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Jim Cramer
Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramer Do My friends. Hey look, I'm just trying to make a little bit of money here. My job is entertainment. To put in context, call me 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Cramer the greatest story ever told. Lower inflation, high growth got thrown for a loop today and across the average Dow tumbling 785 points, SB plunging.5.6%. The Nasdaq declined point to 6. It's easy to see how this happened though. Earlier this week, Wall street figured the war with Iran wouldn't do too much economic damage. But today the price of West Texas crude shot up above $80, again reaching the low 80s. Now, it did settle back in the high 70s, but this kind of action has been starting to get it's just too hard for people and they're selling. Even though I'm telling you you should stay in. Making things worse, a key leadership group, the semiconductors, got kneecapped today. See, with the exception of China, our government mostly has a no borders policy for our best chips that can be sold anywhere. But today we heard rumors that the government wants to interject itself into the all the foreign semiconductor sales they want to gate us before Nvidia AMD sell any AI accelerators overseas, they got to get permission from the White House. Now I have no idea if this is true or not. We're we know the Biden administration restricted sales like this to the best semis to barely more than a dozen friendly nations. I always thought it was stupid and it sure seemed like the Trump administration agreed with that position. They wanted American chips to dominate, but if the government starts blocking these companies from selling their best chips overseas, I think they're Basically handing the whole market to China. That's why it's so out of character. The Trump White House typically doesn't like giving China leg up especially when it's something we're so good at like semiconductors. Well, I love it. If video could sell its chips everywhere. I understand that the case against lithium selling China. I get that. I don't agree but I get it. But blocking them for selling other countries, that'd be a travesty. This rumors why the market lost a key leadership midday Nobody wants to touch the semis if their total addressable market is about to get clubbed by the government. My hope is that this one spiked especially because Marvell Technology reported an amazing quarter this very night. It along with Broadcom, Nvidia and AMD would be ready to soar if the Trump administration says something like now we're not going to do that. We're not going to let our companies be held back and let the Chinese have to jump on us. Now the good news is that the price of oil can come down that the semiconductors maybe it gets spiked. Oh that would be so good. And maybe they don't go through with it. The bad news is there is a war on and it's not a stable setup for a rally as much as we'd like to think it is. I know there are no do overs in this business just narratives of what could have been. So let me tell you what could have happened if oil hadn't spiked, the ministry hadn't been new regulations or the semis the best performing stocks to tantalize. I'll tell you one thing, it would have been fabulous. This morning we had a monster reversal something that's plagued this market for a while the awkwardly named halo trade. Halo means heavy asset, low obsolescence companies in the managed search for something, anything that might be immune to AI money managers seized on industrial companies that face no competition. May I? If anything this technology only make them more efficient. So we gravitated to the Honeywell's the Nucor's RTX is any company help us build our data centers the halos companies that make tangible things for profit. It was working and it felt good. We had so many great industrials running. But today, perhaps because of the stellar earnings from Broadcom, a gigantic semiconductor company with a software division a stock that had been hammered until until today. Maybe it's because of the bounce that we saw on ServiceNow Workday, Adobe Salesforce and now Beaver Systems. It looks like the halo traders lost its halo. The five stocks I just mentioned are all enterprise software players. There's been a widespread belief that anything enterprise software can and will be hobbled by anthropic or OpenAI, the two horsemen of the software apocalypse. I think the rebound in this group is long overdue. Sure, it's absolutely possible that these software companies will lose some business to the reapers by coming into today. The enterprise software stocks have been trading like they were in danger of going out of business. That's absurd. These companies aren't run by a bunch of bozos. Their CEOs see what's happening. They're fiercely pivoting to combat any newfound competition. Code written by artificial intelligence. It might just be a temporary reprieve, but before the oil rally crushes, these stocks seem like they're headed for a major retracement. And that could help everything from private equity to anybody who actually believes that it's not going to destroy everything. In this scenario, you're supposed to sell the halo names, dump the tax, buy the recession proof health care stocks if things are. If oil keeps going up. But you know, the health care stocks were slaughtered too. So it's very difficult to see without oil going down how we can really make a big move. Look, I think the President's going to have to open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to push down the price of gasoline, perhaps until the war is over. Those worried about inflation need to hope that the spike is temporary. And the new Fed chief needs to come to grips with the fact that some inflationary input simply can't be ignored. Most of all, we need clarity on what the President really wants, both the semiconductor exports and with the war in Iran. Until then, the bottom line is we have to face the fact that the market's in limbo. I hate limbo, but I accept that there are always a lot of limbo in 2026 so far. And we need to learn to live with it if we're ever going to get to the promised land of higher prices. And you've got to stay in if you're going to get there too. Let's go to John in New York. John.
Caller
Hey Jim, thanks for taking the call. A long time listener, first time caller, excited to talk to you. One and two, I just found out I'm having a so super exciting day. Yeah, thank you. My question, I have a big position. I bought into Uber and I bought in at the high 80s and I it keeps dropping. It seems to be day by day and so I'm just curious my soon baby boy look.
Jim Cramer
First of all, congratulations. I Want you to stay in Uber. You got to think really long term about this because I think this is a company that's taking over the world and we're having some short term volatility in it that I think is going to end. The stock is way too cheap. I want you to stay in the stock. Let's go to Cheryl in Iowa. Cheryl.
Caller
Hey Jim, this is Cheryl from Indianola, Iowa. I just wanted to get your information from you. So last November I bought Robinhood stock for about $145 a share and then it went down to $120 and I thought wow, that's a good deal. So I bought more and added my position and now it's down to 79, $80. So but at that time back then the price target was like $180. So my question to you is, do you feel Robinhood's going to go back to 145 or higher anytime soon?
Jim Cramer
Okay, let's upend this one, Charlie. Let's forget where we bought it and think where we think it could go to. If I could buy Robinhood at $80, I'd probably buy some here and point to 70. I'd buy it very big. So the question isn't whether it'll get back to where it was. The question is would you buy it now? And the answer is a resounding yes. Ralph in Pennsylvania. Ralph.
Caller
Hi Jim. Question is about land research which I heard of from your show at the end of month January. So I did some homework and found out that they sell their equipment to the likes of Taiwan, Semi Samsung and Intel. And their technology stacks up pretty well against their, against their competitors Anyhow, Their P, their P is kind of high at like 34. But I pulled the trigger anyway and got in at like 246. The price target.
Jim Cramer
I want you to buy more. I want you to buy more. Lam has got the best intellectual property of any technology company. I'm not kidding. That is in that industry. And I think that you should average down. I don't care where you paid, I think it's going higher. Let's go to Ray in California.
Caller
Ray, Booyah. Jim, thanks for taking my call.
Jim Cramer
Of course. What's going on?
Caller
Well, my question is about Service Titan. I purchased it in January.
Jim Cramer
All the assets can you stocks going down. I am surprised I looked at that today. I think it's ridiculous. This is a very good company. You're getting this. Like many companies that's been brought down by oil, brought down by a general Melez that is a good company and I think that you should hold on to it and if you have any more extra capital, I would put some more money to work in it. They are giving some stocks away right now and we want to take advantage of the sale. All right. We have to face the fact that the market's in limbo. Someday it's going to go higher again, but you know, you need to have oil stabilized and we got to figure out what the heck is really going on with technology man money tonight. The averages might be in the red so far this year, but Tapestry has been bucking that trend. So what's behind the comeback in the parent company of Coach and Kate Spade? I've got the CEO to find out. Then Lloyd Blank by his new book Streetwise hit shelves this week. I'm going to sit down with the former CEO of Goldman Sachs to hear more about his memoir and get his take on the current state of this turbulent market. Plus caught a Gap down. Shares of Gap are sliding after he's got the CEO fresh off the earnings board. So stay with Kramer.
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Jim Cramer
Even after this beat down, there are some terrific winners in this market. Take Tapestry, the parent of Coach and Kate Spade with the stock that's up more than 84% over the past 12 months, putting some big gains after the company put a blowout quarter about a month ago. Earlier today, we got a chance to check in with Joanne Cru Voiceride. She is the CEO of Tapestry at the Coach's flagship location on fifth Avenue. Take a look. I'm so excited to be this in this incredible store. Incredible. And what I see are two things. I see magic, but I also see logic.
Joanne Crevoiserat
I am so glad you brought both of those words up right at the beginning, Jim, because that has been part. You knew Lou Frankfurt, who was a former CEO of Coach. It has been part of our DNA since the inception. Coach has always been a brand that has balanced magic and logic. It takes both to really bring a great business to life and Tapestry has embodied those concepts and you're going to hear that a lot today.
Jim Cramer
This is not a new brand, but it feels new. I don't know whether it feels new because of the charms. A book charm, so brilliant. Feels new because of the colors. Feels new because I don't know, the people who work here make it feel new.
Joanne Crevoiserat
Well, it feels new because we have sharpened our focus and our execution over the last six years. And as we've done that, we've focused on becoming relevant to a younger consumer. And with that specific focus in mind, our whole organization is, is. Is leveraging brand building capabilities that we've strategically invested in those capabilities that help us be more relevant to a young consumer today. And the expression of the brand has never been more vibrant.
Jim Cramer
Well, you've got a finance background, but you also know a look. And to me, I see here what we would call if we were doing a tech story. The TAM is big. The total addressable market and where it starts for you and where you hook them and where they stay.
Joanne Crevoiserat
We've done a lot of disciplined work that has led to where we are today. And I do want to share that because this doesn't happen overnight. Right. The disciplines to really understand where's our authentic place in the world, our authentic place with Coach, it's such a great brand with so much history, 85 years of history with this brand. Right. And that authenticity comes through as a timeless, classic, genuine, well crafted product. It starts there. But we were asking ourselves, how do we become more relevant to a modern young consumer today? Right. What makes the brand relevant? And the only way to do that is to really understand your target customer. So we have spent hours, hours and hours talking to young consumers and understanding what's going on in their life. What are the tensions they're feeling, how are they thinking about brands, how are they thinking about just their lives and how they spend their time and then connecting that with where we authentically live as a timeless brand. And so our target customer, the timeless Gen Z customer, tells us that they value self expression and they're trying to gain confidence as they grow in the world. And so we've honed in on expressive luxury as a way to help our young consumer leverage their own self expression as they build confidence with our brand.
Jim Cramer
Okay, so the numbers for here are just nothing short of spirit spectacular. How about Kate Spade? Can you do the same thing I see when I go and look at Tick Tock and look at Insta, you're. It's a little bit younger. Maybe that is the right way to go. What is your thinking?
Joanne Crevoiserat
Well, Kate Spade is, is a, an iconic brand and it has cultural relevance. If you go back to 1993, when Kate Spade started the brand, she started the brand because she didn't see anything in the market that appealed to her.
Jim Cramer
Right.
Joanne Crevoiserat
It was differentiated from the very beginning. So how is Kate Spade differentiated? Well, Kate Spade has always been feminine and had color and joy and optimism. And in the, in the day when the brand was created, Kate said, I, you know, and women were in the workforce in the, in the 90s, right. Wearing shoulder pads and suits. And what she was looking for was a brand that spoke, spoke to her and her personality, she wanted something with a little more femininity, to show her own personality and with a touch of cleverness and wit. And so from its very beginning, Kate has had that differentiated position. It has that differentiated position in the market today. And the work we're doing is building off the learnings and the Brand building capabilities that we've built and then are evidence at Coach and applying those. Yes. To Kate Spade to be relevant to a young consumer today.
Jim Cramer
All right, that'd be great. Now, accessible luxury deemed a category by the federal government of which if you had merged Capri, you would have dominated a monopolist. What was that about?
Joanne Crevoiserat
Well, the truth is, and as you and I know, Jim, consumers have lots of choice and in fact today they have more choice than ever. And we're building the capabilities to make sure that we cut through with consumers and build brands in a relevant way. You know, we have incredible momentum at Coach.
Jim Cramer
Yes, yes.
Joanne Crevoiserat
And we're just getting started. You mentioned the TAM opportunity. We see tremendous opportunity to grow with our Coach brand. You know, the way we look at the market, we have 1% less than 1% share globally. So we have an opportunity to continue to drive growth at Coach and reignite growth at Kate Spade with these capabilities that we've built. And as I said, the reality is the consumer has a lot of choice. So our job is to make sure we can cut through and build our brands and be relevant to that consumer in a, in a sea of many choices.
Jim Cramer
Now this is a stock show and you made it excessive. You made a accessible luxury and at the same time you did an accelerated share repurchase. That may have been one of the most timely things I've ever seen. How did you know?
Joanne Crevoiserat
How did we know? We knew that we had. There are many outcomes of that potential transaction. And like any business, we're disciplined and looking at all of the possible potential outcomes and making sure we're prepared to compete whatever, whatever those outcomes or whatever the macro environment presents. And at that moment we had an opportunity to make a strategic pivot. I would say first, we never lost focus on our organic business. And so we continued to build that business. And at the moment that we were presented with a change in circumstances, we made a big bet on Tapestry because we see the opportunity to grow durable long term growth and value creation even today into the future. So we just had an investor day in September. Our, our model is tremendously efficient. We throw off a lot of cash and we're returning a lot of that cash to our investors. We have a very compelling value creation story, including our capital allocation story of 4 billion of. Of cash returned to investors over the next three years.
Jim Cramer
Now talk to me about iconic. I mentioned Tabby. What is it?
Joanne Crevoiserat
Tabby is a great story and a tremendous icon. That is a Gen Z recruiter. Gen Z loves this bank. It is and you know, our business and our growth engine is driven by new customer acquisition. So our focus is on, as it always has been, bringing more people into the market.
Jim Cramer
Right.
Joanne Crevoiserat
Young consumers today think differently about luxury, and we're making sure that we meet them where they are with great product and great innovation. And Tabby represents that great innovation. In fact, at one time, Tabby almost went away. Tabby was, you know, we introduced the bag, it had great reception, but after a while, it started to fade. And this is a perfect example of bringing magic and logic together in our business. It was right at the beginning of our transformation when we were talking about the need to attract young consumers to our brands. And it's really making sure that all of our people throughout our organization have the tools and the data to make different decisions. So when you bring magic and logic together, a merchant or a designer in our business had the data that said, you know what? Tabby is resonating with a Gen Z consumer. Why not rather than mark it down, why don't we amplify it, why don't we animate it? And. And from there, an icon was born with tremendous innovation, animation. And this is what our consumers responding to.
Jim Cramer
All right, now I want to tell you that everything resonates when you go to your wife and she says, oh, my God. Okay, my first bag when she gets out of college, and then my bag, which of course she has in this because it's never changed. It was her first evening wear because she could afford it as a salesperson. Okay, put raising money for college and then selling pharmaceuticals, and this is it. And she says, I still wear. That's you.
Joanne Crevoiserat
That's exactly who we are. And that is what drives the passion behind our business from all of our associates, our team members, and our customers. One of our team members we were talking to, Christiana, said one of the things reasons that she stays with this brand for 20 years is that she knows that we're selling a customer, a product they're going to treasure for a lifetime. And in fact, many lifetimes. We have products in our assortment that we give second lives to that we remake and refurbish. We've kept over 14, almost 14,000 handbags out of landfill because we keep them in circulation.
Jim Cramer
Well, there's 100,000 on eBay right now. And I urge her never to do that. She said, don't worry. These are going to be my children, her daughter. After you hear this. Joanne Kriposaran, thank you so much.
Joanne Crevoiserat
You're welcome.
Jim Cramer
CEO of Tapster.
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Jim Cramer
During this crazy, sometimes terrifying moment for the market, I want to check in with someone who has a lot of experience handling market meltdowns. Lloyd Blindfold, who served as chairman CEO of Goldman Sachs from 2006 through 2018, basically took over right before the financial crisis. Handled better than any other financial institution. This week he's published a new book which I love. It's called Streetwise Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs. This is a fantastic read. The parts of the financial crisis are really priceless. Don't take it from me. Mr. Blank from welcome back to Mr.
Lloyd Blankfein
Blank from Mr. Kramer.
Jim Cramer
Thank you, Lloyd. LLOYD It's a fabulous read and one of the reasons it's a fabulous read is I feel I'm in the room. I feel I'm in the room when you when you get part of feel you're in the room and JR and I feel like I'm in the room. When the country's melting down. What did it feel like?
Lloyd Blankfein
Jim for about half the book. You were in the room for the. Because we overlapped.
Jim Cramer
Yes, we did. You were my rabbi college. I was two years behind you everywhere.
Lloyd Blankfein
Yes, yes.
Jim Cramer
But you were incredibly helpful to me because that's just the way you are.
Lloyd Blankfein
Well, you're easy to be helpful, too.
Jim Cramer
Well, okay, so tell me. It looked like that when everybody was called in at the Federal Reserve, that you weren't in charge at that moment. It looks like Tim Geithner was bossing you around, and at one point he told you, listen, I think maybe Wakovi. And you said, wacho Bego. How about Citi?
Lloyd Blankfein
No. After Lehman went, they had us on Friday, that next Friday, and all day Saturday, we were merging with Citigroup, told us to merge with Citigroup. That got canceled. Funny stories. Not a lot of time.
Jim Cramer
It turns out that he was. Vic from Panda was very flattered by your call.
Caller
Oh, no.
Lloyd Blankfein
Vikram Flage said, hey, I'm very flattered that you're calling to merge with Citigroup. And I said, well, I'm not calling to flatter you. I'm calling because Tim Geithner told me to. By the way, the regulators, you know those Star Trek episodes when Kirk is on the bridge and somebody else is threatening to turn off all the life support systems so they have to do whatever they want? Well, the regulators controlled all the oxygen. We had to do whatever. And by the way, they did a pretty good job on difficult circumstance. So I'm not taking shots at them. It was a very tense time and nobody knew. But I would say if a Friday and Saturday were merging with Citigroup and that. And that didn't work out. By Saturday night and Sunday, they had us merging with Wachovia. And so this kept their friend Bob Steele, you get the idea. It was crazyville. But people under very difficult circumstances made quick decisions. Normally, they would have spent a year analyzing something. They had no chance to do it. I think people perform very well. They'll never get credit for it because it's like in a James Bond movie when the bomb is ticking down 007 and goes down 009. 008, 007. When it finally gets him and he defuses the bomb, nobody ever appreciates that he saved the world because it never blew up. And it never blew up.
Jim Cramer
Well, the reason I bring it up is because every time we have market turmoil, people say, it could be worse in 2008, as if. Because oil's going up and there's a war in Iran and we have some problems with some private credit Are these things even remotely like that moment?
Lloyd Blankfein
No. But everybody always thinks whatever you're living through is worse and there's good reason for it. Anything that's already happened is resolved on the shelf, can hurt you anymore. Anything that's still pending could get worse. And so everybody's kind of extrapolating. So it's just human nature to think, well, we, we got through that. How bad could it have been in hindsight?
Jim Cramer
Well, human nature. You talk about something that I think is really missing in this market, in the private equity. You say, so much of resilience comes from having a better understanding of risk. When I look at some of the portfolios of the companies that we're worried about, they don't seem like they were built for a risky moment.
Lloyd Blankfein
Well, I think everybody who's running a big organization or an institution has to live spend 95% of the time in the 5% worst possibilities. Because guess what? The good times take care of themselves. What you have to do. If you're in my old job, in the best of times, I'd have a line outside my door. Everyone had a number to tell me what their biggest problem was, because otherwise why would they be coming to see me? And so I always lived in a problem world, even when things were otherwise going.
Jim Cramer
But you always kept perspective. What did you say when everyone was so scared when you're about to go to the Federal Reserve?
Lloyd Blankfein
I said, guys, you're getting out of the bait. You're getting out of a Mercedes in the basement of the New York Fed. You're not getting out of a Higgins boat on Omaha Beach.
Jim Cramer
Get a favorite line of the absolute favorite line. Okay, so get a grip. Okay, so you and I have kind of similar backgrounds, and I'm trying to figure out why. On the fact that, you know, short ball, you always made that joke with me. Why? I know I felt very kindred. One of the reasons I felt kindred was I always felt people were looking down on me. And I felt people were looking down on you even though you were the best at the damn company.
Lloyd Blankfein
Jim, the best thing in the world is to be a confident person to whom other people, like, underestimated might look at the fact of the matter. I was telling you I was in a. I was in a big crowd yesterday. It was at. I did a book event, and it was very high and mighty people. And your name came up. I brought it up because people were somebody. A couple of those guys had gone to Harvard Law School and blah, blah, blah. And I mentioned, oh, I'm going to see Kramer tomorrow. And why did I bring it up? Because I would tell you that elite crowd, your resume, your elite resume is better. But hey, you're Jim Everyman Kramer.
Jim Cramer
Yeah.
Lloyd Blankfein
Not what you. I know, but that's not what you lead with. But that's, you know, you could, you. You live on both sides of the line.
Jim Cramer
Yes.
Lloyd Blankfein
And you always did.
Jim Cramer
Thank you. But what you really can't.
Lloyd Blankfein
But, but really it's brain and heart. You have a big brain, but you have a big heart. Not everybody has both.
Jim Cramer
Thank you. Now I do need. That's very kind of you. I need to get a sense on a day like today where you have oil up, you've got private equity worries, whatever, what you would be doing on your forecast. What kind of, what do we say would you be saying? Listen, I want, I want risk removed. I want to be sure all the marks are right.
Lloyd Blankfein
By the way, I would say it's mostly tailwind. I mean almost everything in the macro market that we're looking at is, is kind of positive. You know, inflation is not where we want it to be, but it's tamed kind of. And it's growthy out there. Their unemployment is pretty good. In any other moment it would be terrific, except we wanted to be a little bit.
Jim Cramer
Why can't the private equity firms come public? All their stuff, they have all these different portfolio companies. It should be a house.
Lloyd Blankfein
What I do. I'm a big believer in marking to market rigorously because. Not just because of the accuracy of reflecting your pnl. It's a very, very good risk management tool because think of the financial crisis people were mocking. They didn't know that their assets were weak. We mark to market and in order to really ascertain we made people sell stuff or try to sell stuff. That was the early warning system that they were troubled in the assets. I would say that there's a lot of inventory building up and you know, there's a lot of commentary on illiquid and by the way, illicit. I don't understand the concept of semi liquid. Semi liquid means it's, it's liquid when you don't need to sell it and it's totally illiquid when you do need to sell. That's what semi liquid means, I think. But you know, we've just gone through a period and kind of in a period where the equity market is near the highs. I know we had a couple of bad days, but we live near the highs of the equity market and in a terrific financing market that is a good combination for being able to sell inventory. You know, companies and divisions that you'd want to sell. It should be a good market to sell into to. It's not going to be better if the equity markets fail and financing gets more difficult. So that's something that I would be what would I be doing now? I'd be going around and pushing people harder to sell even if I didn't like the price.
Jim Cramer
But they need to do push even
Lloyd Blankfein
if I, even if I didn't. You know, what difference does it make whether I like the price or not? The price is the price.
Jim Cramer
Well, I'm going to leave it there. Next time you come back, we got to talk about your call to Laura when you were sick, which was like you put her on hold and call, you call her back. And we got to talk about the guys who have read suspenders but the investment bankers that I looked, they looked down me. They didn't even notice us. All true.
Lloyd Blankfein
Where are they now?
Jim Cramer
Great question. That's Lloyd Blank by former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. Guys, just get it. I mean it's. By the way, Lloyd is hilarious and he remembers that. The punchlines at the end of the joke. Then money's back in for 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.
Lloyd Blankfein
Next.
Jim Cramer
It is time. It's have a little light round crash, my friend. Cold, just sweating on my steps where the plan is down and then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? SP okay, that's another one round craziness. Let's go to Sam in Pennsylvania.
Caller
Sam, Jim, how are you?
Jim Cramer
I am doing well, Sam, how about you?
Lloyd Blankfein
I'm good.
Caller
You know, Jim, I've had my eye on AEIS for a while now.
Jim Cramer
The stock seems to be trading at a premium.
Caller
I'm wondering if you think the good news is priced in with their.
Jim Cramer
You know, that's really is the question because it's another one like the other. Like we did forge it the other night. It's a verdict. These are really unbelievable stocks, but they can come in and when you buy them the first price you tend to be saying oh my God, did I catch the top. Let's do this. The Stock is off 40 points from its high. I want you to wait till it's in the 2-80s, 290s and then pull the trigger. And if you miss it, you miss it. Let's go to Jason in New York. Jason, hey, booyah.
Lloyd Blankfein
Jim Long.
Caller
Jason, appreciate the show.
Jim Cramer
Fantastic. What's going on? Thank you. Interested, Interested in gpc? That, that, that last quarter was awful. I mean I was actually surprised how bad it was. I don't want to. I mean, still got protected by the yield at 3.6. I think you have to wait on that one. Let's go to Gerson in New Jersey. Gerson.
Caller
Hey, this is Gerson from New Jersey.
Jim Cramer
Yes, what's up?
Caller
Hercules Capitals?
Jim Cramer
No, this is a business development company. We, we've disliked these for 21 years now. A lot of people, a lot of private equity companies died in. There was one today that we talked about with a bit that BlackRock did. I want you to stay away from these. You don't know what's in them and it tends to be stuff that you would never buy. Let's go to Bob in Nevada. Bob?
Caller
Hi Jim. I'm a first time caller and longtime follower. Thanks for all you do.
Jim Cramer
Oh, fantastic. Oh great that you called. How can I help you?
Caller
I appreciate your taking my call, sir. My question is, in light of the pending merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers, what are your thoughts on IMAX corporations?
Jim Cramer
You know Imax, I've got to tell you, I go to Imaxes now and they're always packed and one of the reasons we do is because otherwise we'd stay home. The only reason you go to the movies is because there is an IMAX and I think it's a terrific situation. I gotta hand it to Gilfond. We used to make Buddy Cummins on TV a lot but boy he did. He stuck with it and he did a good job. IMAX is real. Let's go to New Ed, New York. Ed Kim, Jim Cramer, my man. Yo, chief. What happened? Booyah to you, Jimbo. Done your way. How can I help? My question is this for you.
Caller
What do you think of a quick
Jim Cramer
in and out on ENVX lithium battery? No, I can see you in but you never get out. I don't you, I don't want you near that one. Please stay away from it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, conclusion of the lightning round
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coming up. Up Gap shares are on the move after the company reported earnings today. Kramer is getting a read on where things are headed with the CEO next.
Jim Cramer
All right, what happened to the stock Gap after Hours? It looks like a real turnaround story. And then reported somewhat of an imperfect quarter if the close in line. Revenues softer than expected. Same store sales at one of the divisions. Small earnings business. And yet the stock gets crushed after hours. I don't get this. It didn't help though that the full year and first quarter forecast came in a little light, but maybe they're just being conservative. So is this just temporary turbulence? So we really need to worry now. The stock starting to run. Let's take a closer look at Richard Dixon, the presence here of Gap. Find out what's going on. Mr. Dixon, welcome back to Money.
Richard Dixon
Thank you, Jim. Always good to be here.
Jim Cramer
Okay, so, Rich, I got to tell you, if someone told me that that Gap, the regular gap, could do 7% cop, I would say that's impossible. Pay 50 for the stock. So we are in some weird mode where because you were a little bit light on Old Navy, people are not even paying attention to how good Gap is, or Banana Republic for that matter. Could you please help me understand what's going on? Yeah.
Richard Dixon
Well, Jim, first, thank you. You know, we delivered another successful fourth quarter, and it's also marking another year of real, meaningful progress for the company. We achieved our second consecutive year of top line growth. That's eight consecutive quarters of positive comparable sales. And that's real consistency. Comps were up 3% in the fourth quarter. It was driven by Old Navy, up 3%. Gap, as you mentioned, plus 7%, by the way. That's on top of last year's 7% and Banana Republic 4% comp. That's three consistent quarters in a row. And of course, we know we're rebuilding Athleta. It's also, I think, important to note, you know, we're winning across all income cohorts and we grew share in the quarter. Lastly, I'd say a big important highlight. 2025. We drove our highest gross margin in the last 25 years and we further improved our balance sheet. We're ending the year with $3 billion in cash. Consistency in our top line, controlling the middle of the PNL and great bottom line progress. So the progress that we're making and have made over the past two years, it's reinforcing our confidence in our 26 outlook, which reflects another year of top line growth in addition to operating margin expansion. So we are very excited about where we are and more importantly, moving into the next phase of our transformation, which we couldn't be more excited about.
Jim Cramer
Now, I want to know about health and beauty. I love, I love that part of every store. It moves. The stuff moves. You're going with it.
Richard Dixon
Absolutely. Look, beauty, as you know, it's one of the fastest growing, most resilient retail categories in the US and when we study our consumers, our consumer insights reinforce that there's strong demand for the category and specifically with our brands. So when you look at other fashion and apparel retailers with a beauty offering, the category represents anywhere between 5% at a low to 20% of their sales, highlighting the meaningful potential that this category can represent within our business over time. You know, we're not foreigners to the beauty business. We have had an underdeveloped beauty business and based on our consumer feedback and insights, the potential of this category is fantastic. In 2025, you recall, we announced plans for our strategic expansion into the category with a phased approach, introducing it with Old Navy in the fourth quarter. And Gap is going to be relaunching its fragrance later this year. Watch the space over the long term. We believe this is going to be an important category of growth for the brands.
Jim Cramer
All right, so let's go over what we have that had but got us last time to adjust it. I don't know, a horn assistant confusion tariffs. It was very difficult to try to figure out what they really were. It was so on the fly. But give us the state of play right now on tariffs in your company.
Richard Dixon
Look, first, I really want to say I'm really proud of how our team has navigated tariffs over the past year, leveraging a broad slate of mitigation strategies to manage the impact to our P and L look. We view this latest news as an evolving situation. We've not included any of the benefit from the Supreme Court ruling and Section 122 announcement in our current outlook at this time. You know, as our mitigation strategies build through the year, the annualization of these tariffs is expected to be net neutral to our gross margin and our gross operating margin for the full year. It's a fluid situation and we'll see. We'll see how things roll. But we're not getting distracted. We need to concentrate on building great product, great storytelling, great execution, and consumers will find us as they have been, breaking through the clutter and gaining market share. So tariffs are a daily discussion, but ultimately not letting us get distracted from exactly what we're trying to do every day. And that's excite and delight our customers.
Jim Cramer
Now let's go full circle to Old Navy. What people are going to say, well, listen, the inconsistency here is maddening. And I would come back and say, you missed a percent. That's not maddening. I mean, everything's going in the right direction. What do you say to someone who says, no, they're too episodic. I got to go with someone who's just straight up, well, first of all,
Richard Dixon
look, I'd remind them this is our fifth consecutive quarter of positive comps. We just delivered another strong quarter, posting a 3% compared. We made our expectations. You know, this is a large base business delivering quarter after quarter. And the quarterly comp was trending higher, in fact, prior to the winter storms, if you recall, at the end of the quarter.
Jim Cramer
Yes.
Richard Dixon
So importantly and importantly, we saw sales pick up again right after the storms passed. Now, those last few days of the quarter, they were painful to watch and obviously we sort of got through it. And then business picked up right after the quarter. The quarter ended. This performance, in addition to the brand's consistent share gains over the last two years, reflects the brand's strength, consistency and reliability. It's a brand that wins around great product, great quality, great price. Again, all income cohorts responding to our offerings. We're leading in denim, active, kids and baby. All those categories have grown, particularly denim and active. You're going to see a lot more innovation and price value in the active space. I promise you. It's going to be an exciting year ahead for that category. And also in kids and baby, you know, one of the stats that we like to share with the number two brand in the country for kids and baby, and we've become Disney's number one apparel direct to consumer partner in the US So it just goes to show you, through partnerships, leveraging entertainment licenses, we've got a lot of opportunity to grow. We're well positioned, we're delivering consistently and we're going to build upon that strength.
Jim Cramer
Look, I'm with you. I've been with you the whole way. You know that. I'm with you. I think you got to buy. The stock gets down like this, a 10% decline, that seems wrong to me. That's Richard Dixon, President CEO of Gap Inc. Read the conference call before you make a judgment. Thank you, Richard.
Richard Dixon
Thanks, Jim.
Jim Cramer
I appreciate that. Back after the break.
Commercial Announcer
Coming up, could retail be the sector to get into? With the market in motion, Kramer's returning to his old friend next.
Jim Cramer
You know, I cover multitude of industries, but my first love is retail. I love today, walking through Coach and Kate Spade, noticing what can grab you, what can entice you, Maybe spend a little more money. Maybe you see something to wear that makes you feel more confident, brightens your day. After the war, my dad sold trousers and gimbals. One of the biggest stores was in Philly, rivaled by Litz. My mom sold lingerie. Now, unlike coaching Kate Spade, these places were awful and my folks hated their jobs. As all the bosses treated them terribly. And only my dad was fired for something he probably should have gotten promoted for. After that my dad sold carpet. Then he sold toys out of his station wagon, including board games to help make. It was a disaster. Only ended up selling gift wrap, Scotch tape, plain boxes, printed bags as a writing how to make money in any market. It was an awful business. On Saturdays, I'd go with Pop to see customers. He was always treated terribly until one day we saw his calling. Selling doggy bags to restaurant owners so penny pitching Philadelphians could take their leftovers home in bags with the restaurant's name on them. When he found that business, he no longer had to beg. And it was delightful. So on Saturdays we did something different. We go to indoor malls and we watch stores. We watch what customers picked up. We measure how many came out empty handed, how many were burdened with many packages. He told me how to watch the faces of salespeople. Watch the managers, watch the register. Maybe working there you'd see people treated like he was at gimbals. Get a sense before you sit down of what's high price, what's on sale, what was the move? What was today, Coach, Kate Spade, the subsidiaries of Tapestry. I know Pop would have been smiling. Every box was checked. The register been humming before we came in. Smiles galore, well presented, nothing promotional at all. Now I know it sounds strange, but after years of watching the Pop, I can tell a winner in retail just by witnessing the stores capacity is a winner. Well organized, great price points, beaming salespeople, a true sense of wonderment. Would I buy the stock? Less than enough. You know, you got a little homework. However, it is a good place to start. What I heard from CEO Joanne Cruvos today makes me feel very confident about this stock. You know, there are a million reasons why I wish my dad were still with me. But sitting down watching a store was our favorite thing to do after watching an Eagles game together. Case in point, one of my greatest hits ever when I was a hedge fund manager was shorting the stock of a retailer named Gantos. From the 30s all the way down to zero. Goldman Sachs loved it the whole way. How did I know was going to go down? Because Pop, he went to watch a series of Gantos locations during the week. And then he took me to see one at Franklin Mills outside Philly. It was a busy Saturday. The mall was packed. We watched the Gantos for four hours. We watched miserable salespeople ignore customers. Prices were outrageously high. The merchandise, mostly women's clothes, was painful to look at. Most importantly, I saw two people walk out with bags for Saturday hours to satisfy customers. Ouch. Goldman Sachs could be the next big thing. Pop said it would be bankrupt within a year. He was off by about six months. One of my greatest trades ever. I got the opposite vibe today from Coach and Kate Spade. I say giddy up, this one is working. I like to say, as always, will Marcus Summer promise on finance just for you Radio Man Money. I'm Jim Kramer. See you tomorrow.
Stephanie Huang
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. Kramer'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 this is a
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Jim Cramer
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Episode Theme:
Navigating Market Turbulence: Oil Shocks, Semiconductor Uncertainty, and Retail Turnarounds
In this episode, Jim Cramer addresses one of the most tumultuous days on Wall Street in 2026, grappling with oil price shocks, rumors of fresh semiconductor export restrictions, and dramatic sector rotations. He offers commentary on market leadership, his signature Lightning Round with rapid-fire stock opinions, and in-depth interviews with Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat (Coach, Kate Spade), former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Gap CEO Richard Dixon. The episode closes with Cramer’s personal reflections on retail investing, invoking lessons from his own family experience.
[01:08–06:33]
Market Sell-off:
Policy Rumors Impacting Chips:
“If the government starts blocking these companies from selling their best chips overseas, I think they’re basically handing the whole market to China.”
Sector Rotation and the ‘Halo’ Trade:
Uncertainty and the Path Forward:
“The bottom line is, we have to face the fact that the market’s in limbo. I hate limbo, but I accept that there are always a lot of limbo in 2026 so far.”
[06:33–10:20 & 33:23–36:13]
[12:44–22:55]
“Coach has always been a brand that has balanced magic and logic… It takes both to really bring a great business to life.”
“Tabby is a great story… a Gen Z recruiter… Tabby almost went away. But our data told us Gen Z loved it, so we amplified it—an icon was born.”
[24:33–32:53]
Recalls Federal Reserve meetings, forced merger talks with Citi and Wachovia.
“We had to do whatever [the regulators] wanted… But people, under very difficult circumstances, made quick decisions… They’ll never get credit, because it never blew up.”
2026 vs 2008: Not Comparable
“Anything that’s already happened is resolved, can’t hurt you anymore. Anything pending could get worse… That’s just human nature.”
Portfolio Resilience
“What you have to do… spend 95% of your time on the 5% worst possibilities.”
Market Observations
“‘Semi-liquid’ means it’s liquid when you don’t need to sell it, and it’s totally illiquid when you do need to sell it.”
[36:31–43:50]
Q4 Review: Mixed but Optimistic
Beauty as Growth Engine
Tariff Management
Old Navy Consistency
[44:11–47:11]
“I got the opposite vibe today from Coach and Kate Spade. I say giddy up, this one is working.”
For investors feeling adrift in present volatility, Cramer’s message is clear: stay vigilant, think long-term, don’t panic-sell, and look for durable, consumer-focused companies that deliver results even in uncertain times.