You. Thank you. So, when you were with us on august 7th, you said the market is fully valued. From then until then the Dow Jones Industrial average is up 6 , the s p up 4 we overvalued now . Not yet, no i would say that, you know, basically bull markets ended over valuation and i dont think were overvalued use whatever adjective you want to describe it the market is not cheap and its not expensive. So as i think ive been saying, i think were kind of approaching normalization, and to me normalization is a 17 multiple on earnings and the trick is what is the earnings youre looking at . You know President Trump and the republicans get their way, and we have a tax package, you can see earnings next year in the s p about 150 and the 17 multiple and 150, i think its 2550 that would be fair value, full value but fair values, and, you know, most bull markets end over valuations so took another 10 to 15 to that number. The trend is favorable and the conditions that normally lead to a big market decline, as i said, on august 7th just arent present. You know, you dont have go ahead, im sorry. How much of the expectations of taxes, if any, are in the market now, do you think i would guess modest. I would think whats in the market is synchronized Global Growth, restrained inflation, stimulative monetary policies and deregulation, the proBusiness Environment that were in, i think consumer net worth is up, you know. Employment is up and credit spreads are very narrow, so i would say the market is discounting what its seeing and what it sees it likes, and what normally ends bull markets, as ive mentioned repeatedly on your program, is accelerating inflation, oncoming recession, hostile fed, or some kind of significant geopolitical event that you cant foresee forgetting last one because you cant forecast it, the conditions that end bull markets arent for the moment present. I dont see euphoria i find a lot of stocks that are very attractively priced the market as a whole, because money has been flowing to the index, doesnt seem all that attractive, but i think were finding a lot of things to do in the market. Let me ask you this David Einhorn had a letter to his investors that cnbc has gotten its hands on, and theres a quote in there that i would love your reaction to it it speaks to the kinds of things that weve talked about on this program in the past and he says, quote, the market remains very challenging for Value Investing strategies as Growth Stocks have continued to outperform value stocks the persistence of this dynamic leads to questions regarding when Value Investing is a viable strategy what would your reaction be to what mr. Einhorn has to say today . Well, i think david is a very bright guy you know, look, weve been through styles i remember in 1972 i lived through the nifty 50 when sales people at Goldman Sachs were telling me you can close down the research department. All you have to do is follow 50 companies, and the philosophy was we dont care what we paid as long as they were a world class Growth Company that was avon, xerox, imm and 3m and so on and so forth and that proved to be a flawed strategy and then we had portfolio insurance in 1987 which didnt end well. Now we have the move towards passive investing. At the end of the day the market reflects economic fundamentals and you have to be patient, but, you know, whats value and whats growth you . Know, my large disposition is google you know, google sells at 19 times next years earnings its growing at 20 a year its got a fortress Balance Sheet and the main threat we see is from the government where the government is looking at these companies being quasimonopolies and maybe they do something stupid, but, you know, i consider google a value stock but a lot of people call it a growth stock, so i think youve got to be careful with the labels, but theres no question its a challenging environment the money is flowing into the index. Youre not in the index you have more trouble performing but you just have to be patient. Im a lot older than david and david is probably a lot smarter than me, but we just have to be patient. At the end of the day value will win out. Sounds trite but thats whats going to happen. You think you can still be a value investor, and you made the comment earlier. Im still finding stocks that look attractive, and you think you can do that in a dow 24,000 environment pause thats what were living in. Absolutely. You know value stocks will be look, all stocks have been helped by a monetary policy. All assets have been elevated by monetary policy. Frankly, a given rise in Interest Rates in theory is more negative for Growth Companies than it is for low Growth Companies because of the change in the discount rate i prefer to take the market a name at a time, you know we find a lot of things. I look at my list of things to talk about amc networks, eight times earnings aetna 12. 5 times earnings and shia pharmaceutical nine times earnings with a terrific business mix we just find a lot of things that were interested in doing no question overall the market is reasonably fully valued but not overvalued theres a comment ive used for three or four years which i hear a lot of other people using which is the old line from John Templeton which was very insightful bull markets are born in pessimism, growing in skepticism and grow in optimism and die in euphoria clearly were in optimism. We can debate it, but i do not think were in euphoria assuming no recession, no hostile fed, you know, slow rise in rates i was reading something the other day from jpmorgan where they said they didnt think a tenyear government would get above 3 any time in the next few years, and thats been the view well before them, my partner Steve Einhorn who does a great job in monitoring the macro scene has been of that view for quite some time. Let me jump in and interrupt you because were hearing from the president because were talking about the stock market that were hearing about right now. Nobody even understood it and didnt know what was going on, and those days are over, so were renegotiating certain trade deals, and we started the process for others its actually a long process, as you probably know. You have statutory requirements and lots of other things, but the bottom line is step by step and were getting it done and were way ahead of schedule, i would say. Yes, we are, mr. President. We started with nafta well see how that turns out may not turn out, and if it doesnt turn out, well have to do a new nafta or a new deal, but well see how it turns out thank you. Im honored and thrilled to be with you this morning at white house and the oval office which is a very special place. I assume every one of you have been in the Oval Office Many times, right well, its an honor to have you now, can i tell you that i want to congratulate every one of the businessmen and women in this room and all that you have achieved, credible stories each of you has just a remarkable past and i think an even more remarkable future. I feel that. Does everybody feel, that by the way . I think so. Yes, especially with trump as your president each of you represent a critical american industry from construction to technology to manufacturing, but you all share in a common will and drive to succeed, and i salute you for that you need that drive to be successful mine northowned businesses employ 8 Million People and generate more than 1 trillion in annual economic output. The work you do and the products and services you bring into this world generate new prosperity across america for that we are in your debt you inspire our children to develop their talents and to always chase their dreams. You carry on our nations proud legacy of innovation, and you breathe new life into the american spirit. A recent department of labor report showed the fewest jobless claims since 1973. Think of that. 1973 we just had a report we have the fewest jobless claims i dont think the press the only word that i get that out there is if i say it because they will never say it my administration is deeply committed to empowering minority business owners. Were working to lift government barriers so that you can thrive prosper and grow and speaking of growing, our stock market just hit another record high. Its the highest its ever been in history by far. Weve created about 5. 4 trillion only in stock market value 5. 4 trillion, and were very happy about it and a lot of jobs we have the lowest job number since i believe 16 to 17 years, wilbur, right . Lowest unemployment. Were doing really well. Were doing well which makes it better for you as a candidate for president , i pledged to fight to deliver opportunity for every community in america all American Children from the rustbelt to our inner cities deserve great schools, safe neighborhoods and access to hoypaying jobs. I talked a lot about the inner cities on the campaign, and theres tremendous potential in the inner city and were working on that very, very hard. Critical to creating this future is reforming our tax code to produce now investment and development in our country we must bring back our jobs and rebuild americas cities and towns. This is what were doing its time to take care of our country and fight for our families at the center of our America First agenda is our commitment to ensure every child in america has a future of security and a future of hope were one of the highest taxed nations in the world, anywhere in the World Highest taxed costing us millions of jobs and drill yongs and trillions of dollars. Our tax cuts will restore americas Competitive Edge and lower the crushing tax burden on the american people. Its also going to bring back, when we get this passed which i really believe we will i think we have to as a country. Its going to bring back, i would say, 4 trillion back into this country which right now cannot come back its being spent in other countries. Money that wants to come back into the United States cannot come back, but under our plan that money will flow back in it will be very quick, and it will be very easy, and its a lot of money nobody even knows the amount it was 2. 5 trillion a few years ago, so i would say now its got to be close to 4 trillion or maybe above that number. Well find out soon because its going to come back very, very rapidly. Under our plan more than 30 million americans who own Small Businesses will get a 40 cut to their top marginal tax rate. This will be the lowest rate in more than 80 years so this will be the lowest rate you have in more than 80 years thats 1931 is the last time there was a rate this low. Were going to massively reduce the Corporate Tax so that Companies Stay in america, move to america and hire right here in america in other words, they stay in america and dont fire their workers. Thats what were about. Our plan can be summarized in three simple words jocks, jobs, jobs. The awardwinning Business Leaders here today represent the best of america and our determination to succeed and to Grow Together well ensure that more american citizens can unlock potential of which they have tremendous potential, provide for their family and live out the American Dream again, congratulations to all of the awardees its a tremendous achievement, a tremendous achievement i have Great Respect thank you, god bless you and god bless america. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody. Thanks, everyone. All right President Trump at the white house commenting on trade. His tax plan, stock market hitting another record high. Youre looking at the Dow Jones Industrial average as he is today, up nearly 200 points. Our eamon javers at the white house watching these events. Bugsy day for the president. He likes talking about the stock market as we know. Eamon, and he does indeed like to spar with senator corker which hes been busy doing all morning long. Reporter its really dominated the morning in terms of the News Coverage and also in terms of the president s time over the space of about three hours occupied with this feud with senator coaching and its not going to stop now because the president is on his way to capitol hill in the next hour. Hes going to the Republican Senate policy lunch, a traditional lunch that they have every week up there. The president will be there and bob corker will be there at that lunch, so it will be interesting to see what the reports are out of that about the body language between the two men. But bob corker has been going on twitter and on television today making some extraordinary comments considering that he is the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee in the United States senate, talking about a sitting president of the United States of his own party, including a commentabout the president debasing the nation. Heres what he said earlier today. The sad part from my perspective firmly, and i think that the worst of it is going to be just the a contribution that hurts our nation the most. You think the president is debasing our nation. I dont think that thats there ines way that thats the case just the way he conducts himself and goes to such a low level. Just i do. Corker also described his own interactions with the president talking about personal dealings hes had with the president and the staff here at the white house which gives some explanation for his thinking here about the way the president has been managing presidency heres what he said. Ive had private meetings with him, dinners with him i played golf with him ive, you know, multiple occasions where the staff has asked me to please intervene he was getting ready to do something that was really off the tracks, and, look, ive seen no evolution in an upward way. Would i say it appears to me that its almost devolving reporter corker there saying the president s behavior has been devolving, not improving during the course of his presidency for his part President Trump blasting corker five separate times in tweets over the course of about three hours lets show you some of these tweets from the president of the United States. Very personal stuff saying that corker helped president obama give us the bad iran deal. He said he couldnt get elected dog catcher in ten see he also said that he refused to endorse corker and now hes negative on anything related to trump. Hes calling him corker a lightweight who couldnt get reelected in the great state of tennessee saying hes going to fight tax cuts and he called him incompetent head of the Foreign Relations committee and said the entire world was laughing and taking advantage of the United States, calling him little bob coaching, so personal insults being hurled back and forth between the president of the United States and the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee in the Republican Party in the senate today. Well see how this plays in the next hour in that lunch, burks boy, to be a fly on the wall in there, and one interesting observation from here on the north lawn, scott. I just saw ari fleisher who was george w. Bushs press secretary in the early 2000s, he went in to have a meeting with sarah sanders, the press secretary, saying it was the first meeting with sarah sanders, never met her before and hadnt been back to the white house in quite some time so perhaps the establishment of the Republican Party sort of connecting with the trump wing of the Republican Party which occupies the white house right now. Very busy keep us up to date eamon javers on the north lawn of the white house once again for us mr. Cooperman, let me just come back to you. Call me lee. Call me lee, thank you. Theres a lot to get to obviously on this. Im just wondering what look, youve been in the white house, youve been in the oval. Youve dined with the president. Twice, twice, twice ive been in the oval office with president obama and President Trump. Im wondering what you make of what we just heard and the back and forth between senator, core and the president let me ask you that first and then ill follow it with something else. Just a common sense observation. Basically President Trump advantage kwished 16 opponents in the primary he won the election. Who am i, a mere mortal, to tell him how to deport himself, okay . Hes more confident in his view given his success in the election as a business person i would say that his behavior ought to be somewhat different and were going to pay a price if it didnt different in the midterm elections because the republicans cannot go into the midterm elections 0 for 2, you know they didnt get anything done so far on health care, and if theres this great degradation on the debate on taxes and nothing gets done this country is going to move to the left the republicans have to unify and get something done and i dont think you unify by criticizing important leaders in your own party, but, again, im not here how to tell President Trump how to deport himself. I listen to what he says and hes obviously appealing to his base, you know its all jocks, jocks, jobs and his base wants to see it i dont think its healthy i would rather him tweet less and try to unify we need a president that tries to unify there was a comment made the other day by Carl Bernstein which i thought was quite insightful what he said is President Trump is the president of his base but hes not acting as the president of the country and we need somebody to be president of the country. We dont need a president that told the 99 they were being screwed by the 1 . We dont need a president thats appealing to 35 of the country. We need a president thats appealing to the entire country. Again, im not in a position to advise him and, again, he won and won his way so well have to wait and see how things play out. When i listen to him no, im sorry finish your thought. When i listen to him talk, very different deportment, but little bit like, you know, Ronald Reagan in one sense Ronald Reagan ran on a platform, he said im going to restore the lost prestige of the United States of america and im going to do that through through rebuilding defense ill get the government off the backs of the people by reducing regulation and reducing taxes. And im going to balance the budget, and the president reagan found out you could not do the first two without the third, and accomplish the third and he said the hell with the budget and busted the budget. Nobody is talking about the budget, you know, so we have to wait and see how things play out. Right now the market likes synchronized Global Growth it likes restrained inflation. It likes a cooperative fed, but things will evolve, and i think that one of the risks that we face is if we dont get legislation through, that the market is expecting, that will be a negative. Whether its a negative as Steve Mnuchin makes that out to be, it depends. I dont know. Thats exactly where i was going to follow. Lets just say as a result of any of this, if they cant get tax reform done anywhere close to close to the time frame that they would like, to what would the Market Reaction be the treasury secretary alluded to fact or seemed to suggest that the market would tank, my word, not his, if we didnt do that i dont think it would tank unless the economy got derailed, you know, so i would say that its not a positive, but i dont think that market would get tanked over many, many years of doing this, over 50 years toe precise. I found the significance of an event is very much a function of what the market was discounting before the event occurred. If the market keeps going here, then i would say its discounting some part of a tax package. If we dont get it, that would be negative, okay. On the other hand, if the economy remains strong and the Feds Fund Rate remains below it and the profits are rising, i dont think the market would mind that very much, so we have to wait and see how things unfold i dont want to make any blanket comment. Right now i say the conditions for a big decline are not pent at this moment in time and if i had to look at 2018 a year in advance, i would say up 10 to down 15 would be a trading range that i could live with, meaning that i think that would be reason i wouldnt be shockedful market was down next year and i wouldnt be surprise federal it was up in line with earnings and dividends and plus 7 , 8 . This is probably as good as any place to bring in the gang with the desk on me. Joe, steph, josh and jon with russ what do you think on this very question first of all, good to see you lee and hear your comments. Thank you but you talk about, okay, well the market is going to fall if tax cuts dont occur. You then have to believe that the market is rising because well expect tax cuts will actually half. Lets think for a second just about earnings lets think about the facts that twothirds of 3ms revenue is outside the u. S. Think about the bosstism pact of the u. S. Dollar and think about caterpillar and the chinese construction, the positive growth were seeing there, so, again, lehigh lights the synchronized Global Growth and that i think is most important the tenyear is the 2. 40, the highest level since it was 2 hadnt 42. Why, because its about Global Growth and thats why the market is going up. Tax cuts, forget it. And i would just add in addition to Global Growth, especially in the central industry, they have restructured for the last six to seven years. They have streamlined their businesses so when you get that revenue margins are staying firm and thats why caterpillar is able to raise numbers by the amount that they did and why Stanley Black and decker did and you are ri, United Rentals did last week i think the industrial sector is actually really a strong one, and i think its going to continue because of all of these things, and it showcased and highlightsed today. The thing that i will highlight with you, steph, is, of course, cat numbers spectacular. Asiapacific in particular, whether it was construction or resourced, i mean, it was a blowout number for caterpillar obviously the weak dollar helps to a certain extent but a good sign about the recovery we were talking about. The part thats worrisome is the numbers is the numbers in the whirlpool because whirlpool numbers, profits are decelerating because of material costs accelerating. And thats also execution. I dont know how many people still shop at sears, but i would say its a significant number because it shows the inflation for whirlpool. They also can have Pricing Power. You saw cat get Pricing Power and United Rentals gets Pricing Power. Those Companies Get stronger if you do have Pricing Power. The world, if i can throw in, the world is cyclical, and theres no stock up without a reason theres no stock down without a reason and if youre youre an experienced investor its your job to figure out if the numbers are rational or irrational. One of my positions that got killed the last ten days is United Airlines. United airlines sincep 2014 i think, third quarter, they have bought back 93. 6 million shares or 32 of their outstanding shares in the quarter that just ended they bought back 2. 7 of the company at 67. The stock is now trading at 58. 59 as we speak. Okay. 59 they have another 2. 5 of the company they can buy back in the Fourth Quarter we think they will authorize a couple billion buyback next year which is 10 of the company. This company could earn ten bucks a share and thought it was chief at 67 and Warren Buffett owns so of the company and this stock is trading less than six times that we think they will earn next year so everything has a season, you know, in favor, out of favor and our job is to figure out what makes sense and doesnt make sense and what the market has been telling you by its persistent rise is as quoted and said before the synchronized Global Growth. The noncompetitive nature of fixed income you sit here and say to yourself, do you want to buy a 30year bond or a tenyear bond yielding 2. 4 where the average buyer of the bond may be paying away in taxes 40 of the coupon just after inflation and getting negative return . Right. Im holding were going to put you in a Holding Pattern just for a minute well take a quick break, lee. Well have much more with Lee Cooperman on the other side. More stocks hes watching and next hell wade back into the battle over adp between that company and mr. Ackman mr. Cooperman has been very outspoken and on this program. Well talk to him next on halftime his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldnt be able to retire until he was 68. The client realized, i need to get back into the markets i need to get back on track with my plan. The Financial Advisor was able to work with this client. Hes now on track to retire when hes 65. Having someone coach you through it is really the value of a Financial Advisor. You myour joints. Thing for your heart. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back to halftime. The battle over adp. Two proxy Advisory Firms siding with bail ackmans slate of nominees leslie picker has been following that story and joins us more with the latest as we also have Lee Cooperman with us. Bill ackman, of course, getting a vote of confidence from two of the three major proxy Advisory Firms yesterday adps lacks the urgency required to achieve the best potential outcome for adp and its shareholders eganjones echoed that saying adps complacency resulted to the board and managements failure to acknowledge the companys underperformance in recent years now, one major proxy Advisory Firm has yet to publish its recommendation but is expected to do so sometime this week. Historically though, according to proxy insight, the firm recommends all dissident candidates 29 of the time while it sides with management about 44 of the time. Even if ackman wins its an uphill climb to november 7th at the companys annual meeting hes pushing for operational overhaul here with a focus on improving adps efficiency and technology and thinks by putting himself on the board to execute the plan the stock price could double in four years adp, however, has been pushing back arguing that the Current Management Team has produced superior returns and ackmans target mar gyp could be harmful for the business the company says ackmans free structure incentivizes a quote swing for the fences approach that may damage adp in the long run. Scott. Lee, glass lewis which im looking at their pretty hefty note saying, believe, we believe Pershing Square has argued the more convincing case why are they wrong i dont think they know jack about the company. Let me just do this in a succinct tight fashion on friday night i got an email from a mutual friend of bill and myself pointing out a presentation that a smart fellow made at the robinhood Investment Conference recommending adp and i sent our friend who will remain nameless with our email with your permission i would like to take 25 second to read it says i think our friend, and i want to im friendly with bill ackman. I respect bill ackman but hes dead wrong here and let me just explain why. I think our friend bills behavior is nothing short of disgraceful in this instance im not referring to the merits of his ideas or analysis but rather his conduct adp has been one of the Great Success stories of American Business could they or any management do a better job quite possibly but with their track record you dont force them into a costly and timeconsuming proxy fight this. Company went public in 1961 with a market cap of about 15 million, if him reserves me right. Today properly calculated adp blues broad ridge and cdq is near 60 billion in the value of the equity, a compound return over 56 years of 17 per annum there are very few companies in the public arena with that kind of record. They hearn 40 on Shareholder Equity versus 16 for the s p and do it with no net debt versus 40 debttocapital for the s p. The stock heelds a 60 payout ratio and the company has repurchased billions of dollars of shares at attractive prices i sat on the board for nearly 20 years and i can tell you management is shareholder oriented f. Bill approached them price. Ly with his analysis he would have gotten a fair hearing instead he asked initially for ceo replacement and goes public in his criticism why . Frankly, because hes a hot dog, okay as you know, ive always liked and respected bill but his behavior here is terrible. Id be very disappointed in our profession if he won the proxy fight. He told me he spoke to 80 plus former executives of the company who concurred with his views i know for a fact that he did not speak with the three prior ceos and the current ceo in advance of the proxy fight, and they all thinking he has no idea what hes talking about. Its also a fact in a adp has outperformed its peer group in the s p the last decade. I could cite a bunch other statistics annual dividend increases for 42 consecutive years. They processed one of every six governmental payroll checks in the country, okay. Personally if the company is as screwed up and as vulnerable as it zukts suggests it would be a short and not a long. Let me ask you this. Yes. Im not here lee to argue bill ackmans case for hi. I would simply suggest at looking at the when i look at the glass lewis summation of where they end up, they raise points that say what you say may be 100 correct. How do you grow as rapidly as adp has grown and how do you earn 40 owningity if youre not running a good business, how do you achieve those results . Think about it two and a half times more profitable than the average corporation in america bill says pay czechs Profit Margins are here and adps here and therefore they are not optimally managed. Pay czechs and adp are in somewhat different businesses. The analogy would i would use if Goldman Sachs said to me any time you aipac the ten cents a business and want to transact a penny a share give it to somebody else. Adp has world class companies. They are providing a broad away of services and some have higher margins and others with lower margins but the overall mix, when the Company Achieves the record results that they have achieved they dont need somebody like bill ackman telling them how to do their bills. All of us could benefit from a set of eyes looking to business. Theres a way of doing it. A public proxy fight criticizing a company with this track record is just counterproductive, and im arguing over process, not supposition of his recommendations. I know adp would have received bill with open arms, listened to what he had to say and if what he had to say makes sense he would have done it we looked at acquiring over a decade ago this company is not asleep they didnt get to where they got by being asleep. They are not complacent. They are always looking over their shoulder, and im just arguing about process. Im not prepared to argue the merits of his recommendation because basically i retired from the board five years ago and made the mistake of giving all my stock away to charity should have taken cash i wouldnt be surprised if the stock quadrupled the next three years. Im arguing about the prose process. Its wrong and all the proxy services are doing is saying, well, get another outside voice in there and see if you can mix it up a little bit what have you got to lose . They do the proxy service says the company is not keeping pace with smaller competitors, that it has an inefficient Corporate Structure and an insular culture and it performance can be significantly improved and and i say well, guess what they earn 40 in equity. Why dont you give me a list of major corporations that earn 40 over equity. The answer is youre not going to find any, okay . I know financial analysis. Very few companies with their record again, theres no company in america that cant do a better job than they are doing. Is there a possibility for them to do things in an improved fashion, yes, my questions is the company it s ahead of bill ackman Carlos Rodriguez is a very good ceo. The Management Team there is very committed again, how do you go about doing and affecting change do you do it the way hes doing it he has no the three candidates, i dont know them individually, interestingly they have been totally silent in this whole process and dont have any particular credentials one gentleman, not to say anything negative, im 74, hes approaching 72 i believe theres a mandatory retirement age of the adp board. So if he won the proxy fight he couldnt serve unless they change the the bilaumpts i dont want to debate the merits of it. I just ask you, do you grow like this company has grown and generate the returns like this company has generate and have the client base they by doing by falling asleep and falling behind and i think the answer is clearly not and then you ask yourself how do you achieve change do you do it bush say this publicly im not attacking bill and i happen to like bill and respect bill f. Bill called me up with an idea i would investigate the idea because hes respectful in that by tradition columbia sponsored a dinner the night before buffets annual dinner in part because buff felt is a graduate of school and agave a speech and it was three or four years ago, 200 people in the audience bill ackman being one of them and basically i was after i made my speech, someone asked me if i was involved in herbalife and did i have an opinion and i knew bill was in the audience. Im not involved but i do have an opinion number one, i want to make it very clear that bill is bright and capable and generous and a good human being but anyone who gets up in front of 500 people to tell him hes short 20 of the market cap of a company is allowing his arrogance to get in front of his intellect and thats what i said four or five years ago and icahn and george soros went after him and he was very wrong bob wilson, a famous short seller, deceased now, said no one ever got rich publicizing their shorts, and similarly he could have approached the company in a quiet manner, the company would have listened fanned there was merit to his suggestions believe me of they would implement it the. Maybe theres an opportunity for the three of us to set down and have this conversation on television and figure out what happened from here. I know what happened. Bill called me before all this was public im not involved and im not restrict and dont own a share of adp and called me up and said i spent six months studying the company and think they have serious issues i want to make my presentation to the board, but i dont have enough time and im not prepared to make the presentation now i want them to keep a nominating nominating window open for another 30 days, and i said im not calling the company to make that recommendation because theres no way that the company is going agreeley nor should they agree. If you studied this thing for six months you should have gotten yourself in a position to make the presentation before the window closed. Given the company performance, why dont you meet with them over the next 12 months, make your presentation and if they ignore you and they dont adopt what you think you should adopt, launch a proxy fight and he didnt want to wait. I said id be more patient and im a lot older than bill and have less years and i believe in olesse oblige. We can have a gettogether and nobody is going to convince me what im saying is wrong his deportment is all wrong. Leslie picker here, if you were a share holder in adp and you are submitting your vote for the Shareholder Meeting on november 7th, are you looking at the conduct, or are you looking at merits of the sghas what should you be looking at for the future of the company . Im looking at a 42year record of dividend increases im looking at a 40 return on equity unparalleled in american industry done on a debtfree Balance Sheet. Im looking at a record of outperformance, not only for 60 odd years but for the last ten year, okay im looking at a company that processes one out of every six nongovernmental payroll checks in the country and looking at a company that bought back stock without anybody pressuring them at extraordinarily attractive prices over a number of years and a company that pays 60 of its earnings out to shareholders in the norm of dividends and if we cannot back this management and Shareholder Group theres no company in america thats protected. Im not waving a flag here im just calling it way i see it theres a way of conducting himself. This is not an underachieving company. This is an outachieving company that does not deserve to be treated this way what the hell. This is my view, thats all, you know if the company cant get shareholders approving them, if i was the ceo of any company, id be very fearful about the future. Can i just ask you, ill change the subject for a moment but stay on the activist conversation as an observer of p g versus peltz, what do you think of the way that that all ended up activism is a oneby one analysis as a generalization, hedge funds are having difficulty generating returns, so a lot of them are trying to generate the returns by becoming activists, okay, trying to force things to happen, and ive seen terrifically intelligent activism and ive seen dumb activism, okay, im not familiar and do not own p g and dont have an opinion on that one. If i go through the intelligent activism and negative activism, im going to tee off a lot of my friends in the business, but activism must be looked at one at a time. All im saying here is we do not need a public activist at adp. Again, im not adp i dont own a share of adp im talking as a private money manager who is willing to speak out on a subject where i think somebody is doing something wrong and im not saying bill has all poor recommendations but think adp achieved this record by being complacent and asleep they are in a very competitive business and very aware of desk top computing and how people can do a lot of what they do downmarket and replace them and they have been very active developing Human Resources capability and to think that they are asleep at the stick is ridiculous it its ridiculous. Well take a quick break well come back and guest more on the markets and lees perspective there and well go to the futures pit to find out whats happening with oil today. Were back after this. Volatile markets. Something we all think about as we head into retirement. Its why Brighthouse Financial is committed to help protect what youve earned and ensure it lasts. Introducing shield annuities, a line of products that allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. While maintaining a level of protection in down markets. So you can head into retirement with confidence. Talk with your advisor about shield annuities from Brighthouse Financial established by metlife. Welcome back to the halftime report. Im seema moldy. Watching oil rally for the Third Straight session whats the drive behind the move that were seeing today . Seema, a nice pop, about a 50cent and he borrowed Mario Draghis whatever it takes pledge they are getting back to the fiveyear averages they are talking about additional production cuts and will reduce spry couple that with geopolitical resertcation of iran. Crude has been trading in air in ao range for much of this year do you see a breakout coming up . I do. Weve seen a narrow channel upwards since the low in april, and were going to continue that until we get some more news. News today, the fact that they actually have a plan or they are going to form lays a plan of tightening and quantitative easing on the live show were joined by Rebecca Patterson who will reveal the single biggest risk to the market rally right now, plus, well bring you trade ideas for crude oil and the u. S. Dollar thats all at top of the hour. Scott, back to you. Up next, well do final n ades with lee coopermaand talk to the folks at the desk as well about their picks were back after this. This is where i trade andrs. Manage my portfolio. Since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. Okay. Im plugged into equities trade confirmed and i have Global Access 24 7. Meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. Visit learnfuturestoday. Com to see what adding futures can do for you. Of emerging markets obsolete . At pgim, we see alpa in the trends, driving specific sectors of out performance. 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All across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd. Ny. Gov. To grow your business with us in new york state, its not just a car, its your daily treat. Go ahead, spoil yourself. The es and es hybrid. Experience amazing. Buying right there also, they were buying here at the 13450 straight next week, with the stock just below 12. Its a name we dont talk about a lot. It was active. Lee, you have the dow plus 201 opinion banks are having a pretty good day. The 10 year, do rates continue to incrementally rise . I know youre invested in some of these names we own some wells fargo, citibank look, ive been of the view that Interest Rates are below where they want to be. Interest rates will rise i think the only bubble is fixed income i dont think equities are in a bubble i think that the market valuation as long as we remain in a recession, allows for higher rates the issue will be how high and what the sleep of the rise is, a year from today, we were a 3 10year government we had a pro Business Environment i would say the stock market would be higher i dont think on the set any more what should we tell the shareholder when they vote thank management for the fabulous job theyve done historically we hope you listen to mr. Ackermans recommendations, and if they make sense you adopt them when i retired from Goldman Sachs in 1991, i got invited by adp to join the board. When i callinged John Weinberg for some fatherly advice his dad, who was a wall street legend, sydney weinberg senior i asked him what he thought. His comment was, go on the board if you need something to dress up your obituary i went on to gain experience and see the other side of the fence. You go on the board, you become re12rik9ed you go on the board, you become restricted i dont think adp needs any direction. I dont think going on board is a wonderful panacea today, youre better off letting management do the heavy lifting. Josh brown was attempting to ask you a question earlier, we do have some time. So go ahead. I forgot, lets i want to make a statement, and let you respond to, i know youve seen multiple errors of market history, if you had done nothing this year, and frankly, most of last year but follow trend, and not focused on overall market valuation, you had not been given a reason to sell since last june when we concluded the brexit moras that seems to be something that continues to work. We look at billable market and theres not a lot of signal there. Crash of 87 happened, we were 25 times adjusted cyclical earnings why do we look at that, why dont we focus on investor behavior and try to pick up on a trend change instead we have to have information to appear on shes like mr. Wapners show. Look, look, the reality is. The conditions for big decline are not present. I was on the program in january, february of 15 or 16 i forget the year, where the market had a big sell off in january or february, i didnt see the basis for it, i thought the market would sell at least 15 times earnings what youre saying is a trend is your friend, and the two day moving around is rising, stay engaged. Some people invest that way, i invest on the fundamentals, i think theyre reasonably favor bible. If i could buy United Airlines at six times what i think they earn next year, or shy at nine times what i think they can earn next year, these are substantive growing corporations with good Balance Sheets id rather earn that over cash any day of the week. I know you are positioned for the move you have oil at 52 now. Sfl sustainability absolutely, we own hess, wpx energy you know, the World Economy is not going to grow 3, 3 1 2 . And i think the demand growth will outstrip supply growth, i think the prices will rise, i dont think it will rise dramatically, it will rise. You said there were stocks out there that still looked atractive, im wondering what you see when you look at a stock like ge . Well, they have issues. Again, i know a lot about what i earn have you been tempted to get into ge given the selloff and the shares i havent looked into it. We have enough things that are working well when i dame to the program today, i wrote down facebook 20 times earnings we like amc networks, eight times earnings buying back a lot of stock. A new name for us dinone very interesting company, potential takeover candidate in a group where valuations are much richer. Keith meister is involved in that, am i right i believe so. Keith is a bright fellow. I mention the oil, hess is 7 times earnings, parsley is 8 times earnings im using 28 estimates there are a lot of things to be done every stock i own is a new high list if its at a new low list, im out of business. I have a combination of both im most comfortable with value, so im 5 google 1 1 2 facebook, 50 basis points amazon im with the more value oriented names. Google and facebook will grow less rapidly than amazon and netflix, their valuation is different. Netflix is up ending the Entertainment Industry unfortunately, were out of time im going to call this Lee Cooperman unplugged today. Maybe well reconvene and have a conversation about whats happening with adp Lee Cooperman, with us give me a quick name in. Chubb emerson power starts now. Dow 24,000, here we come, and earning s palooza. The feud between trump and corker taking another nasty turn today. The president calling corker incompetent, koocorker calling trump completely untruthful. And a muddy offroad sign the consumer is feeling pretty good about life right now the ceo of this mystery high