Jon Najarian and guest Marc LoPresti join forces to discuss and debate their favorite topics, including the hottest stock-specific news and sports! Today: $MU, $BA, and Michigan's Shot At a Tainted Title
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00:00 - Welcome back to the Rebel's Edge
00:02 where Mark Lepresti and I will break down a stock
00:06 that was on its backside just a few weeks ago,
00:09 but now hitting a fresh 52 week high.
00:12 (upbeat music)
00:14 Welcome back everybody.
00:27 Again, that guy is Mark Lepresti.
00:30 Mark is a director over here at Market Rebellion
00:36 as well as a recovering attorney and a deal maker
00:41 as well as headed up a big, small,
00:46 well, big, small, I guess, relative terms.
00:49 He headed up our family office in Manhattan.
00:53 And Mark joins me, of course, because Pete is not here.
00:56 He is in the tropics somewhere,
00:59 but you're used to seeing Mark on this show anyway
01:01 because he's a regular.
01:03 And Jared is handling all of the graphics,
01:08 the clocks, the weird noises you might hear.
01:11 No, that's not Mark growling
01:15 or anything else over here.
01:17 That's Jared putting those sound effects to it
01:21 as well as his favorite and yours,
01:23 the fantastic future segment.
01:26 - Fantastic future.
01:28 - That was a premature futures emission, Jared.
01:35 We gotta be careful here.
01:37 I know we're all excited
01:38 because it is the Market Rebellion Rebels Edge
01:42 holiday special folks.
01:44 This is the last Rebels Edge
01:46 before Santa shimmies down the chimney,
01:49 depending on the size of your chimney
01:51 or Santa as the case may be.
01:52 I'm excited.
01:53 I'm in my holiday finery.
01:55 I've got my red handkerchief, my green jacket.
01:58 I'm jolly and looking forward to a few days off
02:02 with the family and sitting around and roasting chestnuts
02:06 and doing all those wonderful things that we do.
02:09 We do celebrate Christmas here at Mark Rebellion.
02:11 We celebrate other holidays too,
02:12 but Christmas is the one that's on the horizon.
02:15 It's great to be addressing
02:17 the incredible Market Rebellion nation.
02:20 John, thanks for having me back.
02:22 - Yeah, and whatever.
02:24 Six days ago, I guess, was the last night
02:27 of those eight crazy nights for our friends
02:29 that observe Hanukkah,
02:32 which ended, I guess, last Friday night, I think, Mark.
02:36 But we welcome all of you.
02:38 We certainly appreciate your support.
02:41 Remember, you can always go to marketrebellion.com/getstarted
02:46 to learn more about educational and subscription offerings.
02:50 But with all that said,
02:52 Mark, let's dive into the Macro Minute.
02:54 I know one of your favorite parts of the show.
02:57 And I wanted to talk about the Red Sea, Mark,
03:00 because even IKEA, it's not just the oil
03:03 that goes through the Suez Canal.
03:05 IKEA says that their products are being rerouted
03:08 all the way around Africa as well,
03:11 because that's, of course, the beauty of the Suez Canal.
03:15 You can make a short hop rather than that 3,200-mile journey,
03:20 but that's because of those Hootie Rebels, Mark.
03:23 - Well, I know there's gonna be a lot of disappointed faces
03:25 on a Christmas morning
03:27 when their overly complicated chest of drawers
03:29 with instructions no one can read
03:31 does not arrive, thanks to the Hootie Rebels.
03:34 I mean, come on.
03:36 Joking aside, it started as an oil story.
03:39 It's not just an oil story.
03:41 It is expected to impact supply chains.
03:45 Swedish superstore IKEA, the tip of the iceberg.
03:48 Folks that I talk to, John, not just traders,
03:51 but some of our friends that are former military generals,
03:54 you know, or great friend Tony Tata, one of them,
03:57 tell me that the word on the street or on the sea
04:01 is that this is gonna last for a while.
04:04 And it's interesting, I saw a story earlier
04:06 that the Hooties might be actually using Chinese missiles.
04:10 Questions around how they got their hands on those,
04:13 perhaps via Iran, and of course,
04:15 against the backdrop of Biden
04:17 talking about extending tariffs on EV supply chain goods
04:21 against China, perhaps in a bid to look tougher
04:23 in an election year.
04:25 Things are getting even more complicated
04:27 on the global macro scene.
04:28 That's the Macro Minute.
04:29 - That is, well, let's, even though we previewed it,
04:34 let's hit fantastic futures.
04:36 - Fantastic futures.
04:38 - Well, fantastic futures for all of you
04:44 digital asset fans, you already know what we're gonna hit.
04:48 At least one of the futures that I'll talk about is Bitcoin,
04:52 because Bitcoin traded above $44,000 USD per coin.
04:57 That's a strong move that has been underway for weeks now,
05:04 as people anticipate a spot ETF, a spot Bitcoin ETF.
05:09 That has not been formally announced,
05:12 but it seems like it's building momentum, Mark.
05:15 - Yep, it sure does.
05:18 And of course, we've seen a lot of our favorite
05:20 Bitcoin related stocks, miners,
05:23 like our friends over at Hut8, Marathon, Mara,
05:27 the stock that many of us follow,
05:28 all benefiting from this bullish trend in Bitcoin.
05:31 So yeah, it looks like digital assets led by Bitcoin
05:34 at the front of Santa's sleigh
05:36 are gonna be extending that Christmas Santa Claus rally.
05:39 So good news for BTC holders like you and me.
05:43 - Yep, and good news for Coinbase
05:45 and those other stocks that Mark just covered,
05:47 including our friend, Jamie Leverton,
05:49 the CEO of Hut8, because they were, I think,
05:54 ringing the bell yesterday at the NASDAQ, Mark.
05:57 - Oh, I didn't see that.
05:59 I didn't see that.
06:00 Celebrating their merger that they concluded
06:03 about two weeks ago with another mining concern.
06:06 - Exactly.
06:08 Well, let's dive in now to the Micron news of the day, Mark.
06:13 And some of you will think,
06:15 "Oh, the news is Micron's up 6%, right?"
06:18 Yes, it is.
06:19 It's up even more than that.
06:21 But we had unusual option activity.
06:24 You know, Jared, we might need to get a sound effect
06:29 for unusual option activity.
06:31 Maybe it's bang, maybe it's boom,
06:33 maybe it's Pete's giddy up, who knows.
06:35 But this one, folks, what happened was,
06:39 a little bit ago, they were buying unusual activity,
06:43 meaning larger than normal purchases of upside calls.
06:48 Micron was 74 bucks a share back then.
06:51 Well, today, Micron trades through 84,
06:54 almost $85 a share.
06:57 And there you see it on the 8th of December
06:59 was when we had that unusual activity.
07:01 And it's all the way out in March, Mark.
07:04 And it paid off in just weeks.
07:07 Fantastic news for anybody that had these calls.
07:11 And of course, the news was that they lost less
07:15 than they were expected to lose,
07:16 and yet sales jumped dramatically.
07:19 - Yeah, another example of effective cost-cutting measures.
07:24 I talked about this this morning on my SiriusXM radio show.
07:28 Shout out to Dan Looney, who is my host over there,
07:31 and the production team.
07:32 I don't talk about them enough.
07:34 If you ever wanna listen, I'm on at 1015 every Thursday
07:37 on SiriusXM Business Radio.
07:39 Shout out to those guys over there.
07:40 But as I talked about this morning,
07:42 the winners of 2023 are gonna be the companies
07:45 that had the most effective cost-cutting measures.
07:47 Micron, of course, the proof coming out in the pudding,
07:51 losing less than the street expected,
07:53 losing 95 cents a share
07:54 versus the expected 97 cents a share.
07:56 But John, what I really liked about the story on this stock
07:59 is it looks like the AI demand and the impact,
08:04 the positive impact on earnings for chip makers like Micron
08:08 might be sooner in the calendar than expected
08:10 if you listen to the commentary around these earnings.
08:13 Plus, they've got a deal brewing with Nvidia
08:16 that has traders and investors
08:18 of both of those popular stocks very excited.
08:21 This is one to watch in the early parts of 2024.
08:24 - Again, you guys wanna get in
08:27 on some of that unusual activity,
08:30 go to marketrebellion.com/getstarted.
08:34 And you could be trading like Mark, like Pete, like me.
08:37 We follow that activity and it's got a high probability.
08:41 It's not 100%, but a high probability
08:44 of resulting in a move in the direction
08:47 that Bobby Axelrod or whoever was buying those calls intended.
08:52 All right, maybe it was dollar bill, who knows?
08:55 Let's take a look, Mark, at Immunovant.
08:58 This is a clinical stage immunology company,
09:02 and they're dealing basically with autoimmune diseases.
09:06 Well, stock is up strong.
09:09 They had a phase two clinical trial.
09:11 That's one of the things, of course,
09:13 you have to get through phase one, two, and three.
09:15 And then, hopefully you have enough money
09:17 to get to commercialization of your product that works
09:21 if you clear all three of those hurdles.
09:23 This is one of those hurdles, Mark,
09:25 and that's why the stock is up double digits today.
09:29 - Yeah, yes it is, John.
09:30 We've been covering a lot of life sciences companies
09:34 that have had negative news on the show this week.
09:37 This is a positive one.
09:38 Stock is up 6 1/4%, around $2 1/4,
09:43 as we're live here on the air.
09:46 We're gonna have to see if this one makes it all the way
09:48 to the finish line, but very positive news for Immunovant
09:54 and their shareholders.
09:57 - Absolutely, and that's why we watch these trials
10:01 when there is a drug that might be subject to FDA approval.
10:06 Phase two is not that, of course, but it's positive.
10:09 We also watch for court decisions
10:14 on various lawsuits that go on.
10:16 We watch for new product introductions,
10:19 and that's one of the things I think
10:21 that regular investors, Joes and Janes, can do
10:24 is know about those timeframes
10:27 that those things could be either positive or negative,
10:31 and then play accordingly.
10:33 All right, let's talk, Mark, about CarMax, KMX.
10:37 You're a car guy, everybody knows that.
10:39 He's got this crazy Mercedes
10:42 with all these beefed up suspension and engine and so forth,
10:48 among other cars, some Audis
10:51 and some other things thrown in there.
10:53 But this one, they exceeded Wall Street expectations, Mark.
10:56 Stock moved up strongly.
10:58 It was through 80 earlier this morning,
11:00 pulls back to about 78 bucks a share,
11:03 but they posted adjusted earnings of 52 cents versus 42,
11:07 and that's good enough
11:08 for near double digit returns so far today.
11:13 - Yeah, listen, I like this stock.
11:14 This is one that we do watch and cover pretty carefully
11:17 and that we do trade in and out of from time to time.
11:20 And I'm gonna give you a little secret
11:22 if you wanna trade stocks like CarMax and Carvana,
11:26 two of the biggest names when it comes to used car sales,
11:29 and that is one of my favorite economic indicators, John,
11:32 particularly as a car guy who often buys his cars used.
11:37 I don't like taking that off the lot 30% depreciation,
11:40 especially on big ticket cars.
11:42 And I'm talking, of course, about the Manheim Index.
11:45 And the Manheim Index, which came in a couple of days ago,
11:49 showing used car prices up about two basis points
11:53 month over month.
11:54 But John, year over year,
11:56 looking back to the same period
11:58 for the Manheim Report of December of '22,
12:00 used car prices are down almost 6.5%.
12:04 What happens when used car prices start to come back down
12:07 to reality and affordability?
12:09 People start to buy.
12:11 So if you wanna get an early look before the earnings,
12:14 and Manheim usually comes out
12:16 before CarMax, Carvana post the earnings,
12:19 watch that Manheim Index,
12:21 look at the futures in that stock.
12:23 If you see some bullish activity,
12:25 you might wanna consider joining the party
12:27 because a good Manheim print, car prices coming down,
12:30 usually means a good report for these used car wholesalers.
12:35 - Yeah, the interest rates that people finance
12:40 right in there for new cars, used cars,
12:43 as well as real estate folks.
12:45 So Mark is exactly right,
12:47 giving you that insider tip
12:50 about watching the Manheim as well.
12:52 All right, Mark, let's talk about Boeing,
12:54 one of the biggest industrial companies in America.
12:58 Obviously manufacturing, what do they manufacture?
13:01 Well, other than weaponry and so forth,
13:05 and some of the global hawks and so forth,
13:09 they manufacture airplanes.
13:11 And this story today is about China
13:14 basically giving them approval,
13:17 the regulator in China,
13:18 giving them approval for the 737 MAX deliveries to resume.
13:23 They have billions of dollars of these jets ordered,
13:29 now that there hasn't been an incident
13:31 in the last several years,
13:32 and that they think they have basically figured out
13:37 the problems with the pilots
13:40 that weren't properly trained
13:41 on how this particular aircraft
13:44 with the engines moved forward just a little bit
13:48 affects avionics and so forth, how that plane flies.
13:51 Well, China giving them a thumbs up, it seems, Mark,
13:54 that should be good enough to carry them well into 2024.
13:59 - Yeah, this is of course really good news for Boeing,
14:02 for the major aerospace makers, John pointed out earlier.
14:05 They have been plagued for years
14:08 and are still coming out of,
14:10 hopefully this is among the last of the impact
14:12 of of course that terrible incidents,
14:16 the crashes that occurred with that MAX airliner.
14:19 Couple of other things also propelling the stock today,
14:22 news that LATAM Airlines just put an order
14:25 for five more of those giant 787 Dreamliners.
14:29 There was a surprise 777X order
14:32 also placed in late November for Boeing,
14:35 the firm announcing that just a day or so ago,
14:38 that of course is one of their freight airliners
14:41 for which they have, I think, a five year or so backlog.
14:45 So all great news for Boeing.
14:47 And look, most traders will agree
14:50 and most of the talk that I'm hearing
14:52 is that airline and airfare demand, travel demand,
14:56 is expected to ease a bit but not enough
15:00 to bring these airline stocks back down to the ground.
15:03 So I'm expecting to see continued strength
15:05 in that sector as we go into Q1 of '24.
15:08 - And folks, if you've been watching the stock
15:12 as closely as Mark and I do,
15:15 you will likewise be heartened.
15:18 Those who don't watch it as close will be surprised
15:21 to find that since October,
15:23 so basically folks,
15:24 within these final two months of the year,
15:27 the stock has moved from 176 in October
15:31 to nearly $92 higher than that.
15:35 So this is one to watch.
15:36 It's on the launching pad for sure.
15:39 All right, Mark.
15:41 - Some might say it's really taken off, John.
15:45 - Taken off, I like that.
15:46 (laughing)
15:47 Okay, so now we need yet another sound effect, Jared,
15:52 for when Mark uses some bad pun.
15:55 - Wah, wah, wah.
15:57 - Fire.
15:58 (laughing)
16:00 All right.
16:03 And John, just a quick small cap spotlight on today's show.
16:06 A shout out to a company that's in our portfolio.
16:09 Full disclosure, folks,
16:10 we are both investors in this company
16:13 and paid advisors to this company
16:15 through Mineta Advisory Partners,
16:16 one of the affiliate businesses that John and I operate.
16:19 I'm talking, of course, about BioLargo.
16:21 This is a company that is developing
16:24 some really remarkable and cutting edge processes
16:28 to get PFAS, a terrible contaminant
16:31 that's in a lot of water systems, unfortunately.
16:35 They announced yesterday that they were engaged
16:38 and under contract for their first commercial deployment
16:41 in a municipal drinking water system.
16:43 Happens to be here in New Jersey,
16:45 where I'm reporting to from today.
16:47 So congratulations to everyone over at BioLargo,
16:50 the stock moving to the upside yesterday
16:52 and today on that news.
16:54 And this is really important stuff.
16:55 As you know, John, I am pretty heavily involved
16:58 in efforts to try to get rid of those chemicals,
17:01 particularly from our drinking water system.
17:03 And this is a step in the right direction.
17:05 - It's Red Zone Sports.
17:07 Let's see, our buddy Harbaugh, Mark,
17:11 the head coach of Michigan, one of Pete's friends.
17:14 Even if they win the title this year,
17:17 will it be the most tainted ever?
17:20 Is my question, because they've got notices
17:23 of violations for recruiting.
17:26 They've got notification of violations of spying.
17:30 And so forth.
17:31 So if Michigan wins, I'm sure the fans will love it
17:35 and they'll dismiss that.
17:36 But would this be a really tainted national championship
17:41 if indeed they're able to beat Alabama
17:43 and make it into the championship game, Mark?
17:47 - Well, I happen to think they have a very good chance
17:50 of beating Alabama.
17:51 Bama, of course, a fantastic team,
17:53 but my bet's on Michigan.
17:55 But what is these allegations about
17:57 that they were recruiting during COVID
17:59 when they weren't supposed to?
18:00 Am I understanding that correctly?
18:01 That it was a recruiting hiatus during COVID times?
18:06 - Yep, you are.
18:08 Because of the perceived, again, it was fear-mongering,
18:13 but because of the perceived danger
18:17 in getting on airplanes and flying around the country
18:20 and so forth and so on,
18:21 and being face-to-face with somebody like a recruit,
18:25 they didn't let them do that.
18:27 So allegedly, 'cause it hasn't been proven yet,
18:31 Mr. Harbaugh did that.
18:33 And he allegedly oversaw the information from Mr. Stallions,
18:38 who was giving him spy information about those placards
18:44 that teams hold up about what play
18:47 they're about to run and so forth.
18:49 I think Michigan's good enough to win without that, Mark,
18:55 but I think with that hanging over them,
18:58 this would be a tainted championship, I believe,
19:02 if indeed they win it.
19:03 - Interesting.
19:05 I don't think the fans will care.
19:06 (laughing)
19:07 - Yeah, and I guarantee if you have money on the right team,
19:11 you won't care either.
19:13 All right, let's then switch gears
19:15 and go to Christian McCaffrey,
19:18 who last year, that was the biggest move, Mark, by a team,
19:22 because of course the 49ers got CMC Christian McCaffrey.
19:27 They got him from Carolina,
19:30 probably for a bag of balls or something.
19:32 I mean, Carolina and Tepper are just crazy
19:36 in what they've done as far as making
19:39 some of these ludicrous moves,
19:41 trades with the Bears so that they could move up
19:43 and then draft this Bryce Young, who's been a flop.
19:46 But anyway, this year it's the 49ers again, Mark,
19:51 making a huge move.
19:52 And this time it was Chase Young
19:54 that they got from the Washington Commanders.
19:57 Of course, turnover there from Daniel Snyder
20:01 to a new ownership group.
20:03 And first thing they did was get rid
20:05 of their two-star defensive players.
20:08 And Chase Young went to the Niners,
20:11 and that kid is a phenom.
20:13 And another Ohio State kid,
20:15 you've got Bosa on one side and Chase Young on the other.
20:18 They were both top draft picks,
20:21 and now they're both on the same team.
20:23 And I think that takes them to the Super Bowl.
20:25 - That is entirely possible, John.
20:28 But I think one of the more interesting moves,
20:32 if we're talking about bold moves in the NFL this year,
20:35 was the Bills signing Leonard Floyd.
20:38 He's arguably one of the most underrated
20:40 and inexpensive insurance for Von Miller,
20:43 who's starting to get a little long in the tooth.
20:45 And so that would be my pick.
20:47 I mean, I like yours too,
20:48 but I think the Bills move with Leonard Floyd
20:51 would be the one that stood out for me.
20:53 - Well, and you could be right.
20:57 I still like Chase Young,
20:59 but the reason Mark could be right, folks,
21:01 is you look at how the Bills have performed
21:04 in the second half of the season.
21:06 First half of the season, it was up and down.
21:08 I mean, they even lost to the Jets
21:10 when they didn't have Aaron Rodgers.
21:13 They had him for four plays,
21:14 but then they didn't have him and they lost.
21:17 And that was an embarrassing loss to a horrible Jets team,
21:22 again, without a quarterback
21:24 that could hit the broad side of a barn.
21:26 But now you've got the Bills building momentum.
21:31 And so you could be proven right with that pick, Mark.
21:36 The next several weeks will tell,
21:38 but I like that identification of Mr. Floyd
21:43 as potentially one of those huge moves
21:46 that'll make a big difference for them into the playoffs.
21:48 So yeah, kudos to you.
21:51 All right, well, folks,
21:53 we wish you all the happiest of holidays.
21:57 We will not be on air tomorrow
21:58 because Friday's our travel day.
22:00 I'll be traveling.
22:01 Mark will probably be traveling,
22:03 but he hasn't told me where yet.
22:05 Pete is already in the tropics somewhere.
22:08 So we appreciate all of you guys joining us.
22:11 We won't be back Monday because you know why.
22:14 Santa will be hanging around on Monday
22:18 and a lot of us will be enjoying families
22:21 and opening presents and all that kind of stuff.
22:23 But we will be back Tuesday.
22:25 So we'll see you then, Tuesday, 1 p.m. Eastern time.
22:28 Merry Christmas, Mark.
22:30 We'll see all of you on Tuesday.
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