Dave discusses the market.

Host Sue Herera: – the stock market right now. The Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ in the red today, despite a jump in consumer confidence, but the question of the day is: are we going to see Dow 13,000 or Dow 11,000 next? David Stepherson is the senior portfolio manager with Hardesty Capital Management, and Peter Boockvar is the equity strategist with Miller Tabak. He’s also a Fast Money contributor. Good to see you guys. I’m gonna –

Dave Stepherson: Good afternoon.

Host Sue Herera: I’m gonna start, Dave, with you, because you are bullish. So we’ve seen this market run pretty far, pretty fast, with a lot of the –

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Does anyone remember this? In May of last year, this gentleman argued on the air that the Dow would reach 5000 by the end of the year- and that wasn’t even his worst scenario! He appeared alongside Jim Hardesty, who rightly argued against his wild “predictions”.

The Dow ended the year at 11,577.

Dave discusses dividends.

Host Mark Haines: – quadruple witch Friday. We’re talking about how to play it with a trifecta of market players: Rob Morgan, chief investment strategist with Fulcrum Securities; David Stepherson, CIO and senior portfolio manager with Hardesty Capital Management; Don Schreiber is founder, president, and CEO of WBI and coauthor of All About Dividend Investing. Don, good morning; I’ll start with you. What – is there a strategy for quadruple witch?

Don Schreiber: Oh, I don’t – you know, today I would just look to add to positions – I think that most people have been sitting on the sidelines for most of the year, with too-heavy cash positions, and the fundamentals are gonna support the market, we think, towards the end of the year and certainly into the first quarter. And so we think that equity prices are gonna move higher and the probability of a – any kind of significant fallout is low.

Host Mark Haines: David, what about you?

David Stepherson: Well, I think that selling bonds is probably a good idea, and buying stocks is an even better one. We don’t like the fundamentals of the bond market, as we think the economy’s improving. And with that said, stocks – especially ones that pay dividends – we think look very attractive.

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Dave discusses long term prospects in the market for both individuals and firms.

Host Cheryl Casone: – Hardesty Capital Management joins me right now, and, John, I wanna start with you because many of these small investors out there right now feel very concerned about macro forces, in particular flash trading, institutional trading. It seems the little guy more and more is getting squeezed out of the markets. What do you say to that investor?

John Lekas: I saw stay out of the market, particularly at these levels. We’ve retraced all the way back to 2008, but if you take a look at earnings, for example, like Lowe’s this morning, yeah, they beat estimates in ’09, but they’re still down 40 percent from ’08 levels, so we think the market’s got way ahead of itself, really on anticipation of the government saving us with QE2 or the health care package or whatever. None of that will really come to fruition, in our opinion, which is why you’re seeing rates go up as well, so for the average investor I’d say stay out of the market and stay in fixed income. Obviously, we run a short-term bond fund, but we think that if you can earn four to five percent, it’s certainly beat the market the last five years and will continue to do so, and that would be my advice is to stay on the sideline.

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Dave Stepherson discusses recent cost cutting measures that have led to revenue growth and comments on the current state of the economy.

Host Maria Bartiromo: -here with Hardesty Capital Management, $800 million under management there. Gentlemen, good to have you on program.

Dave Stepherson: Thank you, Maria.

Peter Sorrentino: Good afternoon.

Host Maria Bartiromo: So, Dave, you’re looking for continued strength in earnings heading into next week. How are companies able to do this in an economic downturn or at a minimum, a fragile recovery?

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Dave Stepherson explains why current stock yields will benefit long-term investors and talks about his stock picks, Target and Google.

Host Mark Haines: All right, ¬¬¬Benny, do you have views on investing after this choppy week? Most of us want to know what to do with our money ahead of the weekend. Benny Lorenzo is CEO of Kaufman Brothers. David Stepherson is Senior Portfolio Manager with Hardesty Capital Management, Benny’s down here on the floor with us. So let’s start with you. What do you think? What should we do? Hunker down?

Benny Lorenzo: It’s been a tough, tough few months. Certainly the market has been pricing in at deceleration and growth worldwide. Not only Europe, the U.S., and China, and it’s been tough.

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Dave Stepherson discusses the DOW and explains his picks of Hewlett-Packard and Abbott Labs.

Host David Asman: Well, the market’s just barely holding on to that 10,000 mark; 10,002.38 is the Dow Jones Industrial Average right now. It’s gone down a couple of times into the four digit range into the 9,000s. The NASDAQ though, is being ignored because of that magic 10,000 number, but it shouldn’t be. It is actually down by a greater percent, 16.58. S&P is down also by about exactly the same percent as the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

We’re going to keep a steady eye on the markets as our roundtable guests of experts for more on what’s in store for these markets.

Richard Sichel is a Philadelphia Trust Company, Chief Investment Office, and Dave Stepherson is Hardesty Capital Management Chief Investment Officer. They both join us now with some stock picks. But before we go to the picks, I’ve got to ask about Dow 10,000.

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Jim Hardesty comments on the current state of the economy and discusses his picks in the energy, technology, and industrial sectors.

Host Mark Haines: Rick Santelli.

Host Erin Burnett: It’s just unbelievable down there. Do we get a _________?

Host Mark Haines: That is bizarre. It’s like – a quick check on the markets for you.

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Dave Stepherson discusses the impacts of the Volcker Rule and why big banks such as Goldman Sachs will not suffer.

Host Erin Burnett: Now, Goldman Sachs, planning to spin off its proprietary trading unit to comply with the Volcker rule. This follows Morgan Stanley’s move to spin off its hedge fund business and, well, Goldman Sachs’ note, remember, that they were gonna get into a derivatives exchange business. So file all that. There was an article in the FT today, though, saying American banks are bracing for a slump in trading profits, and the third quarter’s gotten off to a rather slow start. What does it mean for the banking group, biggest in the markets? Chris Whalen joins us, senior VP and managing director at Institutional Risk Analytics, and David Stepherson, vice president and senior portfolio manager at Hardesty Capital Management. Good to have both of you with us.

Chris Whalen: Good morning.

David Stepherson: Good morning.

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Jim Hardesty explains that the economy is in a “jagged recovery phase,” and downplays bearish forecasts. He also discusses his stock picks in the industrial sector.

Host David Asman: Investors are looking for smart plays in this market after last week’s sell-off.

Host Liz Claman: James Lebenthal, president of Equity Asset Management for Lebenthal and Company, along with Jim Hardesty, Hardesty Capital Management president and founder, join us now with some picks.

And, Mr. Lebenthal, when you are looking specifically for names in this volatile atmosphere, what do you avoid doing? What is the biggest mistake investors often make?

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