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Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Cramerga. My friends, I'm just trying to make a little bit of money here. My job is not just to entertain, but to explain how days like today can happen. So call me at 1-800-743-CNBC or tweet me at Jim Cramer. Maybe the war with Iran doesn't matter to the market as long as there's no real impact on our pocketbooks. Maybe the Middle east just isn't as important as it used to be, economically speaking, now that we're a net exporter of fossil fuels. Or maybe stocks did fine today because there's optimism for a quick definitive win and we can go back to normal investing. You know what? I think it's a bit of all three, which is how we got a much better day than anyone could have expected, with The Dow dipping 73 points, SB inching up 0.4%, but the Nasdaq ending up 0.36%. Holy cow. Let's consider the setup last at the S and P futures open week, trading down a little more than 1%, it looked like setting up for, I don't know, a not great day instantly. We read though, that the front right side of the New York Times, the Dow Jones Industrial average is looking down 500. That always sounds frightening, doesn't it? But let's face it, down 500 at Dow 4900 is very different from down 500 at Dow 49,000 where we are right now. There's a minor decline, all things considered. Still, as the night wore on, the S and P futures kept sinking to the point where they were down 2% at 3:30am, which seems like the beginning of A truly nasty decline, doesn't it? Sell, sell, sell. But by 6am they were only down 1% back to where they were at 6pm and when the market opened, we held right at that point, you know, we never breached it. The market simply didn't mind and buyers were boldened to do some buying because we didn't go lower than the opening price. Sellers then pulled their offers. Next thing you know, we rebounded substantially. For those lows we with the Nasdaq really shiny. And then as it's been a big problem in the month of February, it's really worth asking why this happened. Especially because many people were brace themselves for the first really awful day of 2026. First again, while we have a great rearview mirror of the oil market in the past, the Middle east simply doesn't matter to the markets as much as it used to. Back in the day we didn't produce enough oil so we had to worry about being cut off by the key producers in the region. If Iran had blocked the strait of hormones 20 or 30 years ago, it would have been a huge deal for us. Perhaps an instant prelude to a recession. Now that we produce so much oil domestically that there's really nothing they can do to cut us off. It's all change. That's huge and I think not well understood. When West Texas crude opened up nearly $8 this morning, the price couldn't hold. Same with the gigantic gap ups in Exxon and Chevron and the others. Without a panic, those prices were doomed to pull back, taking the stocks with them. That's exactly what happened. This is not the 80s or 70s where we had to be careful, careful about being these hostile regimes in the Middle East. It's 2026 these days. We can bomb around, take out their leadership and Wall street doesn't care, at least so far. On top of that, we know that when Qatar, an American ally that produces 20% of the world's liquefied natural gas went offline after drones struck, the facilities prices around the world spiked double digits. But in our country, natural gas kind of traded unchanged. Why? Again, because we have more nat gas than we know what to do with. We're not importing liquefied natural gas from Qatar, we're exporting with them. We're competing everywhere around the globe with them. And I think we have a lower cost price. Of course, high globe energy prices will only impact us to the world. Price matters. Interest rates also moved up dramatically, something that suggests oil could stay high. Gasoline is going up, but there's a palpable sense of relief that the war seems to be going well. When you wipe out the Supreme Leader, many of lieutenants, it's hard to believe that the war will last all that long. Although maybe we've been too effective because who are we even supposed to negotiate with at this point? So far we're not doing a ground invasion. Almost seems like we were trying to remove the leadership and dismantle as much of Iran's military infrastructure as possible without putting too many of our troops at risk. As long as there's no repeat of Iraq or Afghanistan, most Americans don't believe that a short term war less than five weeks can truly impact US Bond prices have been going higher and rates going lower in anticipation of a war. So maybe all that happened was a natural reversal today when we realized that Iranian defenses are almost nonexistent. That's right. Interest rates went up today. All we did was reverse the flight to quality though that we saw last week. So rates going back higher really didn't send us off the bullish track. Oh, and you didn't hear it much on the news. But let's face this. Some Americans who own stock, or could own stock, believe that we are getting our way with the world, that we are ascendant because of this president. I know some of you may think this is crazy, but others see the United States projecting power as bullish in and of itself. If we get a quick win, that may be a good reason for many people to think I got to buy a piece of America. Now does it make sense all this to me that this moment feels a bit like the first Gulf War? I know you got to really go back in time where there was a lot of negativity in the leader. But once the United States got involved, we saw that much of the vaunted Iraqi Republican Guard was a paper tiger. So the price of oil collapsed instantly and the stock market roared. Bye, bye, bye. Now, it's true that we didn't have a wave of negativity going to the conflict with Iran, but oil have been creeping up. Last week in fear of war. When the leadership of Iran got taken out in it did feel like a replay of 1991 with the Gulf in Iraq maybe much better because far fewer service people are in harm's way. If you were to ask me if the market was too bullish today, I'd say it certainly feels like we've forgotten a lot of the problems that dogged us last week. But their problems are still there. We didn't seem to care at all about the pain and software group. Even as last week we thought these stocks were finished. Brought down by platforms that can write cheaper code than humans. And they do it in abundance. We didn't seem to worry about the big declines in the private equity firms like kkr, Blackstone, Apollo, all but stocks went higher. We worried about Freddie, Freddie, about Blue Owl, a private credit firm that last week looked to be the epicenter of a mini meltdown. The stock actually rallied 13 cents. Hey, at least it didn't go down. The problems of private equity spread to the big banks last Friday, but both were much more tame today. Oh, and the supposedly disappointing tech companies from last week led by Nvidia. We saw press reports this week that Nvidia is about to announce a new chip that can compete with pesky offerings from competitors. Several companies, including long standing Nvidia customers, have been bragging about how they make a particular kind of a semiconductor. Ones for inference and Nvidia, well, it looks like they may have something against that that could be better. And that's why its stock rallied nearly 3%. When the stock of the largest company on earth goes higher, it changes the coloration of the entire market. Yes, it's that important to the averages and to the psyche of the average investor. Still, we're in a fluid situation. Could we wake up tomorrow with the futures down 2% because something happened in the Strait of Hormuz that actually produces higher oil prices, even if they are short term. Maybe you learn something that makes us think that the fight will drag on longer than we think right now, at least that maybe we have to be more deeply involved. These could change the market's mood. But the bottom line right now what matters is that our country's own resources are much more bountiful than they used to be any time in the last 50 years or longer. So even when the Middle east is a big political story, it's not necessarily a big economic story. Take away the importance of oil and the politics of Iran just don't seem to matter much to the average investor. They were thankful though for the decline to get in at much better prices. Let's go to Dustin in Colorado, please. Dustin.
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Jimbo, how are you doing today, sir?
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I am doing well, Dustin, how about you?
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I'm doing fantastic. It's great to talk to you again. I'm just coming off an amazing vacation and the entire time I've gone, throughout this vacation, I've been looking for these all over the country. It's my new obsession and I want to ask you about This, I know your favorite drink is the Annihilator, but I'm obsessed with the sugar free option they have on the Caramelizer. That stock's going up 29% year over year. What are your thoughts on Dutch Bros right now?
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All right, now this is really important. Dutch Bros. Has taken a hit, but I saw no substantive reason for the hit. None whatsoever. And I think Christine Barone is doing a fantastic job and the stock is ultimately a buy. Bye. Bye. Let's go to Jim in North Carolina. Jim.
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Hi, Jim. I'm hoping to get your thoughts on the prospects for Netflix now that they've withdrawn their bid for Warner Brothers.
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Okay. I think it's very simple. Netflix stock was not up to enough. It was, it was, it's moved 10. But you know what, this stock was up dramatically higher before that bid. And when they walked away, I thought it was a terrific thing for their balance sheet. I'm glad they didn't pay up. And I would be a buyer of Netflix right here, Shelley in West Virginia. Shelley.
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Hey Jim. We love you here in West Virginia.
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Oh, thank you, Shelley. Thank you very much.
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I have, I have two questions for you. First, what are your thoughts concerning Microsoft's capex spending on infrastructure? And my second quick question is, is Microsoft a hold right now? Because it doesn't seem very worried.
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I'm very worried about Microsoft, Shelley. Very worried. My trust owns it. I gave a big talk on Friday. I really wish you would join the club and listen to it where I explain why I am very concerned about owning Microsoft and thinking that perhaps I should sell some, if not all. It would be a huge change for me, a gigantic change. And I want you to hear the reasoning from the call better than the truncated version right here. These days the Middle east is a big political story. It's not necessarily a big economic story. Take away the importance of oil and the politics of Iran just don't matter very much to the average investor. Well, I obviously came in and bought the opening on Man Money tonight with energy related stocks front and center today I'm sitting down with diesel and natural gas engine manufacturer Cummins to get a read on what they're seeing in the space Then. February was a tough month for stocks. So what's on the horizon in March? I'm conducting review of the best and worst performers so you can move forward with a clear head and research portfolio. I don't want you buying losers. And in times of global uncertainty, investors turn to gold and Bitcoin. So what's in the cards for the latter. We don't talk about it enough. I'm taking a closer look at the cryptocurrency that so many of you care about more than anything else. And stay with Kramer.
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Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow im kramer on X. Have a question. Tweet Kramer hashtag mad mentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneynbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC. Missed something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com
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before we had AT
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AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything did
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We only met a month ago, Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com. What do we do with the stock of Cummins, the maker of truck engines and power generators? It's up to 47% in the past six months, nearly 14% year to date. Right now the story here is the power systems and distribution business because Cummins is seeing incredible demand for diesel backup generators from all these new data centers. Stocks spent the past month trading sideways, drifting lower. But could it be ready for another leg up? And isn't there much more to this than the rest of the story, so to speak. Let's take a closer look with Jennifer Rumsey. She's the chair and CEO of Commons. To find out, it's Ramsey. Welcome back to Mad Money.
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Thanks Jim. Great to be with you today.
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Thank you. Now Jennifer, before we get to the data center I think it's very important to point out that you are the premier truck engine company I think in the world and that is the most important business. And you are predicting good things for the second half of the year?
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Yeah, absolutely Jim. You know, our over 100 year history got its start back in providing diesel engines for trucks. That continues to be an important part of our business and we're anticipating that part of our business here in the US to be flat to up 10%. So feeling cautiously optimistic about what's going to happen happen with trucks this year.
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And can you tell me what do you think? Is it legislation? Is it just something you see from some of the transport companies you deal with that makes you optimistic when others that I find tend to think, oh, I don't know about this year?
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Yeah, well, you know, with the truck market is a cyclical market. We're coming off of a couple of years of being in the down part of that cycle. Last year we saw an even deeper drop and that was amplified, I'd say by uncertainty around regulation as well as tariff policy. As we're starting to get some more stability there and some signs of improved market conditions for those customers, we're optimistic and hopeful that in the second half of this year we're going to see an increase in build rates and demand in that market.
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Now I, like many people, or I don't say I'm addicted to the data centers, but I have to spend a lot of time thinking about them and the data center revenue. First of all, I don't think people understand the full scope of what you have. So why don't you tell our viewers what the, what the real strengths are that you have, particularly versus say some of the others who are doing your Caterpillar a genre trying to get in there. What's the secret sauce for Cummins?
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Yes, if you look at Cummins, we've actually been providing power, backup power for mission critical applications for almost 40 years. So really our sweet spot, the place that we're benefiting in data centers today is backup power. We provide not only the genset, but we also design and manufacture key components like the engine, the after treatment, the alternator, the radiator. And we have a service channel so we can provide the right product for our customers for backup power as well as service and support globally, wherever they are in the world. And that's really provided tremendous growth for us. As you see increased demand from data center customers on the back of growing need for cloud computing and AI.
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Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself because some could argue that it's really only about 10% of your business. But the growth of is so extraordinary that if you take the vector, it's entirely possible at this time next year we should be spending even more time about the data center. Do you think it can continue like that?
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Yeah, I mean, you're right, Jim. We've seen tremendous growth there. And while last year that part of our business was just over 10% of Cummins global revenue of about $34 billion, we saw an increase from 24 to 25 of 35%. We're forecasting that part of our market to be up another 10 to 20%. That's for power generation. And a lot of that is. Is the data center part of our power generation business. So up again this year. We are capacity constrained. We're taking orders out into 2028 and continuing to look at how do we optimize Cummins position in that part of our market and really take advantage of what I think will continue to be a growth trend.
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Well, I know that when I was reading Mr. Will Trout, Vice President, Corporate Strategy, in a conference that he presented on February 18, he talked about the idea that you're not really sure yet whether you should be building out, whether you should expand. I mean, who knows what is going to happen. What do you think is going to. Where are you leaning toward? Or do we have to wait for the May invest in commerce?
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Yeah, well, we are always focused on disciplined, profitable growth for the company. So we evaluate our strategy, we look at the opportunities, the products that we have, the capacity that we have. And so we're being very thoughtful about what additional capacity investment makes sense. Are there any additional product investments that we want to make? As you noted, we have an analyst day coming up in May. We plan to talk more about that part of our business and how we see that evolving over time, as Cummins has done throughout our history, really being disciplined in how we look at those investments to make sure that we're getting good payback and making the right capital investments across our business is how we're approaching now.
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How about defense work? Where do you stand? Anyone who has defense work is really getting a lot of business right now.
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Yeah, I mean, like, like power generation, we have been providing engine solutions for defense applications for many years. It's a relatively small part of our business. But as you said, demand there is. Is pretty good. So not at, not at the size and scale as power generation for us, but certainly an important part of our business.
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So what do you think is the real truth about hydrogen and, and how what it can power and what it can. Some companies are doing great with it, but I think it is very expensive. You know, it's expensive but it's. Some people still think it's the power power solution of the future.
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Yeah, look, our fundamental strategy for our commercial and industrial markets is we want to invest in solutions that will meet our customers evolving needs. And Cummins has always grown by innovating to meet our customers needs and using that to grow our business. And you know, we see over the long term hydrogen may still play an important role in decarbonization. We made some tough decisions last year as we stepped back and looked at the electrolyzer part of our business which was really focused on green hydrogen production. And with the reduction in incentives available to help that really nascent industry begin to grow and that the reduced adoption rate, we've stopped new commercial activity in that part of our business. That was an adjacent growth opportunity for Cummins. Hydrogen's going, is going slow. We continue to think about it as a, as a fuel of the future and pace investments in those technologies so that we're ready when and as our customers.
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I know because I saw the accelerator right down and I'm so hopeful that it's like you, I'm hopeful that it's such a clean fuel but I see that it's just not economic. The last thing I talk about is, you know, some, some actually literally hedge fund managers are buying a lot of Caterpillar engines and then they're saying listen, if we strike string a thousand of them together we can power data centers. Is someone, anyone trying to buy thousands of Cummins engines and actually power data centers?
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So as I said before, really our space and data centers as backup power. A data center needs nearly 100% power reliability. They can't afford any power outages. The diesel genset maybe as a short term solution may make sense but, but as a, as a true replacement for the grid is probably not, not the
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highest because everybody's trying to be so darn creative about these things. I thought someone might be trying to do backup generators string together but I think the people are getting a little more commonsensical. That's not a way to go. I want to thank Jennifer Rumsey, Cummins chair and CEO on the great performance you've had. Terrific to see you.
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Thank you Joe.
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Thank you.
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Thank you Jim.
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Anybody's back here for breakfast?
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Coming up. February may have been a rough month for stocks overall, but there were still more than a few individual winners out there. Kramer's ranking the top 10 next
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not
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every sale happens at the register.
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Before AT&T business Wireless, checking out customers on our mobile POS systems took too long. Basically a staring contest where everyone loses. It's crazy what people will say during an awkward silence. Now transactions are done before the silence takes hold. That means I can focus on the task at hand and make an extra sale or two.
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Sometimes I do miss the bonding time.
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Sometimes. AT&T business wireless connecting changes everything did
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After an eventful weekend, it seems pretty clear that March is going to be very different from from the month of February. But before we can focus on the new world where we're exchanging rockets with Iran, I want to go over where we are coming from because February was a rough month for the market. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied slightly up 0.2%, the S&P dropped.9% and the Nasdaq plunged 3.4%. Now, the averages don't always tell the whole story though. That's why tonight I want to paint you a picture using the 10 best and worst performers in the S P be from last month. February's best performer and name that you might have heard from when we went over it a couple of times last year. Texas Pacific Land corporation. It's up 50.5%. Now this is a company that owns a ton of land in Texas and leases that land to energy producers while also selling them water for hydraulic fracturing or fracking. So when the price of crude rises rapidly like it's been doing, going from the mid-50s at the end of last year to $67 on Friday for spiking of course to $72 today, that's very good news for Texas Pacific. All this was in anticipation of some kind of conflict with Iran. And now the Iranians have reportedly shut down this trade of Hormuz and keep shooting rockets at the oil rich Gulf monarchies. Anything connected to oil could keep winning. Of course, if peace breaks out, crude's going to come right back down. At the same time, Texas Pacific is also floated the idea of building data centers on top of the land it owns, although I think it would take a pretty long time for that story to play out soon. It ever happens. It does have a certain synergy though when you consider the datacenter engines can be powered by natural gas or diesel, at least for backup. February's second best performer in February is what is one of the ones that I am most excited about, and that is Corning. It's a stock we own for the Chapel Trust. It was up 45.7% last year. Now this company is a glass specialist, has been printing money as it makes fiber optic equipment for the data center build out and that's how the stock could quadruple in less than a year. Now I had my aha moment with Corning after visiting the company's Harrisburg, Kentucky glass plant last September. That trip was mainly about their business supplying glass for the iPhone. But I left Kentucky feeling more excited about the fiber optic opportunity than anything else and quickly build a sizable position in this one for the Travel Trust. Since then it's been less than five months and the trust has a 96% gain in this situation. Corning's gradual ascent turned into a fierce rally in late January when the company announced a $6 billion deal to supply fiber for Meta platforms data centers and then the next day reported a great set of numbers. Even better guidance for the current quarter. The stock hasn't looked back since. I think the big lesson from Corning is that companies supplying components or services for the data center continue to be some of the best stocks in the entire market, even after they've moved a great deal. Now we got a bunch of other examples just looking at the top 10 performers, the S&P 500 last month. In fourth place there's this Keysight technology a lot of people buzzing about. Keysight was up more than 42%. Now these guys offer electronic design automation software along with test and measurement hardware that customers use to optimize networks and accelerate product design. Keysight's found a big business with AI data centers, helping them run as efficiently as possible. Last month the company reported a blowout quarter with great guidance. In fifth place we've got Sienna, up 38.5% last month. Now this is an old school networking play that's seen its growth accelerate dramatically thanks to demand for fiber optic equipment from the data center. On top of that, last month Sienna benefited from the news that they'd be returning the S&P 500 after 17 years. They're taking the spot by the way of day force. Going private. In sixth place was one we talk about a lot. Generac up 34% in February, this maker of backup generators and other energy equipment like home solar and battery storage solutions actually turned in a weak fourth quarter early last month courtesy of a light hurricane season in the fall. But it also offered a strong outlook for 2026. In part that's because generics got a fast growing business selling yet industrial scale generators as backup power for the data centers. But the stock's also been helped by the severe winter weather we had held throughout the we have much through the country. It was pretty much everywhere. Many areas have more ice and snow and soil. Prolonged power outages likely motivating a lot of people to say listen, you know what we're going to pull the trigger on Home generators. Generax Bread and butter in seventh and eighth places we've got two semiconductor related names, Teradyne up 32.8% and Community Electronics up 31.8%. Teradyne is a semiconductor test and measurement play while CUNY electronics is recent 2.0 spin off. Another big charitable trust holding makes materials that are used to produce semiconductors could use some of the most advanced chips out there. While many areas of tech are suffering, the semiconductor complex has been doing terrifically. In fact, qnity has become one of my favorite new stocks. Long buried within dupont and underappreciated, this business is finally getting the attention it deserves as an independent entity that's in the materials business. Last week the company reported below a quarter. It's been an incredibly successful breakup for Cunity and also has been for DuPont which has been performing very well since the spin off. That's Legacy Dupont. Next up, the S&P's 10th best performer was another data center play with a fantastic bang up quarter just this week. Dell technologies up 29.4%. Now this stock had been steadily sinking lower throughout the last fall and into the new year as Wall street thought they'd be crushed by skyrocketing memory and data storage costs. But last week Dell shocked Wall street with a huge huge fourth quarter beat driven by strong product sales and far better than expected margins because they were able to pass on their own cost increases to their customer base. Dell's got a huge backlog and they have a very bullish outlook for the full year. Was great conference call which is why the Stock soared nearly 22% on Friday alone. Very confident. Now there were a couple of non data data center stories to the third best performing the S&P last month was DaVita. It's a medical technology company best known for its kidney dialysis machines. It had a terrible year in 2025, down 24%. But they reported a terrific quarter last month and the stock caught fire, which is how it finished February, up 43%. Haven't seen that stock do that well in this long as was the case with Dell. I think this was a situation where the analysts and the investors simply got too tuned, too negative about the story. So when it turned out that things weren't as bad as they thought, the stock soared. Finally, in 10th place, there's how Met Aerospace again. Or as I call it, how I met your mother. This stock's outperformance is nothing new. I've loved How Met for ages and is now up more than 800% over the past five years. That includes a 26.2% gain last month. This thing has no quit in it. Nothing surprising here. The aerospace bull market remains fully in place. Really? The whole aerospace defense complex looks terrific right now. Here's the bottom line. When you look at the S and P top 10 biggest winners from last month, you find a lot of data center suppliers, some energy stocks, a little aerospace and and one med tech play. Stick around after the break and I'll paint you a picture of what's not working with the 10 biggest losers. Okay, let's go to Stafford in California. Stafford.
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Jim, how you doing?
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I'm doing well, Stanford. How are you?
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I'm okay, thanks. I want to get your thoughts on Lockheed Martin.
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Okay. We know we have a difficult world. We know that they are a big supplier to the fence part. We know the Defense Department doesn't have enough web to. So the answer is Lockheed Martin is still a winner even up here. Let's go to Susie in California. Susie.
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Adrian, thank you for the variety of information you share with us. We feel blessed. Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Seriously man, I love you. Today I want to talk about a financial stock that you highly recommended. I noticed that Barron reported as of last week that bank brokerage and wealth management stocks are slumping obviously as investors are worried about disruption from AI and the potential ramifications of resurgent inflict inflammation, inflation. Sorry reading this obviously easier reports of regarding private credit exposures. By the way I'm hearing a lot about on CNBC. So currently 16 analysts have as a buy and as of January even though the stocks at 195 Trust Securities, Barclays and BGP IG have it at 277 fortunately it's 195. I realize you can't predict how the stocks will do but you like the stock and to me the most important is what you think it will do, when it will recover and why it will recover.
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Okay. And Capital One. Okay, so here's the problem. Capital One, it was flying. Then the president decided listen, we ought to cap interest rates. Now I don't think that's going to happen. 10% cap. Cap. That would be bad for Capital One. Then that shot the stock down. And then this piece last week that we read about how you know, look at credit cards aren't going to do well in the new world without with a lot of AI that made no sense to me. Capital One is Richard Fairbank. He's going to integrate Discover and that's what matters. It's the internal aspect of Capital One that I like. I think credit's much better than we thought at this point last year. I don't see there's anything wrong with this stock other than it is really one wild trader. Stick with it. We bought some back that we sold much higher last week. That's the right trade. The winners in February were largely data center related and energy related. We'll see if that trend continues in March. Now much more mad money ahead. I'm digging into the 10 worst performing stocks in February and analyzing what went wrong. And could bitcoin finally be poised for a comeback? I'm going off the charts. Find out and all your calls. Rapid Fire, tonight's edition of the Lighting Round. So stay with Kramer. Before the break. I went over the best performing stocks S&P 500 last month but February is a pretty bad month for stocks overall. So let's talk about the 10 biggest losers. I think they tell an important story. Well, two stories. First, the enterprise software and professional services stocks have just been quite crushed by a displacement worries, let's say somewhat reasonable. I don't know, it's too early. Second, the private Credit space seems to be under severe pressure, in large part because these firms were way too keen on lending money to software companies. But at this point, private credit has metastasized into its own separate problem, and that I am more concerned about. With that in mind, let's talk losers. The S and P worst performer was EPAM EP EPA systems, down 32.4%. Now this one's right in the air. Blast radius because it's an outsourced software developer, companies come to EPAM to help them build software that they can't or don't want to create in house. Unfortunately, these generative AI platforms can do more or less the same job for a lot less money. Beyond being wrong, thematically, things got worse for epam specifically when the company reported mid February, the actual quarterly results were pretty good. But management gave us light sales guidance for for both the current quarter and the full year, the forecast seemed to confirm the market's broader fears about a displacement sending the stock down 70% in a single session. And it never recovered. So that's an example of a company that I am very concerned about. The second biggest loser in February was another victim of AI that I am very concerned about, school CoStar Group. Now it's down 27.4%. CoStar offers online marketplace services, data and analytics for the commercial real estate market. It's sort of like a Zillow for commercial properties. Their stuff is proprietary, but maybe it becomes a lot less valuable when I can easily write code to gather the same data. That seems reasonable to me. A real fear. Just like EPAM, CoStar reported a strong fourth quarter report in February, but paired that with a disappointing forecast. So many of these stocks have been crushed by worries and the ones that got hit hardest are like CoStar, where these worries have actually started to hit the numbers. And instead of just being a possibility down the road rather than going into sending order, do you mind if I cover all the victims at once? Another professional services firm, gartner, was the fourth worst S&P 500 stock in February. It was down astounding 25%. This has been a steady Eddy stock. Gartner is an IT consulting customers come to Gartner for help when figuring out what technology they need and how to set it up. But in a world where AI platforms are ubiquitous, Wall street figures their specific expertise is less valuable. Shrinkage of the multiple Just like EPAM and costar, Gartner didn't help its case when reported a good quarter early last month. But once again it offered a light full year forecast, and that is what's really getting people worried. The fifth worst performer in February was Workday, an old favorite, but not anymore. It was down 23.8%. This was an actual enterprise software company focused on platforms for human human resources and finance. Workday was dragged down along with broader enterprise software cohort in January. Then it got hit again February 9th when we learned that CEO Carl Eschenbach would be stepping down. He's going to replace my predecessor, co founder co founder Neil Bush, whom I know well, I think is terrific. But it doesn't happen. You don't make that change when things are going real well. But don't forget Bush was a steady hand last week, Workday reported, though its results were fine. The company also lowered its full year sales growth forecast. They only issued that previous forecast three months ago. After initially falling further in response to the quarter, though, the stock found its footing and was able to rebound. You know it's now up almost 14% from its intraday low last Wednesday. So you have to ask, is this a real bottom look? WorkSay is now selling at a staggeringly low 13 times this year's earnings estimate, like some dusty old cyclical. You could argue that makes it too cheap to ignore, but the enterprise software stocks are so hated that I'm not sure Wall street will care. I think it's probably too soon to start bottom fishing, maybe retest the old low. The price earnings multiple continues to shrink. How about the other group of big losers this month? Oh boy, the private equity firms with lots of private credit exposure. Ares management was the third worst performing. The S&P 500 for February down 25.2%. KKR was the seventh worst, down 23.3 and Apollo Global was the 10th worst. It was down 22.3%. Now these three private equity firms, all of which have a great reputation, reported very different results this month. IRIS had a sizable earnings miss. KKR had a small miss Apollo post a nice beat. But their stocks traded in lockstep. It's like they were all the same because Wall Street's convinced that they have too much exposure, mostly to software stocks, even though they actually really don't. When all is said and done, I think these concerns might prove to be overblown. All three of these stocks were up big today. It's kind of like February is over. Let's start buying them. I also don't feel like trying to be a hero, though, when the private equity space is so hated. Then there are the rest of the losers. Some are intriguing. Robin Markets 6 worst performing the SB last month down 24%, nearly 24, largely because it reported a miserable quarter in mid February and that was thanks to soft options and crypto trading. Stock fell 17% over the following two sessions. It's only partially recovered now. Long term, I'm a believer in Robinhood. I think they've made themselves the preferred trading destination for young people, which means they own the future. But in the present, Robinhood has become totally hostage to crypto and options trading. Don't believe it's hostage to equities and 401ks. They've made a big push into predictions market too, and I'm not thrilled about the idea of Robinhood users having decided Whether to put $10 into Nvidia or the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. If you want to bet on a tech focused financial that appeals to young people, I prefer so far. But that said, I am turning very bullish on crypto as you will gear. You're going to hear that later in the show and Robin stock did rally almost three bucks today. I think because of a turn in crypto it may be bottoming. Others see it besides me. Next up, the 8th worst performing SP last month was Fox. Now this is an anomaly is down 22.6% odd. Fox has been the best performing traditional media company for a while now and reported a stellar quarter in early February. Just a colossal earnings beat, but the stock sold off in response and it's been sinking lower ever since. I think the sellers might be worried about new competition as Paramount won the bidding work for Warner Brothers Discovery. Whatever the reason, Fox now trades at just 12 times this year's earnings estimates and I think that's pretty cheap. Too cheap. Finally, the ninth worst performing stock, the S&P 500 was I QVA, down 22.3%. Now this is a CRO contract research organization. Pharmaceutical companies hire these guys to run their clinical trials. Oh what a great business. The Croes were all caught up in the displacement trade. Unfairly in my opinion. I just don't see that happening at all. When IQV Review reported in early February though, the company reported solid beat but also gave a weaker than expected full year forecast. I know it doesn't help that RFK juniors FDA is taking a skeptical approach toward new drugs, particularly orphan drugs. By the way. Overall, with expectations now reset, I am tempted to say that you're probably getting a nice buying opportunity here, but this is another company where any potential buyers will be swimming upstream. I like the business very much. I just don't Know whether this is the right stock to play it. Here's the bottom line. When you look at the last month's biggest losers and you see a lot of worries about a displacement, something we talk about a lot. Something that's even spread to the private credit space simply because many of these firms have a ton of exposure to the enterprise software cohort that we're also worried about. Well, the losers keep losing. I think March will be very different from February unless peace breaks out with Iran. But if you're hoping for a rebound from last month's artist hit stocks, I think it's kind of a little bit of bounce here. And then don't hold your breath. Their money's back after the break.
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Coming up, you've got questions. Kramer's got the answers. Get charged up for a fast fire lightning round next.
B
It is time. For whoever the plan is now. And then the lighting round is over. Are you ready, Steve? Dadtown Lightroom coming to my side with Steve in Missouri. Steve. Jim, I love the club. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. People who sign up, you know what? Hey, signed. Let's go, let's go, let's go.
D
Hey, one of the big banks you
B
like fell almost 10% on Friday. And that was before the start strike on Iran.
D
It tried to come back a little bit today. What do you recommend on Goldman Sachs?
B
You know, Jeff Marks and I were both marveling about how ridiculous the stock was down. It's 15 times earnings. My friend Lloyd Blankbien in a very good book, Streetwise talks about exactly why the company's valued as it is. I think it's way too cheap. Okay, let's go to Harrison in Maryland. Harrison.
D
Jimmy, chill.
B
What's going on? I don't know, Harrison, you tell me what's happening? All right, so, Jim, I got a big winner. Started in the mid 20s and now it's in the mid to high 50s. It dipped a bit today, but they just delivered double digit adjusted EBITDA growth despite significant tariff costs. That could ease after this big run. Should I still be holding or even adding here on Vita Cocoa? You know, I like that stock. I liked it when it came public. But I think if you have a nice position, let's hold on to it because it is so close to its 52 week high. But it is a winner. Let's go to Michael in California. Michael, thank you.
D
Thanks for having me on. What are your thoughts on Regeneron?
B
Oh, man, you know what? I should have pulled the trigger on Regeneron when I sat down with him at the JP Morgan conference. I realized that Chow Patrol should have owned it. It would have been a much better, really much better drug stock than the others that we have, with the exception of. Let's go to Sari in Illinois. Booyah, Jim. Booyah.
D
Thank you for taking my call. I'm a second time caller and love your show. I bought Fortune Power Solutions. Fortune power solutions symbol FPS on its opening February 5th.
B
This is another one of those incredible stocks. It's electrical distribution, it's components, it's data center. I got to do a piece on Fortune. I got to do a piece, a separate piece on. That's how good that stock is. Thank you for bringing on the show. I needed it front and center for me. Let's go to Debbie in Georgia. Debbie.
D
Hey Jim, first real quick, thank you for all you do and I don't want to take too much time with that because I know it's your lightning round. All right, I'll move on, but thank you. Okay. Okay. So I have owned this stock since 2020. I have taken a ride down and a ride back up and I rang the register and I got back my initial investment. However, would you consider MP Materials to be a spec at this point or does it have some long term growth potential?
B
No, I think it does have long term life in part because the president has pretty much just said, you know what, we're not going to let this one go away. It's too important to the country. Let's not forget that. And that, ladies and gentlemen is concluded of the lightning round
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coming.
B
Coming up.
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Has bitcoin finally hit its bottom? Kramer's checking out the embattled cryptocurrency to decide if the moment has at last come to buy back in next.
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Sometimes you notice these oddities that can change your entire view on an asset class like bitcoin. When we walked into the office this morning, we all marveled at bitcoin. Which had been in free fall until recently, seems to have found some sort of bottom. If you think about six months ago, bitcoin was still waging a serious fight higher. It seemed to be fulfilling its role as a store holder value and it nearly doubled over the previous 12 months. Then last September, something changed. Larry Williams, an old friend of the show and one of the great market historians said beware of bitcoin because of a major top that was developing. Sure enough, we came to October and Bitcoin peaked at $126,000 for plunging to the low 60,000 last month. What a call Larry made. I bring this up because this very morning Larry sent me an email saying hey, you know what? It's time for bitcoin to blast off. Just as it was overvalued when we called the top of September, he now thinks it's undervalued, particularly versus gold, which does matter tremendously. Okay. Larry's always looking for patterns, cycles that seem to repeat themselves over and over again. And when you look at the weekly chart of the grayscale, grayscale btf, Bitcoin Trust etf, that's just kind of a mouthful here, which is a proxy for bitcoin because there's the longest history. The cycle predicts it as an 85% biased rally from now until June. I like that. This is the same tool the Larry used to call the top of September. Why might bitcoin be poised to rally? Or now we got to take a look at another chart. This is a chart, a weekly chart of the bitcoin futures with a couple of key tools. At the bottom, the yellow line shows how bitcoin is trading relative to gold. It got very overvalued last summer and now it's pretty darn undervalued. Now I typically don't talk much about bitcoin in the show even though I've been a big believer in it for some time. For a while I thought it could serve as a digital goal to serve, yes, a store holder value in a world where I expect our currency to be debased over time. But after the last couple of years, it's obvious that bitcoin doesn't play that role. Gold is much better insurance policy even if the rally of the precious metal has gotten out of hand. So if it's not inflation insurance, what role does bitcoin play in your portfolio? When you look at the linkages, Bitcoin has a rather close relationship to only one thing. The animal spirits of risk. That's right. Bitcoin works, so to speak, when the crowd seems undisciplined and and willing to buy the most fanciful equities. The ones that were part of the year of magical investing. The very same stocks that peaked last October right when bitcoin did. So here's my thinking. I go back to it. Amar Al Jundi, he's the CEO of Agnico Eagle Mindset on our show not that long ago he said he thought that the running gold was fueled by younger people who were abandoning bitcoin because gold was rapidly rising. They wanted to be on a hot one. He said that bitcoin had stopped working for them. They abandoned ship. That may be true, but I sense that the disparity between gold and bitcoin has finally gotten too great. Today's rally is the real deal. I'm with Larry Williams. The sellers look exhausted, the bottom fissures are back and the bounce could last. For those of you who are inclined to bet on crypto, I think that it's time to do some buying. I like to say there's always more market somewhere. I promise. I find just for you right here made money. I'm Kramer. See you tomorrow.
A
All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC or its 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 Kramer 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 LifeLock how can I help?
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Podcast: Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Episode Date: March 3, 2026
Jim Cramer delivers a timely episode amid heightened global tensions, particularly focusing on the unexpected resilience of U.S. markets following military escalation with Iran. Cramer explores why Wall Street’s reaction was remarkably muted, dives deep into sector highlights and underperformers for February, and answers rapid-fire listener questions in the iconic Lightning Round. The episode also features an insightful interview with Cummins CEO Jennifer Rumsey about the data center boom, and ends with Cramer’s technical outlook on Bitcoin.
(Main Segment starts ~01:23)
Geopolitical Shocks and Market Response:
Why Didn't Markets Tank?
War Analogies:
(Starts ~09:03 and again ~40:16)
Dutch Bros (BROS)
Trader asks about the coffee chain's performance after vacation spotting.
"Dutch Bros. has taken a hit, but I saw no substantive reason for the hit… the stock is ultimately a buy. Bye. Bye." (Cramer, 09:30)
Netflix (NFLX)
On the fallout from withdrawing their Warner Brothers bid.
"It was a terrific thing for their balance sheet. I’m glad they didn’t pay up... I would be a buyer of Netflix right here." (Cramer, 09:54)
Microsoft (MSFT): Concerns Over CapEx and Outlook
"I’m very worried about Microsoft… thinking that perhaps I should sell some, if not all. It would be a huge change for me." (Cramer, 10:36)
Lockheed Martin (LMT): Defense Amid Conflict
"We know that they are a big supplier to the defense part... Lockheed Martin is still a winner even up here." (Cramer, 29:56)
Capital One (COF): Regulatory Risks
"Capital One... it was flying. Then the president decided listen, we ought to cap interest rates. Now I don’t think that’s going to happen… Stick with it." (Cramer, 31:12)
(~40:16–43:26)
(Starts ~14:10)
Trucking Outlook:
"We’re anticipating that part of our business here in the US to be flat to up 10%. So feeling cautiously optimistic..." (Jennifer Rumsey, 14:27)
Data Center Power Generation:
Capacity Constraints & Investment:
Hydrogen Fuel’s Future:
Defense Work: Small, but steady demand:
(Performance Review starts ~22:55, Losers start ~33:10)
Texas Pacific Land (TPL): Up 50.5% (energy, land leases, and speculative data center buildout).
Corning (GLW): Up 45.7% (fiber optics for data center buildout).
Keysight (KEYS): Up 42% (test & measurement for AI/data centers).
Ciena (CIEN): Up 38.5% (networking/fiber for data centers).
Generac (GNRC): Up 34% (backup generators, incl. for data centers, weather-driven demand).
Dell (DELL): Up 29.4% (blowout quarter, surprise beat).
"When you look at the S and P top 10 biggest winners... you find a lot of data center suppliers, some energy stocks, a little aerospace and and one med tech play." (Cramer, 29:00)
EPAM Systems (EPAM): Down 32.4% (outsourced software/AI displacement).
CoStar Group (CSGP): Down 27.4% (proprietary real estate data, AI disruption fears).
Gartner (IT): Down 25% (consulting, AI shrinks perceived value).
Workday (WDAY): Down 23.8% (management shakeup, guidance cut).
Ares, KKR, Apollo (ARES, KKR, APO): Down 22–25% (private credit exposure, software lending).
"The losers keep losing. I think March will be very different from February unless peace breaks out with Iran. But if you’re hoping for a rebound from last month’s hardest hit stocks... don’t hold your breath." (Cramer, 39:37)
(Segment ~43:48)
"The sellers look exhausted, the bottom fissures are back and the bounce could last. For those of you who are inclined to bet on crypto, I think that it’s time to do some buying." (Cramer, 46:26)
Jim Cramer’s blend of tactical insight, high energy, and sector spotlighting offers actionable angles across energy, tech, financials, and crypto. He’s bullish on data centers and select U.S. equities, warns on enterprise software, and likes Bitcoin’s setup for traders. For investors looking to make sense of turbulent times, this episode delivers both practical stock picks and macro perspective—plus can’t-miss rapid takes in the Lightning Round.