Is public enemy number one. Its more of a threat than terrorism. Those who may be exposed or being held in quarantine including thousands aboard a crews ship to japan. Airline flights to and from china and other National Events around the globe are being canceled because the fear of the deceased spreading parade is also concern the virus will have a blow to chinas economy, the world secondbiggest. What kind of Ripple Effect that could be. The u. S. Economy does not seem to be overly impacted right now but that could change. In the semiannual report to congress this week Federal Reserve chairman jay powell said the risk here is not clear, but there will likely be some effect and the Federal Reserve will be watching. Careful to see if any follow could be persistent. Treasury secretary and said this is a onetime event that wont last beyond 20 20. A little earlier on foxbusiness he pointed out that it has led to the white house lowering growth projections. So what is the future of this deadly disease . Will miraculously go away when the weather warms up in april as President Trump as suggested . Will become an even greater threat to the Public Health over the coming months. Here with the latest mo we know about the virus is professor Steven Morris at Colombia University school of health. His 1993 book emerging viruses was selected by american scientist magazine as one of the top 100 science books of the 20th century. Mr. Morris thank you so much for joining us. So start explain from scratch what is coronavirus and how did it come about . The coronavirus is really a big big group of viruses theyve known for a long time and in fact among humans we have for circulating coronavirus is that we dont even really think about. They have been with us for ages. They cause flu like or cold like symptoms during the flu season. And they are just another respire tori virus that causes cold and flu. Gerry so whats special about this one . These are not human coronavirus as they are coming from other species. So there really is a Great Variety of coronavirus. And a number of different species. The one that seems to have the greatest number of diversity of them is the batch. There are many bat species and there are many bats coronavirus. Its really not the bats fault they happen to have a long evolutionary relationship. Sars originally came from a little horseshoe bat a small insect eating bat. In china. Gerry so how do they transmit from animals like bats to humans . Probably bad luck on our part. Sars for example was a coronavirus that got our attention the most as a human disease problem, that was back in 2003 you will remember, and that came from these little bats sold and live animal markets. And then somehow whether through an intermediate mammal like the. [inaudible] its about the size of a kat its actually related to weasels and ferrets. It surprised saw a sin solves in the live animal markets together with bats. It may be that it came to us through that intermediate or directly from the bat to the human. But handling these animals coming in contact with these animals enabled the coronavirus to get into human beings. Gerry and it seems to spread and parts early on, really because the Chinese Authority did not handle it very well, they dismiss the early worries that the doctors represented the authority said they did not want to take action because i did not have authority from above. So it does look like that initial takeoff was the them not taking very good Public Health and menstruation in china. Theres always a delay initially when these infections are recognized. This is the flu season after all. Many respiratory viruses are circulating now. So i think you would normally expect some delay in recognizing this is different. This is something new. But on the other hand, beyond that, there was unfortunately a delay while perhaps they were trying to avoid embarrassment or avoid having to tell higher authorities in the outside world. That gave the virus a chance to spread. Gerry why is it so dangerous . I dont mean necessarily in terms of the specifics of the biology, but why is it so much more dangerous than the flu . Millions of people die around the world because of the flu. What mixes the threatening . I think we still need to know more about it and see more cases to know whether it really is much more dangerous than the flu. Right now i am sort of thinking that the first approximation, if i had to think of the thing most similar in the way its going to behave would be Something Like pandemic influenza. We know from the studies that have been done so far, that it seems to spread more efficiently from persontoperson than pandemic influenza. But somewhat more efficiently. Maybe twice as well, maybe one and a half times as well. Gerry explain how that is done its not necessarily someone sneezing on someone or keeping poor hygiene and shaking hands. How is it transmitted from human to human . Thats whats really interesting about this coronavirus we have these old corroded viruses in humans that people have really taken for granted for the longest period of time. They really havent done much damage, we dont know about severe infection or death, or if they occur, they just are not noticed. So they are probably pretty rare but everybodys probably had experience with those coronavirus. This is a different type of coronavirus. Much more closely related to sars for example. In fact its a close relative of sars. Sars did not spread from person to person neither did the middle eastern horse for torrey syndrome virus murders. Gerry how did spread then . Those spread their hospitals settings by lapses in infection people. Gerry so this is much more in texas . Thats a problem we hadnt any experience with the coronavirus that was like sars, but spread like the flu from persontoperson. Whats really dominating the infection right now, is its ability to spread from persontoperson. There are healthcare infections just like youd expect to sars, but they were minor compared to the ability of this virus to spread. Gerry professor i just want to take a quick break there, coming up we will talk about how bad the coronavirus might get. How much it might spread in this country and around the world. And what we can do to protect at Fisher Investments, we do things differently and other Money Managers dont understand why. Because our way works great for us but not for your clients. Thats why were a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. So, what do you provide . Cookie cutter portfolios . Nope. We tailor portfolios to our clients needs. But you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right . We dont have those. So, whats in it for you . Our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. At Fisher Investments were clearly different. Theres a company thats talked than me jd power. People 448,134 to be exact. They answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. And when they were done, chevy earned more j. D. Power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. So on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say thank you, real people. Youre welcome. Were gonna need a bigger room. woman no matter what business you are in, Digital Transformation never stops. Verizon keeps business ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. third man and could even build ai into their customer experiences. We also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. woman where machines could talk to each other and expertise could go anywhere. woman when it comes to Digital Transformation, verizon keeps business ready. And my side super soft . Yes with the sleep number 360 smart bed, on sale now, you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. But can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. And snoring . No problem. And done. So, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus 0 interest for 36 months. Ends monday gerry i am back within fetishist disease professor morse. How bad could this get . Its much more serious in terms of sars. As of thursday more than 60000 cases were reported, more coming up presumably. Sars was only a few thousand, but the mortality rate, the number people die from is lower than sars. Its clearly spreading rapidly through china, through small clusters around the world. You have any sense of how serious this could become . I think it depends a lot on what we do. Because one of the things we are doing right now, which is really unprecedented, is try to contain it at its source. And theres been a lot of talk about this theoretically with pandemic influenza even going back to the infamous bird flu, h5n1. So theoretically its a seer interesting question but nobodys tried to operationalize it, to actually get to the early cases and prevent the further transmission of these infections. It could be done with pandemic flu, and it could be done with this one. But its a tremendously difficult task. Its very arduous, very herculean task. Gerry how do we do it . I meant help take precautions but a society in a country how do we protect ourselves . What were seeing right now and most of the world, is that the Public Health authority and the medical authorities in many countries of the world, and the who the World Health Organization and others, are really trying to restrict the virus and what you generally do there is you screen people, try to find the cases of those who were infected, and isolate them, separate them and find their contacts. Recall that Contact Tracing its a very traditional method and we see it in the movies about outbreaks. But this is what Public Health generally does. A lot of chewed leather work to find who might have been exposed, who might have been affected and quarantine them or test them and await until we can be sure they are safe. Gerry how many exposures we think we may already have in the United States . One of the challenges here is many, many people in the early stages of this would travel from china even thousands from real hot itself. And that Contact Tracing we have to do. What do we know about the potential spread in the United States . So far in the United States it has been remarkably well contain. In most other countries there has been some local transmission. In hong kong, and singapore and a few other places. But considering how easily this spreads, this is going to spread like the flu or arguably a little bit better, somewhat better. Considering how easily this spreads, the attempts to keep it under control, i dont know how long its going to be possible to do that. But the attempt to keep it under control have been remarkably successful. Something thats really never been tried before and many people would have been skeptical to even have succeeded this long. Its really a demonstration of what could be done with tremendous political will and tremendous resource investment. Its hard to sustain that investment. Gerry what precautions should convince individuals be taking. Obvious at people are not traveling to china that makes good sense. The transmission has been limited so far. Should we be wearing surgical masks, avoiding crowds, avoiding going to interNational Events were maybe there would be carriers of the virus . Everyone thanks in terms of masks, but generally they are not that useful simply because in many cases people just dont know how to wear them properly and so often they cause a false sense of security and cause more trouble than theyre worth. The precautions we are recommending are very similar to what we recommend during flu pandemics. Until a vaccine or Something Like that comes along, so we are buying time right now until a vaccine can be developed and deployed, we are basically suggesting cover your coughs and sneezes, wash your hands, especially after you have covered your coughs and sneezes, that all this other times. Gerry do the elbow bump instead of shake hands . You remember that the elbow bump during ebola. And theres probably no harm to that as you know and many of these countries in asia, bowing is more traditional than shaking hands. Perhaps well do that. Gerry another quick break there and will become back we will look pass that out to see what other diseases might be on the horizon and look at the history of viruses and whether we are now better prepared for them that we were in the wherever we want to go, autosave your way there with chase. Chase. Make more of whats yours. [ fastpaced drumming ] and my side super soft . Yes with the sleep number 360 smart bed, on sale now, you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. But can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. And snoring . No problem. And done. So, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus 0 interest for 36 months. Ends monday Steven Morris is my guest and how do we put this in of the last thousand years theres been repeated plant pandemics the plagues in the middle ages, the spanish flu in 1980 to 19 20 killed over 50 million people. Bob said there is aids in the 80s and 90s. Are we better prepared . Is our society, we as People Better protected . Are we healthier now . Or is this another of these massive viruses, perhaps the coronavirus waiting to happen . I think a little bit about. We are better prepared but not as prepared as we need to be. We are more aware of the situation, we understand that many of these are viruses and infections already in nature that are just getting opportunities to enter the population. Hiv was a prime example, it probably originally came from a chimpanzee and semi got infected while perhaps hunting and then it was able to get into the human infection into the human population by a number of human behaviors. So we obviously have a great deal as we change the environment and we have better tools now, 20 or 20 five years ago we started the program for monitoring emergence degrees there is no way for people to communicate when they had something unusual. If you they say in new york if they see something say seven craters almost impossible and and we try to speed up that process and their ways now to do that even faster. At the same way the world is much more enter connected more than a hundred years ago when we had the spanish flu we had more exotic foods traveling around the world. I wonder to what extent has globalization on the way the world has become more integrated to set increase the threat to it . Absolutely thats why we need to be really vigilance and have better systems for early warning. And take them seriously, know what to respond to and how to respond appropriately. I think were still learning that. We have better technological tools, but also the dangers are greater because there are places where we are encroaching on environments to be exposed to new infections. That can be around the world savannah capability of moving on a plane within 20 four hours come hear from some remote place. Gerry will one thing we know about the viruses as they have all been spread by emerged accidentally people one thing people worry about is biowarfare and the fact that there are some of these whether they are viruses or toxins or whatever the people could spread and cause huge damage. Do we again have a sense of the potential threat for malicious actors who could do this kind of thing . So far, i think nature has been way ahead of us in this respect. It is been a much greater innovator and headed has had more time and material to work with. And so the attempts for example just after world war ii, or just during world war ii, and just after to try to develop a biowarfare programs, the United States as you know got out of this business in 1969, and strictly works on defensive areas. The reality is its not easy to do. So i think nature has always been at least one step and often more than one step ahead of us. I think the same procedures, the same Warning Systems and readiness would be effective against any Infectious Disease outbreak. Gerry weve got a wrap up at a final question when do we think this coronavirus outbreak will be done . Some people say once the weather improves in the summer and all this things we associate with the winter it will go away. Are you optimistic this a be relatively shortlived it will be clear by the summer . No im not actually. We dont know. However i would not want to pin any hopes on Something Like that because we just dont know enough about this. I think we need to continue what we are doing now, continue trying to develop vaccines and continue trying to contain it to the extent that its possible. As long as we can as we buy time right now. Gerry the vaccine would not be available for some time correct . Probably about a year. But there are some candidates on the horizon. Be a professor thank you very much for this very interesting insights and your knowledge on that. Just ahead, it took just a few days for the impeachment acquittal to give his enemies some new at fidelity, online u. S. Stocks and etfs are commissionfree. And when you open a new brokerage account, your cash is automatically invested at a great rate. Thats why fidelity leads the industry in value while our competition continues to talk. Talk, talk while our competition continues to talk. Uh, fifteen minutes could save you 15 ain . Or more on Car Insurance. I think were gonna swap over to over seventyfive years of savings and service. 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[presenter] for just 25 well rush an emergency survival package to help one desperate elderly person for a month. Call right now. In ukraine theres no support network. They dont have food cards or neighbors that come in to help. Theyre turning to us because they have nowhere else to turn. [presenter] your gift is a lifeline to help these elderly jewish Holocaust Survivors. Help them to live out their final years with dignity and love. Call right now. What i pray is that you wont turn your eyes but you will look at their suffering and your heart will be changed. [presenter] with your gift of just 25 we can rush an emergency survival package to help one desperate elderly person for a month. Call right now. Gerry next week a federal judge will sentence roger stone, former Campaign Advisor to President Trump who is convicted to lying to congress a witness tampering. The initial sentencing recommendation by prosecutors a seven to nine years in prison was even some liberal jurors agreed quite harsh. The Justice Department has every right to review and alter these kinds of decisions and it did just that. Suggesting this we can revise recommendations that a lighter sentence to be fair. The judge took us make her own decision, whatever the prosecutors say. But all this took place against the background of yet another twitter to raid by President Trump who called the charge is horrible and unfair. The president s view like everyone is entitled to his own view but his words had larger consequences than yours or mine. Those words can undermine public faith in the integrity of the criminal process. Faith it is essential to trust is a very institution of democracy. Attorney general william barr was right to say on friday that the president s tweeting makes it impossible to do my job. His words were discrediting a perfectly fair decision by the Justice Department. In one single tweet, the president undermined his own case, damage the Justice Department edge at reputation and handed his political opponents another weapon in which to attack him. While thats it for us this week, for the latest show updates be sure to follow and twitter, facebook an instagram paired i will be back next week ill back next week here on wall street journal at large. Thank you so much for joining us. Jack welcome to barrons roundtable where the sharpest minds on wall street meet to get behind the headlines and prepare you for the week ahead. Im jack otter. We begin what we think are the three most important things investors should be thinking about right now. Big tech acquisitions under scrutiny by the ftc about what it could mean for investors. Mortgage originations are the highest level since 2005 as housing finally back on track . And trouble at bed bath and beyond and under armour shows the turnarounds are hard to pull off. What to expect for other struggling retailers for on the barrons roundtable my colleagues al roots, carlton english, and jack howe. This story was a little underreported and i dont think anyone knows quite what to make of it federal trade commission made a pretty stunning demand to Tech Companies saying we want data going back ten years on all the purchases and acquisitions we did not look into. Thats nearly 500 deals for microsoft google and several others. And when is the right time for investors to panic because weve been talking for a long time about these guys having too much power there has to be a reckoning coming is this the moment . I think you can look at a case study you can look at microflora soft. This is her second go around of being accused of eating the world. First it was 20 years ago they are still on top in terms of market. I think there is a path here where you come to a resolution were i think by the way you might also look at the president holding up for cameras the sheet with the mega stocks on at microsoft, apple, google and amazon. I know googles called alphabet now, he is proud of the rising stock. We are talking about abcs that are under the direction of the white house so if you are an investor you have to make some comfort in that. Eric points out what you really should be worried about more than that are the self policing efforts on the part of these companies. You can have apple and alphabet for example, doing things in their operating system to crack down on Location Tracking that could hurt the ability of a company like facebook to sell ads. Jack and think this a lot of political nuances you pointed out quite accurately President Trump likes to see the success in this important part of the market. At the same time, republicans are accusing the social Media Companies and having anti conservative bias. Democrats meanwhile dont like the democrats on privacy. Theres a lot of threads running here. Gillibrand just said she wanted privacy agency. Its called the csi Data Protection agency thats gotta be coming down the road. This is not something going away. Its something you have to keep an ion. But you just have to move the backdrop in the context for these are companies, many of which are growing their topline by 20 a year. I dont think the valuations are crazy. Sometimes i go 20 five times the earnings. There could be some breakup and regulation. I dont know if its something within a destroyed value. Jack we had built the stable while ago that he made the point while he doesnt like the idea, google would have broken up he thanks some of the parts were worth more than the hole and he wouldve made money for shareholders. Its possible. Jack outlets talk about something a little more mundane, housing from a stock perspective is not mundane at all. He said this Mortgage Applications have reached a new hyper elicited some of these stats. Housing turn which is newhome sales and existing home sales up 11 in december paired Housing Starts up 50 yearoveryear in december. Mortgage rates down almost a over the past year, that saves a person buying a three or 400,000dollar house two or 3000 a year. So the sector has seemed to catch fire just all at once. The homebuilding stocks, stocks like dr horton, kb homes, toll brothers, up 20 yeartodate already. They still only trade for about 13 times earnings. So you can take a step back and say you know what, maybe some of the fear of the horrible financial crisis when housing got hammered, maybe its finally passed in the stocks can work. Jack leading up to the housing crisis we built former houses and anybody needed that start of the crash the way we do we get all these pentup demand and i look to that before he came on the air you get a 20 year mortgage for the two handle lower than 3 . Thats dennis person buying. Reviewers all around the country who should really be popping the champagne right now . Which region do you expect house prices are the best of your . As an unfortunate house seller in connecticut, not connecticut. Its a bit of a cliche, where you have migration, illinois, new jersey, connecticut those housing prices are stagnant. Of course all real estate is local you have good markets, places that have immigration and job growth in the southern u. S. Is great. Atlanta and austin, exactly you have a lot of tech jobs moving to those areas. Jack i want to go real quick on a call not so great sector thats retail. See medical its interesting we talk but everything look at housing a look at bed bath and beyond a home good seller which has been massively underperforming. Trying to become a turnaround story, they are trying to do the right thing. They put in the former merchandising headed target as a chief executive officer. But he faces a really tough task for your people are not going into the stores. This week they said this quarter theyve already seen a five more than 5 drop in sales. They have assets to sell, they have to figure out their pricing, they have to figure out how do you get people excited to walk into the stores again . When you have a chain of stores theres one problem it people are coming in. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. Save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus 0 interest for 36 months. Ends monday. I need all the breaks as athat i can get. Or, at liberty butchemel. Cut. Liberty mu. Line . Cut. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Cut. Liberty m. Am i allowed to riff . What if i come out of the water . Liberty biberty. Cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Jack jack, just in time for valentines day, you had an interesting conversation with joey love then, he is running iac. Specifically maps, tender, okcupid, did he hook you up at the tender account . And you can believe it some lucky lady out there already locked all of this down. It didnt require online games. We did have a chat lately and we wondered why now is the right time to divest Online Dating and whats next for this portfolio thats been a spectacular portfolio over time. Joey the Holding Company you run, iac, is responsible for the explosive growth in both match and tender, the Online Dating services. In my book that makes you a love expert. So my first question before we get to the business i want one insider tip on how someone can stand out online in the search for a relationship. Not a fling joey, a relationship. While we own these businesses and we have done very well with these businesses, i dont know that i am a love expert. And truth is i have never been a customer of these businesses. So im not the best one to ask about that. And i will say this is the same with everything in business, try to be unique. Get everybody, the vast majority of people start every combination with three letters, hey. Its really hard to stand out a future in the same thing as a of the people are doing and you dont have any personality, try something else. Try something thats unique about you or unique about the other person that gets a conversation going. Tells her with pay. The distribution of the rest your holdings right here in match group including tender now, why is now the right time for this distribution . Is not a perfect answer for that. Right now matches in a great moment in his trajectory. You talk about match group in total is growing very nicely. Its generating good cash flow and can stand on its own. When we look at whether to separate our businesses which is something we have done many times in our past, this will be our eighth i think of those. We look at what is the business that is separating its looking out whats the business thing behind looks like . Do both of us end up in a better place by being separate . And the answer here is yes. In one of the factors is how much a match has grown and grown to integrate way overshadowed the rest of iac pride be like that growing process tonight to focus on that to grow again. You will still own most of angies home services. I look at that to find a place to get find your reputable plumber. Whats your longterm Business Vision for what that business can be calm. See. Im glad to hear you think of us is that place and im glad think that too. When you think deep into the future, i think you look to us for Home Maintenance entirely. Changing the concept of home ownership. Right now i live in new york city and i live in a condo building. So i have a superman my building who is consistent with a lot of people who live in apartment buildings. When you are a homeowner, most homeowners are not that great the components of owning a home. If you had a thing like a super you could rely on as reliably as a super, thats the kind of service we can helpfully provide over time that kind of reliability. P9 i was looking at the longterm returns for iac, two years, five years, tenures, 20 or scum if clobbered the market. What every spinoff Something Big wall street says hes not going to be able to do it again. Are you going to be able to do it again . Tell me about one or two other things you have cooking in the portfolio right now. I certainly hope we are going to be able to do it again. Every time weve done it, people assume and cant do it again. Weve got a great business and thought Publishing Business that is the only growing digital profitable publisher out there for the new digital publisher with a bunch of different products in healthcare and lifestyle and finance. Jack right up there with barrons. Com i just say . [laughter] exactly. Invested pd on barrons i think theres something there we should talk about that. Weve got that mio which is growing really nicely, its a really nice tailwind in that every entity and is providing the tools for video storytelling today. It launched last week and new product if youve never created video before. And you talked about angie, angie is going to be a new piece of iac and that has kind of unlimited the frustration and time that people have in the homeowner ship. Speed nine you have a lot of pictures on where to invest. Can you give me a key to success when youre choosing among deals . There are few things we looked at we look at the leadership of that business we like to buy businesses a very capable leaders. We look at the market they are in. We like to go in big markets of big opportunities of one of the key things we look for is where scale improves the product not just the price. What other kinds of businesses when you add on another customer, that product makes it better for all the other customers. You can imagine how that works in dating. The more people there on the platform to better describe her buddy on that platform. The more plumbers and the more homeowners on angie, the better it is for others on the platform. Those are the kind of businesses we look for and it has worked. Jack your chairman has the votes, a lot of people think of him foremost is the guy who created the Fox Television network. But past the 20 years he has a better investment record than Warren Buffett. Whats your relationship there like . How active is he in the deals . Or in the Company Operations and things like that . He is very involved in the deals. Not in daytoday involved in the operations, but we talk regularly or any nose would start going on in the business. Were on email, phone, or meeting in person most days. Jack if i had this arrangement i would take credit for everything going up and blame you for anything going down you can tell me wont let them get back to him. Always good to talk to joey, thanks. Jack coming up our ideas of what you can do now to improve your portfolio. And Warren Buffett is going to release his letter im your mother in law. And i like to question your every move. Like this left turn. Its the next one. You always drive this slow . How did you make someone i love . That must be why youre always so late. I do not speed. And thats saving me cash with drivewise. My son, he did say that you were the safe option. And thats the nicest thing you ever said to me. So get allstate. Stop bossing. Where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. This is my sons favorite color, you should try it. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady . [tina] youre an old lady. Wheneveryone is different. A, which is why Xfinity Mobile created a different kind of wireless network. One that saves you money by letting you design your own data giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Now you can choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. No one else lets you do that. Design your own data with Xfinity Mobile. Its wireless reimagined. Simple. Easy. Awesome. And my side super soft . Yes. With the sleep number 360 smart bed, on sale now, you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. Can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. But can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. So, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus 0 interest for 36 months. Ends monday jack Warren Buffett is at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway since 1965 with buffett now approaching 90 years old, who could be his successor at what might the conglomerate due next to boost the stock . Barrons associate andrew berry joins us now. You report a thousand dollars investment Berkshire Hathaway back in 1965 would get to about 20 million now versus i dont really have a hundred 50000 if you just put that money in an index fund, which didnt exist back then. But the same time wall street is not very happy with the article is going on . The reason is that investors worry about succession, who can fill his giant shoes. Most of theres some concern that berkshires holding a lot of cash, over 100 billion in the buying back very little stock and not paying a dividend. With that huge cash power has everyone itching for him to make an acquisition. I think some possible targets include airlines, which she likes, Delta Airline southwest, other possible targets could include fedex, ups, Carnival Cruise lines and even walgreens. Kennedy see you obviously have a better view of a Berkshire Hathaway than wall street does, what you think the market is missing about Warren Buffett right now . I think the market is missing that its pretty inexpensive right now and the company has around 205 billion annually and there could be some positive developments in the next couple of years. Andriy you and i have barrons work 10 feet from each other and i think thats too much distance i like it when you are on the show we are fighting a half apart from each other. Everyone is talked about the buffett premium on berkshire. But now we are talking about maybe the value will be unlocked and the posted buffett world. Is there still out buffett premium . I think the premium is back on track basely gone right now it can outperform the s p 500 and the next five and ten years. You can see financial break above the company, youll probably see a dividend in the next couple year end a bigger stock buyback. Did this happen before the succession to you think buffett will even start to sell or spin assets as part of the succession . Always the debate they hold something forever. He likes to hold things forever and i think the view may be heat waits until he departs. I think there might be a bigger Buyback Program in the next year or two. Theres also the possibility of the dividend, the Companies Holding a lot of cash and not doing much with it. Theres a possible he, slim on the mic some major sale of businesses. With debbie good idea . That would be a good idea if theyre large and almost unmanageable right now. He doesnt really manage it that well or closely. I think it will be a challenge for his success to keep the company together. So that successor, theres the three guys it kinda seen his front runners you handicapped them a little but can we go through them . I think the front runners greg abell who has Brookshire Hathaway energy and i think a dark horse hes been at brookshire for the last ten or so years todd combs, who just got named to the top job brookshires very profitable auto business, geico, that means he could be on the rise. Jack silly james who does insurance to see other pictures. Hes made tens of millions of dollars for berkshire hes close to 70 now think hes too old for the job. Could you explain the dynamic that hes able to help with. A lot of Insurance Companies dont make money on our premiums they just pay them right out for claims. But buffett uses this float, has our customer. Theres been a hundred billion dollars afloat, most insurance companys lose money on underwriting they payoff more in claims and they do in premiums. Berkshires is consistently profitable which is been very unusual and very beneficial. You think we have to move beyond fetid and forget it . S p 500s beat every thing under the sun is their point that will stop and maybe berkshire will return to think better after that . First of all buffett likes it thanks it can beat the s p over time. It hasnt for the last ten years. But for the next five or ten years whether hes there or not is quite the prediction. Jack one other thought todd combs, what has he been adding to the portfolio . For conference that should he run the conglomerate he will make good purchases . I think he knows a lot about it we dont know what he owns because buffett doesnt disclose that. But is close to many Financial Companies hes on the board of j. P. Morgan, is very well thought of a j. P. Morgan. That adds to his allure as the brookshire who to replace buffett with. Buffett with. Be nineeeee wherever we want to go, we just have to start. Autosave your way there with chase. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Theres a company thats talked than me jd power. People 448,134 to be exact. They answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. And when they were done, chevy earned more j. D. Power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. So on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say thank you, real people. Youre welcome. Were gonna need a bigger room. Youve been hearing a lot about 5g. But theres 5g. And then theres verizon 5g. Were building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Its more than 10x faster than some other 5g networks. And its rolling out in cities across the country so people can experience speeds that ultra wideband can deliver. 1. 7 gigs here in houston. 1. 8 gigs here in frigid omaha. Almost 2 gigs here in los angeles. Thats outrageous its like an eightlane highway compared to a twolane dirt road. Jack jack and this week streetwise calm you right that youre waiting for bitcoin to go full tesla. When you talk much . Its that 10000 its up from 4000 bitcoin a year. Its up from 4,010,000 and i had two questions about that why is it not yet hitting a new high of 20000 and why is it not worth zero . Those are what explore in the column. New high because first of i look at is kind of a proxy for nonsense and it breaks very low and scarce. I thought it would be further along, also theres something coming up for bitcoin it happens about every four years its a reward for minding these on computers that drop by half. Some people call that that having people caught the happening, i like having because it sounds more like dungeons dragons and i secretly suspect all crypto currency is an elaborate game of dungeons dragons anyhow. But in the past that pretended to proceed a rapid price and the christ. Jack when he hits that pecan stars to set off, look for other risk assets. If you want to melt up now, say not until bitcoin goes full tesla. Jack thinking of tesla we go from elon musk to marijuana. Its a lot of investors that are looking to get into the cannabis industry. Its a very risky industry baby absolute feel you must, bear in system analysis looks at a good cash position and green thumb industry topped our list as that. It has more cash on hand, again we would caution its a really risky industry. A lot of regulatory headwinds coming up. Jack speaking of risk real quick what you pick . So coronavirus is still rolling markets, still a big issue. Our capita said something very smart take a look at some chinese stocks that you really like, highquality stocks, that could be hit and effective. If they get here price target, carnival pacitti combined them. I really like allie baba. Jack our great, great ideas everybody to read more check out this weeks edition that barrons. Com, deborah tells an twitter at barrons online, thats all first countable seated next week on barrons home. Have a great weekend. Lou dobbs next. [ ] lou good evening, everybody, the deep state tonight appears to be all the more powerful and the rule of law in serious question. After 22 months of investigation, the department of justice today told former fired fbi acting director Andrew Mccabe that he will not face criminal prosecution for lying to fbi investigators three times. The departments own Inspector General found in 2018 that mccabe lied on four separate occasions about his role in leaks about