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Jim Cramer
My mission is simple. To make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Cray America. Up here my friends, I'm just trying to save a little money. My job is not just to entertain but to explain what the heck is happening. So call me at 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Kramer. The data center is dead. Long live the data center. Enterprise software is dead. Long live enterprise software. Momentum is dead. Long live momentum. Yep, today's decline is about those three obituaries, all of which I'm going to tell you I think are premature. But that is why The Dow dipped 154 points as we declined.3%. The Nasdaq lost.25% with some real deterioration under the hood of that index. Let's go to the setup lately the data center stocks, the enterprise software stocks have been the leaders of this market. It's been that way ever since the election when the engineering construction stocks former leadership gave up their role right after the post election spike. Now you know I think leadership is incredibly important when it comes to the stock market. We've seen a level of excitement about the Data center and how they are knowledge factories. They manufacture everything we need for Generative AI and Agent X. The world of non existent beings who can do customer service jobs better than we can. At the same time, we've fallen back in love with software companies that help engineers create programs that do everything under the sun. Just like the data center enterprise software is invisible to you and me and most traders. But both the data center enterprise software have momentum and that's highly visible. They offer scale and speed. They offer wonder and excitement. Think Palantir, think Applovin, think Supermicro. And then behind the data center itself, of course, what do we find? Nvidia. We don't know what exactly triggered this now two day pullback and we don't want to play pin the tail on the sell off like everybody else who has the tumor to think they do. Yesterday, while I was working on a lead about how 18 companies had reached the $100 billion mark in 2024, someone, someone, some big fund, was actually laying risk off in this very same cohort. We know from an outfit called Bespoke Investment group that all 26 of the Russell 1000 stocks that were up 100% on the year through last Friday, we know they fell yesterday with an average loss of 5%. You get a chink in the momentum armor. It does tend to combine two fairy tales. The little Dutch boy with the finger in the dike and Humpty Dumpty falling from that wall with a bunch of clueless kingsmen. Not even a bottle of Elmer's glue to be found. But let's go back to the epicenter. Data centers and enterprise software. Right now we know that the world of artificial intelligence includes generative AI, accelerated computing, and now Agent X. When people start investing billions of dollars in something called Agent X, I may have to just throw the red flag simply because you won't find that word in the Oxford English Dictionary, even though I use it a lot now, it doesn't get any better. If you use chat to get a definition, the genius that is ChatGP tells us. And here I'm going to quote the term agentics is not widely recognized or formally defined in mainstream English dictionaries or academic fields. But it appears to be a neologism that combines the elements of the words agent and dynamics, or potentially other surfaces like genetics or analytics, depending on the context. Now I understand now if an agent, of course, like ChatGPT, doesn't know what Agent X is, how the heck are we supposed to figure it out? We do know this though. It's in video that's been talking about Agent X as well as salesforce.com and Nvidia stock is truly under attack from the sellers. It's been besieged for days now, down over 10 bucks after a four day losing streak with the damage getting worse. When the People's Republic of China announced its investigating video for monopolistic behavior, I thought that might come to an end last night when Taiwan Semi, the manufacturer of Nvidia chips, reported in November revenue up an astounding 34% by the way. It looked for a moment like it would. But then the king of semiconductor engineering started a hideous rollover, one that spared no prisoners for anything related to the semis. Taiwan Semi closed down $7.23 or 3.6%. Brutal Nvidia fell $3.74, down 2.69%. What crushed the group, really? There's a lot of shadow boxing here. But the proximate cause was the plummet in Oracle, which wants to be the biggest builder of data centers worldwide. Frankly, I thought the numbers were good. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. CEO of South Fork stunned us right from the front, right from the get go, saying that she expected cloud revenue expect not that long ago should reach 25 billion this fiscal year. That's staggering, people. The rest of the call was all about the insatiable demand for more data centers and how Oracle can't build them fast enough. Larry Ellison, the revered chairman, the board and chief technical officer, told a story about how Oracle can build data centers faster and cheaper than anyone else on the planet and they don't burn as hot. I was blown away when Ellison said, I quote, we just extended our AI performance advantage by delivering the largest and fastest AI supercomputer in the world, scaling up to 65,000 Nvidia 200 GPUs, end quote. Think of it. We've got Nvidia, we have supercomputers, we have demand, demand and then demand. And we have an amazing company, Oracle, that simply can't meet the demand. There's a reason four out of six analysts on the conference call offered a fuse of congratulations. That's the greatest endorsement they can give. But it was all for not. Oracle stock got clocked from the moment the numbers printed and it kept going lower and lower and lower because not every line was a blowout. More on that later. But most were so not. And given the Stock was up 80% for the year before last night's report, we needed to see absolute perfection. And we didn't get It Oracle swan dive splashed red ink all over the fellow travelers. That's still. That's HP Enterprises. Supermicro ugly. Warren, Oracle's coming up here for the break. All right, that's the side of the downfall. How about the enterprise software side? That was more harsh. It was based on the collapse of a stock of a company you may never heard of called MongoDB. Oh, it's a tremendous company that just like 10 other tremendous companies, allows you to store, collaborate, improve and dominate at scale everything and anything. Mongo reported last night. It was fantastic. Terrific. Congratulations, quarter one billion blowout. Just being incredible. Right after the numbers printed, the stock jumped first 20, then 30, then 40 points. I started kicking myself that we didn't know it for the Chapel trust. I was already thinking about how to explain the oversight and then I read that some guy I'd never heard of who was the CEO and CFO was resigning after 10 years. Michael Gordon. Yeah. Yeah, Michael Ward. I've been sticking around for three weeks and then he's out there. I thought MongoDB had a title, Good People led by the Dev Eddie Cherry. That it was like a major, major team outfit, you know what I mean? Like kind of like an NFL team or something. But it turns out. No, no, no, no, no. It was Michael Warden. He was the man. At least that's what the stock saying is. MongoDB plunged in astounding 100 points from its high after reported last night to where it got to. Michael Gordon. Michael Clayton. I like that movie. Anyway, so there goes the enterprise so far. Neighborhood Loving down 6%. Work Day off 3.2%. Atlassian Symbol Team down 2.4%. Data Dog, MongoDB, of course. Data Dog down 3 point Bill Holdings Monday to all that slam. Only the King service now was spared and rallied big, as it always seems to do. It's a software Tesla, which of course was also up again today because. Because it's Tuesday now. I know it looked on the surface like things were fine in mega cap land. Alphabet, they got the quantum chip and Apple to stalwarts. The industrials look very strong. Okay, sure. Toll Brothers flying the limit. Big home builder down 7%. Cloudy forecast. But today was about reversing the enterprise software data center semiconductor rally. And in its stead, we got the money flowing back to its rightful industrial place, led by Boeing, which, guess what is that. It's back in the business of making planes again. Who get the bottom line. Honestly, I don't mind a day like today. The stocks that got hammered had all Gone Parabolic. You were supposed to ring the register. I said that about 20 times in the last three weeks to the point where I don't even like myself. Those started rolling back or. Not that I like myself anyway, or else, you know, I wouldn't be doing the show anyway. Today was day two of the sell off. And you know what? Most likely more to come. Hey, why don't we start the questions? I think we start with Andrew in New York. Andrew, Booyah. Jim, thank you so much. My pleasure.
U.S. Bank Representative
What a birthday gift I get to have.
Jim Cramer
What? What are you. You said excellent. What's the stock?
U.S. Bank Representative
High school student, huge fan of Mad Money, especially your investment club. Definitely recommend joining. It's been a game changer. Thank you so much for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I wanted to pick your brain about Eli Lilly ticker loy between the companies longeromedicine and its massive potential in obesity and diabetes markets, which brings in billions in gross margins around 80%. So I started to try to build a portfolio on the future of health care. My grandpa bought Lilly in 1979. He's always reinvested dividends.
Jim Cramer
He hasn't sold any.
U.S. Bank Representative
He want me to buy it and I bought a bunch of shares a couple years ago. I absolutely love it. But I got to know from the stock king.
Jim Cramer
Okay, here's the deal. Here's the deal. Right now, Lilly has lost his momentum. Just announced a $15 billion buyback and boost in dividend. Nobody seems to care. All the drug stocks have been down. A lot of people worry about the new president coming in. A lot of people worried about Bobby Jr. I look at it like this. I say that sometimes you have to take a little pain because it's a big game. We had to do it in the first go round with the child patrol. Said do the second go round and we're now endorsing a third go round of pain. And I've got to tell you, if I could take a match and just let it to my hand, I might just say, oh, Eli Lilly. But you know what? Soon the match goes out. Roy in California. Roy. Hey, Jim. How's it going? Couldn't be better. How about you, Roy?
U.S. Bank Representative
Can't complain. Well, I got a little concern though. I'm looking at Uber and with the expansion of Waymo and I've heard about a deal between Waymo and Uber, I'm trying to figure out how to play it. It dropped considerably the other day when Waymo.
Jim Cramer
Right. Well, I'll tell you. Okay, let me tell you what's going on with Uber. It's as stupid as all get out the charts bit. We're now in a chartist market. Is there anything really wrong with Uber? No. Is there anything really Airbnb? No. I mean like bookings, dot com, they're all the same. And when the chart's good, people buy them. And right now we're gripped in chart land and the chart's bad. People sell them. It shouldn't be that stupid, but it is. We are gripped by a wave of stupidity the likes of which I haven't seen, perhaps maybe since Jefferson said the first Amendment allows stupidity. Incredible. It was in the Federalist Papers. I read it. I was not a history. I was going to be a history professor. I'm not telling these guys. Anyway, look, I don't mind a day like today. All the stocks that sold off had gone parabolic. And what did I tell you about parabolic moves? Hey, you know what? It's all fun and games so somebody gets hurt. Mad Money tonight. What's ahead for the regional banking space there? No power Parabola. I like this. Thomas. My exclusive Ohio based C Corp plus it's a tale of two tech stocks. I'm seeing what's behind the opposite post earnings moves between C3 and the aforementioned Oracle and it's time maybe to make a little change. Plus convenience change. Giant cases. Oh, you've never heard of it? I don't care. Shot more than 50% this year and I'm breaking down to see if it it's got more room to run or is it just gonna be like wah wah. Which is not public. Stay with Kramer.
U.S. Bank Representative
Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow imkramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Kramer Madmentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneynbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC missed something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com what does it take to design and deliver a corporate strategy with confidence? How will you drive long term value by understanding the risks and rewards within a challenging geopolitical environment. EY Parthenon has 10,000 strategists with deep sector knowledge backed by the real world experience of the EY Global network that can help. Start your journey with us@ey.com us ey parthenon when you're hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search Match with Indeed Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors according to Indeed Data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Use Indeed for scheduling, screening and messaging to connect with candidates faster. Plus, 93% of employers agree Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites, according to a recent Indeed survey. Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day, Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences. Join more than three and a half million businesses worldwide that use Indeed. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com madmoney just go to indeed.com madmoney right now and support this show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com madmoney Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire you need Indeed Support for this program is provided by Chevron. The Anchor offshore platform is utilizing breakthrough technology to enable us to produce oil and natural gas in the US Gulf of Mexico at pressures up to 20,000 psi. A new industry benchmark, Anchor is part of Chevron's plan to produce 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2026 in the US Gulf of Mexico, home to some of our lowest carbon intensity producing operations. That's energy in progress. Visit chevron.com anchor.
Jim Cramer
After the election, the regional bank stocks caught fire. You know I love these stocks because Wall street figures will benefit enormously from deregulation and President Elect Trump's antitrust enforces will probably let them merge again. But after that initial burst Higher Many of the regionals have spent the last month pulling back from their highs. Investors worry about higher inflation possibly causing the Fed to dial back its plans to cut interest rates. Take Key Corp. That's the parent of Cleveland based regional bank powerhouse KeyBank. This stock shot up more than 15% on the day of the election from 17. Just under 20 now pulled back to $18 and change. We know Key Corp. Is a high quality operator, can give us a ton of insight into the group. Thankfully, some of their executives were in the neighborhood today. They were given a presentation at Goldman Sachs and they agreed to stick around to bring some color directly to Crime America. So let's take a closer look at Chris Gorman, the chairman and CEO of Kikor Moore. Mr. Gorman, welcome money well thanks Jim.
Chris Gorman
It's great to be here.
Jim Cramer
Well, it is a thrill for me to have you here because I think that you are in the heartbeat of America now. There's no doubt about it, the industrial America has, I think the center of it is where you live. Give us a sense of what it's like Cleveland now versus say 15 years ago.
Chris Gorman
Well, I'll tell you right now, there's just a ton of momentum in the Midwest. And if you think about all the companies that have moved to the Midwest, if you think about all the investment in the Midwest, I happen to be chairman of the Ohio Business Roundtable, so I have a pretty good idea of the companies that are coming into the Midwest. And there's just a lot of activity. And then further, I think, you know, last two years there hasn't been a lot of transactional activity. And I see a real pickup in terms of the discussions that are going on now.
Jim Cramer
What you've done are two things that I usually don't think can happen together. Targeted scale and mass affluent. Directly ironic. Explain it to me. Sure.
Chris Gorman
So targeted scale, you know, we're a $200 billion bank. We compete with people that are much bigger, and there's also many banks that are much smaller. And our whole approach, Jim, is to be really relevant to the people that we're focused on. So knowing how we win, where we win, why we win. So for example, in our commercial business, we're focused on seven industry verticals and we're focused on companies in the middle market. So while there's 4400 banks, for someone to compete with us, they'd have to have a balance sheet, be focused, have an integrated corporate and investment bank, and be focused on the same industries that we are. So that when we talk about targeted scale, that's what we mean.
Jim Cramer
Now, a lot of people thought you can't do the corporate investment bank anymore. You can't get the animals that you need. It's just not worth going up against the big guys. That's not your case.
Chris Gorman
No, not the case at all. There's no question that there's a lot of companies that are focused on the biggest companies, but there's a real unmet need for these middle market companies that need to get strategic advice, need to be able to raise capital. For example, Jim, in the last 12 months, we raised $90 billion for our customers. So that's, that's pretty remarkable when you think about the size of the institution that we are.
Jim Cramer
Well, I've got to tell you, I also love the fact that the number of people 20000 to 2 million. Talk about an unserved market. Those are people that, unfortunately in America, those people are considered not big enough. That's ridiculous.
Chris Gorman
Well, you're right. And this is a, this is a great unmet need. So when we talk about Mass affluent. We target people that have between $250,000 and $2 million to invest. Now we have 3.5 million customers. We have perfect information as you can well imagine. A million of our 3.5 million customers have between 250,000 and 2 million to invest. Right now we're only doing business with 10% of them. And so we've been focused on becoming not just their bank, by the way. Our average customer has been with us for 20 years. So they know us, they trust us, they like us, and they have this money to invest in. They're basically ignored by a lot of the market.
Jim Cramer
Ignored because we were supposed to not be able to make money off them, so to speak. But how about money with them which include, includes I think the huge number of people want to do M and A in your area for sure.
Chris Gorman
So there's, there's going, going back to the, going back to the mass affluent. Here's an interesting stat. In 2009 there, the household wealth in this country was 60 trillion. Today, 15 years later, it's 160 trillion.
Jim Cramer
That's in 2009.
Chris Gorman
In 2009, 60 trillion in household wealth. 15 years later, 160 trillion. And so that goes back to this huge unmet need, right. In 10 years of zero interest rates, it's just created a lot of wealth and we're there to serve it. Now as it relates to M and A that you mentioned, there's, you know, it's been really pent up for the last two years because in the last two years it's been. The financing markets have been challenged. We had the biggest hiking cycle in 44 years. And so now a lot of these people that are seeking liquidity, I think there's going to be a big, big surge in M and A. Right now our M and A pipelines are as big as they've ever been.
Jim Cramer
So how about the investment that you got, which I think some people were worried about? They worry about your balance sheet. A lot of banks had the same problem. They just were mismatched. They buy 15%, a key 2.8 billion. What does that give you?
Chris Gorman
So that gives us the opportunity to really expand, accelerate all the things we're trying to do strategically. So it gives us the opportunity to one, reposition our balance sheet, which pulls earnings forward. It also gives us capital and it gives us capital that enables us to have, you know, strategic flexibility as we go forward in the landscape of banking potentially changes.
Jim Cramer
Now give me a little bit. I know this is kind of more of a touchy feely. But the town of Cleveland, I mean, I remember, I remember when you're from the history books, Rockefeller left it and that was like a big blow to the city. And then you've kind of got the cliffs, Cleveland Cliffs to hang around. But suddenly we've got like company. Sherwin Williams added to the Dow page, totally changes its flavor smokers getting back on the map and making big acquisitions. These companies are very much on the move now.
Chris Gorman
Yeah, well, there's no question. I mean, Cleveland is a dynamic economy, incredible history, and it's just exciting to be a part of it. I mean, we have a lot. There's a lot going on right now.
Jim Cramer
And then finally, I just want to get a sense of what, what does it really mean, new administration to you guys? Now you mentioned M and A. Yeah, I do get the sense from a lot of business people and I'm not trying to be political here, but there is a belief that there is, that more can happen now in business than was able to happen before. And yet I would tell you a lot of stuff could happen in business in the last four years. But there is this unbridled belief that we're about to be unleashed. Is, is that like a right way to view things?
Chris Gorman
Well, we'll see. But I do think the first thing that will happen is, is M and A transactions will be easier to get done. It's been very, it's very, very challenging. There's kind of an overarching view that consolidation was bad for the consumer. And one could take either side of that argument. But I think people feel like, you know, there's a lot of pent up demand around transactions. And I think that, I think in the medium term, I think you'll see some changes there.
Jim Cramer
So you think that some Cleveland companies will want to do some big things or is it really like the. The billion dollar company merging with the billion dollar company that it'll be some of all.
Chris Gorman
I think you'll see some of the largest companies buying other companies. I think you'll see companies merging. And I think people will really be looking for economies of scale. My personal view is that the economy right now could be on the precipice of some acceleration. And when you're on the precipice of some acceleration, people start looking at both organic and inorganic ways to grow.
Jim Cramer
Fed could help by cutting rates to that.
Chris Gorman
Yes.
Jim Cramer
All right, well, I got to tell you, next thing, next time I see you, I want to be in Cleveland because it's a change tower.
Chris Gorman
I look forward to hosting you.
U.S. Bank Representative
Jim.
Jim Cramer
Well, we are going to do it, me and my wife Lisa, because her best friends live in Cleveland. We got to get there. I want to thank Chris Gorman. He's the chairman and CEO of KeyCorp. Just great to have you on the show.
U.S. Bank Representative
Coming up, the market's AI craze has sent any name in the space soaring, but Kramer's breaking down two players in the sector and explaining why one might generate better returns after the initial phenomenon fades. Next, Support for this program is provided by Chevron. The Anchor offshore platform is utilizing breakthrough technology to enable us to produce oil and natural gas in the US Gulf of Mexico Mexico at pressures up to 20,000 psi. A new industry benchmark. Anchor is part of Chevron's plan to produce 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2026 in the US Gulf of Mexico, home to some of our lowest carbon intensity producing operations. That's energy in progress. Visit chevron.com anchor Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career. At Capella University, we offer a relevant education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals like business management, strategic planning and effective communication. And you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella. Eduardo.
Jim Cramer
You know, I really despise about this darn market. It's the rampant short termism. Just take a look at how Wall street processed last night's earnings reports from the giant Oracle and the fledgling C3AI, which is a smaller enterprise software play. Now both stocks have been roaring going to earnings, Oracle up 80% for the years of last night's close, T3 up 45%, with nearly all the latter's gains coming in the last month or so after the company announced an expansion of its partnership with Microsoft. Plus, everything with AI in its name has been rallying like crazy, even unprofitable companies with spotty track records. Which frankly, is C3AI in a nutshell. Yeah, but Oracle, a colossal, incredibly well run enterprise software company with a rapidly growing cloud infrastructure business, reported a strong but slightly imperfect quarter. The stock got slammed today, plunging almost 7%. On the other hand, C3AI helps companies create enterprise AI applications for all sorts of use cases. Tell me you don't have 100 of those out there, right? But it's never turned to profit since coming public four years ago. Never mind that it's been around since 2009, but after reporting an earnings beat last night, the stock soared into the stratosphere today, only falling back to earth after we saw some late day profit taking in some of the hottest momentum names. Even then it still finished the day in the black on a down day for the market. So what that happened here? All right, let's start with Oracle, which I think reported a strong quarter even though they technically missed expectations on top. Bottom line, Oracle's revenue came in a little light and they earned $1.47 per share when Wall street was looking for $48. Very sinful reiterate full year forecast in line guidance for the current quarter. However, they only missed the headline numbers because of one off issues like currency fluctuations and they're also taking a loss on non core investment investment, which is why the earnings guidance for the current quarter wasn't stronger. Believe me software cats, the CEO could have told even better story than she did if she wanted to. More importantly, the parts of Oracle's business that we truly care about, namely cloud infrastructure in particular, anything AI related, they are doing incredibly well. Management said that record level AI demand drove 52% revenue growth in the cloud infrastructure business. 52%? That's an acceleration from 45%. The previous quarter would have been up 55% of you exclude their legacy hosting infrastructure business. Oracle's Adam that demand continues to outstrip supply. I have no reason to believe otherwise. As CEO Safra Katz told growth in the AI segment of our infrastructure business was extraordinary. GPU consumption was up 336% in the quarter and we delivered the world's largest and fastest AI supercomputer scaling up to 65,000 Nvidia H200 GPUs. And by the way, those are the well, not Blackwell but the last generation, but they're really powerful now. The company touted an impressive list of AI customers, including OpenAI XAI, Nvidia Cohere and its latest went metta with their large scale llama models. Founder and Chairman Larry Ellison often acknowledges one of the savviest and yet yes, competitive people on earth said, quote, Oracle continues to win large AI training workloads because we're faster and less expensive than the other infrastructure clouds. End quote. And that new supercomputer with 65,000 Nvidia chips gives them an even bigger advantage versus the competition. In short, the opportunity for Oracle remains incredible. But the estimates have finally caught up after the company's extraordinary run this year. That's why they didn't report A huge beat and it's why the Stock fell nearly $13 or almost 7% today. Now I get why you ring the registry given how much this one is at run. I'm not against that, but I say you should buy Oracle into this weakness if you don't have any. It's fabulous company red hot stock finally give you a better entry point after today's pullback, I'm just not. Yeah, I don't know how much cheaper is going to get. I mean we did see some pullbacks like intel and AMD that have been tough. Maybe this has more of a pullback, but it's doing incredibly well. What about this other C3? Well, to be fair, their numbers were genuinely good. Meaningful revenue beat with growth accelerating to 29% up from 21% in the previous period. They made clear about that right at the top of the conference call. Meanwhile, they only lost 6 cents per share. Wall street was looking for 16 cent hit. Nice. However, C3 guidance was mixed. Basically they're expecting higher revenues than previously thought, but also larger losses. That's why I was so stunned to see the stock surge as much as 8% earlier today for pulling back and finishing up only marginally. The thing is, all anyone seemed to about was C3, a newly expanded partnership with Microsoft, the one that kicked off the stock's recent rally. Already we're building that in again. As CEO Tom Siebel put it, quote it is difficult to overstate the potential of the Microsoft C3AI strategic alliance. By establishing a C3AI as a preferred AI application provider on Azure and creating a Microsoft scale go to market engine, we're making it easy for businesses to adopt and deploy C3AI applications. End quote. He then goes on to say, quote this is an inflection point for enterprise AI driving growth and good. Okay, so inflection point, you got it. Basically, C3 products will now be sold by the Microsoft Azure Salesforce. And yes, it could be a big deal. But the flip side is the company's making some additional investments to support its new Microsoft partnership. Which is why management lowered their full year operating income guidance expectation by more than raised its revenue outlook. I find that somewhat questionable. My fear is that as exciting as this Microsoft Team up could be for C3, I actually hurt their profitability, which is what really matters at the end of the day. Still, maybe it sounds crazy for me to complain about this. Work was up huge for the year. It missed the headline numbers. Guidance wasn't perfect either. Of course the stock got hit on the other hand, C3I beat the numbers, so of course it rallied. But I don't like seeing the huge decline in Oracle or the big run in C3I because these moves tell me that the market is prioritizing the wrong things and that includes that it's too speculative. C3 is pursuing at what I call growth at any cost strategy very similar to what all these enterprise Software plays, including C3 itself, we're doing back in 2021 for the whole group went out of style and stocks collapsed in 2022. But as I said, the top of the show, they've come roaring back since the election. At the end of the day, I can't get behind C3 because there's a very simple rule of thumb for enterprise software companies. We call it the rule of 40. The idea here is that these software plays either need rapid revenue growth or immense profitability if you're going to try to justify buying the stocks. So you take the revenue growth rate along with some measure of profitability, usually the operating margin, then you add them together and if the result is above 40, you know you've got a good company. C3 revenue growth simply isn't that fast and they're big money losers. So this company's never going to come close to passing the rule of 40 tests as it's currently configured. In fact, it had a negative score for the past two fiscal years and it's expected to have another negative score in the current fiscal year. It's so unpropable that their 29% revenue growth cannot compensate at all. But even though I think today's action was a mistake, at least you can use it to your advantage either by picking up some Oracle own weakness and don't buy it all at once. I mean it's going to come down if this market stays weak or by ringing the register on C3AI industry that I think you should do, even as the latter's got some cold stock appeal. I'm not about cold stocks. Here's the bottom line. I'd be a buyer of Oracle after this pullback because the most important parts of the business still doing great as receiving a 25 billion in revenue, doing Cloud as receipts. Me if you own it, you know when I take something off the table. But for the love of God, don't try to short the darn thing. It's got a saying that's a disaster in this markets are short the cult of AI still very much in charge. Even if the company's biggest AI, the biggest companies, and here I'm speaking out like Oracle and Nvidia as I talked about the top of the show. Continue to take it on the chin and these little guys continue to be loved. Don in Florida. Don. Booyah, Jim. Booyah time. What's going on? Yeah, I bought Amazon a year and a half ago and it's more than doubled since then. Do I take some money off the table or do I go long? Okay, if you need money, yes, of course you should take some off the table. If you are someone who feels that the stock has moved too much and you're concerned I would take something off the table me for our travel trust. I'm not. Because even though I think the stock certainly pulled back here, I like the long term and I've owned Amazon for a very long time and I'm staying that way. Listen. Well, I don't agree with the earnings reactions. I'd be a buyer of Oracle gingerly, not all at once. You get hit again tomorrow as they do when they're down this much. And if I own any C3, you know what? Ka ching kachi. All right. Much more man money had including my look at the keys to success for Alpha called Casey's General Stores. And later as our people too frequently rolling the dice with the profits. I'm telling you what I've witnessed during my tender with the tape and all your calls. Rapid Fire, tonight's edition of the lightning round. So stay with Kramer. About 15 months ago we ran a profile of Casey's General stores after report a great quarter sent the stock screaming higher up more than 11% in a single day. Now if you're doing some homework, I told you, put on a small position then buy more into weakness. At the time the stock was just under $280 and it pulled back to the low 260s in the weeks after the last segment giving you that ideal entry point. And now, now it's at $416 and change and I'm calling that a total home run house of pleasure. Question is, can Cases keep running? This is basically a chain of convenience store. So you might be surprised that its stock has been one of the best performers of 2024 on top of being one of the best for 2023. What makes cases different if you live near a big city? You may not know this, but this company's the third largest convenience store chain in America. Cases flies under the radar because they deliberately put their 2600 plus locations in incredibly small communities. Roughly half their stores are in towns with less than 5,000 people. They're spread across 17 states, but more than half their locations are in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. So while you might imagine Casey's General as your local quick trip wab wash sheets or even just your local 7 11, this company's actually much more than that. Because it's not just the third largest convenience store in America, it's also the fifth largest pizza chain. And they've got some wild varieties like breakfast pizza, which comes loaded with cheese, eggs and bacon or sausage. Now, to a New Yorker, that may sound like a crime against humanity, but given how much the Stocks run, there's clearly something genius about turning a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich into a pizza. Wasn't Taylor Ham on there? I'm from Jersey. This store is special. There's a reason the stock gently climbed higher for the first half of the year. For exploding higher in June after Cases report a spectacular quarter sent stock up 16% in a day. Since then, it's run another 10%. What is driving this move? Okay, the reason I was such a big fan of Cases in the first place is because of its selective footprint. They operate in pretty small towns, so their main competition comes from grocery stores and other convenience stores. Because there aren't really any other big players in the area. Cases can offer superior service with a broader selection of goods and best of all, lower prices. They've got the scale to bargain with the suppliers. Unlike most of local rivals, Cases believes that most small town convenience stores simply aren't big enough and they're suffering from headwinds like declining tobacco sales, gradually declining fuel demand. This gives Cases an advantage, as roughly 70% of its in store transactions don't even include crude fuel, and they've been slowly reducing the tobacco mix. And again, this is a convenience store and a pizzeria. Their local convenience store competitors can't afford to build out full kitchens. Casey does that as a matter of course. That brings us to July, when we learn that Cases is buying Fikes Wholesale, owner of Seth Go convenience stores, for $1.5 billion in cash. This deal adds nearly 200 stores to the portfolio, including about 150 in Texas, with the rest spread over Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Casey's will take these stores and make them into their own. The last time I profiled these guys in September of last year, they'd acquired 418 locations over the previous decade, although 259 of those stores were bought in the previous three years. The strategy is working. Cases is starting to double down on it. They now plan to acquire roughly 500 stores through 2026 fiscal year up from the 350 they previously forecasted. Man, these guys are smart. Best of all, they've got a ton of room to expand. Three quarters of towns with 5,000 20,000 people don't have a Casey channel. I'm calling that some serious white space now. Last night, Cases report its most recent quarter and even though the ultimately the stock did nothing in response, these guys delivered a Monster. Earnings beat 4.$85 per share and it's looking $4.28. However, sales will touch light, which seemed to spook investors and that sent the stock down nearly 3% in pre market trading. Now, if you waited for the conference call, I can always tell you to do the stock bounce right back because Madrid told a great story. Cases terrific inside sales, which are a lot more profitable than what they're selling at the pump. Between grocery, general merchandise, prepared foods and found drinks, we're talking about roughly 65% of gross profits. Their sales only came in weaker than expected because of the 14% decline in the retail price of fuel. But that's a low margin. Business in cases obviously can't control the price of gasoline. These segments continue to deliver with management crediting innovation in this part of the store. Further increased strength. Cases refreshed their sandwich platform earlier this year, featuring two types of chicken sandwiches, a quarter pounder cheeseburger, and some updates to the fan favorite breaded pork sandwich. Mmm, good. As a result, sales of hot sandwiches were up 60% from last year's. Again, this stuff is not impressive. If you live in a big city, but you live in a small town, Casey's might have the best food around. They're also keeping innovating in pizza, which I know is a segment that needs more innovation. They got a jalapeno popper pizza earlier this year. How about this one? A fill up your cream cheese cheddar and mozzarella and some smoky bacon cream cheese top of pizza topped with pickled jalapenos and Mike's hot honey drizzled on top. Hey, my breakfast pizza didn't sound too bad now, is it? Look, I'm a Philadelphia guy myself, but to quote the great, great Randy Moss. Come on, man. On the grocery side, Cases is even seeing strength in category. Worse. I thought things were flail. And you know, when they're flailing out, calling out their energy drinks liquor offerings as drivers of strength. To be honest, I'm not sure how they're doing it, but I'm certainly not complaining. Hey, outside of that, they're only real Negatives from the conference call included some discussion around and I quote, moderate cheese headwind. Now if you're going to sell a great stock on a moderate cheese headwind, well, maybe you should just throw in a towel, buy some darn government bonds. Now while I'd love to see Cases hit the revenue numbers, so much of the company's profits come from inside the store and that part of the business is and fuego. I love that they're making meaningful acquisitions too because they have the best format for small town convenience stores. I think Cases can take the country by storm. However, given how much the stocks run its valuations got in. Stretch stock now trades at nearly 26 times next year's estimates. Not cheap, but with analysts looking for a consistent 30% plus growth rate, it's justifiable. Now regular viewers know I am concerned about these high flying stocks. But Cases is a solid operator with great profits, very strong long term story. So bottom line, let me echo what I said about this stock 15 months ago. Don't be afraid to put on a small position in case you want to pull back. Save some cash on the sidelines so you get to buy more if it gets brought down by a market wide pullback, which I certainly expect between here and the end of the year. Look, it's a terrific story and I'll remain that way until you start hearing people in New York and California talking all about jalapeno popper, Philadelphia cream cheese style breakfast pizza. Bad money is back after the break.
U.S. Bank Representative
Coming up, Kramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire lightning round. Next.
Jim Cramer
It is time. And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready, Skeet daddy? Time for the right round. Cameras with lights over. Dennis in Michigan. Dennis. Good afternoon, Mr. Kramer. Season's greetings same. I'd like to get your opinion on oxy oxidants. It's one of my least favorite oils. I know Warren Buffett and Permatter, but I don't care. I do like Kotarok. I want that mix of natural gas and oil out of Travel Trust. Steve in Missouri. Steve. Jim, first time caller.
U.S. Bank Representative
Hey, about Cooper company's call, side 2.
Jim Cramer
Their largest contact lens manufacturer in the U.S. recently they. You know what? I think it's a very good situation because B health is so pathetic. I liked your call. Let's go to Stephen in New Jersey. Stephen. Hello Jim. How you doing? I am doing fine. How about you?
U.S. Bank Representative
Everything's good.
Jim Cramer
How good? I was just calling.
U.S. Bank Representative
Yes, sorry.
Jim Cramer
I was just calling about energy transfer.
U.S. Bank Representative
I'VE had it for a while.
Jim Cramer
I want you to keep owning. It's got a 7% yield and if it goes down just by more. I like energy transfer. I used to dislike it, but I've liked it now for the last five points, let's go to Tony in Florida. Tony. Hey Jim, I like to thank you for everything you do and I've been a cool day one and I enjoyed a 1020 meeting with you and Jeff. It's fantastic. Thank you. The 10:20 meeting, it's online. A lot of people watch. Probably like the most popular thing I do, frankly. Anyway, I'm glad you're watching. Thank you. What's up? I have relief but I want to start another position in the healthcare stock and hopefully the court stuff is behind them and I use two of their products. What do you think about starting position in Abbott Labs? I really like that at 115 I think it's a perfect idea. I think that their legal stuff is really largely behind them and we will find out now that the FDA and the NIH said listen, this thing, we need that formula. I think that the, the players don't have a leg to stand on, honestly. And I know their situation is tragic, but this is not the venue for them to be able to do okay. It let's go to Dimitri in North Carolina. Dimitri, Jimmy, Booyah. Jim, go first. Just curious your thoughts looking at Kendra Morgan. Just curious to see what your thoughts on Kendra Morgan's good. I mean look, obviously it's been straight up. It still yields for finally getting its act together for this year. It's a good situation. Let's go to Preston in Illinois, please. Preston. Professor Jim One of the only Wall street gurus willing to speculate on television correctly, I may add.
U.S. Bank Representative
Thank you for that. I'm always learning from you. We spoke about last time, which you noted and I quote, be willing to.
Jim Cramer
Lose lots of money on end quote. Shortly after a drop nearly 50% and subsequently ran up a nearly 100% I made money in between.
U.S. Bank Representative
But I'll set the speculation aside and say forget about it.
Jim Cramer
What are your thoughts on WMS Advanced drainage system? All right. They missed. They missed the numbers by a mile. And when I see that that often means that the next number is going to be missed too. So let's be careful there. Let's just be careful. Let's go to Ned in Ohio. Ned, hello. Five star Professor Kramer, how are you? Talk to you again. Holy cow. Five star. Not bad. And we're not, you know, not Michelin 5 being much more of a hotel. Five. Okay. I'm doing well. How about you? I'm doing. I'm doing very well, sir. I was looking at my book here that gives a lot of your advice. And I know that a couple weeks ago you talked about speculative stock and you said that a small percentage of that may fit in certain portfolios, and that was okay. And so I've been reading about something that might be considered speculative, and that is air taxis. And I'm interested in what you might say about a company called Arch Aviation, which. Well, Arch Aviation is the ultimate in speculative. And as long as you know that, then I'm absolutely fine with it. But it has just very quickly gone up gigantically. Wait for a little bit of pullback even with the speculations. And that, ladies and gentlemen, conclusion of the Lightning round.
U.S. Bank Representative
The Lightning round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.
Jim Cramer
I've worn a lot of hats in my time. This business advisor, trader, salesperson, venture capitalist, creator, banker, you name it. But in every position, I've always felt that the greatest way to pursue wealth was to know when you've won. Winning gave you the right to. To take something off the table without any sort of disgrace. But of course, nobody ever wants to hear that. It's time to ring the register. A winning position. Some somehow when it starts going up, people forget the basics like buy low, sell high. Now, I always use the example of my mom, Grandma Louise, which was actually sadly, a ridiculous epithet because she didn't live long enough to see my children. But she was a gambler, heart gambler, with incredible discipline. When she was winning, she unfailingly left the casino, any casino, the racetrack, the stock market, and bought a cashmere sweater. Close watches the show are now what are that story. She dive with a ton of cashmere sweaters up. But if I were advising the people who work at these companies that seen their stocks go up dramatically, double, triple, quadruple, even 10 baggers, I'd be telling them to immediately sell at least a third of position tomorrow morning to make sure that their lives are set. I'm seeing millionaires have been created overnight right now, and they actually think it's okay for their stocks to sell at 30, 40, 50, 70, 80 times earnings. They think it can only get better. They all act like they work at Nvidia, for heaven's sake. Not kidding on that one. The run in videos inspired a lot of people at lesser companies to do a lot of stupid things. Consider me a skeptic. That said, it feels like we're on terra firma in these stocks because, well, until the last couple of days there was nothing like normal selling happening. People really are letting it run. Directors, executives, you name it all are rolling the dice at this point. And they should probably leave the casino at least with some of their money. I booked. No criticism here. These are just pieces of paper. Any piece of paper can be toppled. As long as everyone holds on for dear life though, we'll be okay. I mean that's a subtle thinking behind all this. People don't just think that they work at a video. They still have Gamestop on their mind. Meaning they see this business as a game, their wealth is a game and as long as they strap themselves in, they'll be fine. Hey, by the way, the Gamestop game, it's rolling right now. It just report another awful quarter and buyers are swarming in like they know something other than it's miserable retail business. What a dog. By the way, speaking of meme stocks, I was thinking the other day about Adam. Aaron is the chairman presidency of AMC Entertainment. He sold $42 million of the AMC stock for estate purposes back in 2021 before the stock collapsed. But he was vocal about it at the time. The stock was in the low 200 split adjusted. Now it's under 5. No sin. The man had been the CEO of the Sixers 76 years. Norwegian Cruise Line, Vail Resorts, Starwood giant, hotelier, seasoned operator, understands the need for estate planning. And that's by the way, what you're doing when you're selling stock at 67 years of age. Did he know something the others didn't know? Except maybe how to read a balance sheet? Name sees was in tatters. I salute him at the time. I salute him now. Neighborhood kid who went to my high school rival and telegraphed his sales like no other CEO I can ever think of. Go for him. Especially good when the stock went south. I bet that most AMC shareholders didn't sell when he did. They thought that he didn't know anything and now look at what they have. In short, you don't know what you have until it's gone. Now people are back in the mindset of believing that they can't lose. That's part of what I keep calling the year of Magical thinking. That's a fabulous book by the way. By the incredible Joan Didier. But it's not really magical thinking. There's cross disciplines of long term versus short term greed here. I'm hoping that the insiders who aren't selling have some plan for turning some of that long term greed into cash because they've won. They can only lose from here because they haven't really started bringing the register. We've all grown complacent. So as we get into 2025, I'm begging these people with these big gains to stop with the magical thinking already. For some of these stocks, it's more about alchemy at this point. Stocks do go down. We slide today. That's why if you have huge gains, you do need to take something off the table now or else it will be too late. Hey, don't do it for me. Do for yourselves. We are bullish for the investing club. I saw some stock I've owned for 10 years this morning. 10 years. So I said enough's enough. When the year of magical thing ends and the odds are just let me tell you, they're pretty slim for another one right behind it. Just remember the vocal adam Aaron selling AMC at $200 port went to work. If you don't want to give back your gains, I think you need to follow in his footsteps. At least with some of your money. I like to say there's always bull market Summer. I promise I'd find just for you right here on Mad Money. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.
U.S. Bank Representative
All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal or their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by Kramer on television, radio, Internet or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Jim Cramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Kramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com madmoneydisclaimer when you're with Amex Business Platinum, you get 5 times Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com so going the extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com AmExBusiness.
Release Date: December 11, 2024
Host: Jim Cramer, CNBC
Podcast: Mad Money
Timestamp: [01:04]
Jim Cramer opens the episode with a candid assessment of the current market downturn. He challenges the premature declarations of death for critical sectors, emphasizing the ongoing momentum in data centers and enterprise software. Cramer asserts, “Today was about reversing the enterprise software data center semiconductor rally” ([02:45]).
Key Points:
Timestamp: [02:00]
Cramer delves deeper into the resilience of data center stocks, attributing their strength to their foundational role in supporting AI advancements. He highlights Nvidia’s ongoing struggles despite positive indicators, noting, “Nvidia stock is truly under attack from the sellers” ([04:30]).
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
“I don’t like seeing the huge decline in Oracle or the big run in C3AI because these moves tell me that the market is prioritizing the wrong things and that includes that it's too speculative.” – Jim Cramer ([08:15])
Timestamp: [14:59]
Jim Cramer welcomes Chris Gorman, Chairman and CEO of KeyCorp, to discuss the state of regional banking and the economic momentum in the Midwest.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [24:18]
Cramer shifts focus to Oracle and C3AI’s recent earnings, dissecting the market reactions and underlying business performances.
Oracle:
C3AI:
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [39:18]
Cramer highlights Casey’s General Stores as a standout performer, detailing its strategic expansion and innovative product offerings.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
“We are starting to double down on it. They now plan to acquire roughly 500 stores through 2026 fiscal year up from the 350 they previously forecasted.” – Jim Cramer ([42:50])
Timestamp: [39:13] – [43:36]
The Lightning Round features rapid-fire calls from listeners seeking Jim Cramer's insights on various stocks.
Key Discussions:
Notable Quotes:
“It's time to ring the register. A winning position.” – Jim Cramer ([42:17])
“Don’t be afraid to put on a small position in Casey’s if you want to pull back.” – Jim Cramer ([46:25])
Timestamp: [43:46] – End
Cramer concludes the episode with a reflection on investor behavior and the importance of disciplined selling.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
“If you have huge gains, you do need to take something off the table now or else it will be too late.” – Jim Cramer ([42:30])
“We are bullish for the investing club. I saw some stock I’ve owned for 10 years this morning. When the year of magical thinking ends...” – Jim Cramer ([43:30])
In this episode of "Mad Money," Jim Cramer provides a comprehensive analysis of the current market landscape, focusing on the resilience of data centers and enterprise software despite a broader market downturn. Through an insightful interview with Chris Gorman of KeyCorp, listeners gain an understanding of the strategic moves within regional banking and economic momentum in the Midwest. Cramer’s critical examination of Oracle and C3AI’s earnings illustrates the perils of market overreaction and speculative trading. Highlighting Casey’s General Stores showcases a success story of strategic expansion and product innovation. The Lightning Round emphasizes the importance of disciplined investing and taking profits, rounding off with Cramer's caution against short-termism and unchecked growth strategies.
Listeners are left with actionable insights on navigating market volatility, the importance of sector leadership, and the benefits of strategic diversification in their investment portfolios.