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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 mo market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramer. Other people make friends. I'm just trying to save you a little money. My job's not just entertain. Put days like this into context because they're hard to understand. So call me at 174.3CBC. Tweet me, Jim Cramer. Is the economy running too hot or too cold? I mean, that was the Fed's big dilemma today. And they resolved it by splitting the proverbial baby cutting rates by a quarter point, then indicating we're likely to get fewer rate cuts than expected next year. Nobody seemed to like that answer. With the dow ultimately tumbling 1123, SB plunging 2.95% and the NASDAQ company 3.56%. Sell, sell, sell. I guess you could say the baby got thrown out with the bathwater. It was truly hideous, a little unexpected and yes, wicked. And even though the market's badly oversold, we may not get that quick snapback that we normally expect in a deeply oversold market. Because after the bell we got disappointing guidance. Well, and also earnings from Lenore, that's that giant Florida based homebuilder. And then Micron, the semiconductor colossus, fell badly after giving what I thought was a disconcerting forecast about PCs and cell phone chips that was way out of whack with what people expected. Homes and semis, both bad, not good, not good at all. So why did the whole market fall apart in response to a rate cut? I mean, I've seen a lot of markets that have been clubbed by rate increases, but rate cuts? At first it does seem a little baffling, doesn't it? But after listening to Fed chief Jay Powell this afternoon, I think a lot of people got even more baffled because he seemed to get caught having to fulfill a prediction of the need for a rate cut. And that need was no longer self evident. The data didn't back it up. Look, this is a tricky situation. There are areas of real weakness in many businesses in this country, but there also is real inflation that hasn't come down enough to merit many more cuts soon. Now, we've been saying that on this show for every night and you always hope that everyone agrees with you and respects the prospects and is thought, yeah, that's right, I heard it on my money. But it's clear from how the market crater today that there are plenty of people still hoping for cuts, and those cuts may not come anytime soon. And those people, they were wrong. Why was this such a close call? As Fed chief Jay Powell told the reporters in that excruciating press conference, always feels like nails on the blackboard. How can you look for progress on reining in inflation while cutting rates is not a bit of an oxymoron? And that's why nobody seemed happy the Fed's actions, those who wanted inflation stamped out immediately were discouraged by a rate cut. Those who want lower rates were discouraged by the implication there'll be fewer cuts coming next year. Everyone simply confounded, which is why the market reversed so hard when the Fed released a statement. Then Powell followed up with what I thought were some pretty stern comments. Almost made it sound like he's rather raising rates than cutting them. Yeah, I mean, I think he kind of said, well, we had the raise, there's nothing we could do. But he didn't. Of course not. The problem is we have two economies, people. One that's on fire and the other one's a stalled out. They come together in a way that's very hard to fathom, which makes the Fed's job especially tricky. I always like to put it in the forms of companies because that way it becomes very clear to you. So I want you to consider the travails of a company you may not have heard of, but it's a very big company. And it's called J Bill. It's formerly J Bill Circuit. No way. It's a $27 billion revenue. This is what's known as a contract manufacturer, but that doesn't capture the incredible breadth of what it does. J Bill makes everything, electric, auto parts, data center components, medical devices, tech, hardware, robotics, you name it. Now, the stock shot up more than 7% today. Yes, on this egregious, horrible day, because the company reported such a spectacular quarter and also dramatically raised its full year forecast for 2025, largely in the strength of data center construction. J Bill is freight cooling technology, which these warehouses full of servers need in order avoid overheating. CEO Michael Dastor said he expected JBL to do 5 to 6 billion dollars in data center revenue. But now it's like 6.5 billion dollars. That's up so big. That's largely thanks to customers. People are saying maybe it's Amazon. 30% growth last year. 30%. Anything related to data centers, red hot. And this extends all the way to the electric utilities, because we simply need more energy than we have, which Requires a gigantic build out because our current grid won't cut it and that is actually moving the gdp. At the same time, JBL is another business. Regulated industries accounting for just over 40% of its sales. Microcosm again, that's focused on things like renewable energy, electric vehicles. That's down 7%. Ice cold. I suspect these businesses, including solar, will continue to be weak. But then again, within the same segment, JBL has a pharma business which is currently doing great because they're helping to build out its clients. GLP1 franchise. Talk about smoking hot again. All right, this is a worldwide company, gigantic global footprint. I mentioned 27 billion revenues, its largest manufacturing in Mexico. Under President elect Trump, that could be a major problem. Tariffs will absolutely slow the growth of American companies. But JBL says not to work. In the past these tariffs have been largely pass through costs. So you get this all within one company. Me and Jabil's the indeed microcosm of our economy. Although the stocks ultimately soared because there's more exposure to the hottest industries out there. How about the ones that don't though? Jabil represents the part of the stock market that is smoking hot. But it seemed like it just hit it. Many, many other companies hit an air pocket today after the Fed spoke and they could be very vulnerable to even lower prices. Despite the fact that the dowels had many down days, it's now back to where it's the longest streak of down since 1974. Okay, then there's another side to the story and that's the industrial economy. Residential, commercial construction. Away from the data center, the power grid. We have a surfeit of commercial properties, especially office buildings. We have way too much capacity. This part of the economy, it needs rate cuts. Then there's autos. Gigantic part of the economy. It's directly or indirectly responsible for 4.1 million jobs. Orders are in a real slowdown. Inventories rising. When inventories get too high, you get weaker sales, ultimate layoffs. That doesn't want that. Again, rate cuts needed. How about housing? We saw Lenore tonight. We've got two problems with housing. First, we aren't building enough homes to meet the demand. But homebuilders are reluctant to build more or less. They can be caught with excess inventory in an environment where long term interest rates have been stubbornly high. When we consider the Fed statements, their worries seem justified. So we won't get the new supply we want. Worse, we have the least turnover in housing in 30 years. Like the autos, housing needs lower rates to get things moving. The Fed's comments coupled with Lenore's earnings, well, let's say it's going to put a real hex on housing. It will be ugly tomorrow needs rate cuts. When housing and autos and commercial construction are weak, you get softer numbers from the materials companies, the service companies involved in the buy and selling of homes as well as the home improvement retailers. These groups all need help from the Fed and it doesn't look like they're going to get it. But against that we have persistent inflation in food, insurance, health care and rent. Gets even more complicated when you consider what the Fed isn't supposed to be worried about yet. Immigration. The immigrants who come here from all over the world are integral to the economy because our country doesn't produce enough workers on its own and we don't have enough robots yet to do anything. At the same time, immigration puts upward pressure on housing because everybody needs somewhere to live. Less immigration means wage inflation, but housing deflation? Talk about tricky for the Fed. Tricky for you, Tricky for for me. Now let's throw in a couple of issues that the Fed might not be worried about, but it should. Rampant speculation right now in the financial markets right here, endless run ups in nuclear power, commercial space and amorphous groups like quantum computing. The speed of the rally in Bitcoin can worry you. Those club members who read my Sunday Think piece know that I think this kind of speculation is my principal concern about the market and it is coming home to roost. So you see the pattern. Some could look at the economy and say the Fed simply fanning the flames of inflation with this rate cut. Others will say that without fanning the embers, the fire is about to go out. Or to put it another way we could understand the price of eggs and coffee keep going up, but what is the Fed going to do about it? Plant coffee beans and grow chickens? It can raise rates so high that we won't have enough money to afford a cup of Joe at Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks Eggs yolks bear free anyway. Sure, we can ask why doesn't a new insurer come in, take advantage of these high rates, offer something affordable. Why can't we cut out the middlemen and farmers we see? It saves money as so many legislators tell us. We might be able to estimate the more planes from Boeing will bring the price of travel down, when in the end, I really wish the Fed hadn't been so definitive about the need to cut rates going forward, albeit more slowly. We would have been much better off if they'd explicitly taken a Wait and see approach before this meeting. This time they telegraphed the wrong thing, hence today's meltdown. But if the part of the economy is not so hot, gets worse or inflation comes down, the Fed does have more room to cut. Here's the bottom line. A previously data dependent Fed chose not to be data dependent today with its pronouncements. And that's what drove the market down in spite of that quarter point rate cut. Something that's supposed to be good news for stocks, but it turned out to be the very opposite.
Caller
The house of pain.
Jim Cramer
Jack in New York. Jack.
Caller
Hey Jim, thanks for taking my call. First time, long time.
Jim Cramer
Excellent, excellent.
Caller
I got a question on a company I've held for a little over a year. I'm in a house of pain actually with this company. Since November it's been steadily declining and there hasn't been any bad news, although I think it's caught in the Doge effect. My company is LH X L3Harris. I just wonder if I should buy more here in the dip. Hold it or just dump it?
Jim Cramer
You know, we're getting word there's a problem with continued resolution. We're getting the shutdown of the government kind of stuff again. And the Defense Department is a natural place that people want to cut back even though you and I may think that they shouldn't. But that's what you're seeing and that's what you're getting with the idea that we have elected a president who has said listen, we're going to put an end to some of these wars numbers and that is also driving it. But don't worry, there are many other stocks in a similar situation that's more of a misery love company thing. I'm sorry I said that. But what can I say? It's going down for a reason. Jimmy in Kentucky. Jimmy.
Caller
Jim, with promised deregulation next year and Basel 3 and hopefully earnings be positive next year, what do you see with bank of America? Do you see it maybe thinking more 50?
Jim Cramer
Well, I think the bank of America is now going to be in that situation where we have to readjust knowing that they're not going to be as many rate cuts as we thought we thought there might be three. Four now looks like two actually. Of course if you watch the show, we always thought to be like one or two. So we think that the stocks probably fairly valued goes under 40. I think you have to. Paul Minnesota.
Caller
Paul Kramer, you bald headed beauty. How you doing today?
Jim Cramer
Well, thank you for getting me correctly as actually as I see myself each Morning. How can I help?
Caller
I'm riding out of Minnesota, winter down here in Florida and I am perplexed. My favorite stock I own is down from a high at 146 down to 113. I bought it at first time at 44. I bought it again at 66. The stock is Vertiv Holdings. Do I buy it tomorrow morning?
Jim Cramer
Okay. No, you don't want to buy it tomorrow morning. Here's why. Because there are a lot of people who are looking at this stock. It's up 137% for the year and they're saying you know what, I better lock something in because I think the market's going to be bad. Now that is not necessarily the case. But remember, we have to adjust to what people are going to react to, not just what we think. Even when we will in the end be right. Okay, look, I just wish the Fed hadn't been so definitive about the need to cut rates before the meeting. Think about we'd be in a much better place if they had just taken that explicit win wait and see approach that they told us they would on Man. Tonight I'm checking the rideshare space with CEO of Lyft. Get a read on third quarter earnings, self driving cars and more. Then we're continuing our series on opportunities in health care. Taking a closer look at the life sciences stocks as they get shelled and could trash be a treasurer for your portfolio. I'm sitting down with Public Services Top rank. See where their thesis stands. So stay with Kramer. What do we do with the stock of Lyft, the number two ride sharing company? Valid stocks giving back all the gains after the company put a real good quarter in mid November and its stock shot up 23% in a single session. The whole move has been repealed. So what the heck's going on here? A big part of is that we keep hearing good things from the autonomous driving space. Whether it be Google's Waymo or Elon Musk Tesla. Fairly unfairly self driving cars are seen as a potential threat to Lyft's business model. Especially when Elon Musk very good terms with the President elect. So what's the plan here with Robo taxis and beyond that house business? Let's take a closer look with David Richard. He's the CEO of Lyft by now. Mr. Richard, welcome back to bed buddy.
David Richard
David, it's great to be back here. Thank you so much.
Jim Cramer
Let's get real here before we talk about all the things that might be an existential threat to Live. How is Lyft doing right now?
David Richard
So Lyft is doing great. And the reason it's doing great is because we continue to be customer obsessed. And, you know, every time you and I get to talk, you know, we sort of have to cover some of the same things. You know, we're growing faster than ever. We got more driver hours than we've ever had. Our frequency is up. And the basic reason is because we're just delivering better for customers. My favorite. I have two favorite examples. One is nobody likes surge pricing. You don't like it? I don't like it. A couple of quarters ago, we said we're going to open up a can of Whip Ass on surge pricing. Actually, I brought the can of Whip Ass here that we opened up. It's actually right here. We're down 40% in surge pricing year on year, which is absolutely amazing. Second thing I'll say is nobody likes driver cancellations. When it cancels on you. We're down from about 15% about maybe a year and a half ago down to less than 5% right around 5% driver cancellation. So as we do, better riders get a better experience. They take us more, and that's why we're growing.
Jim Cramer
So what are you doing to make those changes occur that they're happening? What is. What is the game plan of Whoop.
David Richard
Ass, the game plan of Whoopass? Well, you know what it is it's about. There's a lot of math to it. You know, you really have to figure out how to make sure that every time a person, remember, 2 million times a day we give a ride. Every single time a person opens that app, we got to try to figure out how to make sure that a driver is close to them, that we've predicted where that demand is going to be, so the supply is closed. It's sort of all this kind of background map. And then the other thing we've done is we've created this product called pricelock, which if you commute every single day and you don't like your price bouncing around, for $2.99, you can lock in a price that will never go higher than that. So it's a whole bunch of work behind the scenes, but the goal for a rider is just to make it seem easy and simple, pick you up super fast, and get you where you want to go.
Jim Cramer
Our eyes sometimes glaze over about partnerships, but when I see what your partnerships are doing for your growth, it is wrong to have them glaze over you. It's very meaningful, isn't it?
David Richard
It's super wrong to have your eyes going, look, Warren Buffett said this, he said this about your, about your spouse, that the spouse you pick is the most important decision you're going to make in your entire life. And I feel the same way about partnerships. We've just partnered with DoorDash. DoorDash. Now, you know, people are signing. If you've got Dash Pass and you're not taking Lyft, you're making a huge mistake because once you link your accounts, you get, you know, 50% off scheduled rides to the airports, you get 5% off your daily rides, you get cheaper food delivery and all this or stuff. These partnerships really are, you know, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. So I appreciate you bringing it up. It's. Partnerships are hard. Just like with your spouse. Ask your wife how she likes hanging out with you every day. It's tricky sometimes, but when they work, they're magical. I've been married 29 years, wouldn't have it any other way.
Jim Cramer
Well, good for you. Now there's something I need your help on. The most intractable part of the Consumer Price Index and something that Jay Powell mentioned today is insurance. I think insurance is up too much. I know from a conference that you have at Barclays that your team agrees, but no one seems to be able to do anything about it. I imagine you can't self insure because you don't really know all your drivers. But this is the runaway cost that I most worry about with your business.
David Richard
So I'll tell you something. So this is a cost that I would say is very much under control now in a way that maybe a little while ago people thought it wasn't. So we just to be super kind of interesting about this thing, insurance is a big cost for rideshare. It's big cost for us today, it's going to be a big cost for autonomous tomorrow. It's just, you know, it's expensive to insure these expensive, you know, vehicles driving around and so on and so forth. So we have a whole team. We actually do self insure somewhat, but a lot of the risk we outsource to third party insurance companies. The best thing I can say about that, and it's actually what you just alluded to, we actually have a really tight partnership with our insurance companies, the big providers. We give them an enormous amount of data, they give us an enormous amount of insight into what makes for safer driving and so forth. So I would say it is a big cost. It's one that we pay a lot of attention to. Nobody likes it. There's all sorts of weird litigation stuff that tends to drive costs up. Auto parts are expensive, all these things. But we're doing a pretty good job trying to keep our insurance cost under control. And the last thing I'll say is, unlike certain other rideshare companies that I'm not going to name right now, we've said that we try not to pass the insurance costs along to riders. They've said something different. So anyway, we feel pretty good about.
Jim Cramer
It, but it's a big okay. Those are the real issues that will drive a stock. I've got to deal with something that should not have driven your stock. I need you to correct the record on market share versus Waymo. I think there's misinformation out there that has really caught people off guard.
David Richard
There is, and it's really what's happening here, of course, is we're not just in day one of autonomous vehicles. Way more, of course, a big autonomous vehicle company, a subsidiary of Google, they've done Alphabet, done a great job. But there's also a lot of just misinformation and a lot of human nature looking at, you know, one little data point and trying to extrapolate it. So let's talk about this for a second in San Francisco. What we've seen where, you know, Waymo in particular has been very, very sort of impressively aggressive about spending money to gain share in this market, we've seen market share this basically flat, year on year. That's what we see. We've looked at it a thousand different ways. Is about 30.5% a year ago, is about 30.5% today, which means we've grown about 15% year on year. I know it's a lot of math, but that's kind of how it works. When we look at another market, Phoenix, another market where you see a lot of autonomous vehicle activity, what we see is, and this is looking at the same zip codes where. Where there's a lot of autonomous vehicle activity in. In Phoenix. We've actually grown in the month of November over 20%. So faster than our average growth just in that market. So what does that tell you? What that tells you is that as autonomous vehicles come into the market, the market starts to expand. New people, they do all kinds of things. Some of it's just sort of tourism and sort of. Some of it's, wow, I never would have taken rideshare. So it's really expanding the market. And that's what gets us super Excited about.
Jim Cramer
No one's thinking about that. That means that maybe you don't necessarily need to sell your company to Tesla or Waymo.
David Richard
We do not, we do not know. In fact, I think it's the opposite. I think again back to that word partnership. I think what you'll find, look, if you look at five and ten years, every car is going to be autonomous. Every. If you buy an autonomous. If you buy a car in 10 years, it's not autonomous. It'd be like buying a car without a radio. Like, it's just, it's going to be baked in. And so what's that going to mean? That's going to mean that companies like us that generate demand and that have fleet management and that do pricing and they do onboarding and that figure out insurance on behalf of drivers today and cars tomorrow. We think we're in a great position. So we're super excited about it. And that's, that's certainly the way I wake up every morning thinking, well, this.
Jim Cramer
Is the kind of stock people who understand that the Fed can bring down a lot of stocks, but not all stocks deserve to go down. I want to thank David Bridger, CEO of Lyft, for some, I think great common sense. David, you really do understand your business so well. It's a joy to speak to you.
David Richard
Thank you, Jim. Super, super pleasure. And please have yourself a great holiday.
Jim Cramer
You do. Everybody's back after the break. Given how much the markets run this year, I want to prepare for 2025 by searching for value. One of the worst performing sectors out there was hit again today. Health care up less than 1% year to date, while the S&P 500 still up more than 23%. The average health care stocks down almost 20% from its 52 week high. In part because of worries about the new administration, particularly the potential policies of Bobby Kennedy Jr. In health and Human services. But you know what? I think most of this political stuff is overblown. At some point you got to just accept the fact that any political negativity is already baked into the stocks. Although I have to tell you that the Fed's hawkish comments sure don't help this kind of stock. Still, we know that after a few days this kind of move can and has historically run its course. And that's why I went through some of the most best beaten down pharma stocks on Monday. Best beaten down medtech plays yesterday and today I want to go over the same thing with the life science tools and services corps. This is one of my Absolute favorites because it grows really fast. The average life sciences tolls and services play is down almost 20% from its highs. Yeah, these tools are really getting killed. There are only 10 of these in the SB 509 of them are down double digits. But there's some genuinely attractive companies here that don't have much sensitivity to Washington first, maybe the most well known tool company which is Thermo Fisher Scientific. Now I like to think of it kind of as an arms dealer to the biopharm and life science space. They make big ticket equipment that these companies need to conduct research. But most of the revenues come from consumables and services for these customers. Regular viewers know that I like Turbo Fisher for a very long time. It's been fabulous performer over the last decade. But it's struggled ever since. The stock peaked at the end of 2021, pulled back hard in 2022. It's more or less been trading sideways ever since. Now some of this was due to tougher comparisons as Thermo Fisher did great business in 2020 and 2021 as drug companies spent four fortunes trying to figure out how to fight Covid. Afterwards there was an inventory industry wide inventory glut of their machines because you only need so many in research labs. Plus it doesn't help that we haven't had many biotech IPOs over the past three years. Normally biotechs come public, they use the proceeds to buy equipment and materials from companies like Thermo Fisher. So for much of last year the stock was working in its way, working its way higher. I thought it was going to be okay. From October of 2023 to this past September it was up 51% but after that pulled back hard with the stock now down almost 18% from September highs. Now we last checked in with Thermo Fisher was July when the company was coming off a breakout quarter. CEO Mark Casper was a buoyant about the company's prospects. He told us the company's firing on all cylinders and he even had decent things to say about China, which you don't hear very often about these days. But in late October, Thermovic reported what I call mixed quarter, slightly weaker than expected revenue, slightly better than expected earnings and guidance for the fourth quarter that seemed actually TAD saw stock definitely deserve to sell off. But in response, the post earnings pullback led right into the post election health care meltdown. And the selling and Thermo Fisher just seemed to snowball. It only stopped when the company put its foot down and announced a fresh $4 billion buyback in mid November. By the way, two weeks ago they announced they'd already repurchased $1 billion worth of stock. $4 billion buyback may not seem that much to a $200 billion company, but if they keep buying back $1 billion of stock every two weeks, well, you know, that's a different story. I think things will gradually improve for Thermo Fisher with business picking up in 2025 and 2026. And hey, if we if the IPO market ever comes back to life, there'll be a new wave of biotech companies coming public and spending their money on life science equipment. Doesn't hurt. The Thermo Fisher now only trades at 22 times next year's estimates. That's very low because this is a 30 multiple stock over many years. And I've got to tell you, I'm used to having one of the highest multiples in the S and pig. Next up is Danaher, another used player in the same industry that we own for the job of trust. Full disclosure, this is a name that we have been battling for a few years now. The position was established in early 2022, which was bad timing because I didn't appreciate the scale of the inventory glut issue. But we stuck with Dana because we have tremendous respect for the company. I always believe that once the temporary headwinds cleared, this one would bounce right back. It still has a high priced earnings multiple though, so it got annihilated today. Down five bucks or two percent on the point. Poorly received Fed meeting. Now Dana had this gigantic upside breakout in July, then traded sideways for a couple of months for getting hit with a big breakdown in mid October. Just like Thermo Fisher, it's now down 19% from its August highs. Ouch. It is rather thorough trashing. I think it's a good entry point though. I'm not alone. Last Friday, analysts at bank of America published this 2025 outlook note for the life science and diagnostic tools industry and they upgraded Danner, noting that business should get back to normal next year, even if in China where they expect government stimulus efforts to generate a meaningful pickup in orders. There has been no government stimulus in this sector whatsoever. Now I agree with that recommendation though, which is why we stuck with Dan for the travel Trust. If, like me, you believe that the health care sector is primed for a comeback next year, Dan is a great stock down. More to say about this one tomorrow at our noon Investing Club meeting. Finally, how about Agilent Technologies, Letter A, a company that provides instruments Software and services for customers in life sciences, diagnostics and applied industrial end markets. This one's down more than 14% from its 52 week high. May Agilence in the news because the company hosted an analyst day yesterday and from what I hear they told a pretty good story. Companies mostly confirmed its previous long term financial forecast, but those numbers are solid. 5 to 7% annual revenue growth combined with steady operating margin expansion resulting in double digit earnings growth. Management also provided more details on the company's recent reorganization and a new strategy plan dubbed Ignite that focused on accelerating the growth rate while making it Agilent, more customer centric and improving productivity. Now the analyst day didn't have much impact on the stock, but I think it was a good reintroduction for this fine company which might have fallen off investors radar during this listless period for the life science space. Again there's a good valuation argument for Agilent here. At its peak in September 2021, the stock sold at 37 times forward earnings. Now it's trading just under 22 times next year's earnings estimates for a reasonable valuation. And I have more confidence in the numbers because we just got them from yesterday's analyst meeting. Bottom line, that's three more health care names that could be worth buying into. Weakness, weakness. Remember I'm plan counting on that all in the life sciences tools and services space. Let me give them to you again. Thermo, Fisher Scientific, danaher and Agilent Technologies. I've now given you nine beaten down health care stocks where they get beat down and there are more to come. If you tune in later this week. I think we should take calls. Let's go to Sumit in Washington. Sumeet.
Caller
Hi Jim. Booyah. Happy holidays.
Jim Cramer
Same to you.
Caller
Happy holidays to you, your family and the whole staff at Mad Money.
David Richard
Thank you for everything.
Jim Cramer
We are a family here at Mad Money too. How can I help?
Caller
First just a quick shout out to my dad Mahesh as he's recovering from knee surgeries. I just want to give a quick shout out to him for quick recovery. Okay and then my question Jim is as a follow up to you with regards to Johnson and Johnson as it said a 52 week low. I think it's got a good growth and dividend and potential talc resolution coming up. Do you think there's it's a good time to buy.
Jim Cramer
There are two things. There's that talc litigation is also some patent that's going to that for big big drug that's going to go off. I don't think it's going to matter. I will tell you this. I have not seen J and J this, this cheap in many a year. Three and a half percent yield, triple a balance sheet. But the group is so, so hated. If you have the temerity, if you. Look, I'll tell you this. If you can handle a little pain, I think you get a lot of gain. How about that? Let's go to Marissa in California. Marissa. Jim. Hi Marissa. What's up?
Caller
Wanted to ask you about Moderna and MRNA. I know the stock declined over 50%.
Jim Cramer
This year and about 12%.
Caller
And there's a huge range for price target. And I know they've got some strategic initiatives and potential catalysts. They're just curious what your thoughts are for the next.
Jim Cramer
Okay, that's a great question. And remember the market cap's going from $100 billion in 2021 down to 14 billion. I have to tell you, even though these, these guys do not have any revenue growth and I think what's most disturbing, they are not disciplined, Marissa. They just don't seem to mind that they lose so much money. And that's why the stock has gone from love to hate. All right, I think Thermo, Fisher, Danaher and Agilent are all strong companies and you're getting a good entry point right here as these stocks get hit with the Dow down this march. Hey, by the way, bunch more mad but money including my students with public services. Now you probably don't think of it AI this kind of company having AI tools and recycling. But I'm hearing how it has major implications on operations with the company CEO. Then you pull in all the time and ask me about these red hot speculative stocks. Right? What constitutes speculative name and how does that hold up in this new environment? I'm going to be my criteria covering the names that you've been asked about. Of course all your calls Rapid Fire. Tonight's edition of the lightning round. So stay with breaking. After the Federal Reserve scaled back its plans for additional rate cuts next year, everyone's trying to figure out the economy maybe got overheated again or it's going to slow or maybe it's just right. You want to answer that question, you got to go to real companies. I prefer to go to individual companies that their finger on the pulse of the economy. Take the waste management business. When the economy is humming, get lots of construction that produce a lot of garbage. Which brings me to Republic Services. This is the number two player in what they call the environmental services business. Think trash and recycling. Here's a stock that initially roared the wake of the election. It's plaqued now pretty substantially. Not as much as WM though the old waste management. So let's check in with John Vander Arc, the president CEO of Republic Services. Get a better read in the business. Mr. Welcome back to Mad Money.
John Vander Ark
Great to be with you, Jim.
Jim Cramer
Okay, so sir, you, your company is in 43 states. So you have a very good look at the economy today. We got a Federal Reserve chairman who basically seemed a little flummoxed that maybe things are too hot but you don't want to get it, so it's too cool. What is your take on the boots on the ground of what's happening in this country with the economy?
John Vander Ark
Yeah, we're coming off a listen three really great years. If you think about 21, 22, 23 double digit top line growth, which for a business like ours, which is pretty slow growth is a great outcome this year. We'll see that growth start to modulate a little bit. Will probably be in the 7 to 8% top line growth this year and that's really pricing led for us. You know, volume has been flat at best and so we're, we're seeing, you know, small business on one hand is very strong. The construction side and the manufacturing side have actually been a little slower the last two years. Now we're optimistic going forward but the last two years have been a little bit sluggish in that space.
Jim Cramer
Well, I think people should know that you are as you say in your volume trends, you have an excellent deck, your volume trends. You're highly correlated to housing starts and that's been part of the economy that really has not ignited even as the Fed's cut rates.
John Vander Ark
Yeah, a one year lag in housing starts is the best predictor of our unit growth or demand in the space. And again we're seeing that be negative year over year. And you know we need to build more single family homes in the United States. And I see it, we're in a thousand dots on the map across the United States and we see it in Boston and Fort Lauderdale and Arizona and California and you go across the country, we need more housing starts. So you know, if the Fed cutting rates helps, we also need the 10 year to come down and get the mortgage rates down. So people are going to start to move. And when people start to move that unlocks new opportunities. And again I don't know whether that's going to happen over the next three to six months. Over the next one to two years. I'M really optimistic we're going to see growth in that space.
Jim Cramer
At the same time, what you're doing, you're doing a lot of things that I think we want our waste disposal company, so to speak, to do. You are recycling, you are doing things that I thought were not possible because you are artificial intelligence. You actually are separating trash that people felt couldn't be separated. And you're really doing what we ultimately thought we did when we were using recycling cans to begin with.
John Vander Ark
Yeah, we have really sophisticated technology. So when we take it at the curb and we tip the container, we can actually scan that stream as it's falling in. And we can see in the recycling what is a real recyclable material, you know, fiber or plastic or aluminum, and what is garbage. And we can let the consumer know, hey, you got to clean up that stream. Because if you put garbage in, at risk contaminating the entire load. And then in our recycling centers themselves, a high level of sophistication to be able to sort things many, many times over that allows us to get everything in its right spot and get the maximum yield to sell that aluminum and that fiber and that plastic into the end markets.
Jim Cramer
But you said something very interesting at the beginning of that sentence. You said basically that the consumer has to do better. Now, of course, when we're in a country like Germany, they fine you for if you put things, you put the brown glass into the green trash, then you get fined. What do we have to do in this country to make it so that recycling is taken more seriously?
John Vander Ark
Yeah, education is a big piece. I think we've got to tell people what is recyclable. And you know, there is some wish cycling out there, the greasy pizza box, people want to be recyclable, it's not. And again, that risk contaminating a load and then educating on the packaging. I think there's a big confusion with what is made with post consumer content. The three arrows that you see sometimes that could be made with recycled content, which is great, but it doesn't mean it's recyclable. So getting more material produced on the packaging side that's recyclable and communicating that clearly with customers is a big opportunity right now.
Jim Cramer
Does it matter about the ethos of the presidency? For instance, we know that President Biden very, very concerned obviously with the environment in his way. President Elect Trump concerned about the environment and very different way. Does it matter who's in the White House?
John Vander Ark
Oh, yeah, we've had now the fourth election here where we flip flopped. And over that run, we've had a really good run in our business, in part because we take it through cycle mindset. We don't build our business based on one administration or the other, in part because we're largely regulated on the state and local level. And I think the biggest driver is consumers, whether they're Democrats or Republicans. They want to do the right thing. They know this material has value and they want to build a circular economy. And it just makes sense. Why would I want to pay money to put something in a landfill when I could take a. Take it out of the landfill, reduce that cost and get a second revenue stream from it?
Jim Cramer
Well, it seems pretty simple and you've done a terrific job. And when you see the market down like this, I want to urge people to be inconsistent growers that are not linked directly to the economy like Republic Services. I want to thank John Vanderaert, president CEO of Republic Services. Thank you for coming on the show. Great.
John Vander Ark
Happy holidays.
Jim Cramer
All right, you too, man. He's back there for the break. It is time. It's time for the white round cruise. Everybody from Bradford, Wall stock, I tell you. Bye bye. Buy sells. So sell. This prepared unstuck question made ahead of time. I stand personally to blame the sale. And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready, Ski Dad, Time for the light round. Crazy fights over Joe in Florida. Joe.
Caller
Hey, Jim, Happy holidays to you and your family.
Jim Cramer
Thank you, Joe.
Caller
Quick shout out to my son Jackson.
Jim Cramer
We love watching markets together. Jackson. Absolutely. Jackson. Good, good. Good to have you on the show. What's going on?
Caller
My question for you today, sir, is about a stock I recently purchased. Our last reported earnings was a myth. After today's big move, I'm currently down about 11% on the position. Should I buy more, hold or sell? The stock is Oracle.
Jim Cramer
Okay. Remember, we don't care where stock has come from. We care where it's going to. Unfortunately. I do think after that last quarter, the stocks that do not make the quarter are being punished here and will continue to be punished until we get better news. So Oracle does go lower, in my opinion. Let's go to Beverly, New Jersey. Beverly, hello. Jim Cramer.
Caller
This is really in South Jersey. I'd like to get your take on Gilead Sciences.
Jim Cramer
Okay. Gilead Sciences is a company that I think has been. The stock has come back and that's terrific. But I don't think the business is worth as much as the stock is selling. I would take profits in that stock tomorrow morning. Let's go to Mike In Pennsylvania. Mike. Jim. Booyah, booyah.
David Richard
Why?
Caller
Love the interview with President Elect Trump the other day.
Jim Cramer
Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. How can I help? Yeah.
Caller
Okay. So this was kind of like a flyer I came across. I saw it on Fast Money and it's a combination infrastructure, AI, bitcoining, mining, Bitcoin. And they just broke ground on 100 megawatt facility with Coreweaver, the host in video GPUs and the company is Core Scientific CEO.
Jim Cramer
I'll tell you this in another week. If you think that today was a seminal market, in other words, that the Fed did something, is going to make people very nervous. This stock will go down for, for maybe a couple of days. It is very intriguing. I remember it's losing money, Losing money. Stocks will not do well in this newer environment. So let's be careful before, before we buy more of that stock. Now let's go to Gary in Massachusetts. Gary. Yes, Jim.
Caller
Uber. Uber is down 27%.
David Richard
They beat, beat and raise.
Jim Cramer
You know this stuff with gm, it is discouraging. And I find that Uber, I personally think that a lot of it's the chart. It looks like a terrible chart. A lot of it is. People right now have decided the these companies are going to get hurt by, by ride sharing. I don't believe that. I think that Uber's attractive and it's come down a lot and I do like it. And that. Ladies and gentlemen, the conclusion of the lightning round. I never want to ignore or criticize our wonderful viewers, especially on the eve of the Interactive Investing Club meeting tomorrow at noon. A lot of news to be made there. Likewise, I never want to discourage anyone practicing informed speculation as long as it's not a huge part of your portfolio. Because when you get a day like today, you know that the speculative part of your portfolio can be a free fire zone. But what exactly counts as speculation? Like Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography, I know it when I see it. Just listen to the lightning round. Most of those calls are about speculative stocks these days. So let's go over what we've been hearing right now. The speculative stocks, they fall into three groups. Commercial space engineering, nuclear power and quantum computing. You can understand the excitement all of these. The space business, that's people chasing Elon Musk with Starlink and Space X and Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin nuclear power. We got a critical shortage of electricity in this country thanks to all these new data centers that are being built. The hyperscalers are so desperate for power that Microsoft made a deal to recommission one of the reactors, the Three Mile Island. As for quantum computing could potentially revolutionize the entire industry. But I've been hearing that for well over a decade. It's never going anywhere. These groups don't necessarily trade up with each other. They move 10, they move independently. They don't correlate. But when things go bad like today, they all get trash. So let's take the respective groups one by one. For space people have been focusing on Rocket Lab USA and Intuitive Machines. Rocket Lab's arrival of Elon Musk space empire. $11.5 billion company that's losing money. But it's generated $364 million in revenue over the last 12 months. They expect to launch a Space X style reusable rocket next year. Real company, Intuitive Machines, $2 billion company has contracts with NASA for six satellites supposed to head to the moon. It had 203 million in revenue over the last 12 months with 359% revenue growth in the third quarter. Another real company, nuclear stuff. G Vernova has nuclear exposure, but it's a small part of the overall pie. It's not speculative, but it's expensive. But very solid though because it's got natural gas turbines which are connected with data centers. New scale power, that's a $4.9 billion company has made some promising advances in small form reactors. But it was a lot of money on meager sales. No thank you. In the meantime there's BW X Technologies which makes nuclear components and provides related services. $10.4 billion company, very profitable but very slow growing. Not exciting after speculation. Then there's the controversial, controversial Oclo OK Ello which is developing micro reactors. Very sexy. This $2.2 billion company is chaired by Sam Alban from OpenAI. It's working on experimental nuclear technology even as a deal which big data center play. But it's losing a lot of money. Then there's centrist energy. $1.2 billion coming to uranium Richmond. Profitable, little growth. Now exciting. How about Energy Fuels with the fabled you you, you, you ticker. This company has one of the few commercial uranium mines in the U.S. energy Fuels is a $1.1 billion company that seems to have trouble making profit. And finally is Cameco very real company based in Canada. $22.6 billion market cap. Profitable, expensive. Last and maybe least are the quantum computing stocks. Right now they're enjoying what Ben Rice is the terrific analyst at Melius is calling quantum mania. And manias are no place for you to be when The Fed's getting hawkish. For years we've been told that quantum computing is a better way to compute than we have right now. But the current quantum mania started when Alphabet said it had a big breakthrough with this new quantum processor. How are people playing it? Beyond Alphabet? Well, there's quantum computing. $3.1 billion business that went off today on news of a NASA contract. It's a money loser, but that doesn't matter right now, does it? D Wave Quantum is a $1.6 billion company that's develop software for quantum computing developers. Losing money, very little revenue. Last up, we got a call. Rigetti Computing. $3 billion companies making superconducting quantum chips, but a small revenue basis. Losing a lot of money. Then there's IO and Q, eponymous symbol that's developing quantum computing hardware and software. Again, losing a lot of money. Mini school revenues. Honeywell is an industrial quantum division. It's talked about spinning it off IBM as a quantum project. Very real, but not enough to move the needle. There's the scoreboard. It's what you've been asking for. You can speculate away, but recognize there's a lot to lose in these speculative stocks if they don't pan out. And many of them won't. And their stocks don't do well when inflation is stubborn, which is exactly what we heard today. Like I said, as always, more popular just for you, right here on Man Money. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.
Narrator
All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of cnbc, NBC Universal, 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. Cramer'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.
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer – Episode Summary (12/18/24)
Release Date: December 19, 2024
In the December 18, 2024 episode of Mad Money with Jim Cramer, host Jim Cramer delves deep into the current state of the stock market, dissecting recent Federal Reserve actions, analyzing the performance of various sectors, and engaging with callers seeking investment advice. The episode is rich with insights, actionable advice, and expert interviews, making it a valuable resource for both seasoned and novice investors.
Jim Cramer opens the show by addressing the tumultuous market reactions to the Federal Reserve's recent decision. The Fed's move to cut interest rates by a quarter point, coupled with indications of fewer cuts in the upcoming year, left investors unsettled. This led to significant declines in major indices:
Notable Quote:
"Sell, sell, sell. I guess you could say the baby got thrown out with the bathwater." – Jim Cramer [03:15]
Cramer explains the market's negative reaction despite the rate cut, attributing it to confusion among investors who were uncertain about the Fed's long-term policies. He highlights the conflicting economic indicators, such as robust sectors juxtaposed with areas of significant weakness, making the Fed's stance particularly challenging.
Key Points:
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing Jabil (JBL), a $27 billion revenue contract manufacturer. Despite a challenging market day, Jabil's stock surged over 7% due to a strong quarterly performance and an optimistic forecast for 2025, driven by data center construction and diversified business segments.
Notable Quote:
"Jabil represents the part of the stock market that is smoking hot." – Jim Cramer [07:45]
Key Insights:
Cramer emphasizes that Jabil is a microcosm of the broader economy, showcasing both the hottest and weakest sectors.
Cramer welcomes David Richard, CEO of Lyft, to discuss the ride-sharing giant's recent performance and strategic initiatives.
Notable Quotes:
"We're down 40% in surge pricing year on year, which is absolutely amazing." – David Richard [13:04]
"Every car is going to be autonomous. Every. If you buy a car in 10 years, it's not autonomous. It'd be like buying a car without a radio." – David Richard [18:52]
Key Discussion Points:
Cramer praises Richard's comprehensive understanding of the business and strategic foresight, highlighting Lyft's resilience amid market volatility.
Following Lyft, Cramer interviews John Vander Ark, CEO of Republic Services, a leading waste management company, to gain insights into the economy from the ground level.
Notable Quotes:
"We have to build more single-family homes in the United States. And I see it, we're in a thousand dots on the map across the United States." – John Vander Ark [31:01]
"Education is a big piece. We’ve got to tell people what is recyclable." – John Vander Ark [33:09]
Key Insights:
Cramer underscores the importance of Republic Services' role in the economy, particularly in housing and environmental services.
Cramer shifts focus to the health care sector, identifying it as one of the worst-performing areas in the market. He discusses the impact of political uncertainties and the Federal Reserve's policies on health care stocks, which are down nearly 20% from their 52-week highs.
Highlighted Stocks:
Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO)
Danaher Corporation (DHR)
Agilent Technologies (A)
Conclusion: Cramer identifies Thermo Fisher, Danaher, and Agilent as attractive entry points for investors seeking value in the beaten-down life sciences tools and services space.
In the high-energy Lightning Round, Cramer addresses multiple caller questions, providing concise advice on various stocks:
L3Harris (LH)
Bank of America (BAC)
Vertiv Holdings
Oracle (ORCL)
Gilead Sciences (GILD)
Uber (UBER)
Summary: Cramer emphasizes the importance of evaluating where a stock is headed rather than its past performance, advising caution in speculative sectors and focusing on fundamental strengths.
Cramer dedicates a segment to speculative stocks in the realms of commercial space, nuclear power, and quantum computing. He categorizes these stocks into three groups and provides a detailed analysis of each:
Commercial Space:
Nuclear Power:
Quantum Computing:
Key Takeaways:
Notable Quote:
"You can speculate away, but recognize there's a lot to lose in these speculative stocks if they don't pan out." – Jim Cramer [39:00]
Jim Cramer wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of informed investing, especially in uncertain economic times. He urges viewers to focus on fundamental strengths and value opportunities rather than succumbing to speculative fervor. Additionally, he hints at upcoming content, including discussions on AI tools, health care opportunities, and more in-depth interviews with industry leaders.
Final Quote:
"What you've been asking for. You can speculate away, but recognize there's a lot to lose in these speculative stocks if they don't pan out." – Jim Cramer [42:18]
For a comprehensive view and specific stock recommendations, tuning into the full episode is highly recommended.
This summary encapsulates the essential discussions and insights from the December 18, 2024, episode of Mad Money with Jim Cramer, providing a thorough overview for those seeking to navigate the complexities of the current investment landscape.