

[Scott Wapner]

With. Okay, let's talk about some other names that are coming that are really important next week. Oracle. I bring it up today because we've been talking a lot about the cds. Okay, we're going to stay on this theme because there's so many stories on it today that we have, we have no choice. Their CDS hit a 16 year high yesterday. Stock was reiterated by today at TD cow and 400 bucks is the price target ahead of next week. The Target did get cut to 375 from 415 at Citi. They still maintain their buy. They say concerns around the debt health are overstated. Nonetheless, the CDS continues to move up and to the right. Malcolm's temperature keeps moving up and to the right every time he looks at this stock and the.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Cds. Malcolm. Yeah, this is one that's just really tough to tell anybody to buy additional shares of at this point. Like the story today is Morgan Stanley looking to offload some of its data center related debt. I have to imagine they're not the only ones. I have to imagine a lot of the larger banks as well as the BDC and whoever else has created these special purpose vehicles like they're all trying to find ways to move this hot potato to someone else. And that doesn't say a lot of good for Oracle. Right? If we think about all the spending, all the borrowing to build that has happened so far this year, about a third of that debt belongs to Oracle specifically. And it's also tied to their $300 billion commitment from OpenAI, which a lot of people in the market obviously have questions about now. So it's a tough story to get excited about. I own shares, I will hold them for now to see what happens but it's tough to recommend.

[Scott Wapner]

It. Let's throw up Snowflake please. Because they reported and the stock is lower. It's been a, it's been a market darling. There's no, no question about that step. You know that as well as anybody. The stock's an incredible move up out the of than 50%. It's down 11 though. What's this all.

[Joe Terranova]

About? It's all about guidance because they guided for the next quarter to be 7 operating margin guidance for 7% and for 26, 9%. So what did we talk about earlier? If you have the revenue growth which this company does, they just grew total product revenue growth of 29% but you have disappointing margins. You don't get the operating leverage like we thought. Consumption trends are very volatile though. And so if people are going to start to pick at the top line, the product revenue growth of 29% being down from 32% sequentially, I think that's a dangerous move. I'm more concerned about the margin story but I just think that this is a blip. I think they have a chance very much so over the long term to get to 15% operating margins. So I am going to be adding, I actually trimmed a little bit a couple of weeks ago just because it had such a nice.

[Scott Wapner]

Run. You don't think it's gotten a little ahead of itself.

[Joe Terranova]

Though? No, I don't. No, I don't their RPOs are up 37%, their net retention up 125%, customer base of 20%. These are huge, huge numbers, Scott. So it's done a lot of what I thought it would do, but I still think that there's more to go. I think you're in the early innings and I just think that this is a, I think this is a silly overreaction. I do think it's going to recover, especially because the growth is there, the momentum is.

[Scott Wapner]

There. Nobody wants a sales force today. For those who are waiting for something to materialize on the market to appreciate the stock a little bit better than it has. Let's, let's throw that one up. So it's up 3%. They, they have their earnings. They issued better than expected revenue guidance. Mark Benioff, CEOs can be with Jim tonight on Mad Money. It's an exclusive, but this, the stock chart year to date tells the story. What's going on here? Why don't I have any takers? Why don't I have any buy on the dippers? Why don't I have any? This is going to be what Snowflake has been.

Doing. So software is having such a strong relative underperformance to semis. And I think when you're looking at the technology space, at least for what we are doing, there's opportunity, whether it's the KLA Corps, the LAM Research, the Applied Material and then, and then Micron and Nvidia. So software has underperformed for us and there's no momentum building. We have a variety of different names that are struggling right now, like Workday. And as we continue to move forward, you're not going to build a position for what we do in something that looks like it continues to.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Deteriorate. I think it's a different story. I think there's a lot of reporting that's been done in the last few days about the slow uptake from enterprise clients to buy these AI tools from Microsoft, Salesforce, Others. And I think that's what's really weighing on the stock. And the story is in their earnings. $135 million, I think, was the number that Agent Force generated in the last quarter versus like $10 billion worth of revenue all altogether. So that's one and a half less than one and a half percent is the revenue being generated by Agent Force, which is the flagship. This is our way into the AI conversation piece of I know the data360 is a bigger piece of the mix now, but like that's the thing Benioff's been hanging his hat on. And it's just not the uptick just isn't really there.

[Scott Wapner]

Yet. All right. I guess the breaking news out of Washington, Eamon Javers has that for us at the White House. Hi.

[Eamon Javers]

Eamon. SCOTT that's right. The General Accountability Office here in Washington says that it is going to conduct an investigation of Bill Pulte over at the FHFA over the question of whether he appropriately accessed private data as he was doing his own investigations at FHFA in order to lob these allegations of mortgage fraud against a number of prominent officials here in Washington, including Lisa Cook over at the Fed. Now, remember that this investigation was requested by Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren up on Capitol Hill back in November. Now, the organization says they will conduct this investigation. Here's their statement, which we got just a couple of moments ago. They say we have I can confirm that the GAO has accepted this request. Following our standard process, the first thing the GAO does as any work begins is to determine the full scope of what we will cover and the methodology to be used. This can take a few more, and until that is done, we cannot provide any estimates on a completion date. So what this is and what this is not, SCOTT this is an adverse development for Bill Pulte and the fhfa. It's not going to be welcome news there. It's not going to be welcome news here at the White House. What it is not is anything that's going to immediately change the state of play here. Bill Polti is not going to be affected by any ruling that comes out of this for some time to come. And remember, GAO itself is the sort of nonpartisan fact finding arm of Congress. They issue a lot of audits and reports. Safe to say that people here in Washington don't sort of live in fear of an adverse GAO report as they would do if, say, the Department of Justice was investigating so very different.

[Scott Wapner]

Things. SCOTT and we're still waiting on the Supreme Court to ultimately decide the Cook matter.

[Eamon Javers]

Correct? That's right. We're expecting that on January 21st. We expect oral arguments at the Supreme Court and we'll see where we go from there. At some point, the court is going to have to decide where all this.

[Scott Wapner]

Goes. EAMON, thank you. It's Eamon Javers on the north Lawn of the White House. Up next, we have a lot of committee moves today. Kerry, Joe, Malcolm and more. We're back after this.

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[Scott Wapner]

Coaching.

All right, welcome back. Let's get to some committee moves. Joe, I'm going to go to you first. So you bought more.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Xbi. I.

[Scott Wapner]

Did. You love the xbi new 52 week high today? I guess there's a reason to love.

It. Yeah. So the other day, it was Monday, I believe. You asked me where I thought the market would go through the end of the year and I had an inability to give you an answer. And the reason was there was nothing showing me any evidence of which direction we could go. I think what has happened over the last 48 hours, and I'm pretty confident on this, is that you're seeing the return of a lot of systematic trend following algorithms back into the market once again. They kind of sat, you know, you could you run these adaptive algorithms that they're either trend following or they're mean reverting. Now they're back to being trend following. So I think we are now pushing back towards the all time high and I think the area of the market that's doing it is the area of the market that really hasn't been the focus in 2025. It's not so much max 7 and technology, it's things like biotech and financials and real economy stocks. GM pressing towards a new 52 week high. To me that is apparently where the interest and the flows of capital are going and XPI is certainly part of.

That. Carrie, you sold some health equity.

[Stephanie Link]

Why? Valuation. It's a stock that we have been selling. It's in the health savings plan business and that means employment. The more employment the better. Employment is softening. The stock was at a valuation that we thought makes some sense to.

[Scott Wapner]

Joe. You bought more JP Morgan.

Morgan? I did, I think.

More. Tell me.

More. You know why Scott? I mean it's an acknowledgment that look at not every trade, not every buy and sell that's in the ETF.

[Mike Santoli]

Is going to be.

[Scott Wapner]

Good. At the end of October we actually liquidated JP Morgan. The reason for it was on the quality factor because when we measured its revenue growth on a near term basis versus the prior 36 months we saw a little bit of deceleration there. So it failed on that score. I wanted to increase my, my ownership of financials. I understand that some could say the argument the valuation on J.P. morgan is rich. That's not something I'm looking at. I think the momentum is there and I think the Momentum for these Fin5 happens to be really strong going into year end. There's strong relative outperformance to.

The. I love that you gave them the Fin5.

[Joe Terranova]

Name.

[Scott Wapner]

Don't. Because you mentioned a thousand times. Do you like it? Proud of.

Himself. He's not going to tell me if he likes it.

[Joe Terranova]

Though. There are actually six figures in.

[Scott Wapner]

There. I'll let you guess you.

[Joe Terranova]

Want. Well they deserve.

[Scott Wapner]

It. Wells is your largest position, isn't.

[Joe Terranova]

It? Yes it.

[Scott Wapner]

Is. Citizen asleep, I think all time high today, I.

[Joe Terranova]

Think. Well the banks act really well. I think it's steepening of the yield curve to be honest with.

[Scott Wapner]

You. Yeah, and it has been.

[Joe Terranova]

Steepening. So then you're finally going to get a net interest income story that I've been talking about for years on.

[Scott Wapner]

End.

[Joe Terranova]

Right. And then you have capital markets, you got wealth management, you've got fee investment, banking fees, the whole nine yards. And oh by the way, you know we do get Basel 3 endgame in 2026. I've been talking about this forever and that is going to lead to less capital that these companies are going to have to hold. You're going to see lending increase and you're going to actually see better buybacks and better dividends in.

[Scott Wapner]

2026. Joe Equity and Apache, you bought more, you bought more EQT and you bought as a new buy a of piece patching. Is that a personal buy that is.

Testing. These are personal buys and this is, you know natural gas to me is breaking out weather related supply, demand imbalance, whatever the reasoning is behind it. We're early in the winter season. I think you want to have the exposure to natural gas. It's been equity for me. Now I add Apache apa, that's the holding corp for Apache into my personal port portfolio and it's predicated all on the belief that we move higher for natural.

Gas. Okay. And Malcolm, a couple things we didn't do with you. You bought more.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

CrowdStrike. I did.

[Scott Wapner]

Yeah. After.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Earnings. After earnings, yeah. So it was roughly 12% off its all time 52 week high following earnings which I thought was crazy but I also understand that the valuation 130 times earnings or something scares people and makes them say it's just way too high and I can't justify to buy.

[Scott Wapner]

It.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Netscope.

[Scott Wapner]

Yeah. So bought more of.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

That. So this is a company I've been buying the past few weeks. It debuted in September. It's a IPO, $19 a share. It ran all the way up to about 28 came back down since then. But it's really hovered around its IPO price which made me comfortable recommending it even though this is a company that's not yet profitable. So we talk about CrowdStrike and we've been talking about it sort of ad nauseum. This is another one of those standalone cybertruck security companies. It's much smaller by comparison. It's about $7 billion in market cap compared to like 13140 for Palo Alto and CrowdStrike. But what this company does specifically they're the leader according to Gartner in this space ahead of zscale and Palo Alto. They basically they're a cloud access security broker. So they make sure that they sit between a company's employees, their data and also their cloud to make sure that there's no unauthorized access that taking that data away from those servers. So it's one that's probably going to be an acquisition target for someone else. CrowdStrike, we keep talking about them. They're not a player in this space yet. Of all the 22 modules that they offer. So I think it's a good place to be adding shares as an investor looking for a way to play the cyberspace but not have to be in the biggies that we've been talking.

[Scott Wapner]

About. All right. Well we'll keep watching. That's up 5% by the way. I'm still wait Farmer, Jim Weiss, neither one of them have weighed in yet on your.

Proclamation. Your are you accepting your.

Conviction? I think it was Jim. You're rolling under the bus of them on the Apple AI story being in the stock.

Already. I think I have a witness.

And I think they're gonna say something. I think Julia heard the conversation say about that. Good luck, my friend. Up next, our calls of the day. Mizuho thinks the rally and one of this year's biggest gainers is more room to run. We will find find out if the committee agrees.

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[Joe Terranova]

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And we're back on HALFTIME report. I'm Bertha Coombs with your CNBC news update. Representative Jim Himes called a video showing a second boat strike on an alleged drug carrying boat off the coast of Venezuela, quote, one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service. The comment from the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee came after a briefing this morning with Admiral Frank Bradley. Himes said the two people killed in the follow up strike were in clear distress. Meanwhile, the US Renewed a travel advisory to Venezuela today warning Americans not to go to the country for any reason due to a high risk of instability. The warning comes after President Trump warned the US could expand attacks into Venezuela. And a group of 15 Democratic senators proposed new legislation today that would require airlines to pay travelers cash for delays. The measure would mandate at least $300 for a delay of more than three hours and $600 for a delay of six hours or more. It comes after President Trump withdrew a Biden airplane last month that would require cash compensation for flight disruptions caused by carriers. Scott.

[Scott Wapner]

Becker. All right, thank you, Bert Coombs calls the day. Robinhood Target goes to 172 today from 145. It got reiterated outperform that at Mizuho. So that's some nice upside there Joe, you own that.

Name. Nice technical formation as well. Today's first day back above the 50 day moving average. It held the 200 day moving average down below at 102. I think really all you need is for cryptocurrencies to stabilize, not continue the rate of decline that they've seen. And there's some out there that are suggesting that might be unfolding. I'm not sure one way or the other. But I think Robinhood has matured as a company company. It's diversified the product stream. It's something that we have introduced to the portfolio recently. And I think in the financial sector it's one of your better exchanges to.

Own. Okay, Give me Delta buy 77 is the price target at Citi. They say the underperformance and capacity cuts are a tactically bullish cyclical setup for.

2026. In all likelihood that's probably the case. Congratulations. To move my good friend James Leventhal. He's been on the Delta story. We've been in it for the ETF as well despite my personal skepticism surrounding the airlines. But they are working well and it seems to be about the front of the plane as Jimmy keeps telling.

Us. You think he's going to forgive you for throwing him under the bus at the top of the show if you praise him as many.

Times? Throw him under the.

Bus. I could see right through what's happening here. Barclays power calls today. GE Vernova. Steph. The target got to 7. 720 from 710. They're overweight there. Vertive. The target goes to 181 from 170. Steph, take that one.

[Strawberry Me Coaching Announcer]

First.

[Joe Terranova]

GE. Sure. GE ver Nova. So it's all about utility capex. 80% of their customers are utility companies. They're spending on transmission in the grid and on power and that's where you want to be. In fact I think this is an earlier stages within data center so I think there's a lot more upside here. And their order growth or excuse me, their backlog growth which is more important than their order quarter growth was up 30% last quarter in terms of avertive. Love that one too. That's liquid cooling and that also is a very strong end market. This company's growing organic sales at 28.4% growth. That's way higher than anyone else. And their margins are also expanding. They were up 220 basis points last quarter. And I like Dave Cody, you.

[Scott Wapner]

Threw them under the tractor. I misspoke. You have.

Vertif2. I do that vertif. I agree with everything that Steph just said. I think power generation is going to be critically important as we move forward. To a certain extent, a lot of these industrial names and utility names are a replacement in a portfolio for some of the traditional oil.

Names. What about GE Aerospace? Real.

[Joe Terranova]

Quick. I mean I know it was initiated with a buy today. I mean that's.

[Scott Wapner]

Great. They positive at Susquehanna.

[Joe Terranova]

350? Yeah. I mean the last last four quarters they've beaten earnings, EBIT sales, organic growth, free cash flow and they're really doing very, very well. I think services is the most important. 70% of their revenues has the highest margins trailing 12 month service orders are at $31 billion. So I think people are getting nervous about services aftermarket not doing as well in 2026. Their orders say.

[Scott Wapner]

Otherwise. Look at that 75% year to date. Santoli. He's next with his midday work.

Senior markets commentator Mike Santoli joins us now with his midday word. What's on your.

[Mike Santoli]

Mind? Well, you know, Scott, obviously the indexes themselves are kind of steady here. They've gained some traction. We're almost two weeks into this 5% comeback in the S&P 500. I was talking last week about how retail really did not lead in buying the dip that we got in the last part of November, but they're buying it now. So if you just look at the speculative stuff that's really starting to run today, it shows you that now that the market stabilized you got the Vix actually had a 15 handle for a little while this morning. It's the O close and the Bloom Energies and Ionq and the other quantum stuff that's up double digits today. So that's why the Russell's outperforming today. And so it just sort of shows you people are finding it hard to fight that the seasonal upward drift. I do think it makes sense to expect maybe the market is going to mark some time here ahead of the Fed and other things next week. But for now it feels as if risk appetites are rebuilding toward the end of the.

[Scott Wapner]

Year. We just had that one report, I forgot who it was from at this point about retail buying in the Tesla's and Nvidia's and Metas and Microsoft. So they are back and they're back in those names as well. Not Just, you know, the kinds of stocks that you were just.

[Mike Santoli]

Mentioning. Oh sure, it's without a doubt it's a wide group but obviously their impact is felt much more in those in the high beta, unprofitable stuff. So yeah, I do think that would bitcoin stop the bleeding and we actually stopped making new lows there and it's kind of come back a little bit. It seems like it took the pressure off. So I mean I'm not trying to say that we're way out over our skis yet. Although the weekly retail investor poll did have a big jump in bullishness. Some of the professional indicators of positioning. They're trying to raise rebuild exposure. So you know, we're getting there. Not out of line for where we are, which is half percent from an all time high in December, but worth.

[Scott Wapner]

Noting. I'll see you at three o', clock, Mike. Thanks. That's Mike Santoli. Are the homebuilders about to take off in a big way? Stephanie Link will tell you next.

All right, we're back. The builders, they are as a group slightly lower today. However, they've been on a bit of a move over the past two weeks. Maybe coincidental to the name Kevin Hassett being put out there about potentially being the next Fed chair. But the long end is kind of backed up though, so I'm not sure if I would subscribe that to that. But what's your take here? Toll Brothers today got upgraded at JP Morgan to overweight. The price target goes to 161. And then Dr. Horton got target to 136. They did get reiterated underperform at JPM. So it's not all, you know, stocks created equal obviously. But you have picked this space. You have loved this space. You've been on this space when others were.

[Joe Terranova]

Running. Yeah. And look, I mean the macro challenges are real in terms of interest. Interest rates being high. The 30 year fixed is down from 8% two years ago to 6.3. But you need to get that in the mid fives to get the demand to start to recover. So you've had the right side and the weak demand. And that's the reason why these stocks haven't done all that well. I mean Dr. Horton still down 7% in the past year and Toll Brothers down 9%. Yeah, but I have said for a long time we're 5 million homes short in this country and we have pent up demand. There are 5 million millennials that want to buy a first time home. The homebuilders would rather Much rather buy their stock in the big five. All have buybacks. So I like both ways. Toll brothers on the high end, trading at 10 times forward and then the first time buyer, which is about 50% of Dr. Horton's book, is the first time is the first time buyer. So they're also buying $3 billion of stock, 6% of their float. So I think. I don't know the timing of all this, Scott, and when it's really going to turn, but I will say, yeah, Kevin Hassert would be a welcome news for this space if interest rates would come down further from.

[Scott Wapner]

Here. All right, we will step away. We'll come back and we'll do final trades next.

All right, 3:00 clock Eastern Time, closing bell. Dan Greenhouse going to be with me today. Mohamed El Erian, Brian Levich, Sonali Basak. Alex Cantor Schwitz is going to be with us and so is Steve Kobach. We talk about those device wars. They're definitely heating up. Let's do final trades. Carrie, what do you.

[Stephanie Link]

Got? I like American Express. We saw how strong retail was over the Thanksgiving holiday and I think that's a good auger for how we're going to see growth through the rest of the year. Big membership growth, the stocks attractively.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Priced. Malcolm Rocket Morgan. Speaking of the homebuilders, the next cut should be impactful for them to the.

[Scott Wapner]

Linkster. What's with that? So be. Is that a new. You add to.

[Joe Terranova]

That? Yes. We talked about it yesterday on your show. So at least it was on your show. Yes. New position trading at 14 times forward.

[Scott Wapner]

Estimate. I wasn't here. I'm.

[Joe Terranova]

Just. I know, but I wanted. I wanted to get it.

[Scott Wapner]

Out. You're like, don't you remember we talked.

About.

Yes. I was like, no, I.

[Joe Terranova]

Don'T. Okay, so. So no. I actually don't own any other energy. This is one I.

[Scott Wapner]

Like. Joe T. Parker Hadiffin. All right, we.

[Malcolm Etheridge]

Good? We.

[Scott Wapner]

Good? All right, great. I'll see you in the closing bell.

You've been listening to CNBC's Halftime Report, the podcast. You can always catch us live weekdays at 12 Eastern only on.

[Joe Terranova]

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University, learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella. Eduardo.