WHEN: Today, Thursday, November 21st
WHERE: CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report"
Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital Co-Founder, on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report" today. Following are links to the interview on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000219381, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000220401 and http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000220400
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
EINHORN ON APPLE MANAGEMENT
THEY SAID THEY'D BUY BACK $100 BILLION OF STOCK AND PAY OUT THAT AMOUNT OF DIVIDENDS OVER THREE YEARS, WHICH IS REALLY PRETTY GOOD. IT GIVES YOU ABOUT 7%, 8% YIELD EFFECTIVELY ON THE COMPANY. I THINK THAT THAT MOVES APPLE'S, YOU KNOW, CAPITAL MANAGEMENT FROM, LIKE, A D-MINUS TO A C-PLUS, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. SO OBVIOUSLY, MORE COULD BE DONE THAT WOULD UNLOCK PROBABLY EVEN MORE VALUE, BUT IT'S NOT SO BAD AT THIS POINT THAT I REALLY WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.
EINHORN ON APPLE
AS I LOOK AT APPLE, I LOOK AT IT AS A COMPANY THAT REALLY HAS DOMINANT POSITIONS IN GROWING MARKETS. NOT ONLY THAT, I THINK IT IS A MISUNDERSTOOD COMPANY BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK OF IT, WHO ARE CRITICAL, THEY'RE LIKE OH IS IT THE NEXT MOTOROLA WITH THEIR RAZR PHONE, OR IS IT THE NEXT BLACKBERRY. AND PEOPLE PAY FANCY MULTIPLES FOR THOSE STOCKS AND THEY GOT CRUSHED AND THEY DON'T WANT TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE WITH APPLE. I THINK APPLE IS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF THE SOFTWARE COMPONENT MAKES IT A RECURRING SALE. YOU'RE NOT JUST BUYING – IF YOU BUY THE LAST IPHONE, YOU'RE VERY LIKELY TO BUY THE NEXT IPHONE. THEY HAVE OVER 90% RENEWAL RATE ON THAT BASIS WHICH IS SOMETHING THOSE OTHER COMPANIES NEVER HAD BEFORE. AND ADDITIONALLY, APPLE HAS AN OPPORTUNITY OVER TIME, TO TAKE THIS NETWORK EFFECT AND TO INCREASE THE SERVICES THEY'RE SELLING.
EINHORN ON MICRON
YOU LOOK AT THE MULTIPLES, AND YOU LOOK AT WHAT THE EARNINGS POWER HERE CAN BE, WHAT WE THINK IS IT THAT THE EARNINGS ARE GOING TO BE A LOT BETTER THAN PEOPLE THINK. NEXT YEAR, MAYBE $3.50 A SHARE, THE FOLLOWING YEAR, MAYBE $4 A SHARE. SO THE STOCK IS ABOUT 19 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT TODAY AND AT THAT POINT, IF YOU GET EVEN A REASONABLE MULTIPLE -- YOU DON'T NEED A MARKET MULTIPLE, YOU JUST NEED A NON-UGLY MULTIPLE THAT SHOWS SOME STABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF THAT KIND OF AN IMPROVEMENT, AND WE CAN DO PRETTY WELL.
EINHORN ON ST. JOE
TWO-THIRDS OF THE LAND THEY JUST SOLD, AND THEY GOT $1,475 AN ACRE, AND THEY HAVE ANOTHER ROUGHLY -- A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN A THIRD THAT'S WORTH ROUGHLY THE SAME AMOUNT. NOW, I'LL CONCEDE THAT MAYBE THERE'S A COUPLE MISCELLANEOUS ASSETS HERE OR THERE, BUT THERE'S 90-SOMETHING MILLION SHARES OUTSTANDING AT THIS COMPANY. SO THOSE OTHER ASSETS, THEY MIGHT BE WORTH A DOLLAR, THEY MIGHT BE WORTH TWO. IT'S HARD TO REALLY, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY LOOK AT THE ASSETS AND ADD THEM UP, COME UP WITH ANYTHING HIGHER THAN ABOUT $10 A SHARE, AND THE COMPANY DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT ANY OF THIS. SO THEY DON'T ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS OR DISCUSS THEIR STRATEGY.
EINHORN ON GOLD
THIS YEAR HASN'T BEEN A GOOD YEAR FOR GOLD, BUT OTHER YEARS HAVE BEEN GOOD, AND THE INVESTMENT OVERALL SO FAR HAS BEEN OKAY FOR US. BUT THAT'S NOT THE IMPORTANT THING, BECAUSE WHAT WE REALLY OWN GOLD FOR IS JUST IN CASE SOMETHING GOES REALLY, REALLY HAYWIRE, AND WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT IN TERMS OF IS MOSTLY THE MONETARY POLICIES BUT ALSO THE FISCAL POLICIES THAT ARE BEING RUN BY THE BIG ECONOMIES.
EINHORN ON MARKET BUBBLE
IT IS REALLY HARD TO SAY. THERE ARE CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE MARKET, THERE ARE CERTAIN STOCKS WITHIN THE MARKET THAT ARE BEHAVING IN VERY MUCH A BUBLLE LIKE FASHION. LIKE YOU DISMISSED SORT OF TRADITIONAL VALUATION MEASURES, YOU HAVE COMPANIES THAT DON'T MAKE PROFITS, THEY HAVE NO PROFITS, THEY HAVE NO PLANS TO MAKE ANY PROFITS.
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