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Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 2/27/25 - Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer | Wave AI Podcast Notes

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 2/27/25

Fri Feb 28 2025

Listen to Jim Cramer’s personal guide through the confusing jungle of Wall Street investing, navigating through opportunities and pitfalls with one goal in mind - to help you make money. Mad Money Disclaimer

Summary

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer – Episode Summary (February 27, 2025)

Release Date: February 28, 2025

In this episode of CNBC’s "Mad Money" hosted by Jim Cramer, viewers are taken on a comprehensive journey through the current investment landscape, focusing on the ramifications of President Trump’s tariff policies, identifying resilient stocks amidst economic turbulence, and offering in-depth analyses of specific companies based on listener inquiries. The episode is structured into several key segments, each delving into different facets of Wall Street and providing actionable insights for investors.

1. Navigating Tariffs and Market Volatility

[00:47]
Cramer opens with his mission to empower investors:

"My mission is simple, to make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors."

He delves into the impact of President Trump’s tariff strategies on the stock market, highlighting significant downturns:

"Today's giveaway prices with the Dow dipping 194 points. SB totally 1.5. Numbers at NASDAQ plunging 2.78%. Bargains galore. These prices, they're positively insane."

Cramer criticizes the administration's approach to combating inflation through stock market interventions, suggesting that the burden falls on sectors like quantum computing, AI, nuclear power, and companies imported from China.

2. Identifying Protected Stocks Amid Tariff Pressures

Cramer emphasizes the importance of selecting stocks that are insulated from the volatility caused by tariffs. He categorizes these stocks into various sectors:

Technology:
He dismisses major tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Microsoft due to their significant exposure to international supply chains and dependency on foreign manufacturing.

"Nothing that can be sold to China has a chance to get out of this thing unscathed."

However, he points out cybersecurity firms as viable options:

"So in tech, the cybersecurity plays, of course. Before you buy Crowdstrike after reading their threat assessment paper today..."
Healthcare:
Cramer suggests investing in healthcare stocks that are less affected by tariffs, mentioning:

"I say buy a healthcare stuff. Lots of tariff immunity..."
Consumer Packaged Goods and Food:
He cites companies like Clorox and Coca-Cola as potential investments due to their domestic focus.

"They couldn't make enough money here. We'd have to find one that didn't diversify internationally. Perhaps because it didn't know how to do it. Maybe that makes it immune."
Energy and Utilities:
Energy stocks, especially those related to pipelines and utilities, are recommended for their stable yields and minimal exposure to tariffs.

"Oil and gas tempting. I can make a strong case that you can own the pipeline stocks with good yield going to see interest rates go lower..."
Banks:
Banks like Wells Fargo are highlighted as solid investments due to their strong domestic footing.

"The number one is Wells Fargo. It's American, it's well run."
Restaurants:
Cramer recommends American-centric restaurant chains like Texas Roadhouse for their limited reliance on imports.

"I like Brinker got hit barely today Texas Roadhouse later may be the most American of any restaurant chain."

3. In-Depth Analysis: Vital Farms Under Scrutiny

[08:19]
A significant portion of the episode focuses on Vital Farms, a pasture-raised egg producer, based on a call from Brett in California.

Financial Performance and Stock Movement:
Vital Farms had been lauded as a growth stock, with its shares experiencing substantial fluctuations:

"Vital Farms surged to $48 last summer for pulling back to the low 30s."

Despite strong earnings reports boasting:

30% Revenue Growth
280 Basis Points Gross Margin Expansion
Earnings Per Share (EPS) of 23 Cents

The stock plummeted by 9% following disclosures of accounting irregularities.

Accounting Issues:
Cramer explains that Vital Farms reported a material weakness in their internal controls over financial reporting:

"Material weakness? Accounting issue. Accounting related to how Vital Farms tracks orders and invoices its customers."

Although the company claims that these deficiencies did not lead to a material misstatement, the lack of trust in the financials prompted Cramer to take a cautious stance.

Government Intervention and Market Impact:
The Trump administration’s $1 billion plan to combat bird flu aimed at stabilizing egg prices indirectly affected Vital Farms:

"If the Trump administration's new plan to fight bird flu actually works, well, that's bad news for Vital Farms."

The stabilization of egg prices could erode Vital Farms’ competitive premium, making their products less attractive.

Conclusion:
Cramer advises selling Vital Farms stock due to the accounting issues, emphasizing his principle:

"Accounting irregularities equals selling, sell."

He acknowledges the company's potential but remains cautious until the financial discrepancies are resolved.

4. Listener Callers and Their Stock Questions

The episode features multiple callers seeking Cramer’s insights on various stocks:

Gary from Nevada on Crowdstrike:
Positive outlook due to increasing cybersecurity threats and strong software fundamentals.
Tyler from Florida on Texas Roadhouse:
Endorsed as a robust investment given its American roots and minimal import dependence.
Frank from New York on Dutch Brothers:
Despite rapid stock appreciation, Cramer advises caution, suggesting the stock may cool off before further investment.
Jack from Ohio on Celestica:
Recommended to wait for a price drop to 20 times earnings before investing.
Tony from Illinois on Small Modular Reactors (SMR):
Cramer remains skeptical about the viability and timeline of SMRs, projecting significant delays.
Don from Tennessee on Power Corp (POWL):
Cramer expresses confusion over the stock’s performance despite strong fundamentals, indicating a potential reassessment.

5. Expert Interview: Ward Nye on Martin Marietta Materials

[32:23]
An insightful dialogue with Ward Nye, Chairman, President, and CEO of Martin Marietta Materials, explores the future of the industrial sector, particularly infrastructure:

Public vs. Private Sector Outlook:
Nye emphasizes the positive impact of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), with significant funds expected to be deployed by 2025-2026:

"Public looks good. We think private’s in a slow, steady recovery."

Housing Market Challenges:
The conversation touches on zoning issues and the underbuilding of single-family homes, which remain crucial for sustained demand in construction materials.

"Residential single-family housing is 7 million homes under built."

Future Projects and Domestic Supply Chains:
Nye assures that Martin Marietta’s operations are primarily domestic, minimizing the risk from international tariffs:

"Our supply chain is almost totally domestic. It might affect steel, but then we're going to supply more material to the domestic steel industry."

Cramer’s Takeaway:
Encouraged by the stability and growth prospects highlighted by Nye, Cramer reiterates his confidence in infrastructure-focused stocks:

"It is just nothing that should be meaningful to us. Our supply chain is almost totally domestic."

6. Lightning Round Highlights

In the fast-paced Lightning Round segment, Cramer offers quick insights into various stocks:

Celestica:
"It's coming into its own in a way that I cannot believe it. And everyone's piled in on it. Sell at 22 times earnings. Wait till it's at 20 times earnings below the S&P and pull the trigger."
Key Corp (KEY):
Recognized for its attractive dividends and sound fundamentals, Cramer supports adding shares cautiously.
Nepius Holding (N BIS):
Advises against investing, citing it as a "big money loser" within the cloud sector.
Powell Industries (POWL):
Acknowledges the company’s strong position but expresses confusion over its stock performance, indicating a need for further analysis.
Small Modular Reactors (SMR):
Remains skeptical about their commercial viability in the near term, signaling caution for investors.
Dogtopia:
Highlights the booming pet industry, recommending Dogtopia as a recession-resistant franchise opportunity.

7. Deep Dive: Nvidia’s Struggles and Potential

[44:17]
Cramer revisits Nvidia, dissecting the disconnect between the company's robust technological capabilities and its faltering stock performance:

Stock Performance Amid AI Hype:
Despite Nvidia’s critical role in AI chip development, the stock was heavily hit:

"Nvidia Lawn, one of my faves, is now wrongly regarded as a loser."

AI Use Cases and Future Potential:
Cramer illustrates Nvidia’s potential through imaginative scenarios, emphasizing the transformative impact of its chips on AI-driven applications:

"Nvidia's new black belt chips can solve the problem. It will apologize. It'll get the music right."

Challenges with Tariffs and Manufacturing:
He underscores the vulnerability of Nvidia’s supply chain to geopolitical tensions and tariffs, particularly concerning chip manufacturing in Taiwan.

"The tariff person in chief sets the price these days because the chips are manufactured in Taiwan..."

Conclusion:
Cramer remains optimistic about Nvidia’s technological advancements but cautious due to external economic pressures and geopolitical risks.

"There's always a bull market somewhere. I promise I'd find it just for you right here on Mad Money."

8. Closing Remarks and Final Insights

Cramer wraps up the episode by reiterating his commitment to helping investors navigate complex market dynamics. He emphasizes the importance of due diligence, especially when encountering companies with promising growth but underlying financial or operational challenges.

"These organizations are doing a lot of good. And we all have to base our decisions on that. We need to know what's going on beneath the surface."

With a blend of strategic advice, expert interviews, and real-time stock analysis, this episode of "Mad Money" equips listeners with the knowledge to make informed investment decisions amidst a fluctuating economic environment.

Notable Quotes:

Jim Cramer on Market Impact:

"Today's giveaway prices with the Dow dipping 194 points. SB totally 1.5. Numbers at NASDAQ plunging 2.78%. Bargains galore."
On Protected Tech Stocks:

"So in tech, the cybersecurity plays, of course. Before you buy Crowdstrike after reading their threat assessment paper today..."
Vital Farms Advisory:

"Accounting irregularities equals selling, sell."
Ward Nye on Infrastructure Funds:

"Public looks good. We think private's in a slow, steady recovery."
On Nvidia’s Potential:

"Nvidia's new black belt chips can solve the problem."

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essential discussions and insights from Jim Cramer’s February 27, 2025, episode of "Mad Money," providing listeners and investors with valuable takeaways to guide their financial strategies.

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Transcript

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Jim Cramer (0:47)

My mission is simple, to make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Man, money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramer America. Other people, my friends, I'm just trying to save you a little money. My job is not just to entertain, but to put everything in context. And I got a lot of work to do today, so call me at 173cbc.tweet me Jim Cramer. President Trump is out there fighting inflation every day, except not the way we want him to do it. He's fighting inflation not in the mall, not in the supermarket, but in the stock market. He's trying to give us everyday lower prices. He's rolling back stock prices point by point. And if he keeps it up, he will indeed get us back to pre Covid levels. Today's giveaway prices with the Dow dipping 194 points. SB totally 1.5. Numbers at NASDAQ plunging 2.78%. Bargains galore. These prices, they're positively insane. Look, in the end, somebody has to pay for Trump's tariffs. Might as well be the shareholders of the quantum computing plays or the companies with AI in their name or nuclear power fads or anybody that is anything imported from China. All this pays. We got to get some free samples, don't you think? I mean it's like Costco here. Trump's giving us a buy one, get one sales and still no one is buying. It's a tech filled Costco without customers. Now one thing I know is retail. I'm always on the lookout for goods that can hold their value. I can do it in stocks too. So on a day when in videos on sale, despite reporting the best possible quarter. Sell, sell, sell, sell. I'm going to give you a list of the protected stocks, the ones I think can hold value because they have nothing to do with the biggest reason our stocks are rolling over and that is tariffs. So I'm going to tell you what stocks that could be somewhat insulated from Trump's tariff team. These are the stocks that can hold their value no matter what country's next on the tariff target. Let's go from us from Australia to Zimbabwe. Let's do it by process of elimination, starting with tech first. Nothing that can be sold to China has a chance to get out of this thing unscathed. Nothing that has parts made in Taiwan can hold its value. Nothing that's crafted in China can stay up. If we can't be sure where the next tariff is going to land, we can't own these stocks until they go lower and then we can. If there's nothing to mirror the pain a tech company might face by making huge investments in creating thousands of jobs in this country. And I'm thinking about the $500 billion that Apple spending, then I got to stick with stocks that are the least likely to get hit. Mag7 Apple and Amazon have too many products from selling overseas these days. Alphabet ad model based on commerce. No thank you. Nvidia. Oh please, not today. Satan. Microsoft still reeling from co pilot insinuations from our own Mark Benny. If I say our own just because he did it here. But this company's too international matter diffuse ad story less in competition and not so bad coy. How about this? Tesla must. The second most powerful man in government might buy you immunity from tariffs on your goods, but somehow you still end up with a lower stock price anyway. You know what that leaves in tech? The cybersecurity plays, of course. Before you buy Crowdstrike after reading their threat assessment paper today. The one. The one that says North Koreans are infiltrating our workforce. We work from home programs this column style. You need to know what this cohort's been rolling over for the last couple of weeks. Still, at least they're software companies with no tariff exposure and that's going to be very valuable for the next four years. I say buy a health care stuff. Lots of tariff immunity, but not a lot of unity from RFK Jr. The health and Human Services secretary. Oh, and let's not forget Doge, which is cutting its teeth. That's all it's doing on USAID and The consumer financial protection rollback. Sorry. We know that Medicare, Medicaid could be next. They could potentially crush the stocks of pretty much everything in the group. I don't know. Let's have an intuitive surgery. We'll put that one on the bias. Retail. Are you kidding me? We stopped making things in this country years ago as part of the bargain we have with Mexico and China where Americans get cheap goods much cheaper than we could possibly make here in return for wiping out almost 100% of our manufacturing capacity. Oh, it was a great deal endorsed by both Republicans and Democrats. It was kind of like a reverse poltergeist situation. We moved the jobs, but we didn't move the gravestones. It's a tough one to swallow, but we know this. Those seamstress jobs along with those who make the looms, those people who know one of one end of a hammer from another, they're not going to get their old jobs back. Because these days we have no expertise in it whatsoever. And even if we did, we'd be a high cost producer. We can't compete. Retail has. It's got to import insane amounts of merchandise. Which is why retail is a wasteland. How about consumer packaged goods? The makers of these products, long ago they decided the real money was overseas. They couldn't make enough money here. We'd have to find one that didn't diversify internationally. Perhaps because it didn't know how to do it. Maybe that makes it immune. Now that's Clorox. If it's the all American profile, might make for a good investment. Food. Okay, I got one. McCormick International arm might be okay because they're not going to put tariffs on spices, are they? And it's not going to be hurt by GOP Spice Domain gop. Nor does it seem to be a candidate for any sort of the presidential edict. You might want to buy some Coca. Coca Cola. But it does come in a can sometimes. Could be tariff transports. Are you kidding me? These trade on commerce and tariffs means commerce is going to be taxed globally. So business will slow no matter what. When you raise the price of something, you won't sell enough. How about autos? Sorry, tough one. Nafta, the forerunner of Trump's trade deal in his first term, was meant to have orders go back and forth across the border to make a manufacture better. They were the essence of free trade. If you want Ford and GM stock to be lower, just put a 30% tariff on Mexico. That's what they get for believing in the government's processes. Plan promises oil and gas tempting. I can make a strong case that you can own the pipeline stocks good yield going to see interest rates go lower because there's not as much work as there was. I like enterprise product partners simple good utilities work too sempre after California lowered the boom on a market on them power it's well run. Stop to the endless love for nuclear. I'm going to give you energy. Oh and let's throw in pretty much every bank. The number one is Wells Fargo. It's American, it's well run. It's been a poster boy for the regulators which are now going to be gutted, sprayed and neutered. And I've got another one later the show so you better stay tuned. Restaurants work not a lot of imports for these I like Brinker got hit barely today Texas Roadhouse latter may be the most American of any restaurant chain. Texas and Roadhouse and now I want to give you the number one name in the entire S&P 500. And that one number one name is Nucor. The best dealmaker in the land, if not the world. It's the one that's been targeted the most by aggressively by China. But the tariffs means that China steel trans ship from Mexico. They're not going to get it anymore unless China builds a giant tunnel under the Picos a belt and road initiative. Who knows what those crafty people do. I don't want to be too dire about this everyday lower price initiative by the president United States but because this is a stock show I have to tell you something. At times I'm going to say it. I've been missing old President Biden. Sure he seemed to dislike anything business whatsoever and all the business people in the world. But he didn't understand the stock market. So at least he was consistent. Here's the bottom line. Wall street hates tariffs. But what it hates even more is inconsistency and unpredictability. I'm actually pro tariff. That's not the point. I. I think the market be much better shape if President Trump used what I would call rapidly escalating tariffs. You start them at 15%, you go up 5% every single week. You stop at 50% because at least we then have some clarity and what's coming and more important when it will occur. And you can buy Nvidia Gary in Nevada. Gary, hello.

Jim Cramer (13:34)

If you've been to the grocery store recently, you have seen sky high beef prices, insane coffee prices, rising corn prices, and most notably, borderline extortionate egg prices. Thanks to a nasty bird flu outbreak when they killed 20 million hens in the fourth quarter, the average price of a dozen eggs in this country is 8,011 cents. That's nearly tripled the 10 year average. No wonder people are upset about inflation. I bring this up because last Wednesday Brett in California called in to ask about a company called Vital Farms, which is pasture raised egg producer. And I said, I do some more work on this thing. I decided to wait for the company to report. Now that we've seen the earnings this morning, the stocks. Let's get in. Hammers down 9% today. Good that I waited. So what do we do with this egg producer? Vital Farms came public in 2022. I'm sorry, in 2020 at $22 per share. But the stock quickly shot up to the low 40s in its first couple of days of trading. For spending the next couple of years going steadily lower, this thing finally bottomed to 7 bucks and change in mid 2022. Even by the end of 2023, it had only bounced back to 15. But then last year, the stock caught fire. Vital Farm surged to $48 last summer for pulling back to the low 30s. As of today, this one caught fire because it was a genuinely great growth story. Nobody cared about growth in 2022, right? Or most of 2023. But by last year, the whole group came back in style into Wall street and suddenly learned. They learned how to appreciate skyrocketing earnings numbers again. And make no mistake about it, Vital Farms has been a growth machine. Now coming to this year, Wall street seemed pretty bullish on this one sanguine. Vital Farms has taken share with its humanely raised eggs, allowing them to charge a premium price for a commodity product. Plus, as the bird flu outbreak started gaining steam, some analysts figured that Vital Farms would be a big beneficiary as their cheaper competitors would be forced to raise prices. Suddenly, these formerly expensive eggs are looking a whole lot less pricey in comparison. In fact, these guys haven't raised price in over a year. Despite the bird flu epidemic push up the cost of non branded eggs. So what the heck happened then with the quarter When Vital Farms reported this morning they delivered an excellent set of numbers. A clean top and bottom line beat 30%. Like for like revenue growth. 280 basis points of gross margin expansion, 23 cents of earnings per share. This true is over 16 cents. Looking to the future, Vital Farms acknowledged that it's supply constraint. But the CEO said, and I quote, as the year progresses, we believe the supply chain investments we made in 2024 and in 2025 will begin bearing fruit. We expect our business to Accelerate the second half of the year as we add to our supply, helping drive us toward our ambitious net revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025 and beyond, end quote. And management issued a very impressive full year forecast calling for at least 22% net revenue growth, 15% adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization. What a story right now, after these numbers were published at around 730, Vital Farm Stocks soared premarket trading as you could expect, up more than 10%. At one point just before the open, the stock opened up nearly 7%. And it looks set for a very big gain today. But almost immediately after the open, the stock reversed, moving into negative territory. And it stayed down, ending the day down a hideous 9% decline. And it's not a tech stock is a stock. So what the heck then went wrong here? Well, not good. Alongside its quarterly report, Vital Pharmace filed its 2024 annual report today. That's the 10K. And that document indicated it included the disclosure of what is known as a material weakness in the company's internal control over financial reporting. Material weakness? Accounting issue. Accounting related to how Vital Pharma tracks orders and invoices its customers. Something that impacts revenue and accounts receivable. Wow. Revenue when it's impacted very bad. Butterfarms explained, quote, control deficiencies did not result in a material misstatement of our consolidated financial statements and related notes. And. Okay, but they said they've instituted a plan to solve the problem. Then they mentioned that, quote, there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis, end quote. That is nothing. Nothing you ever want to hear. Okay, as far as accounting issues go, this one doesn't sound like a huge deal. But if you see this kind of statement, it's hard to trust the numbers. And I hate that. One more thing. Just yesterday, the Trump administration started rolling out a plan to combat avian flu and reduce egg prices in an op ed published in the Journal. I don't know if you saw it, the Secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rollins, USDA, announced a plan to invest up to $1 billion as part of a plan to solve the problem. Well, these efforts work, but I look like a poultry farmer. Who knows? But I will say that the Vital Pharm CEO sounded pretty optimistic about the plants announced yesterday during its appearance on CBC this morning. And for what it's worth, yesterday, for the first time since September 6th, the price of eggs didn't go up versus the prior day. So maybe that's positive, though not necessarily for Vital Farms. It does if it means that the temporary price advantage goes away. So those are the details, but let's get an answer for Brett in California. Okay, what should we do with Vital Farms going forward? Now, unfortunately, this is really my rule, okay? I have to stay on the sidelines here. So I've got a hard and fast rule that says, and I used to have it on my machine, accounting irregularities equals selling, sell. While this specific accounting issue doesn't actually seem that bad at first glance, I created these rules for a reason. And virtually every time I've gone against them, it's blown up in my face. Plus, if the Trump administration's new plan to fight bird flu actually works, well, that's bad news for Vital Forms. Bird flu has made everybody else in the industry raise the prices, which is why Vital Farms premium eggs suddenly sell at a similar price to regular eggs. If we fix the egg shortage, everybody else's egg prices will come down and their product will look expensive. Again, to be clear, I hope the government plans work because I want lower egg prices for you, for me, for everybody. It's just that the lower egg prices, not good news for Vital Farms longer term. I think it's worth circling back to this one. But they got to fix their accounting issues. Until that happens, I'm not eager to stick my neck out for Vital Farms more broad. Lovely. This whole exercise shows you how difficult it can be to identify high quality stocks. Yesterday, Vital Farms, a great story. Now it's a questionable story thanks to the accounting issues. I honestly think Bretton, California had a pretty good thesis here. And the reported numbers we just saw from Vital Farms this morning certainly bear that out. And yet, because of this opaque accounting problem, shareholders are sitting on a big loss today rather than the big gain it looked like they get pre market trading. That's how it goes. Bottom line. Thanks to Brett for calling in about Vital Farms. I hope that they get their books in order and I'm sure they can one day and then we can look at this thing down the road. But accounting irregularities, they equal sell. I do believe it's a good company with an enticing stock, but I'm not ready to endorse it. Tyler in Florida. Tyler.

Jim Cramer (23:10)

If you've been to the grocery store recently, you have seen sky high beef prices, insane coffee prices, rising corn prices, and most notably, borderline extortionate egg prices. Thanks to a nasty bird flu outbreak, one that killed 20 million hens. In the fourth quarter, the average price of a dozen eggs in this country is up $8.11. That's nearly tripled the 10 year average. No wonder people are upset about inflation. I bring this up because last Wednesday Brett in California called in to ask about a company called Vital Farms, which is pasture raised egg producer. And I said, I do some more work on this thing. I decided to wait for the company to report. Now that we've seen the earnings this morning, the stocks, what's getting hammered down 9% today. Good that I waited. So what do we do with this egg producer? Vital Farms came public in 2022. I'm sorry, in 2020 at $22 per share. But the stock quickly shot up to the low 40s in its first couple of days of trading. For spending the next couple of years going steadily lower, this thing finally bottomed to 7 bucks and change in mid 2022. Even by the end of 2023, it had only bounced back to 15. But then last year, the stock caught fire. Vital Farm surged to $48 last summer for pulling back to the low 30s. As of today, this one caught fire because it was a genuinely great growth story. Nobody cared about growth in 2022, right? Or most 2023. But by last year, the whole group came back in style into Wall street and suddenly learned. They learned how to appreciate skyrocketing earnings numbers again. And make no mistake about it, Vital Farms has been a growth machine. Now coming into this year, Wall street seemed pretty bullish on this one. Sanguine. Vital Farms has taken share with its humanely raised eggs, allowing them to charge a premium price for a commodity product. Plus, as the bird flu outbreak started gaining steam, some analysts figured that Vital Farms would be a big beneficiary as their cheaper competitors would be forced to raise prices. Suddenly, these formerly expensive eggs are looking a whole lot less pricey in comparison. In fact, these guys haven't raised price in Over a year, despite the bird flu epidemic push up the cost of non branded eggs. So what the heck happened then with the quarter? When Vital Farms reported this morning, they delivered an excellent set of numbers. A clean top and bottom line beat 30%. Like for like revenue growth. 280 basis points of gross margin expansion, 23 cents of earnings per share. This cruiser for 16 cents. Looking to the future, Vital Farms acknowledged that its supply constraint. But the CEO said, and I quote, as the year progresses, we believe the supply chain investments we made in 2024 and in 2025 will begin bearing fruit. We expect our business to accelerate the second half of the year as we add to our supply, helping drive us toward our ambitious net revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025 and beyond, end quote. And management issued a very impressive full year forecast calling for at least 22% net revenue growth, 15% adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization. What a story right now. After these numbers were published at around 730, vital pharm stocks soared in premarket trading. As you could expect up more than 10%. At one point just before the open, the stock opened up nearly 7%. And it looks set for a very big gain today. But almost immediately after the open, the stock reversed, moving into negative territory. And it stayed down, ending the day down a hideous 9% decline. It's not a tech stock, is an egg stock. So what the heck then went wrong here? Well, not good. Alongside its quarterly report, Vital Farms filed its 2024 annual report today. That's the 10K. And that document indicated it included the disclosure of what is known as a material weakness in the company's internal control over financial reporting. Material weakness? Accounting issue. Accounting related to how Vital Farms tracks orders and invoices its customers. Something that impacts revenue and accounts receivable. Wow. Revenue when it's impact very bad. Vital Farms explained, quote, control deficiencies did not result in a material misstatement of our consolidated financial statements and related notes. And quote. Okay, but they said they've instituted a plan to solve the problem. But then they mentioned that, quote, there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis, end quote. That is nothing. Nothing you ever want to hear. Okay. As far as accounting issues go, this one doesn't sound like a huge deal. But if you see this kind of statement, it's hard to trust the numbers and, and I hate that. One more thing. Just yesterday the Trump administration started rolling out a plan to combat avian flu and reduce egg prices. In an op ed published in the journal, I don't know if you saw it, the Secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rollins, USDA, announced a plan to invest up to $1 billion as part of a plan to solve the problem. Well, these efforts work, but I look like a poultry farmer. Who knows? But I will say that the Vital Pharm CEO sounded pretty optimistic about the plans announced yesterday during his appearance on CNBC this morning. And for what it's worth, yesterday, for the first time since September 6th, the price of eggs didn't go up versus the prior day. So maybe that's positive, though not necessarily for Vital Farms it does if it means that the temporary price advantage goes away. So those are the details, but let's get an answer for Brett in California. Okay, what should we do with Vital Farms going forward? Now, unfortunately, this is really my rule, okay? I have to stay on the sidelines here. So I've got a hardened farm fast rule that says, and I used to have it on my machine, accounting irregularities equals selling sell. While this specific accounting issue doesn't actually seem that bad at first glance, I created these rules for a reason. And virtually every time I've gone against them, it's blown up in my face. Plus, if the Trump administration's new plan to fight bird flu actually works, well, that's bad news for Vital Forms. Bird flu has made everybody else in the industry raise the prices, which is why Vital Farms premium eggs suddenly sell at a similar price to regular eggs. If we fix the egg shortage, everybody else's egg prices will come down and their product will look expensive. Again, to be clear, I hope the government plans work because I want lower egg prices for you, for me, for everybody. It's just that the lower egg prices, not good news for Vital Farms longer term. I think it's worth circling back to this one. But they got to fix their accounting issues. Until that happens, I'm not eager to stick my neck out for Vital Farms more broadly. The whole exercise shows you how difficult it can be to identify high quality stocks. Yesterday, Vital Farms, great story. Now it's a questionable story thanks to the accounting issues. I honestly think Brett in California had a pretty good thesis here. And the reported numbers we just saw from Vital Farms this morning certainly bear that out. And yet, because of this opaque accounting problem, shareholders are sitting on a big loss today rather than the big gain it looked like they get in premarket trading. That's just how it goes, bottom line. Thanks to Brett for calling in about Vital Funds, arms. I hope that they get their books in order and I'm sure they can one day and then we can look at this thing down the road. But accounting irregularities, they equal sell. I do believe it's a good company with an enticing stock. But I'm not ready to endorse it. Tyler in Florida. Tyler.

Jim Cramer (44:17)

Sometimes during earnings season, Wall street gets a quarter dead wrong. Which is why we have the stock of Nvidia getting hammered today when it would have been up in another tape. Of course, as Clint Eastwood told the now late great Gene Hackman, non forgiven deserves got nothing to do with it. The stock price went down. If you own it, you're worth less than yesterday. In that sense, Nvidia Lawn, one of my faves, is now wrongly regarded as a loser. But let's talk about what Nvidia, the real companies, does. Its chips, its software, what they do. Let's get into one of the use cases, not just talk about China. Something that I hope will come at Nvidia's GTC conference, the equivalent of Woodstock for all things AI next month. I think the use cases for their chips are huge, although who knows how much that matters when the company's in the crosshairs of potential tariffs. But enough about China. Let me tell you what Nvidia can accomplish in the right hands. Let's take these one by one. I like classical music, I'm not a big fan of Tchaikovsky and I don't mind Prokofiev, but when I ask Amazon Alexa to play Tchaikovsky's beautiful Violin Concerto Number two, I do expect her to put it on. No, she constantly confuses Tchaikovsky with Prokofiev. But Alexa's a one dimensional child, not worth paying for if you can't get the composers Right. The decision meant nothing to her. She just makes the same mistake over and over again. Sure, I hear endlessly that Amazon's gonna have its own better chips that can tell the difference in your speech, but that's just not the case. And billions in potential revenues lost. Nvidia's new black belt chips can solve the problem. It will apologize. It'll get the music right. It will ask me which violence I want. I will say, I want David Oyster from the Cleveland Philharmonic. It will be played. And I'll happily pay Amazon seven smackers a month for the process. Okay, now let's say you're a freight forwarder. You got hundreds of thousands of packages a day at an airport. You need dozens of people to lift the boxes out of the trucks, put them in the right place, stack them and get them ready for. For the next truck. It is drudgery. You can't get anyone to do that for less than 100 GS these days. With health benefits, which they'll need because if they drop a box, good chance in the hospital. But suppose you get Nvidia's Blackwell chips in that warehouse. You pay $60,000 for robot one time only. You get a machine that will never make a mistake in lifting and will never make a mistake in placing. It will never get hurt or show up late to work because it's such a crummy job. It will never be drunk or sick or even angry. A bargain. Then finally, you come downstairs at your house. You want a cup of coffee. But not just any coffee. You want 8 o'clock coffee. The cup is made, but that's not enough. You want to be asked if you want half and half today, maybe almond milk. You can say, no, I want cream. He doesn't. He doesn't know what. You won't be able to look for it. And he's going to find it if it's there. How much would you pay for that versus something that doesn't know your preferences? Right now, most AI offerings are just too stupid to do anything but sort through everything that's written and summarize a big deal. Drudgery, fixed but doing the other thing. Or iterative, subservient, gracious. That's what every one of these hyperscalers really wants. They just don't know how to communicate it. It can't get that with the current chips. They're too slow and too dumb. They can do things, but not the things people will pay for. Nvidia's next generation chips, though. They can do things. And you will pay for them. So what's next for the stock? At the moment, nothing because we don't know how much it's going to cost a video to make anything because the President has decided yet. The tariff person in chief sets the price these days because the chips are manufactured in Taiwan and in Trump's eyes, Taiwan. Just another word of the state that's taking advantage of America, forcing us to pay for their defense while taking our jobs in a real politic world. China takes Taiwan next, right? We can't get any chips because we don't have the ability to make them here. So in videos got no chips for us. China gets Tchaikovsky in half and half. We can't find anyone to lift boxes in the stock of Nvidia you saw today. It's just a crying shame. I like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise I'd find it just for you right here on My Money. I'm Jim Cramer. See you next time.