Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer – Episode Summary (December 4, 2025)
Overview: This episode of “Mad Money” focuses on Jim Cramer’s analysis of recent market trends, key economic data, sector performance, and notable individual stocks, with a special emphasis on the potential for a broad macroeconomic rally beyond the tech sector. The episode features Cramer’s signature energetic market commentary, an in-depth Lightning Round, and interviews with CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz and Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy.
Main Theme:
Moving Beyond Tech—Uncovering the Hidden Macro Rally Cramer urges investors to look past headline-grabbing tech worries and instead focus on underlying market opportunities driven by favorable economic and monetary dynamics. Key data is flagged as setting the stage for multiple rate cuts and a major market rally, especially in underappreciated sectors like banks, retail, transports, and select conglomerates.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Economic Data & Rate Cut Optimism
- Cramer dissects "ugly" ADP jobs data showing 32,000 jobs lost in November (vs. expected +40,000), but explains why weak jobs and lower inflation actually signal good news for stocks by enabling the Federal Reserve to cut rates.
- ISM Services price index drops to its lowest since April, reinforcing the “Goldilocks” scenario: slowing growth with declining inflation (03:37).
- Quote: “Weakness in hiring...and we got lower inflation. You know what that is? How about Nirvana? How about Goldilocks? How about actual Ecstasy?” (04:15)
2. Macro Rally—Sectors in Focus
- Banks: Leading the rally with Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Capital One, and AmEx challenging old highs (05:21).
- Retail: Outperformance by Dollar Tree, Macy’s, American Eagle, Tapestry, Ralph Lauren, Kohl’s, TJX, Urban Outfitters, and especially Walmart. Disappointments limited to Target, Burlington, and Home Depot (06:09).
- Transports: Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, FedEx, JB Hunt, and ArcBest all flagged as “in breakout mode” (07:43).
- Pharma: Investors turning to Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Amgen, Bristol Myers for safety during uncertain periods (07:55).
3. Shifting Focus from Tech
- Cramer notes that tech industry drama (AI, semiconductor expense, "trench warfare" between giants) is drowning out more promising macro themes.
- He advocates for dropping the obsession with tech drama and instead “just own, not trade, Apple and Nvidia and get along the real economy stocks.” (08:13)
- Quote: “Let’s stop obsessing on what we don’t know about tech and let’s just own, not trade Apple and Nvidia and get along the real economy stocks that could be poised for world championship run for the roses into the end of the year.” (08:25)
Memorable Callers & Lightning Round
Heinrich in Texas (09:00)
- Caller asks about Palantir’s recent correction.
- Cramer: “I don’t want you to sell Palantir…Alex Karp is a bit of a wild man. I don’t mind that. I think they’re doing incredible work...I think Palantir is going higher.” (09:52)
Other Quick Takes:
- Lumentum: "Red hot spec stock that actually makes money—okay if you keep it as a spec."
- MSCI: "Absolute favorite, winner for ages, run by Henry Fernandez – big opportunity on pullback."
- Digital Bridge Group: "Data centers, cell towers, but not the right stock for this moment—pass." (42:13–42:50)
CEO Interviews
CrowdStrike’s Monster Quarter (13:21–22:17)
Guest: George Kurtz, CEO
- Record Q3 for annual recurring revenue (ARR), free cash flow, and operating income.
- Major global partners like Accenture, EY, and AWS help drive broad-based customer adoption.
- Kurtz: “We had a monster quarter. We delivered broad based success across all geographies, all platform modules. I think it shows that CrowdStrike is the platform of choice in cybersecurity.” (14:43)
- Strong government business due to cost-saving and consolidation efforts.
- ARR growth (+$265 million this quarter) called the "health of the business," emphasizing CrowdStrike’s SaaS/platform stickiness over “noisy” billings metrics (21:01).
Snowflake Earnings Deep Dive (33:25–41:09)
Guest: Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO
- Robust 29% YoY revenue growth ($1.16B); AI revenue at $100M ARR and growing.
- Cramer addresses overblown margin concerns: “There is a lot of attention being paid to how do we do our jobs more efficiently ... that's the magic of Snowflake…” (34:28)
- AI features like “Snowflake Intelligence” make complex data access and analysis radically simpler for customers (36:10–37:00).
- Strong cloud migration tailwinds—less than 20% of potential customers have moved to the cloud, a massive runway for growth.
- $200M partnership with Anthropic to bring advanced AI models into the platform (40:22).
Featured Stock Analysis
Lowe’s Corporation (Conglomerate) (24:04–32:22)
- “Silent bull market” in overlooked conglomerate Lowe’s, which includes insurance, pipelines, hospitality, and packaging.
- 25%+ YTD return, driven by strong earnings at CNA Financial (insurance) and Boardwalk Pipelines, aggressive share buybacks, and stable, family-led management.
- Quote: “In the first letter to shareholders earlier this year, Ben Tisch explained, ‘like my father and his father before him, I believe that the CEO of Lowe’s Corporation has one job and one job only, to grow intrinsic value per share.’” (25:45)
- Steady repurchasing has retired 45% of shares since 2014; stock trades at only ~15x forward earnings, “really cheap, especially given the high quality management.”
- Cramer: “If you come back next year at this time, I’ll probably like it even more.” (30:45)
Cramer’s Closing Market Wisdom
“End of the Year of Magical Investing” (43:26–47:53)
- Cramer warns the speculative phase (zero-day options, double leveraged ETFs, meme stocks, uranium, quantum, crypto data centers) is over:
- Quote: “The year of magical investing has ended in November…” (43:26)
- High-quality stocks with real earnings and reasonable prices should drive the next rally, not speculative flyers.
- Cites recent capital raises by speculative data center/Bitcoin miners (e.g., Iron/Iren) as a sign of stretched markets: "If it’s anything like the year 2000, you need to skedaddle before it’s too late to sell." (47:06)
Notable Quotes & Moments—with Timestamps
- “Weakness in hiring...and we got lower inflation. … How about Nirvana? How about Goldilocks? How about actual Ecstasy?” (04:15)
- “Let’s stop obsessing on what we don’t know about tech and let’s just own, not trade Apple and Nvidia and get along the real economy stocks that could be poised for world championship run...” (08:25)
- On Palantir: “Alex Karp is a bit of a wild man...but if you're asking me whether I think the stock's going higher...I think Palantir is going higher.” (09:52)
- CrowdStrike’s Kurtz: “We had a monster quarter. … Delivered broad-based success…CrowdStrike is the platform of choice in cybersecurity.” (14:43)
- Snowflake’s Ramaswamy: “The bulk of the $100M in ARR in AI revenue comes from the Cortex family of products...That's the value we're delivering.” (36:10)
- “In the first letter to shareholders earlier this year, Ben Tisch explained, ‘like my father and his father before him, I believe that the CEO of Lowe’s Corporation has one job and one job only, to grow intrinsic value per share.’” (25:45)
- Cramer’s warning: “Now is a very good company. It’s not fly by night, but ... it had to issue nearly 40 million shares...This deal reminds me of exactly what I saw back in 2000 when things were just beginning to unravel.” (45:06)
Important Segment Timestamps
- (01:41) – Opening Market Commentary & Economic Data
- (03:37) – Inflation Data & "Goldilocks" Economy
- (05:21) – Breakdown of Sector Performances
- (09:00) – Palantir Call-In
- (13:21) – CrowdStrike CEO Interview
- (24:04) – Lowe’s Corp Deep Dive
- (33:25) – Snowflake CEO Interview
- (41:54) – Lightning Round
- (43:26) – Cramer’s Closing Market Commentary
Takeaways for Listeners
- Weak jobs and low inflation mean the Fed can cut rates—fuel for a big end-of-year rally outside of tech.
- Banks, retail, transports, and conglomerates could outperform the “hot” tech names in the coming months.
- High-quality, cash-generating companies with disciplined capital return (like Lowe’s Corp) offer hidden value.
- Be wary of chasing speculative, unprofitable stocks—“the year of magical investing” has ended.
- Keep an eye on true business fundamentals and pay attention to underlying macro forces, not just the latest tech drama.
This summary captures the substance, tone, and memorable moments of the December 4, 2025, episode of “Mad Money” for those who want actionable insights and an overview of where Jim Cramer sees opportunity and risk in the market.