Countdown to David Faber's Elon Musk Interview, Home Depot's Sales Miss and Lowered Guidance 5/16/23

David Faber (0:00)

Market insight and analysis. You're listening to the opening bell of CNBC's Squawk on the Street.

Carl Quintanilla (0:06)

Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla with Jim Cramer at the New York Stock Exchange. David Faber is in Austin at Tesla's annual Shareholder Meeting Day, and he'll be live with Elon Musk tonight.

A CNBC special presentation. Six o'clock Eastern Time. You cannot miss that. Meantime, it's a packed morning. Retail sales returns to growth. Debt ceiling, Home Depot cuts guidance, some big misses in China and Europe. A roadmap begins with Home Depot shares sinking. Retailer lowers his forecast after posting the worst revenue miss in about 20 years.

Plus, quote, no barrier to higher rates. That's the message from Barkin today. If inflation persists and EV competition, David is in Texas to talk to Elon Musk and Ford, scaling back some China investments.

Let's get to David in Texas with more on tonight, David. We were just talking about the range of topics that you'll be able to cover, whether it's cars, space, media, macro. It's going to be incredible.

David Faber (1:03)

Well, we certainly hope so. Obviously, we'll be coming out of the Tesla shareholder meeting, so we're curious to see what questions Mr. Musk takes during that meeting, whether there's anything that's worthy of follow-up. Certainly, that will be top of mind, guys, especially given the interest certainly of our viewers as well in terms of Tesla and its importance.

That said, Carl, you're right. There is no shortage of other topics, as always, to discuss with Mr. Musk, and as often as he may do interviews or communicate, it seems like almost every day brings new things to discuss.

Today, some reports about a memo he has sent in terms of let me review all hiring plans and things of that nature. So, no shortage, whether it's Tesla, whether it's the recent hire of Linda Iaccarino to run Twitter as its CEO, whether it is obviously new developments in AI, including Sam Altman on the Hill today, and whether it's SpaceX or Starlink, you can go on and on. That's what should, we hope, make it a fascinating interview and certainly looking forward quite a few hours from now, still, to sitting down with Elon Musk.

Jim Cramer (2:05)

Now, David, is your focus, because you're there, the possibility of meeting with auto and EV, or is it just there's so much on your plate that you can start anywhere?

David Faber (2:16)

I kind of feel like, Jim, that, you know, from an important slash news perspective, Tesla will be top of mind. So you don't want to ever give it away, but if Elon's listening, doubt he is. That's probably where we'll start.

But that said, as, you know, you've watched many things that he's done, I have certainly as well. You never know where you're going to go because he certainly is going to move the topics around as well. So we're going to be prepared to go wherever he wants, including to Mars. Well, David, I'll tell you, that's something that we want to talk about.

Jim Cramer (2:51)

I don't know whether we've had a transcendent figure in business in our lifetimes other than this gentleman.

Transcendent meaning as Edison was.

Transcendent meaning as, say, JP Morgan was. Someone who's so influential that he can be his own personal trend. I've never seen it. That's why I think it's such a great thing to have me down there. No one's ever defined an ear in my lifetime. This man has.

David Faber (3:21)

You know, listen, we say it all the time. He's the most consequential businessman on the planet.

And it's not in the realm of creating new apps or anything like that, right? It's rocket ships, it's cars, obviously the leader in EV. Your point's an important one, I think, Jim. He's coming from having met with Emmanuel Macron yesterday in France because they're seeking perhaps to get Tesla to become more involved in their economy. And that just gives you a sense, doesn't it, in terms of his importance?

And then on Twitter, controlling that platform as he does and the elections around the world and the role that Twitter can play. So yeah, you know, some people might want to make the comparison, for example, with Steve Jobs in some way, but he's a unique character. There's no doubt about it.

Carl Quintanilla (4:09)

Meantime, the AI element, I think, is going to be interesting. You mentioned the Sam Altman hearing.

And some of these 13Fs, Jim, where it appears a lot of the big players, Druckenmiller is a great example of his stake in NVIDIA. I mean, people are playing this big time.