Caller (7:56)

Hey, Jim.

Jim Cramer (7:57)

Happy New Year to you and the.

Caller (7:58)

Whole team over there.

Jim Cramer (7:59)

Oh, thank you, James. Yep. And the group is so good here. And you know, they are. They are every bit as good in 2025 as they were in 2024. And that is saying something.

Caller (8:09)

All right, so listen, I bought a stock a couple of years ago, planning to hold it for many, many years. Problem is, it's run up so much on me, it's now 20% of the portfolio. Can I stick to the plan and hold it or do I need to trim some meta right here?

Jim Cramer (8:25)

How much of it? 20%. Okay, I'm. Let's say you have 10 stocks. I'm okay with 20%. I think that that's. I think Metta is an up stock going higher. I'm not going to tell you to sell it. If it gets up to 30, 25, 30, I would tell you to cut back, but I think Matt is okay for you. Now, for the Chapel Trust, I wouldn't let anything go above 5%, but I got a lot more stocks. I think that Matt is going higher. Let's go to Chris in Massachusetts. Chris.

Caller (8:51)

Hey, Jim. Chris from Matt. How you doing? Love your show. Happy New Year, my friend. Happy New Year.

Jim Cramer (8:58)

Right back at you. Thank you.

Caller (9:00)

Let's talk DraftKings. I've been holding onto this thing since 2020. It seems they can't get out of their own way. Jim, a lot of headwinds with this, with this stock, right? Lawsuits, no inside insider sales, no purchases in 2024, state tax increases. I mean, is California, Texas going to come on board?

Jim Cramer (9:24)

It needs California and Texas. You just said it right? I mean, it's an anytime touchdown. If you get California and Texas right now, it's kind of like a 14 parlay and you get the three, right, but you never get the fourth. What can I say? That's how it feels. And they do need those two states and then you'll be okay. Let's go to Keith in Florida, please. Keith.

Caller (9:42)

Jim, we are the Wall street bets. What's your opinion on Robinhood this year?

Jim Cramer (9:48)

Robinhood is another stock that I would tell you they've got to get a little more diversified. Their client base is really into crypto and options. They need to do more than that. That said, they just lapping all the other brokers. They understand what young people want. And the other guys are run, I don't know, the other companies seem like run by guys like me that seem to be too old to understand. I have like, I'm young at heart. I think what Robin Hood does is really, really fabulous. And the other guys should have been able to figure that out too. And they just have it kind of embarrassing when you think about it. Look, I could be a negative Nelly or Nancy or whatever about this year like the major averages were today. But I need to tell you what I think can actually go right because nobody else is doing it on Mad Money Tonight, I'm ringing New Year by breaking down the biggest winners and losers in 2024, starting with the Nasdaq 100. Then can stocks like Walgreens and Estee Lauder craft a comeback in the year ahead? I'm looking closer at the S&P 500 stocks that led and lagged the path. And later, I'm digging into some dividend stocks that could buff up your portfolio in an uncertain market. So stay with Kramer.

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Jim Cramer (11:15)

When work gets crazy.

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Jim Cramer (11:48)

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Jim Cramer (12:39)

Like 2024 where everything seems so obvious and the obvious winners actually hit the jackpot. But that's what happened last year. If you tried to get creative, you tried to get clever, you missed out on some truly idiot proof winners. The losers, on the other hand, well, they were not as easy to spot because in many they were the market's former winners, even if they long ago lost their way. Like every new Year, Matt Money, we probe what went right and what went wrong in the previous year by looking at the top five and bottom five first in the NASDAQ 100 which outperformed, and then the S&P 500 which finished slightly below its more high tech high tech comrade. When we sit in our bullpen working on the show, a bullpen that feels like some sort of old time sitcom, we curse at certain stocks for how overly loved they are, knowing that one day there'll be a better mousetrap and you'll wish you had gotten off the spaceship for a crash and a burn. Last year that stock was app 11, the best performer in the NASDAQ, which places ads in mobile video games, among other tasks. Of course they use AI and advanced algorithms to target their advertising. Of course they do a great job. Of course there is none better. Until of course, somebody else comes along with something cheap, deeper, stronger, more powerful and more app lovable. And that's why 8% of the company's shares are sold short. People know that competition is inevitable. Honestly, I think Google dominates this space in a heartbeat if they weren't worried about the Just Format's antitrust division. Although those goons will soon be soon be broomed. I'm betting 2025 will be the year when venture capitalists start funding proposals for Applov and alternatives, which why I can't endorse the stock here at nearly 60 times this year's earnings estimates. But try telling that to the true believers who set it up 713% last year, another 5% today, which frankly I find utterly ridiculous. I mean enough app loving already. As for the second best performer, honestly don't know why this microstrategy is allowed to exist. I mean really, here's a company that's making a leveraged bet on Bitcoin. That's what it is. It's an investment company, regulated one does a software company. But we're in a world where nobody cares to hear about any crypto regulation whatsoever. Especially now that we're about to have like a real crypto friendly present. And that's how it advanced 359% last year and will probably go up again. Listen, I like bitcoin. I own bitcoin in part because I can't own stocks. If you can't. If you can own stocks and you believe in Bitcoin with all your heart and soul, then feel free to buy MicroStrategy. It's Bitcoin on steroids, but not that much more. Most obvious winner for 2024, Palantir. The defense software company is trying to revolutionize the way the Pentagon works. Its CEO Alex Karp is a brilliant bad boy smash mouth Philly guy who's like a meaner version of Elon Musk and probably threw snowballs if not batteries at Santa Claus. From the lower level of the link, I think Palantir, up 340% for 2024 can another breakout year because the Musk Doge unit, part of government efficiency, will work hand in glove with these guys. They're all part of the same circle. They understand the procurement process. They will win a lot of business in 2025. Palantir, yes. Next up. We played a fun game at Tom and Laurie's place on New Year's Eve. We had to draw another person our dinner table. Then people had to guess who it was. I'm easy to draw, but I was not alone in my hairline. I was alone though, when it came to the bubble out of my mouth that said yes, Nvidia, the Stock was up 171% last year and also by the way, had a very strong close today of 4.3%. Of course, for a decent chunk of the year there was a lot of worry about a late product and a fractious client base that wants to design its own chips because Nvidia's cost too much, even as the return on investment is really large here. Believe me, if I thought anyone could touch Nvidia's products and platforms, I'd be happy to say sell and book the gain. But I can't justify that because this company is peerless. Frankly, the biggest thing working against the stock is a terrible way it trades give you a huge clumps. If you're making soft climbs. For any other company, I'd say abandon the stock. But Nvidia's products are too good, too indispensable and its CEO runs harder than anyone else I've ever met. I expect a great speech from Jensen Huang at CES next Monday, but please read my CNBC Investing Club bulletin today about my latest move on the stock. Finally, there's Axon, the body cam and Taser company that owns the software as a service model for the local criminal justice system. I wish I had specifics about which jurisdictions are taking their package, but the growth continues to be shockingly strong both here and now overseas. Maybe there aren't enough analogs, but I always feel like Axon doesn't get the attention it deserves from the analysts. I've liked it since it was Taser TSR and I like it even more even as the stocks up was up 130% last year. Needs to split to keep rolling them. Hey, there's a real good collection of winners. I really like those stocks. The NASDAQ 100 losers though they aren't so horrible as the declines would make you think. But they got clobbered because they were emblematic of golden calves worshiped for a long time before being revealed is not so special after all. Kind of like the false idol Edward G. Robinson worshiping Kramer Faith Ten Commandments. If you don't know Robinson, my colleague David Faber does a great imitation. Let's start with something critical intel and its financial situation. Intel is a national treasure, people. It can't be allowed to fail to dire a possibility. I don't think so. Its balance sheet is a mess. Its product line isn't good enough. I don't know if it can deliver on many of its promises. The government sure, nice guy and messianic former CEO Pat Gelsinger is gone but so what? Intel needs a plan in 30 days so the stock will keep coming down even after last year's staggering 60% decline. Intel's too big to be bought, too indebted to be finessed. It's a weak, close situation. The risk is existential. Second, MongoDB, down 43% is the excess of enterprise software. Still one more company that helps you develop applications, data modeling, blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 2024 was the year we turn on enterprise software simply because there are too many companies doing the same thing. So if you have one bit of slowness, you regard it as a dead man walking. MongoDB is a pretty good company, but it'72 times. Ernie? No, thank you. It was a big today. Hope springs eternal. Sell. Sell. Third, Biogen has been running on fumes while it works on its Alzheimer's drug. But the fumes, basically a very good Ms. Drug in a crowded field, aren't enough. Not with the unmet projections for its Alzheimer's formulation or competition come from Eli Loy. Hence the stock's 41% decline. Biogen Travel too close the sun for too long. It feels real burned out here. Fourth, for years Dexcom used to be a steady, steady climb for the show. The stock's been hurt and I think a lot of it is because of Abbott's blood sugar monitoring device may be better even as Dexcom's device is twice as expensive over the course of a year. Not necessarily better, but more cost effective. That's why by the way, it's one big reason why we own Abbott for the Chapel Trust. That stock's very cheap given how great the company is. Dexcom in the most recent quarter, well, let's just say gave you an in line forecast and a disappointing just 2% decline. A decline in US sales. The numbers from the second half, 2024 shock people because Dexcom doesn't miss and the explanation, some sort of sales reorg just didn't cut it. So the stock finished the year down 37%. I am still mystified by what happened here. Finally, there's microchip. If you want exhibit A about why the Fed needs to keep cutting interest rates. It's Microchip. The semiconductor company has the misfortune to make chips for the auto industry. Meaning they'll have a terrible first half without some help from the Fed. Hey, memo to all the auto seem to be in real trouble. You're if rates don't come down, stay away from that group. Obvious advances and declines all the way. See what I mean, bottom line, let's hope 2025 is just as straightforward. And Palantir hits another home run. A strategic Bitcoin Reserve drives up MicroStrategy and video delivers on its new chips. Exxon keeps winning jurisdictions, but App Lovin gets some long awaited app hating because I can't bring myself to root for that last one. Mad Money is back after the break.

Mad Money Announcer (20:20)

Coming up, Kramer's diving into the best and worst stocks of 2024 in the S&P 500 next.

Jim Cramer (20:32)

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Jim Cramer (21:01)

Eduardo the biggest winners of the Nasdaq were obvious last year, but the winners and losers in the SB5, they're harder to predict, especially if you exclude Palantir, Nvidia and Exxon, as they also made the cut in the NASDAQ 100. The rest of them were far from obvious and they had astonishing staying power. So let's get Palantir and start with the second best performer, which is Vistra, up 258%. Vista is the largest competitive generator of electricity in the country and the second largest nuclear play thanks to an acquisition very smart acquisition made last March. We have a shortage of clean power in America and we need more of it to support the big data center build out. Let me say from the outset that I'm starting to think this move is getting to be absurd. Vista is like a stock created for the moment, the visible way to play data center expansion. I come back and say Vista at a stoppel gang or Constellation Energy are utilities with no real ability to scale at the level that the stocks would indicate. Although Constellation got a big contract here from the feds that could help them add more nukes if all goes well. I say don't be too greedy with this trip, please, because the ore will disappear once people realize it doesn't have the ability to grow fast enough to back up this move. It can go higher, but it is starting to give me a nosebleed. Number four. Simply astounding. It's United Airlines. For the first time in my life, I've seen the trade morph into an investment and that's what United did the stocks up 135% rally cleared well once the airline started removing in capacity United cut back 3% of its promised mid year capacity. I couldn't believe it. Of course that can't explain the whole run problem with Boeing. The production there kept some airlines from being they were passing constraints they could get the plans they needed plus the longer money short on time thesis the burst on the scene post Covid never really quit. Oh and get this United still sells for less than eight times this year's earnings. It can actually power higher might be a good buy. I would wait for a five day percent pullback. You notice the chart looks like it's kind of rolling over. However because we excluded three of the top five as we covered them in the NASDAQ analysis. Let me give you three more from the S&P number 6 Texas Pacific Land Cover Corp. Now this is a strange out of this series of tracks from a bankrupt railroad that sit atop vast quantities of oil and gas. The Permian basin that we covered and I'm proud to say we really kind of nailed this stock kept going higher. The Stock finished up 111% but at one point it was much much higher. I think the oil trade will be hurt by excess drilling something that always seems to happen when we get a fossil fuel friendly president. Now there are better stocks. I like co terror for the Chapel Trust because it has both natural gas and oil Better bet I think it's breaking out here. Number seven was generally obvious in true NASDAQ style I'm talking about Broadcom symbol AVGO up 108%. Now we had CEO Hock Tan on the show when we were in San Francisco not that long ago and he laid out a vision where his company would be making a killing from the data center. It's very rare that you have a totally bank books average executive come on your show telling you exactly what will happen and then that executive delivers 100%. He's greeted with disbelief, a giant upside surprise and a gigantic move higher. He said it all. Plus I think Broadcom is an inning one of this turn. Not too late to get on board this one. We have a nice slug for the travel trust. And by the way I talk about it all the time in our 10:20 CBC investing club morning meeting. Finally there's Targa Resources up 105%. Now here's a natural gas pipeline company maybe the key to keeping the Permian growing because there's too much gas in the Permian that needs to be taken away can't be flared. Target has both the pipes and the ability to fractionate natural gas liquids. While it's not a liquefied natural gas company, it was believed to be a big loser when President Biden announced that pause in LNG construction a year ago. That pause is over and well, I think it'll be lifted immediately and that will lift Target even more. By the way, I think that Cheniere Energy was the better one to buy, but I think Target has the ability to rebuild its one slash dividend and that's a good reason to stay long. The stock targets for me. How about The S&P's biggest losers? Wow, they are powerful, powerfully bad. Starting with Walgreens down 64%. Here's a company that needs a buyer or buyers maybe. Some for the front of the store, decimated by Amazon. Some for the back, which could be used as a dispensary for all sorts of drugs. CEO Tim Wentworth. He's real good. He's closing money losing stores, offering free one hour delivery. Has a series of incredible bargains on the homepage. Check it out. But the balance sheet is just not so hot. And to truly turn around, well, Walgreens needs other pharmacies to go under so it can raise prices. Either that or it needs to break up different parts of the enterprise and sell them off. Down here though I would not bet against Wentworth. You can't if the stocks is too low. Second Moderna with the stock down 58% means a casualty. The post Covid hangover one of the last. Now the Zoom video and Docusign have taken off. The numbers here are staggering. Staggeringly bad. The market capitalization 2021 got as high as $195 billion. Now it is 16 billion house of pain. Its decline in revenues from 19.3 billion in 2022 to an expected 3.3 billion last year is eye popping and nauseating. And we keep waiting for the promised personal vaccines. I like CEO Stefan Benzel. Nice man, but I'm sad to say that the stock would roar if he were to step down as manager. Even if he definitely needs to stay on to help. Back to all vaccines. Great guy, but shareholders deserve better performance. Third is sell an ec. So Federal Reserve stock, meaning it's a company that makes plastics. When it got his clock clean down 55%, revenues flattened, profits fell. Typical of all the material stocks that follow this one, like so many other industrials, needed China to recover and it didn't. It also needs aggressive rate cuts. Until we get both, please don't bet on this one bouncing back. We own several stocks in Chabot that need China to come back. And all I can say is I hate those stocks. Sell, sell, sell. Well, at least until they annualize the crummy Chinese numbers and then they'll probably bounce back. Fourth is Estee Lauder lost 49% last year because it went all in China and saw every part of its business pretty much fall apart even as management kept promising otherwise. Yep, louder over promised and underdelivered. And the CNN is that real denouement feeling as it was also eviscerated by competition from Elf Beauty or Elf. Of course management would never admit this. It would never admit that his products are way overpriced compared to elves. Much cheaper but only slightly inferior merchandise they would say is radically inferior. My wife couldn't tell the difference. Difference I put them in front of. She didn't know. I mean like I've told that story already. Now we got gaffed by this one for the Chapel Trust. Believe me in the CEO, we were wrong. We. We regret the error. Fathers and Face, which is a solar equipment company, has the misfortune of making some of its equipment in China given that Trump won over solar African Vice President Harris tariffs we can expect that much higher tariffs are looming on Chinese goods. I think it's amazing that Facebook is only down 48% for the year, but hey, there's always 2025. We have some possible winners among the ones that I mentioned, including United Airlines and Broken. But for the most part, the potentially big winners, the SB500 are the same as the winners we just covered. The nasdaq, Palantir, Nvidia and Axon. The losers. Here's the bottom line. We need to see the big plan for the Walgreens. A change atop Moderna China return to industrial growth for selling use. A change in management in return to growth for in China for Estee Lauder as well as more realistic pricing. And I even know what to do for end phase. Sadly, I don't think they know what to do either. How about Robert in Texas? Please, Robert, I value your opinion.

Caller (28:15)

And I held Apple for so long and it split so many times and now it's like over 30% of my portfolio and I feel like I should diversify.

Jim Cramer (28:29)

You have too much. It doesn't matter. You know, look, discipline, Trump's conviction. So you will sell some Apple tomorrow. I cannot have. You have 30% Apple even though it is one of my favorite stocks. That does not make sense to me. Please, please, please take some off the table. Let's go to Jonathan, my home state of Pennsylvania, where I was just last week. Jonathan.

Caller (28:47)

Happy booyah year, Jim.

Jim Cramer (28:49)

Oh, totally. Where's your accent? You sound like me.

Caller (28:52)

Yeah. Bucks county, right? Right down the road.

Jim Cramer (28:54)

Really? That's where I was. Wasn't it great?

Caller (28:57)

It was wonderful. Yeah.

Jim Cramer (28:58)

Thank you.

Caller (28:59)

Hope you had some nice time with family and friends here.

Jim Cramer (29:02)

I sure did. Thank you. Thank you.

Caller (29:04)

Good for you. Jim, I haven't thanked you and your staff for quite a while for all the hard work you do and how much you help all of us you have made.

Jim Cramer (29:11)

Thanks a lot, man. Thank you. Thank you.

Caller (29:13)

You're welcome. And thank you for all the folks there. Jim, I'm looking at a little bit of a defensive play. Just wondering if you think this stock's expensive. The PE seems a little high to me on Colgate Palm Oil, if I.

Jim Cramer (29:24)

Was to say, you know, I watch Frank Holland show every morning and he had a guest this morning talk positive about Colgate. I was listening. I felt quite compelled. I said, you know what? That stock has come down from 109 to 90. I think you should put some more. And I want to thank you for those kind words. And yes, I do love Bucks County. I always, I grew up in Montgomery County. I always wanted to fear if I could ever move up in life. I do it, and I finally got there, but it took me an awful long time. Anyway, in 2024, there's a lot of overlap in the winners between the NASDAQ 100, the SB. As we head into this year, we'll have to watch and see if the potential winners will do. They have what it takes to keep winning much more mad money, including my look at some high yielders that could be prime players to watch in the new year. Plus, I'm revealing two themes that I think could drive the 2025 action on Wall street and telling you what stocks could benefit from these trends. And, of course, oil cost. Rap fire. Tonight's edition of the 2025 lightning round. So stay with Craig Chamber. As we kick off the new Year, it feels like we're headed into a period full of uncertainty. A few months ago, we thought the Federal Reserve would be blessing us with a series of fairly aggressive rate cuts. But inflation fused to be tame, and now the Fed's a lot less dovish. The bond market's been moving in the wrong way since September. We already had a huge Trump rally in the wake of the election. But we don't really know what the second Trump administration will prioritize. In terms of economic policy, if it's tax cuts and deregulation, market will lap it up. If it's tariffs, well, that's another story. So what works in times of uncertainty? Well, I'll tell you what works. Dividend stocks. These are the ultimate sources of safety. And look. And it doesn't hurt that the high yielders have fallen out of favor as bond yields have soared, making dividend stocks less attractive in comparison. If you think there's a ceiling on bond yields though, then this could be a great time to buy some high yielders. When you look at every member of the s and P500, get this. 128 of them paid dividends that yield 3% or more. 32 yield more than 4.5%. While we were out for the holidays, we embraced our time off by pouring through. Those 32 stocks. Came up with five high yielders. That should work in 2025. First up, realty Income. That's a real estate investment trust. They've been on the show primarily focused on retail properties, with some growth opportunities in the data centers and gaming markets. We are really income. That's similar. Letter O has the second highest yield among the real estate investment trust, the SB500.6%. And it's the only one that pays a monthly dividend, which is fantastic. Comes in very handy. Plus the company regularly raises its payout. They raised it five times last year. Now Realty Income is down 19% from its late October highs here. I think that's mainly because the bond market's gotten more competitive, though. Wall Street's also feeling more skittish towards some of their biggest tenants, like the dollar stores. A lot of people think Walmart's eviscerating those pharmacy chains. Well, that's Amazon, right? However, when Sweet Roy came on the show in November, he explained that his companies managed to grow earnings faster than the market during periods of both high interest rates and low ones. Is very convincing. Plus, even though some tenants are struggling, pointing out that the company hasn't seen any major lease renewal issues. And even if they do, they've got so many prospective tenants that it really wouldn't matter, I say take the 6% payout from realty Income and wait for the market to work through its concerns about the stock. Next, here's an interesting one. Ups. I know UPS has been a serial underperformer for a couple of years now, and by any fair comparison, FedEx is the better operator. But if you're Looking for income, FedEx has only a 2% yield. UPS currently yields north of 5%. Back in October, UPS put a surprisingly strong quarter and now that it's gotten past tough Comparisons from generous third quarter 2023 contract with the Tempsters union, well you know what? The company's beginning to get its costs under control. That Teamsters contract was really bad for them. I thought so. But after popping more than 5% response that quarter, the stocks are nothing but tumble right back down again. Look at that. As I explained not too long ago, United Parcels primary issue right now is trust. Early last year the company put forward some three year financial targets that Wall street simply does not believe. But if management can deliver a couple more quarters like the last one, the trust could be restored and the stock could have a nice run. Now if Matchmen can't do it, then the board could change management and the stock will go higher too. In the meantime, they're paying it away with that juicy dividend. I like the risk reward there. What else? A number of utilities made the high yielders list. Let's talk about Dominion Energy. That caught my eye. This company that has regulated gas and electric utility business of Virginia and the Carolinas large clean power generation business quitting nuclear power plant after Dominion became too unwieldy with ambitious but distracting clean energy projects. The company has now divested some big assets, has become much more focused operator and I like what it's focused on. See Dominion service area includes Northern Virginia which has one of the highest concentrations of data centers on the planet. We know data centers have this insatiable demand for electricity. Plus Dominion is nearly 5% dividend yield. Still doesn't hurt. A couple of regional banks made the short list of high yielders in the S&P 500. I feel particularly comfortable with Key Corp. That's that Cleveland based parent of KeyBanc. I don't know if you remember we had CEO Chris Gorman on just a few weeks ago. I liked it. By the way, I like many retail banks and I've got to tell you Key has been languishing for the better part of two years after that many banking crisis in the spring of 2023 because the company did make some missteps with its bond portfolio. But late last summer Key Corp. Sold a big chunk of itself to bank of Nova Scotia which gave them the capital reposition their bond portfolio Taking a loss in the process but putting the problem to bed. No, I think the implusion confusion could allow Key to make some acquisitions. Remember the FTC now more favorably inclined Lately the stocks been falling again as long term interest rates have risen causing investors to sell the regional banks indiscriminately. I think you should use that market wide fear to buy some key corp as it's already dealt with this bond portfolio. While you wait for the market figure out this stocks being unfairly punished for the legacy issue. You can collect 4.8% yield. Finally, let's throw in a solid energy name. I'm talking about Chevron which barely snuck onto our list list of finals with a 4.5% yield as of the end of last year. This stock's basically been flat for two and a half years now, more or less at least since inflation peaked in mid-2022. That's happened amid declining or stagnant energy prices and some company specific issues like a major deal to acquire Hess which is languished for a few reasons including a dispute with Exxon over certain international projects. But I think it's going to be hard to keep Chevron stock down for much longer. At the end of the day I'm less sanguine than most about the oil industry under Trump because a drill baby drill policy and that means more supply and more supply translates of course to lower prices. However, there will obviously be some benefits for the integrated oils from a new regime in Washington that's equally more fossil fuel friendly than the outgoing Biden White House. Chevron's economy sells for less than 13 times this year's earnings estimates. Offering good value in a market looks increasingly stretched in places. And that nearly 4.5% yield. I don't know. That seals the deal from here's the bottom line. Realty Income, ups, Dominion Energy, K Corp and Chevron. Five dividend stocks you might want to put on your shopping list at the outset of a new year that's filled with uncertainty. If you're looking out at 2025 without a clear idea of where to put new money now, well, I gotta tell you those five stocks may be a great starting place for your capital. Bad money is back. Get to the brick.

Mad Money Announcer (36:30)

Coming up, Kramer takes your calls and the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire lightning round next.

Jim Cramer (36:47)

It is time. Shout for the light brown cray rock. The polls just go to my step and then the lighting round is over. Are you ready, Steve? Dad. So the light round crazy. Let's go over Frank in Texas. Frank.

Caller (37:02)

Jim, a hearty booyah to you from San Antonio, Texas.

Jim Cramer (37:10)

Go Burns. Let's go.

Caller (37:14)

Jim, I. I have a position in Uber and I'm down just a little bit. What do you think? Should I add Should I hold?

Jim Cramer (37:21)

I want you to buy more Uber. I know it was up two bucks today, but I think it's really down way too much. I'm gonna go to Preston, Illinois. Preston in.

Caller (37:30)

The house. Happy New Year.

Jim Cramer (37:33)

Happy New Year. What is that 5% yield? It's down way too low. I think it's time to pick up that utility. Let's go to Robert, New York. Robert, first time, long time. Happy New Year to you. And you Chill says Happy New Year to you. How can I help?

Caller (37:50)

I'm hoping to give you some good news on 10Mr. Joe with the state when the ESPN lose it average down a few times way too soon.

Jim Cramer (38:00)

What's the stock? The time to sell Penn Entertainment. No, I don't like Penn Entertainment. They, you know, a new broom needs to sweep clean there, let me tell you. Let's go to Trey, Trey McBride perhaps in Texas. Trey.

Caller (38:13)

Jim, watching you and President Trump at the exchange a few weeks ago was truly inspirational.

Jim Cramer (38:18)

Thank you, Trey. Trey always has nice things to say. I really appreciate it. Thank you. I tried to play it straight down the middle. That's all you can do. That's all I've ever done my whole life is straight down the middle. That really is me. What's up?

Caller (38:29)

I mean the single most influential and brilliant person on earth standing next to the President Elect. Wow, what a time. So believe it or not, I actually stumbled onto this stock picker while trying to purchase a recliner online. But after some research, I think Lazarus shareholders are sitting prettier than owners of La Z boys going into 2025. Can I get a hallelujah?

Jim Cramer (38:51)

Yeah. Hallelujah. Absolutely. I've got to tell you, I think Lazard's really inexpensive. We can get all this M and A stuff. I think you're absolutely right and I'm going to give you an anytime. Touchdown. Let's go to. I love that. Let's go to Curtin, Georgia. Kurt.

Caller (39:05)

Hey Jim. Been a long time follower. Over 30 years now.

Jim Cramer (39:10)

I'm calling about it.

Caller (39:12)

Everybody said yeah of the street back in the street years.

Jim Cramer (39:16)

Sure.

Caller (39:18)

I, I'm calling out a stock. Everybody said it was going to be a thousand dollar stock. Great numbers, great products. It's really well run company as far as I can tell. I started buying it just over 900 and kept buying as it went down and down and down. It really hit my portfolio last year. Do I sell it or should I hang on to Eli Lilly?

Jim Cramer (39:39)

Okay. The problem is people are saying, you know what? After a year people are no longer taking the Drugs, they're going off at a use percentage. Going off it. I think that you own this thing because it's about cardiac instances, it's about high, high blood pressure, it's about dementia, may even be about cancer, not just about weight and diabetes. So I think you hold on to Eli Lilly. We continue to hold it for the trust. I do think there'll be good numbers. But that last quarter was. I totally understand the trepidation about the stock, but I still like it. How about Nick in Florida? Nick.

Caller (40:10)

Jim, big booyah from Florida and a happy New Year to you, man.

Jim Cramer (40:14)

Thank you.

Caller (40:15)

My mom, Mara, and my girlfriend, Diana. Jim, this Stock is down 26% in the past six months and has been a staple in my portfolio for a few years now. My question to you is buy, sell or hold? Ticker symbol Nue. Nucor.

Jim Cramer (40:30)

Nucor. I thought Nucor was bottoming. It's been very, very tough, though, in this great steel maker. I really got to see what. Look, the material stocks are all weaker and there's a lot of dumping of steel from China, yet they. All they do is hack and dump and hack and dump and they get away with it. So that's what's hurting the stock. Let's go to Alan in Florida, please. Alan. Yeah, Jim, thanks for taking my call. A number of months ago, if I correctly, you interviewed the chief executive officer of Laboratory Corporation of America. And I own a lot of that stock. And it seems to me that that stock's been dead money. And I wonder what your thoughts were about it now. You know, LabCorp did have a spike over Covid and that was about when I interviewed the CEO. I think the stock at 15 times earnings is fine, but the problem is it's health care. And people do not like the health care stocks. What can I say? And that let's. Ladies and gentlemen, the conclusion of the Lightning Round.

Mad Money Announcer (41:24)

The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up, has the optimism around the market reached a fever pitch? Kramer's digging into the areas where he's seeing too much speculation.

Jim Cramer (41:38)

Next. The beginning of the year is always filled with optimism. I like that. Far too often, the analysts gin up a sense of doom based on rates or valuations or whatever. Seems to be the dark flavor of the day. But sometimes, I gotta tell you, there's too much optimism in certain sectors. We've seen this movie before. Faster battery chargers that didn't pan out. New electric vehicles that failed or are failing. Even vaccines for cancer that never materialized. This year, I see two themes. I want to caution people about nuclear power and quantum computing both the promise someday. But that day is not just not near enough to justify the current valuations for the stocks. Right now there are two utilities that generate a lot of nuclear power Vistra and Constellation Energy, the latter of which just got a big contract with the Fed's $1 billion to expand nuclear sector. The big utilities are frantically trying to meet power demand generated by the data center revolution. I think these two stocks are now way ahead of themselves. They trade like they'll be able to build many nuclear reactors next to the currently approved ones because sighting won't be difficult. That's true, but building them will be. It takes ages to construct one of these things. Big overruns Constellations reopening a decommissioned 3 mile on plant with Microsoft signing a contract for 20 years worth of power. That does sound great. But I think the process of restarting a dead nuclear power plant won't be easy. But hey, at least Constellation investor real even if their stocks have gotten overextended when it comes to nuclear power over enthusiasm we've seen more. Some of these smaller companies offer alternatives to the current plants. They worry me. Companies like OCLO with nuclear fission capabilities, new scale power with small form factor technology. They're exciting, but they're also years from developing anything meaningful. Or as my friend Michael Semblis, chair of the Market and Investment Strategy Group at JP Morgan wrote and it's unbelievably pressing. 2025 outlook what nuclear renaissance. Wake me when we get there. I don't want to go into the specifics of many of these companies that are devoid of any revenue. I will say that the most important builder of nuclear plants in this country, Nova Cuba, is about as bearish as the promoters are bullish. I've tried to coax CEO Scott Strazik to be more positive on the prospects, but he won't. After all the engineering hurdles, cost overruns and balance sheet damage associated with his plans, he doesn't expect anything commercially viable for about a decade. So I don't think you want to be in any of these nuclear stocks for too long. How about quantum computing? Look, quantum computing is not a hoax. It's kind of a low bar outfit is a facility dedicated to quantum quantum computing. This is super fast computing using superconductors that require a specialized computer environment based in part on cryogenic technology. Sounds promising. The others burn too hot, right? The regular data centers. But it's not a reason to buy Alphabet because there's nothing that's ready at scale I like outfit owner for the Travel Trust, but that's because we like their dominance in search, progress in YouTube, and incredible strength of Google Cloud services well ahead of what people think. Quantum computing is just a long term project. But then, for example, example, when I look at Rigetti Computing, it's a $5.6 billion company professes to be a leader in quantum computers and superconductor equipment, I grow concerned. Rigidity is a multiple year money loser with just 11.9 million in revenues in the last 12 months. This stock was at 66 cents four months ago. Now it's at 20 bucks, up over 30% just today. Its big break occurred at the end of November when it sold 50 million shares at 2 bucks. The stock was off the races ever ever since that hey, it's a Quantum Gamestop, okay? I am wary of D Wave Quantum, a $2.2 billion company with 9 million in revenues over the last 12 months and very big losses. I'm also concerned about a company called quantum computing, $2.4 billion with 400,000 in revenues in the last 12 months and again, very big losses. Look, I believe nuclear power, but when G. Vernova, the company has arguably has the most to gain from it, says discouraging things about an uptick in commercial nuclear power coming anytime soon when quantum computing seems very much in infancy, well, I fear people get hurt speculating on even the biggest companies, let alone the smaller ones. You can speculate, of course, but please understand that like at all New Year's, the animal spirits are in play for a few stocks and I don't want you to be trampled by wayward bulls with visions of riches in front of their greedy eyes. You own we're getting just one Take some gains and then go out and buy yourself a nice cashmere sweater. I like to say there's always more market summer. Promise to find it just for you right here on Mad Money in 2020 25. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.

American Express Representative (45:50)

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Jim Cramer (46:42)

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