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Jim Cramer
Learn more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JP Morgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval My mission is simple. To make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Mad Now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. Some people want to make friends. I just want to make you money. My job is not just to entertain you, but to educate, to teach. So call me at 1-800-743-simi sweet or leave me at Jim Cramer. Today we got obliterated early on, but as the afternoon proceeded, the averages rallied hard as oil fell because the Iranians seem to be inclined to back a two week truce brokered by Pakistan, which, which is why the Dow only finished down just 85 points. SB inched up 0.8% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.1%. It was an astounding comeback, but not broad. That was easy, exciting, but lasting. That I'm not sure about. It's, well, let's just say is a real deal. Would have sent us much higher. But all I can tell you is some stocks are no longer in trouble. But. But many are. How do I know this? Because I speak the language of stocks. And I got to tell you, I don't like what I've been hearing. The President of the United States should like either. Of course, you could say that he has his hands full trying to figure out if he should destroy civilization. His words, not mine. I hope the situation cools down personally, because if the president does go all medieval on Iran, well, that would do incredible damage to the world, our economy. That's what the stock market's been saying, right? We, the media, focus on all sorts of data, don't we? For example, this morning, the Atlanta Fed repository of all things. GDP cut their growth forecast for the economy from 1.6% to 1.3%. That's a pretty big slice. Frankly to me though, that is an abstraction. In more concrete terms, we can see the West Texas Intermediate crude $112 a barrel, up 93% for the year. That's not good. Of course it's worth noting that the s and P500 is only down about 3% for the year. We know from Michael Semblance, ex workers chief strategist over at JP Morgan that historically when oil doubles, the S and P has always gone down more than 20%. By that kind of oil blips up here, we still have a lot more downside. I don't know whether it'll happen to some degree. This gigantic move is predicated on one man's desire or whim or intense thought process. And it can be undone. But we have no idea what he'll do next or what he'll undo. I'm hoping the Pakistanis can pull off this two week truce. Still, whether it's the Fed's GOP GDP forecast or the price of oil, that's all too big picture for me. That's why I prefer to make my analysis from the ground up, listening to what the stocks are saying. I want to start with the real screamers and that's retail. Walmart's the biggest. Here's a stock that truly defines the term juggernaut. It's a value oriented retailer that out nowhere has begun to attract wealthier customers who make over $100,000 a year. But no matter, it's where the less well off buy a lot of their food and clothing. Walmart's been a total runaway train. But that has left many other retailers behind. Today though, it's saying something different. It went down 3.4%. It's a big decline. This boost says that Walmart's gotten too expensive for many people to shop at. Now that's not encouraging. Normally when I hear Wal Mart stock whisper sweet negatives, I have to figure out whether the problem revolves around the stock of Wal Mart itself. Now it's going up huge, trading 42 times its fiscal 2027 earnings estimates, close to the highest it's ever been. That's rich. The multiples rich and maybe the stores too rich. I don't know. Why don't we do this? Let's step down a level. How are the dollar stores doing? Dollar General and Dollar Tree. When the economy slows down to the point where people need to trade down to save money they go to those two. But the stocks show that the consumer may be hurting even more than you think. Dollar General stock today down 2.6%. Dollar tree plunging 4.2%. At least one of these should have tilted more positive. That's just plain trouble and it bodes badly for tens of millions of people in this country. The house of pain. Before you are up to consumer you have to listen to one other place. The off price stores for apparel. It's big in the CPI coming up namely tjx Ross and Burlington. The these have been phenomenal performers leaving their full priced competitors in the dust. Not today though. TJX the best of them fell 2.6%. Ross somewhat of a rival said 2.2%. Burlington meant for the most challenged dropped 3%. I would say they paint a pretty nasty picture of the consumer too. Now we know ever since COVID many have adopted this mantra of long on money, short on time. That means they've been taking vacations in record numbers. And is that still the case? Well, the best way to look at that is to look at the cruise lines for answers because they represent bargains and they demonstrate incredible success coming out of the pandemic. Not one is holding up your Royal Caribbean shed 2.9%. Norwegian just sinks and sinks this time losing 3.3%. Carnival lost 3%. Even Viking holdings was pride itself. One of more upscale clientele dropped 2.7%. There's one other place we got to listen to and that's homes and home repairs. There's that means Home Depot and Lowe's. Sure enough, their stocks tell a clear disappointing story with lows falling 1.5% and Home Depot Chapel Trust in hitting the new low list and doing so in spectacular fashion dropping 2.4%. What an awful stock that is. That and Nike are my two worst and I have to wear them every time like steamer trunk on my back. Anyway, there are so many brands affiliated with these two that the screaming from the corner of the market is enough to make your ears bleed. It makes me want to listen to the homebuilding stocks. Except because of the downgrade of the whole group. The shriek seem artificial. Toll down 3.4% in the high end. Dr. Horton on the lower end losing 3.3%. Call me worry. Finally, how about credit? I like to look at Capital One, one of my favorites because there's lots of people paying very high rates. It only declined 1.66% today but it's now almost 80% from its 80 points from its high 80 points. So the Picture is one of weakness, real weakness, getting worse, not better, obscured by the rally. Now, market historians can say that this gaggle of negative voices is setting us up. Well, for incoming Fed chief Kevin Marsh, stock prices are predictors. They say that things could really break down. And if the market breaks down, it's easier for the Fed to cut interest rates. Except there are other voices to be heard from. The ones that tell you not only are things slowing down, but they're also inflationary. When you know that inflation could rage, the group that acts the worst, the drug stocks. Sure enough, Merck, which has been a real stall here, dropped 1.3% today. Pfizer, which has begun to show ahead of scene. Not today, down 2.6%. ABV is down the VAR, just going the wrong way. How about the foods? Another indicator of inflation. ConAgra, Campbell's, General Mills, Kraft, Heinz, all considerably lower. Oh, and let's not forget what Darden, parent of Olive Garden, is screaming at the top of her lungs because it's down a miserable three today. So I'm hearing a heck of a lot of bad news obscured by the average weak consumer coupled with inflation. Well, that would mean Jimmy Carter style stagflation if the President isn't careful. I don't like to mention. I'm sure he'd be very, very mad if he knew that. At the same time I mentioned his name, I mentioned Jimmy Carter. So I only use the term President. But it's not fake news. Here's the bottom line. Much like hip stocks don't lie. Of course, the stagflation scenario that looks like it might be coming, it can easily be reversed at the same time. You can see how things might spin out of control if the voices keep screaming for help. In my head, I wish these stocks would just shut the heck up. But that's not how the conversation works. Hey, why don't we go to Lou in Arizona? Lou.
Caller
Hey. Booyah, Jim. How's it going?
Jim Cramer
I am doing very well. How about you?
Caller
I'm doing good. I'm glad to hear that. Hey, I got a question. What do you think about Q Qualcomm? Is it a buy at these levels?
Jim Cramer
No, no, we don't want to buy. Why don't you just go buy aam? I mean, I think ARM is much better than Qualcomm. Qualcomm, I think, is making a series of missteps. ARM is making a series of good steps. Let's go to Ian in Florida. Ian.
Caller
Hey. Booyah, Jim.
Jim Cramer
How you doing? I am doing well, how about you, Ian?
Caller
I'm doing incredible. Thanks, Jim.
Jim Cramer
Excellent. Excellent.
Caller
Jim, I had a question on a semiconductor company. Actually they're the main one, I want to know what you think about it and is a good time to get into it now what do you think about Taiwan Semiconductor?
Jim Cramer
Look, I like Taiwan semi very much. But I have to tell you I am going to send you to Nvidia. Nvidia is down a great deal. It's suddenly become a dis life stock and that's when you want to own it. Why don't we go to Ann in Indiana? Ann, Jim, thanks for taking my call. My pleasure. Ann, what's happening? Yes, Charm. Costco is getting on my nerves. What's the catalyst? I trimmed when you did, but I don't know. Okay, the catal two catalysts. One is that they have the cheapest gasoline in the country. They tend to and people sign up for gasoline and. And then they sign up for the card and the card is where the money is made. And two, they are the inflation fighter. And I don't think a soul thinks that inflation isn't coming back. So I like Costco for those two reasons. And it is also a lot of fun to shop at. All right, look, stocks do not lie, okay? And right now they are telling a pretty troubling story about where the economy might be headed. And that's what we care about. Remember last night? Interest rates? Maybe tonight, Casey's General Storage joining the s and P500 later this week. But does it deserve a spot in your portfolio after its monster run over the past year? Going to share where I come down on then I'm tackling the technicals to see if the market's ready to resume its march higher or if investors should prepare for more downside in the days to come. And speak of downside, shares of McCormick have been cooked or crisp so far in 2026, so maybe now's the time to do some buying. I'm going to give you the latest. It's a little contrary, so stay with Kramer.
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Jim Cramer
Sometimes AT&T business Wireless Connecting changes everything. Last night we learned that Kramer Fave Casey's General Stores, the Iowa based gas station convenience store chain, is getting called up to the big leagues, joining the S&P 500 on Thursday Thursday morning, taking the place of a diagnostics company that just got taken private. I love Casey's, not just because this made our viewers big money, although that certainly helps. This is a terrific company that tends to fly under the radar because it operates in places where few from Wall street would ever go. Casey's has about 2900 locations across 19 states, mostly in very, very small towns where their famous breakfast break pizza is the height of local cuisine. I started recommending this stock consistently about two and a half years ago. In September of 2023, cases was trading at $278. At the time, I was a little worried that I'd come in too late, but the numbers were incredible, the concept so terrific, and I felt like the estimates were just too low. Precisely because most people in this business are snobs, the closest they've ever come to a Casey's General is flying over it. Plus, the money management industry is concentrated around New York City and most New Yorkers. Well, Casey's Breakfast Pizza is borderline criminal in this town. Bacon, egg and cheese belong on a darn sandwich. Casey's puts it on a pizza. It's delicious. But if you're a coastal elite, eating it does require a bit of a leap of faith. A leap of taste. Sure enough, since I recommended this Stock in late 2023, the stock's up really 166% trouncing the S&P 500, which is up 53% over the same period since then. I just keep pounding the table in Casey's and it's steadily cruised higher. It's up a quick 37% since I last pushed it. That was seven months ago. Now it's worth noting that in the seven months or so since I last covered Cases, the company delivered two more fantastic earnings reports. In December, Cases reported a healthy revenue beat with in line same store sales and a monster earnings beat making $5.53 per share. Wall street was only looking for $5.19. Stock actually fell 5% in response, but that turned out to be a terrific time to buy as it's now up nearly 40% from those levels. Finally, just last month, Casey's posted another great quarter. Technically it had mixed revenue results with inside same store sales beating expectations while total revenues missed expectations. That was because lower than expected gasoline sales. But Casey's also gave us a monster earnings beat, making $3.49 per share. Wall street was only expecting three bucks. The stock jumped nearly 4% in response and it's up nearly 12% since that report less than a month ago. Terrific action considering this was not a good month for the market. So in terms of the fundamentals, cases looks just as good as ever for the company's fiscal 2026, the 12 month period that ends this month. Management's guiding for inside same store sales growth of 3.5 to 4.5 with their earnings for interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization expected to grow by an astounding 18 to 20%. And for what it's worth, Wall street finally seems to have gotten up to speed. On the strength of the story, the consensus analyst estimates call for more than 7% revenue growth, roughly 24% earnings growth in fiscal 2026, along with 5% plus revenue growth and 10% plus earnings growth in 2027 fiscal year that kicks off in May. That said, there are two things that can be paused about telling you to put new money in this stock right now. The first is the surging price of gasoline. Obviously the company can and will do. They'll pass it on to customers. But this is a convenience store. When the price of the pump is too high, people tend to spend less money inside the store. Given the uncertain nature of the war with Iran, it's hard to know when the cost of gasoline will come back down. The second thing is simply valuation the stock. After huge gains in recent years, Cases now sells at roughly a 37 times that next year's earnings estimates, which is quite a rich multiple for what it is ultimately still a gas station slash convenience store. At this point, Casey's price earnings multiple is not far below some of the best retailers around. Look, Wal mart trades at 42 times 27 earnings estimates. Costco 45 times. Though I still doubt that New York based research firm, analysts and hedge funds have spent much time visiting Casey stores, it does seem like Wall Street's finally giving the company the respect it deserves. It's no longer the Rodney Dangerfield stock that so many people thought it was. But if you have a long term, longer term time horizon, I'm not going to worry about this valuation. I still think there's plenty of money to be made in Casey's in the near term if the war wraps up and high gas prices don't stick. I wouldn't be surprised if the earnings estimates proved to be too low here. Remember, Cases has beaten the earnings expectations for 11 straight quarters by an average of 18%. Longer term, this is simply a great regional national growth story which continues to delight customers as it spreads into new areas. Sometimes with acquisitions of small gas stations, convenience stores change, but mostly with steady organic growth. Cases already the third largest convenience store in the United States and the fourth largest retailer in terms of the number of liquor licenses. It's even the fifth largest pizza chain in America. But for the moment they're highly concentrated in just the Midwest and parts of the Sunbelt, so I think there's still plenty of room to grow. The concept works in just about any rural area. When I last spoke to CEO Gary Rebel as last June, he told us that there was potential for thousands of Cases locations across the country. I have no reason to doubt this man. The company's got a great strategy of targeting small and mid sized towns with 2/3 of the locations in towns of 20,000 people or fewer. And there are a lot of those towns to target in the 31 states and Casey hasn't even entered yet. Believe me when I say this, I wish that Starbucks would not have so many stores in big cities in the east and west and would put stores in these kinds of places because that's where the money is. Here's the bottom line. I'm proud to see Casey's general stores get the call up to the SB500 and I am happy they'll be able to track the company's progress more closely now that it's in the big benchmark index. Congratulations to Casey's on the honor. And even though higher gas prices and a higher price increase multiple make the stock harder to recommend up here. I'm confident that it can keep chugging its way higher long term. Yay. That money's back yet for the break.
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Coming up, are the bears officially out of hibernation in the S&P 500? Kramer's going off the charts to assess the situation and see what it'll take to bounce back next.
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Jim Cramer
Last week the market finally seemed to find its footing when the price of oil surged, but long term interest rates actually crept lower. In the end, Wall Street's much more afraid of high interest rates than it is of high oil prices, as I said last night. So if the Iran oil shock can't push rates higher, it might mean that we're in better shape than we thought. Thought so. Even with last week's rebound from the lows, there's a ton of uncertainty out there, as you know, especially with President Trump now taking a much more hardline stance on Iran. Hey, that he might wipe out their entire civilization. That's the kind of thing that makes markets nervous when there's so much uncertainty about the macro environment. You know what I like to do? I like to take my gut feelings out of the equation, fall back on something that's far more quantitative because the action can tell you a great deal. That's why tonight we're going off the charts with help with Jessica Inscription. She's the first woman on the Active Trader Desk and Fidelity. She's now the director of investor research@stockbrokers.com. she's also the co host of her own podcast, it's called Market Make Her M A K E H R Podcast. As she sees that this market's at a crossroads. After being stuck in bear mode for over a month, it's been seeing some signs of improvement. In particular, sparks got better breath. A wider selection of winners which could be a sign of a turn. Though it's still early in the average. Let's take a look at the weekly chart of the S&P 500. Now make no mistake, according to inscript, the S and P remains in a bearish trading cycle. And you can see that, I mean you know that's, that's nothing positive there. She likes to watch the 13 week. Keep these in mind. 26 week and 40 week moving averages. Because 13 weeks represents 1/4 and the quarter is the most basic unit of house of that's the timekeeping in the business world. These three key moving averages have flattened out and they're now above the S and P acting as ceilings of resistance. And here you can see all three right here. Inscription says the 40 week is the key inflection point here. So we look, that's this one and this one, right it's a 6672 up about 55 points where the index is currently trading. If we clear that hurdle, clear the 6672, you can see that's the, the candlestick pattern. If we can clear that one, she thinks that can shift the market to a more neutral range bound environment. But until the SB rebounds above the 40 week, she thinks that rallies are likely to continue facing overhead pressure, much like the pressure we saw for most of the day today before we rallied to the close. I could not agree with her more. How about the floor of support underneath this market? Right now we've got a floor at 6550. That's black. Okay. Which represents the low from the week of October six of last year. Now the last time we spoke to Inskip, she warned us that if this level failed to hold, we had a drastic sell off which is exactly what happened last month. And you can see there fail to hold and we went down pretty quickly. Now we're above that level again thanks to last week's rally and it needs to be maintained again. If we break down below 6,550, about 30 points below where the S and P Carly is trading, then she thinks we're in real trouble. What about the Upside. Okay. If the S and p clear the 40 week moving average at 6672 there we've got another hurdle to think. 13 week moving average. There's a lot going on here. Okay, that's there. Okay. And that stands at 6753 with a third hurdle at the 26 week moving average 6780. So there's so much overhead resistance finally says we need to reclaim the trend high for the week of October 27th of that 6920 which is all the way up here. I know. Seems like we got to do a lot of work. For now though. The most important level is the 40 week moving average. As long as it remains as a ceiling of resistance income says you got to stay somewhat guarded because the S and P is in a bearish trading cycle. Let's not forget that you see that great close still in a bearish trading cycle. Next, I want you to take a look at the weekly chart of the S&P 500. This is the equal weight index which contains all the same stocks as the regular s and P500. Except each one is weighted the same in the normal S and P. They're all weighted by market cap. We love to watch the S and P equal weight because it filters out those gigantic mega cap heavy hitters. Give me a better sense of how the rest of the index is really doing right now. Inscription says the S and P equal weight is in a neutral trading range as opposed to a bearish trading range. A neutral trading range with the 13 week and 26 week moving averages acting as ceilings of resistance. But the 40 week moving average providing a floor of support. So that's a break there. Right. As she sees it, this reflects a market in transition. Now this will shift if there's a breakout above the 26 moving average at 7861. So there's the level that we have to take out. Okay, we are not that close to it. Just a point above. But you're going to see there we're not that close to taking it out. But it's not that close to where. It's close to where we are. That would create a bullish signal or breakdown below the 40 week moving average which would be bearish. So just to get. I know these are complicated, but we're basically here or here, either one. We don't know which. Right now the SBW has a floor of support is 7794 getting very tight. Which corresponds to the high made during the week of September 29th. The last time we spoke to Inscape, this level was the lower floor support. Now it's the first level support because we've been hammered. That's again why the negative bias. Now the equal it needs to maintain the lower level and reclaim the previous higher level of 7,896. So just go all the way up here. It's going to be very difficult. This marks the higher high from the week of December 8th. A former resistance level now turns support now and that turn now support that is now resistance again. It's up about 36 points from where the SB equal weight is currently trading. As income sees it, reclaiming the 7896 level is critical to reestablishing a bullish trading cycle. So what what I am nervous about just, you know, this is really far from us, okay? And I do think that we can claim it if we have multiple days of good. Of course the SB equal weight is already edging higher, having broken out above its previous distance of 7,794, turning back into floor support. The shift signal improving market structure. And it tells us the rally is beginning to broaden, adding strength to the overall market. This is still better than the mega caps. Now speaking of breadth, check out this chart that you just can put together using Claude. This is the one that really made me negative. Yeah, quad, you know, anthropic. She likes to look at the percentage of stocks trading above the 13 week, 26 week and 40 we moving averages. By watching how that percentage changes, she can tell when we might be approaching a meaningful top or bottom. And right now she's starting to like what she sees. After a sharp deterioration from late February through March. Okay. Where the percentage of stocks above the 13 week moving average plunge from 63% to 23.9% over the three consecutive weeks. She says the market's breadth is now stabilizing in of terms turning higher. Currently about 34% of stocks are above the moving average. The 13 week moving average reflecting constructive shift but still well below pre sell off levels. Income ceases as an early sign of recovery. But the breadth needs to keep expanding for it to mean anything. For confirmation of a durable reversal, Inscom says the percentage of stocks above the 30 moving average needs to push back above 50. We're nowhere near that. Until then the improvement remains encouraging. But she says this is all very fragile and I agree with that. Here's the bottom line. The charges interpreted by just Ginseng suggest that it's still treacherous out there, but the situation is improving and it's possible that we actually put in a genuine bottom last week. That's why she thinks the market's at a crossroads here. And now you know what to watch if you figure out which direction we might be headed. I myself think it's not that these demonstrate not a crossroads, but a little bit lower than a crossroads. We need to jump over that before I feel safer because look at this. We don't want that we went all the way up here. Okay, let's start with Jim and Delaware. Jim.
Caller
Hi Jim. Thanks so much.
Jim Cramer
What's up?
Caller
Financial education from your books and mad money.
Jim Cramer
Oh, thank you. I'm going to. Oh, okay. Thank you.
Caller
I'm a long time viewer and a first time caller.
Jim Cramer
All right.
Caller
Caterpillar. Caterpillar, more than doubling since I bought it 23 months ago at 332 is in my best of breed taxable portfolio. What could cause a long term problem for cat?
Jim Cramer
Well, you'd have to see metals in mining really get crushed. You'd have to see the Permian give out. You'd have to see no more construction on roads. None of that's going to happen. Joe Creed has got this thing going. He's the CEO. I think Cat is one of the most viable stocks. I think this stock could be up gigantically if we get the end of the war. Gigantically. It's a great call by you, David. How much the charges interpreted by Jessica paint a pretty treacherous picture still for the market. But she thinks the situation could be getting better now. I agree with that. But remember, I'm still going with the treasures. Okay. Much more made by that shares of McCormick just had the worst month of 46 years.
Caller
Whoa.
Jim Cramer
But is the market miscalculated the company's deal with Unilever? Like maybe the way Cisco is miscalculated when they when they bought Jet Row. I'm sharing where I come down then the long. I've seen me out for tech on a daily basis, don't they? But today I'm doubling down on why I think this sector remains the best area of opportunity for investors. And all your calls Rapid Fire. Tonight's issue of the Lightning round. So stay with Kramer. It's been a rough few years for McCoy, the spices, seasonings and sauces company with a stock that's down more than 4, 42% over the past half decade. But at this point the stock's down so much that you know what? It's starting to get real interesting to me. In general, the packaged food group has been one of the worst in the market. House of pain. Nobody wants these slow growth names besieged by weight loss, drugs, regulation, macroeconomic worries. Which brings me back to McCormick. This stock was already struggling. Then a little over a week ago, it announced this deal, transformational deal to merge with Unilever's food business. And the stock got hit again. Down more than 6% on the news. In fact, in March alone, it lost 29% of its fair market. Worst month in 46 years. This is not a beloved stock getting a minor haircut. This is a hated stock and a hated group that's trying to change the narrative. But for the moment, Wall street just doesn't care. I think that's a big mistake. McCormick's buying a bunch of fantastic brands. Hellman's mayonnaise nor dried soups. Coleman's mustard. That never got enough love at Unilever. These are real properties. They have scale, history, shelf space and consumer recognition that most packaged food companies would kill for. In a dead group like this, if you're a major operator and you want to matter again, you got to swing for the darn fences when something like this becomes available. But Corbin's not making a deal for some random collection of weak brands. It's buying a set of premium assets that can transform its position in the category. And that is why I think the market is missing the whole real story here. Everyone's focused on the structure. And I get it. McCormick is indeed paying a lot. $15.7 million in cash, issuing a mountain of stock in what's known as a reverse Morris Trust transaction, where basically a smaller company acquires a Large 1. Existing McCormick shareholders will end up with only 35% of the combined company. Unilever shareholders get 55.1%. The combined business. The combined business. And Unilever itself gets to keep 9.9%. I know, sounds real ugly, right? Dilution is real. Debt is real. But McCormick keeps the name, keeps the New York Stock Exchange listings. And CEO Brennan Foley's team will run the company going forward. And I like that, that he's a good manager, honestly. The question is not whether the structure is messy. It is messy. The question is whether McCormick can create more value with these assets than Unilever could. And I think the answer to that is absolutely yes. Unilever is basically the best British Procter and Gamble. It's been moving away from packaged food business for years and sold its tea business to a private equity buyer. 2021. It spun off its ice cream business as the Magnum Ice Cream Company last year. They've made it very clear that they want to be more focused on household and personal care. Company food no longer fit strategically. They're not doing anything with it, they're starving it. For McCormick though, these food brands are right in the wheelhouse. Who better to own Hellman's mayonnaise and Coleman's mustard than than a spices and seasonings and hot sauce play just as important, the deal will improve McCormick's international exposure. This company's got a strong position in North America, but Unilever Foods gives it a ton of exposure to Europe, the Middle East, Africa as well as Brazil and China. One of the knocks on McCormick was that it was too domestically focused. And this is the most aggressive way for them to gain share overseas where there's still a lot of growth. The size of the deal is enormous. McCormick generated 6.84 billion in sales in fiscal 2025. Unilever Foods generated 12.9 billion in euros over the same period. The corporate story from being a very good $7 billion business to be a much bigger, much broader, more global platform with over 20 billion in annual revenue. In a group where scale is the best way to contain costs, defend margins and get retailers to take you seriously, that matters a lot. At the same time, I do not think the sellers appreciate what the acquisition could mean. In the supermarket, McCormick already has spices, seasonings, Frank's red hot cholula, French's mustard and Old Bay. Then you add Hellman's, Noor Coleman's and my M A I L E often mispronounced male, which is a boutique high end Dijon mustard. I use it. Maybe it's in your refrigerator. At that point, you're not just selling a few brands into the supermarket. You're owning huge chunks of multiple aisles, condiments, seizing sauces, real shelf power. In this environment, that may be one of the only ways a packaged food company can start to feel important again. Then there's the cost side. Okay. McCormick says the deal should generate about $600 million of annual run rate cost synergies by year three and another 100 million of incremental costs and revenue synergies will be reinvested to bolster growth. More importantly, management has said the transaction should be meaningfully added meaningfully to growth, operating margin and adjusted earnings in the first full year of earnings of closing. No one's paying attention to that. And look, it's not like McCormick was a broken company before the announcement. It's really a broken stock. The core business is solid. Cormac's most recent quarter was Strong positive organic growth management reaffirmed their full year forecast. This is not some distressed company trying to save itself with a desperate merger. It's a good company, a terrible group trying to create the kind of scale that's needed to get Wall street excited again. I also think that the GOP dash one angle and give your quietly makes McCormick better than the average food story. These guys are not fighting to sell more calories. They're selling taste. They're selling flavor. If people are eating less, eating healthier, adding more protein and produce and making smaller meals at home, they still want those meals to taste good. They want the flavor. In fact, people taking GOP dash ones probably need their food to taste better than before or else it won't be appetizing. And McCormick can give that to them. That puts the company in a much better position than most of the packaged food companies which rely on selling people junk food. The younger consumer trends line up too. According to Sir Khan, 34% of Americans consider themselves quote hot sauce connoisseurs, meaning they use hot sauce at least once per week. But over half of gen zers classify themselves that way. Clearly they like it hot, it doesn't put weight on and so much better than adding butter. Now none of this means that the risks are fake. The Unilever foods deal, it is so huge, McCormick's balance sheet gets uglier and the structure is unusual. Very risky thing for conservative company. Plus it's not expected to close until mid 2027 and regulators can take a hard look. I'm not worried about Trump's antitrust guys. I don't know about the British, so the market's not wrong to worry about that. But after this kind of stock collapse, I think the worries are priced in. McCormick's finally fallen enough to get interesting. Not safe or easy, but I like the deal. You got to look at this one. Look at what they own. I mean look, you go buy all that stuff. I have half the stuff in my. You know, this is the stuff. You see this thing that's pronounced my. Okay. It looks like male or mally. It's my. Here's the bottom line. In a market where the packaged food has been an absolute graveyard, right? I mean the worst, the only real way out of what, what you can possibly do is to try to get bigger, yet more global or more of the flavor aisle. Cut costs, make yourself matter, make yourself relevant. These kinds of brands do not become available very often. McCormick took the shot. If Brandon Foley could runs his business the way I think he can this will eventually look a lot less like a food company overreaching and a lot more like the moment when McCormick decided to get big or go home because they're done being at the mercy of the market. Bear bunny is 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.
Jim Cramer
It is time. It's time for the light round Christmas. And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready to get that to the lightning round? Greater than my start with Cameron in Pennsylvania. Cameron.
Caller
Hey, Jim. Booyah. From Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Jim Cramer
Yes. Right where I'm from. Thank you. What's going on?
Caller
Hey, so first of all, love the show, love the book. I thought it was an awesome job of making a lot of information. Really.
Jim Cramer
Thank you. Trying to get people to understand and say what a P mobile. What? No one teaches that stuff that's in that book. Thank you. What's up?
Caller
So the company I'm calling about, it's down about 40% year to date. I don't know if this one is a casualty of AI or if it's got some potential for rebound long term. Just the company Service Titan Ticker tta.
Jim Cramer
You know what that thing is? I thought that was a good. When it came out of the shoot at Goldmandale, I believe it was looking really good. It's just been kind of been cut in half. I don't understand. You know what? I'm going to have to huddle with Ben Stodo. I'm not kidding. I'm going to huddle with Ben Stoddard. We're going to find out what the heck happened. We have what the heck happened to Service Titan. That's what we're going to do. All right, let's go on. Let's go to Carl in Virginia.
Caller
Carl CEO Paul Jacobs said his company holds the critical jigsaw pieces that complete the broader D2D puzzle. Jim, how valuable is Global Star Ticker?
Jim Cramer
I got to tell you, people told me for years to own that stock and did I listen? No. I had cotton in my ears. I had wax in my ears. I had holes in my ears. And those I still have. And I'm going to have to say it's right and I got it wrong. Let's go to you go in Ohio.
Caller
You go, Jimbo. Pleasure to be back speaking with you again. So tell me, oh, sage of the street, I'm thinking of starting a position. I got two questions about it. Is this a good time to start a position? And two Is the dividend sustainable? I'm talking about Campbells. All right?
Jim Cramer
I never buy. I never buy a stock for dividend, for a high yield because too many times that yield turned out to be chimerical. Now, I absolutely like the company. I like the brands. But when I see 70% yield, I just say, you know what? It's not worth it. It's just not worth it. And I'm going to say that you shouldn't own Campbell's. I'd rather have you own McCormick. Franklin. There you go. I'm out of the closet with the McCormick. I'm there. Boom, boom, boom. Let's go to Adam in Illinois, please. Adam.
Caller
Hi, Jim. I'm a club member. You've heard this before, but thanks for everything, man. You're.
Jim Cramer
Thank you.
Caller
But you treasure.
Jim Cramer
Don't forget ch. Thank you very much. National. I like that. Wish my ma were a lot. Anyway, gosh, she say, hey, maybe you're good. Jimmy, I'm sorry. A certain.
Caller
A certain guy that I trust told me it was how important it is to be diversified. So I bought some shares of GE Healthcare. And when that failed me for a year, I moved those funds into cvs. And until today, the result was no better. So do I sell, hold or buy? Buying more cbs.
Jim Cramer
No, no, no. Listen to me. Listen to me good. David Joyner is the real deal. He is creating the national drugstore chain. Now, CBS is real. He's for real. I'm not done. I'm going to Jeff and Wisconsin police. Jeff? Yeah.
Caller
Mr. Kramer. I purchased 47 shares of Lockheed Martin on March 2nd at $604 share. It's now down to $608 per share. And it seems like it's plateaued. I'm not sure if I should be surprised with the war going on.
Jim Cramer
No, no. Here, listen to me. Jim Takelet is bankable. I want you to buy more. I think it will be terrific. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concluded other Lightning Round.
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The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up, Kramer's sick of the pessimists tormenting tech stocks and he's sounding off on why you should still own, not trade them.
Jim Cramer
Next.
Caller
Good evening, Mr. Kramer.
Jim Cramer
Thank you. Thank you for everything you do.
Caller
You've been such a wonderful source of information with your teachings. I have to say thanks.
Jim Cramer
Thank you for all your advice and saving us from ourselves.
Caller
Your advice let me quit a job that I hated. I love you to death.
Jim Cramer
Thank you for everything you do.
Caller
Thanks for making us money.
Jim Cramer
And more importantly, thanks for keeping us from losing money. It happens every day. Someone whispers something bad about tech to me. The story is always hard to track down. Let me show you what I mean. This morning I tried frantically to find out what the heck was the matter with the stock of Apple. Stock was flowing. A safe thrown out of the Empire State police slicing through 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 right down to the 13 points. 13 points. I'd seen a story earlier in the morning from Nikkei Asia that Apple's foldable phone expected for this fall has been delayed. I dismissed it and didn't get mad anything. This doesn't have that good record. But after chasing chasing to find the real story, I had to settle on the fact that the Nikkei story about the foldable phone being late was probably the reason for the decline. I told people to start buying the stock when it was down 10. Just didn't make sense to me that people would sell based on the one outlet somewhat dubious claims. Sure enough, at 1pm Bloomberg ran an officially sanctioned story saying the foldable phone was on time. Turns out Apple was framed. You caught a quick five point gate if you bought it when I told you to. Even better if you owned it and did didn't bother to trade it. And I got to tell you, if we think that there's no war tomorrow, this was going to keep flying higher. Yesterday was Alphabet. I kept hearing that Google was doing badly which would slow down the growth of Gemini. With Anthropic coming on strong, albeit for business chat, CBT maintaining its success, you might have to ban and ship Alphabet. I just started buying it for the Chapel trust. I thought it made no sense whatsoever. You get YouTube, Waymo Search, Chrome, Gemini. So I didn't dump it. I stayed in. It's pretty bold thing to do. Now it ramped up again nearly 2%. When Marvell Tech won some big business recently, it came at the expense of Broadcom. They both make custom accelerators chips. We didn't take the bait and stuck with Broadcom for the Chapel Trust. Today we discovered the Broadcom got not one but two deals. One with Google, the other with anthropic. Stocks soared more than 6% in response. Thank heavens we chose not to listen. Last week the negative whispers were about Amazon get out now. The consumer slowing down going to hurt the main business. Amazon Prime. I said there's one thing I know for a fact that the pessimists don't seem to understand. I know Amazon, they're tight as a drum. No way anyone can get a read on retail sales from them. No One gets information because they don't leak. Now, it's possible that the naysayers just wanted to get on my nerves, but it doesn't matter. It sounded so good I had to bear down and find out what could be found out. Not much. And then hold on. Oh, and for weeks I've been hearing the drum beat the crowd. CrowdStrike would be destroyed by Anthropic. But today Anthropic announced a partnership with CrowdStrike as well as Palo Alto Networks and some others called Project Glasswing to protect anthropic users. Anthropic needs CrowdStrike. It doesn't seek to weep to wipe it out. Hence why CrowdStrike rallied 24 points, and I think there's a lot more ahead there, too. Why does this stuff keep happening? First, because it's easy to rumor down the tech stocks. People can say anything they want about these companies. They usually do, especially the press, by the way. There's no journalism jail. Second, the companies in this industry, they're unique in that they rarely acknowledge anything or deny anything. It's like they know that this stuff occurs all the time and they're just not going to play. They're not going to bother. And now if they did bother, they could shut the pessimists down, but they won't. Third, these companies are hard to understand. It's not like they're making tissue paper hammers, so it's hard to figure out what part of the story might be awry. I think tech remains the best source of opportunity out there. Just understand that right now it's fodder for those who want to move stocks down in the worst way by lie. I like to say, as always, bull markets on my promise. I find it just for you, right here on Jim Cramer. I'll see you tomorrow.
Podcast Disclaimer Narrator
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 with the all new Audi Q3.
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Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Episode Date: April 7, 2026
Main Theme: Jittery Markets, Signs of Stagflation, Consumer Weakness & Opportunities Amid Uncertainty
Jim Cramer dives into a high-volatility day on Wall Street, where early losses reversed into a mixed finish due to geopolitical developments. He decodes the “language of stocks,” focusing on what the market action is saying about consumers, inflation, and opportunities. Cramer warns of possible stagflation as consumer fatigue and inflationary pressure rise, analyzes key technical indicators with a top chartist, dissects the risks and upside for Casey’s General Stores after its S&P 500 inclusion, and closes with his signature Lightning Round and a defense of sticking with top tech names despite negative headlines.
Geopolitical Moves Spur a Wild Session
Energy Shock & Economic Weakness
Big Picture vs. What Stocks Are Saying
“Screamers” in Retail
Travel Fatigue
Home Improvement Tumbles
Credit & Further Weight
Inflationary Sectors Falter
Summary Judgment
Tech Picks
Retail
Defense/Industrials
Drugstores
Other Highlights
Casey’s General Stores (CASY) Story
Financials & Growth
Long-Term Outlook
Notable Quote
With guest technician Jessica Inskip (Fidelity, StockBrokers.com, Market MakeHer podcast):
S&P 500 Analysis
Market Breadth Weak, Showing Early Signs of Recovery
Advice
Stock’s Been Hammered
Transformative Acquisition
Synergies & Strategic Fit
Cautions & Opportunity
Tech Under Attack by “Pessimists and the Press”
Advice to Investors
Despite a remarkable intraday market turnaround, Cramer remains cautious, highlighting consumer weakness and inflation risks that signal “stagflation” could emerge. He praises Casey’s General Stores and McCormick for bold moves but stays wary of stretched valuations and execution risks. In tech, he encourages investors to avoid being whipsawed by rumors and to stick with proven leaders. The market may be at a crossroads, but for long-term players, opportunities can emerge from the carnage as long as you tune out the noise and focus on fundamentals.