← Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 5/1/25
00:42:59
Listen to Jim Cramer’s personal guide through the confusing jungle of Wall Street investing, navigating through opportunities and pitfalls with one goal in mind - to help you make money. Mad Money Disclaimer
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- [00:02]
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- [00:31]
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- [01:09]
Jim Cramer
Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. I'll be with my friends. I'm just trying to make you a little money. My job is not just to entertain, but to explain, to educate you. Call me 1-800-743- CNBC. Tweet me at Jim Cramer. Sometimes you forget why you ever like something in the first place. Take the super stocks, the hyperscalers, the tech titans, I don't care. Whatever you want to call these stocks all got lumped together because of their size, their gigantic market caps that dwarf the rest of the market. And then they lost their juice. But on a day where The Dow gained 84 points, the S&P jumped point 63% and the Nasdaq pole vault of 1.52% led by two of these caps, the Microsoft and Meta platforms. We're reminded of how the mega caps got so big to begin with. It's their scale, their smarts, their moats, their balance sheets and their sensational products. Microsoft stock finished up 30 points, or 7.63% today after a monster quarter and better platforms jumped $23, 4.23%. Spectacular gains. Tremendous outlooks, tremendous. At the close, two more tech giants turned in strong first quarter reports, although their outlooks let's call it more muddy. Apple gave us a classic top and bottom line beat, with sales up 5% year over year and earnings per share up 8%. Despite strong headwinds in the period, everyone was worried about iPhone sales, but those came in nearly $1 billion ahead of expectations, with Apple CEO Tim Cook telling me tonight there was no evidence of a temporary sales boost from consumers buying ahead of the tariffs. China sales a little lighter, but isn't that expected by now, offset by much better than expected sales in the Americas and the rest of Asia Apple continues to achieve record sales in many emerging markets. The stock, by the way, get this, it's reduced its share count by over 40% since 2012. It announced a new $100 billion share purchase repurchase tonight. Only the very consistent service revenue line was light. That was disappointing. Got a call like I see it. I expect that the company will give more color on the exposure to tariffs, the potential impact that they might have on the rest of the year during the earnings call, which is currently ongoing. While the strength of the first quarter results themselves are a great reminder of why it never really pays to get too negative on the world's largest company, Apple says it will have $900 million in cost increases in tariffs next quarter. That is suboptimal. Not their fault. It will matter, but it's suboptimal. Then there's Amazon, which is trading lower after hours because the company gave a conservative forecast for the second quarter, as they typically do. And who can blame them given the impossible to game tariff situation. But looking at the first quarter results themselves, Amazon also reminded us why it's one of the world's best companies, why you can't bet against it. Sales grew 9% year over year, topped expectations by over $600 million, led by double digit growth from Amazon Web Services and the company's increasingly important advertising business. The gross margins are insane. Earnings per share, meanwhile, is up an incredible 62%, beat the $36 consensus estimate by 23 cents. Now, one of the more quizzical things from the Amazon quarter were the results from the Amazon Web Services cloud computing business, which is such a fabulous business. Sales were up 17%. Very good. But that was slight. That was light of what we expected. The operating margins, on the other hand, were fantastic. They reached nearly 40%. Street was only looking for 35. And that's why Amazon Web Services segment profit came in over $1 billion above expectations. Essentially all of the total company's bottom line beat in the quarter. But you know, again that people found a little bit of what we call hair on the story. So many people were worried though about Microsoft, much more than these other two going into the quarter. Microsoft's machine. It's a conference call that's incredibly well orchestrated. CEO Satya Nadella starts with a mellifluous analysis of what's going. Great guns. He takes it from 30,000ft. All perfect, every division, including most proudly, Azure. That's the gigantic web services business they have that competes with us. Then CFO Amy Hood, perhaps the most professional of the CFOs in the business gives the breakdown of the far more prosaic numbers, how much each division gained over the previous year. Then she delivers the single most important bullet in the call, the part where she raises guidance. Sometimes huge, sometimes just big. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief for Potter's sustain ovation. But for the last three quarters, three in a row, Hood underwhelmed us with her guidance. It fell flat and stock got eviscerated the first time, not so good the second time. What are you talking about? The third time, who are these knuckleheads? Inhabited the bodies of Satya and Amy. Kind of felt like the invasion of Body Snatchers. Not this time. This time it was a glorious course of raise numbers. Azure. It had huge accelerated revenue growth and will continue to do so. Certainly better than Amazon Web Services sales growth, although it's not as big as aws. The regular commercial business up so big that I thought I heard it wrong until we got the Q and A and I knew otherwise. And then the growth will continue there too. Perhaps most important, the data center spending isn't going away either, because there's just so much demand. It was perfect. This quarter was a thing of beauty. As good as Microsoft was. Believe it or not, I thought matter was better. Mark Zuckerberg has cracked the code in terms of trying to make digital advertising work for anyone, any company. Just tell us the product, send us the money and we'll get you more customers than any other method of advertising. So confident. When I heard that, I wanted to start a new business, just see if it worked. Even better, I could see where any company that advertises on television would be best off just giving a huge chunk of those ad dollars to Metta, not Linear tv. Because it's true, the performance is clearly better. I mean, he said it. I can't dispute it. Especially when it comes to reaching younger people. If you've ever started publishing business, you know that you need to reach young people, not the older people that television gives you. Because spending patterns and brand loyalty start in the teens. A teen lead can be worth 10 times the lead of an older person. If you want to reach teens, you got to go to Zuckerberg. You got to go to Meta. So if you're a big consumer packaged goods company, you can simply give all your money to matter. Fire most of your internal ad people, drop your expensive ad agency and save yourself a fortune. Any ad firm and any publisher, any CPG supervisors that was on that call knows that that's what's going to happen it was just incredible. Not only that, but Zuckerberg talked about monetizing the asset that's potentially the best thing that owns WhatsApp. When 3 billion people uses a principal communications about the cost, nothing that could change and it could give the company a gigantic new revenue stream. This was an all systems go quarter. Now we know we've heard already from Alphabet, which surprised people with how Chat by Gemini didn't cannibalize Google, even though there are concerns that Google made less money per search click and it could spiral. I don't care for the stock anymore, but I do know it's done better than most stocks in this market since in the last few weeks. A couple of weeks ago, the formerly Magnificent seven felt impossible to own. But days like today remind you why you avoid these stocks at your own pearl. You got to have a couple of these companies are endowed with tens of billions of dollars. They're like nation states. They don't flinch at spending tens of billions to compete in artificial intelligence. They have the flexibility to pivot to what's necessary. With the exception of Apple, they don't have much manufacturing risk under the new trade regime, with the exception of Apple is very difficult to figure. They're run by seasoned hands who are uncorruptible and bold and and can course correct if they missed the mark the previous quarter. They are marvelous gems, which is why I take every chance to harangue public officials and urge them to stand up for these companies which because of their size have become honeypots for lawsuits by foreign governments who never stop hitting them up for money. But in the end, their optionality knows no bounds, save tariffs, something that they could not have seen coming and snuck up on them very fast. Snuck up on everyone. Second me. How about you? This has been the roughest stretch for these amazing companies that I can recall. Right now, only Microsoft is in the black for the year. Isn't that amazing? Well, behind most stocks, it's what we call a prolonged period of underperformance. But the bottom line, if we're in for lean times. You know what? It's quarters like these that remind me that these mega caps were built to prosper, built to make money in any kind of market, and they're truly ready to excel when things turn south for everybody else, including Apples. Even though it's the slowest growing and the most tariffed, it does still make the most beloved products in the world. Let's go to Jim in Georgia. Jim.
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Caller Jim
Hey Jim. This club member owes a fellow Harvard Law grad And your staff of congrats for 20 years.
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Jim Cramer
Oh, wow. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you. That's great.
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Caller Jim
And my daughter is still beating the booyah out of brain cancer.
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Jim Cramer
Oh, geez. I wish her the best of luck. Wow. Okay.
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Caller Jim
Hey, we talked about this a little while back and I appreciate what you said about what's important, but.
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Jim Cramer
Oh yeah, I'll come back to the.
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Caller Jim
Secondary importance and you know, we get a global focus on defense spending, especially in the EU. This US defense company buys only 65% of its products from the USA and they're projecting a million, I'm sorry, a billion dollars in tariff expenses. I believe countries will contract with this company to offset trade deficit and it's going to help it offset its tariff losses. Buyer hold rtx.
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Jim Cramer
Oh my God. You know, you actually nailed the story. First of all, they were very forthcoming about the tariffs. That was right. Second, it is a way for people, for countries to be able to say, listen, I know we have a trade. We have a huge trade surplus with you. We are going to write a check to RTX and get what we need. You are spot on. But most importantly, I just want, I want your daughter to do great and I am glad she is beating brain cancer. We all know people who have struggled against these terrible diseases and I wish wish her the best. All right. Quarters like these from Meta, Microsoft and even Apple and Amazon remind me that mega caps are mega for a reason and they're built to make money in any kind of market, tariffs included. Well, maybe. Today are Green Acres ahead for tractors by. I'm sitting down with the CEO to see if the stock can plow forward. Then cosmetics player Oddity soared after earnings this week. I'm going to take a closer look at what prompted the stock's makeover and what's in the cards for Hasbro after its earning. We put some tariff issues there. I got the CEO, so stay with Kramer.
- [11:21]
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- [11:52]
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- [12:15]
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Jim Cramer
You see what happens when some companies report what look like disappointing numbers. Consider the case of Tractor Supply. It's the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the United States. A couple thousand stores here last week the company missed expectations across the board, declining same store sales revenue miss earnings miss. You can cut their full year forecast issue downbeat guidance for the current quarter. And that's why the stock which had already been under pressure for the past few months, fell over 3% last Thursday. But then since then the stock has stabilized, making back most of its losses. It's almost as Wall street appreciated management's candor. So can these guys turn things around? Let's check in with Hal Watton, the president CEO of Tractors by to get a better sense of the story. Mr. Watt and welcome back to Money.
- [13:29]
Hal Watton
Thanks Jim. Appreciate you having me on the show today.
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Jim Cramer
Absolutely. Now you've been incredibly candid but I want to start now with tariffs now quarter. I want to know how's Chick Days performance.
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Hal Watton
It's going to be our best year ever in Chick Days. You know it's a hallmark attract supply. It's true reveal.
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Jim Cramer
People don't know because it is very.
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Hal Watton
Exciting theater in the stores. We'll sell 1112 million birds this year in our stores. But the birds are really just the beginning of it. It's really about fueling that passion and that hobby. One in five of our customers raises chickens now the Average chicken eats 75 pounds of feedback this year. Our best selling coop is actually our most expensive Chicken Coop at $999 with all the bells and whistles. People are decorating their coops now, really getting into the hobby. And we're off to our best chick days ever this year so far.
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Jim Cramer
Now people should know with Eggplant when egg prices soared, this is more than just decoration and they're Fun. They're fun. I've had.
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Hal Watton
They're really the third. The third pet now. Cat, dog and chickens. In terms of ownership. People love their personalities. They raise them to your point, they lay back an egg a day or you can raise them for meat as well. But it is a great business for us and one that really is a core passion for our customers.
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Jim Cramer
It's a tractor supply signature. It is now you're in the business that unfortunately has a lot to do with the weather. When I see the numbers as a gardener and someone who cleans up a farm, I know there's been nothing to do. It's just too darn cold. So it has to be. Has to be impacting you guys.
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Hal Watton
Yeah, absolutely. As you mentioned in your opening remarks, we had our. We just had our earnings call last week for our first quarter. The first six weeks were excellent weeks, right on forecast and trajectory. And then the last six weeks, normally you'd see a step up in the south for spring, and then eventually in March, you'd see a little bit of a step up in the north, and that just didn't come. Spring's kind of three weeks delayed right now. But when the sun's out, the business is strong. Sun's been out the last handful of days. And, you know, we feel really good about our spring business. What I will call out the health of a retailer is about comp transactions. And we had plus 2% comp transactions in the quarter. We had positive traffic in our business. We had the highest retained customer count we've. We've had in our company's history. New customer positive and reacquired customer positive. So our customers, healthy and engaged. Just spring hadn't started yet, so they weren't buying some of those bigger ticket items. And that's what depressed ticket. But if they're in the stores, they'll eventually shop and buy those.
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Jim Cramer
But also there are great things that you have blades for. Lawnmower. Exactly. You can't get them elsewhere. The best lineup, I think the best lineup of Carhartt that you can have, you know, clothes better than anyone in your business.
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Hal Watton
There are, you know, great vendor for us. We have all sorts of products that drive our customers in. You know, we're far and away. Our number one category is animal feed. You know, we have between a 20 and a 25% share in that market where that's what drives footsteps in. It's a consumer staple. I mean, I would argue it's even more of a staple than grocery because there's not an Alternative to restaurants for your animals. Right. Pet food. You know, we're the fifth largest player in pet food in the country. Again that drives footsteps in. We continue to take significant share in those as we look forward in our business. You know we've got the demand driven needs based businesses just like a grocery store to keep driving those, those footsteps in really regardless of economic cycle. And that's been the hallmark of traction supply for 30 plus years now.
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Jim Cramer
@ the same time we've got some great decorative items. But this is kind of item that is not made in America. This is the kind of item that we made in Mexico. You have some China too. These were of concern but then you actually did the unusual step of gave us the quarter estimate which made me feel better about Mexico, made me feel better about China. Not that you guys are all that foreign centric, but you do have some.
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Hal Watton
To your point, Jim, we are dominantly a US business. Over 60% of our business is manufactured and produced in the United States. And it's the key categories that drive the footsteps in so they're really not exposed to the tariffs that the dog food and the animal feed, those are the things that really, really drive our business. But as all businesses almost we have some exposure to China. Ours is around 20%. That's total on the direct import side it's around 7, 8% by via our manufacturer it's another 12 or 13%. And we're navigating through that many folks I think think it's going to be a big step up in price but it's really going to be a. Because this thing goes on the inventory in the balance sheet then makes its way through, turns into moving average cost and kind of works its way up, you know say like hand tools, power tools, whatever the case may be. We're going to see a steady set of price increases through the back half of the year on those sorts of categories. Not a kind of one time step up as many have said. So I think it's going to be interesting to watch that help plays into inflation.
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Jim Cramer
We'll have to follow that change our forecast repeatedly.
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Hal Watton
Yeah.
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Jim Cramer
Now how I notice that Amazon's committing 4 billion to rural. Maybe they see your margins and they want a piece of it or it doesn't matter. I mean they can commit anything to anything and don't know whether that's going to be their laser focus.
- [18:23]
Hal Watton
You know, 87 year old business, big market. We've competed against lots of companies. We continue to compete against lots of companies. Since I've been at track Supply for five and a half years now. There's countless companies that have made rural initiative announcements. You know, we just continue to drive our strategy and compete in the market, pick up share and you know, hopefully deliver strong results for our shareholders and.
- [18:46]
Jim Cramer
Our team and people realize that the real competitor would be the local feed and grain and they what we love. Look, we all love small business but the fact is they're not all that competitive on price versus the scale that you have.
- [18:57]
Hal Watton
That's right, it is. I mean we compete. About 40% of our market is made up of small mom and pops, local regional chains, co ops and you know, many of them are a little less sophisticated. They certainly don't have the supply chain that we do. They don't have the, the, the digital presence and capabilities that we do, any of the technology in the store that we do. So it gives us a strong set of competitive advantages in the market and it's, you know, the drivers of why being we've been just up gaining share kind of each and every year for really the last couple of decades.
- [19:27]
Jim Cramer
And you'll keep doing that. Look how you actually are a winner if they can't carry certain things because of tariffs.
- [19:33]
Hal Watton
Right.
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Jim Cramer
You will be a scale winner. That's how. Lawton President CEO of Tractors by textbook of how you handle these situations. And check out the checks, they really are pretty cool Bear bodies. Back after the break.
- [19:48]
Dogtopia
A pivotal jobs report with the Fed decision right around the corner. Are tariffs and policy uncertainty taking a toll on the job market? Employment numbers and analysis squawk box tomorrow 8:30am Eastern and streaming on CNBC. Plus.
- [20:09]
Jim Cramer
What the heck's gotten into Oddity Tech stock this week? For those of you who don't remember, Audi is this direct to consumer cosmetics company. It's based in Israel and I've liked it for a while now. But until this week, the stock hadn't really given us a reason to get excited. Since late 2023, it's basically been stuck in the 40s. Nothing much to write home about. But Tuesday night Audi reported a fabulous beat and raised quarter. Something we haven't seen that often this earnings season because everyone's so worried about tariffs. In response, the stock shot up 30% yesterday, surging to a new all time high. If you didn't know any better, you would have thought that maybe you call it a takeover bid. Yeah, the quarter was just that good. Oddity delivered 27% revenue growth with expanding gross margins leading to a solid 6 cent earnings beat off a 63 cent basis that pretty good, but not rally 30% in one day. Good. What got people excited here was the new full year forecast. They're talking about 22 to 23% revenue growth. And Mattress said their outlook incorporates their view of tariff and trade related headwinds. And that's 10ft. Pretty dumb bullish. As CFO Lindsey Druckerman, whom you have met on the show before explaining the conference call, quote, relative to other consumer companies, we're very well positioned. We have an attractive gross margin structure, limited exposure to China directly, a robust and flexible supply chain and great relationships with global suppliers. And quote, wow, that's what we want to hear. And that's why Audit expects its gross margin to only take 50 to 100%, 100 basis point hit from tariffs. So many others are so much higher. In fact, they see this an incredible opportunity to take market share from their competitors who have much more exposure to Chinese manufacturing here. I'm thinking elf, as CEO Oren Holtzman puts it, quote, moments like these are when category leaders are built and this is our intention and quote, very encouraging. I believe in because tariffs aside, this is a very strong business. As Adi explains it, they've been investing for years in anticipation of a big shift in beauty spending towards online channels that's now playing out and this company is a big winner. Normally people prefer to buy the stuff in a store so they can see how it looks, but Audi has been able to recreate that experience online with generative AI technology that can show you how the makeup will look on your face and it is such a huge hit. The other big trend that management pointed out too was, quote, the shift towards high efficacy products, end quote. Not something they've been investing in heavily. See, Audi is their own internal biotech lab that's tasked with discovering new molecules that can eventually become high performance cosmetics. They're doing the equivalent of drug discovery for makeup. That's why I always thought that Estee Lauder should be doing all the time. Speaking of new products, we got a bit more color this week on what the company product roadmap looks like right now. Oddity has two brands. Their first one, which is this Ill Mac Yeage and then Spoiled Child which they introduced two years ago. Both of these are doing very well. Management now says that they're still to be named. Brand 3 is on track. The soft launch in the third quarter with a formal launch coming in the fourth quarter. As CFO man told us during her last interview in February, Brand 3 will be a telehealth platform with an initial focus on Medical grade skin and body issues like acne, like eczema, like Rosa rosacea. Otto has been investing heavily for three to four years to perfect the computer vision component here. Let's think loaded with tech could be huge. And once brand three is out, well guess what, brand four is coming next year. One more point. ADI has pristine balance sheet 257 million in cash and cash equivalents and investments at the end of the first quarter and 0 debt. That also makes them the company basically the gold standard in this business. Coty market cap similar also has 3.2 billion in net debt. That balance sheet's hideous compared to Oddities because they don't need to worry about debt. Oddity has a lot of flexibility. In fact, while their stock was stuck in the 40s for the past couple of years, they spent a lot of money buying back shares as management thought they were simply too cheap. When we spoke to Lindsey Drucker man in February, she said that oddity repurchased 10% of the ITS float last year, which is not something you typically see from a company that's recently come public. You tend to see stock offerings, although this can happen here too as they did one March 24th last year. Now, after the stock spectacular run yesterday, it's obviously gotten a lot more expensive, now sells for just over 33 times the new consensus earnings estimate for 2025. State the obvious you're chasing a bit if you're buying it up here. Ideally, if you want to get into this one, at least in the way that we think about it, made money. I think you should wait for a market wide pullback that knocks the stock down a bit from these elevated levels. But the bottom line, Oddity stock caught fire yesterday because it reported a strong quarter, raised its forecast and then gave you a total all clear on the tariff situation. That means the stock's safe to own in this environment. Although again, if you don't own already, maybe you wait for a bit of a sell off, a pullback to pull the trigger. In such a volatile market, I bet you'll get a better chance. Let's take questions. Let's go to Matthew in Florida. Matthew.
- [24:50]
Caller Matthew
Hey Jim, how are you doing?
- [24:51]
Jim Cramer
I am doing well, Matthew, how about you?
- [24:54]
Caller Matthew
I'm great. Listen, I had a question on Snap. They're trading pretty low right now,783. Even with all the concerns with ad revenue and such, do you think it's a good time to buy at such a low price?
- [25:06]
Jim Cramer
No, it's a low price because it's doing quite poorly I'm not stating the obvious, I'm just saying that I it normally if there was something it was doing really well and it was down here, I would say absolutely yes. But I've not seen any sign that these guys really have a sense of urgency. So therefore I'm going to say no, I don't think it represents value. Thank you for calling. Auditing caught fire yesterday and after putting itself as a stock safe to own this turbulent market. I like it versus elf. I like it versus the water. I think it's a buy but let it come down a bit first, please watch more money heading clean my sweet with toy maker Hasbro after the stock soared on earnings last week. Then I'm cutting through the noise and seeing which what the latest tech reports are really saying about a data center spend and of course oil calls rapid fire. Tonight's edition of the Lightning round. Stay with Kramer. But first, as we continue our anniversary celebrations, we're taking a look back at all the places man money has been over the last 20 years. One of our favorites, the college tours that have taken us all across the country. Why don't you take a look? What's the latest craze to hit college campuses? It may not be what you expect.
- [26:13]
Hal Watton
Would you believe it's Wall street and the latest campus cult icon, a 52 year old suburban father of two.
- [26:23]
Jim Cramer
That's right. It seems CNBC's Mad Money and its host Jim Cramer at the new audience. Come on, Davey, come on. 30 seconds. Got it, got it, got it. You know, these are little behind the scene things that are gonna make all the difference in the world of my show.
- [26:44]
Hal Watton
I just appreciate it.
- [26:45]
Jim Cramer
Give that other stuff away. This is going to be the most important, most useful class you'll ever take at any university anywhere. Go, baby, go. Welcome to Columbia. Jim Cramer on the third leg of.
- [27:07]
Dogtopia
His back to school tour.
- [27:09]
Jim Cramer
And there they are. It sounds like they're cheering on the gladiator and perhaps they are. You need to get in the game. Harvard, Michigan, Iowa, Texas. There's a new chant in town. Now just for the record, there are really some fine looking, great handsome guys in Iowa. Here's some of my buddies that I brought from the Iowa. And here's NBC's Tim Rosser. Columbuya University, a big Lone Star state. Booyah. I love you. I love your show and I love the idea of making some mad money. Kramer, you got me started a few.
- [28:18]
Hal Watton
Years ago investing and I can't thank.
- [28:20]
Chris Cox
You enough for all the books, for Twitter, for everything.
- [28:22]
Jim Cramer
Thank you.
- [28:23]
Chris Cox
And I'm so excited to be back.
- [28:24]
Hal Watton
Here studying for my MP and studying under your tutelage.
- [28:27]
Jim Cramer
I just want to thank you. Because of your advice, my parents have been able to put me through college. My father died of pancreatic cancer when I was 8 years old. And this show is like one of the few memories I have of him is watching it with him. So I'm very thankful to meet you and be here today. And I am thankful, you know, you know why I do this show. It's just great to come out here and be with people and recognize that maybe there's like some life to it. So thank you. Thank you very much. What make of what's happening at Hasbro, the iconic maker of toys and games? Last week the company reported an impressive top and bottom line beat driven by strong momentum in their Magic the Gathering business. But management also noted that the tariffs are tough for their business, even if there are some things they can do to mitigate the damage. In response, the stock jumped more than 14% and sincerely, a few more points. So can you keep running? Maybe investors should get cautious. Let's take a close look at Chris Cox. He's the CEO of Hasbro. To learn more, Scott, welcome back to Mad Money.
- [29:32]
Chris Cox
Jim. Thanks for having me back.
- [29:33]
Jim Cramer
I don't want to bury the lead here. Everyone wants to talk about tariffs. I totally get that. But we talked about Wizards of the coast last time and how it could be big. It wasn't big, it is just gigantic. So first tell us that because that's going to be lasting no matter what price the tariffs settle at.
- [29:50]
Chris Cox
Yeah, the Wizards business is cooking with gas, especially magic. As you said. You know, it's largely tariff resistant. We make almost everything in North Carolina and Texas and what we don't make here domestically is imported from Kyoto, Japan. And the business is just doing really, really well. It's had 13 out of the last 14 years. It's grown. It's on track to grow double digits this year on the back of, you know, a surging installed base and some really clever collaborations like we have upcoming with Spider man and Final Fantasy.
- [30:25]
Jim Cramer
Can you tell us about what is who are the people who are so obsessed with it and whether it be they just seems like that they can't get enough of it. And people who are just trying to figure out about the stock need to know what kind of what's the demographic of a person who's really obsessed?
- [30:41]
Chris Cox
Well, you're looking at one. So I've been playing since 1994. I think the average age of a Magic player is about 30. The typical new players about 11 or 12. It's about 60%, 65% men, 30, 35% women. Tends to be educated, higher income consumers who like really deep strategy games. So when, you know, so far in the 35 years that the game's been in existence, there's probably about 75 million people who've played it and probably close to 15 million people who actively play it today.
- [31:19]
Jim Cramer
I wanted people to know that because they may think, well, is that number ephemeral? It's obviously building. It's not ephemeral. All right, so Trump toys and tariffs. We had the president make a bit of a joke about a competitor of yours. Well, maybe the children will have $2 instead of $30. So maybe the $2 will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally. You know, when I heard that, I thought of you immediately because I said, well, you know what, not everybody can afford to pay 1990, 1950 for something that is 950. So what is your first year? Let's, let's say your 30,000 foot view of tariffs and what they might mean for the average person in America for the goods that you make that you have to source in China right now?
- [32:01]
Chris Cox
Well, I think our general first principle has been don't overreact. You know, this is a pretty fluid situation. We certainly expect that there'll be movements on the tariff front as the administration cuts deals with more and more countries. And Hasbro is in a relatively privileged situation. You know, close to 50% of our revenue that we generate in the United States is either domestically sourced forecast or from things like experiences and digital games which give us a lot of padding. And then we have sourcing from eight countries around the world. We source from the U.S. turkey, China, Japan, India, soon Indonesia and Vietnam. And so that allows us to kind of spread the impact of tariffs. So from our perspective, prices will go up. I don't think they're going to go up anywhere near that. The impact of tariffs have. We're going to be able to keep them relatively subdued versus what the impact could be. And then we're also being choiceful about where the tariff, where we're going to take pricing. You know, I'm with you. I think most families, you know, when they think about a toy, they think about $10 or $20. They're not thinking about 30 or 50 or $100. That's very few and far between. So we're trying to selectively keep core items particularly giftable. Items at those $10 and $20 magic price points.
- [33:27]
Jim Cramer
Is there a way to try and.
- [33:28]
Chris Cox
Then in terms of how good.
- [33:30]
Jim Cramer
I was just trying to figure out the haggling, like if you want to keep it at a certain price and Wal Mart's at a different price and Wal Mart is very, very powerful. Do you guys say, look, that price, we don't want to sell it to you, we'll sell it to another guy?
- [33:43]
Chris Cox
Well, now I think we have a more of a collaborative relationship with them. And like I said, since, since we have a lot of sourcing flexibility and we make a lot of stuff domestically, I think, you know, from our perspective, we're able to keep prices maybe lower than a lot of other companies are. And so Wal Mart, Amazon targets of the world, small mom and pop toy shops, I think appreciate that.
- [34:03]
Jim Cramer
Okay, so there's some things that were surprising to me on the call. I didn't know that Play DOH has to be made in a certain place. I didn't know that anything with electronics has to be made in China. Anything made out of foam, but not darts. It's very idiosyncratic. How do you, how do you figure out what can't be made in Turkey, where obviously Turkey seems very exciting as a place to make. But I'm kind of struck by the, the oddities that you have to face.
- [34:32]
Chris Cox
I mean, you're dealing with a supply chain that's been optimized over three or four decades in the case of China. So you know, and also toys tend to be very labor intensive and very specialized types of labor. So for instance, when we look at China, but China is always going to be an important place for us to source product because there's the rest of the world in addition to the U.S. but you know, super high end action figures that require a lot of deco and specialized painting. China tends to be very, very good at that. As you mentioned, foam swords, for some reason that industry is dominated side of China. Lower end electronics, they tend to be very, very good at that. And you know, countries like Vietnam and India haven't quite caught up there. But I think over time those other countries, those other sources of supply will mature. We'll be able to diversify even those categories. And you know, I think we're making rapid changes. You know, our goal was to get to about 40% of global sourcing out of China by the end of 2026. I think we'll hit that much earlier. You know, in fact, for 2025 we already have several hundred SKUs for the US that we've moved from China to other locations like Turkey, like the U.S. like Vietnam, like India.
- [35:53]
Jim Cramer
Well, no one's standing still, I imagine these countries. Listen, we've got some high deco spit painting people working who are ready or, or perhaps Vietnam says, look, we can do foam. I mean, aren't they all trying to adjust and get your business?
- [36:10]
Chris Cox
Oh, for sure. And we're open for business. So we've been working with our partners in Vietnam for, gosh, 15 years. We've been working in India for 10 years. We've been working from Turkey for, for 10 years. So yeah, we're, we're diversifying and if we want with, with companies that are multi country, so it's not like we're taking a Chinese manufacturer and saying, hey, we're not working with you anymore. A lot of the big Vietnamese manufacturers, a lot of the big Indonesian manufacturers had home bases in China and have been diversifying with us over that time.
- [36:44]
Jim Cramer
And if we want to make it easier and if we want board games, where do we make them?
- [36:49]
Chris Cox
We make most of our board games in the US up in East Long Meadow, Massachusetts where Milton Bradley started making his first board games in the 1860s.
- [36:57]
Jim Cramer
Well, I think that's terrific that you did that. You kept that going and I got a feeling that you'll be able to, you'll be more resourceful and you're a conservative guy. You got credit for being conservative. The companies that are being aggressive, they're the ones whose stocks are getting killed. I think you're doing this exactly right. I want to thank Chris Cox, CEO of Hasbro. Great work, sir, just great. Thanks, Jim. Absolutely. Back after the break. It is time. It's time for the white Rap Crazy moments from Rap Cools moments Standing in the soccer Saturday. Bye bye bye. The Talk Watch champions play this time. And then the lighting round is over. Are you ready? Ski dad time. Lightning round. Craven moments over with Ryan in Tennessee. Ryan.
- [37:44]
Caller Matthew
Hey Jim. It's a pleasure speaking with you and congrats to you and your team on 20 years of Madden Lane.
- [37:50]
Jim Cramer
Oh, thank you, buddy. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. How can I help you?
- [37:54]
Caller Matthew
Hey, I've been looking for companies that are a little beat up in this environment despite putting up some good earnings. My question to you is on blackrock a good place to be buying or adding?
- [38:03]
Jim Cramer
Yeah, I think so. Look, we own it for the Chapel Trust. Candidly, we're down on it and I don't like that when we're down on a stock, but we are. The stock has Declined far more than I thought it would on what was a decent quarter. I agree with you and I think it should be bought. That said, I've been wrong, but I think it should be bought in long term. I think it's a great position. Let's go to one in Florida. One. Good afternoon, sir.
- [38:24]
Caller Matthew
Thank you very much for having me today.
- [38:26]
Jim Cramer
Thank you for calling. What's up? Absolutely.
- [38:29]
Caller Matthew
Yes, I was calling about a stock in the healthcare AI sector.
- [38:32]
Jim Cramer
Ticker symbol tem or tempest AI. Yeah, Diagnostics. With no money being made, we're not recommending stocks right now that are losing a lot of money because we think this could be a dicey environment, a turn on a dime. That's going fine right now, but I don't like companies that aren't making any money. Let's go to Will in Connecticut, Will bouillon.
- [38:53]
Caller Matthew
Congrats on 20 years, Jim.
- [38:55]
Jim Cramer
Oh, thank you. What's going on?
- [38:58]
Caller Matthew
So with electricity rates surging across the country and more homeowners turning to solar to cut costs, how do you feel about the top residential installer? Sunrun?
- [39:08]
Jim Cramer
No, a bad couple quarters. I can't be there. And by the way, look, First Solar is really going to come. It got club the other day. I, I think the group is very fraught right now. It's fraught. Let's go to Alex in Oregon. Alex.
- [39:22]
Caller Matthew
Hey Jim, thanks for taking my call. Also shout out to your staff. They're always some of the nicest people I've ever dealt with.
- [39:28]
Jim Cramer
So they are excellent. Yeah, we've seen them on display this week. Okay, what's up?
- [39:33]
Caller Jim
Awesome.
- [39:34]
Caller Matthew
I'm just calling about a mid cap company. They do analytics and data services. The ticker symbol of them is E X L S. They just reported a great quarter and raised guidance. Thinking about going long on them.
- [39:44]
Jim Cramer
I actually like it. I agree with you. It's one of the fintech stocks that's been proving to be very solid and I like it. I should actually spend it. We should have them on the show. They're doing very well. Let's go to Allen in Virginia. Allen, hi, Professor Kramer. I'd like your take on Union Pacific tick. Unc people feel that this stock is right in the crosshairs of the tariffs, that they're going to get hurt more than anybody else. I want to buy the stock right here at 214. I would start buying. The next buy would be at 204. Then maybe get some 194. Build a good basis, start with small and build up in a pyramid. That's what I feel about Union Pacific. I'm looking at it myself. I like this level. Let's go to Cheryl, Louisiana. Cheryl hi Jim, I want you to.
- [40:25]
Caller Matthew
Program celebrating your 20 years of mad money.
- [40:28]
Jim Cramer
Thank you.
- [40:29]
Caller Matthew
While you might think of those 20 years as a generation, you have educated and touched three generations of my family.
- [40:37]
Jim Cramer
Thank you very much. Thank you. I sure am trying and that makes me feel terrific. We're out there trying every day. How can I help you Jim?
- [40:45]
Caller Matthew
I attended the Birken Road Investment Conference at Tulane Business School and was interested in a presentation by Vi Med vmd. What are your thoughts?
- [40:54]
Jim Cramer
Very interesting. You know, Look, I'm a ResMed guy. I don't know Vi Med well enough, but I'm glad you look, you've done the work. I've not. It's from Lafayette, Louisiana. Interesting company and that Ladies, gentlemen, Conclusion of the Lightning Round earnings season. It's pain in the neck, it's convoluted stuff coming you from all different directions, loss of sleep. Just a total time suck. And I love it. I love it because it clears things up. The false nerves are exposed. You can go back to play on offense, not defense. And few false narratives have gone as far as this story about the end of data center spending. That's the pack of lies started on Deep Seat Monday. Back on January 27th when a Chinese firm claimed to have created a generative AI model using far fewer computing resources than the leading players. All the previously red hot AI infrastructure stocks were immediately crushed. They never really recovered. We started hearing that Microsoft was pulling back from the data center investments, AI kingpin and Video didn't bother to defend itself, so the group crumbled. I found it incredibly frustrating because we never had clear evidence that there was anything wrong with the infrastructure thesis to begin with. The idea that hundreds of billions of dollars are going to be spent on these new data centers is true. And that's why we stuck with the stocks for the tribal trust. We defied the Data Center Bears, aided by an interview with data center semiconductor king Jensen Wong, CEO of Nvidia, who told us that demand for its highest end chips is stronger than ever and we felt like idiots for doing so. Day after day we heard about little chinks of the story that would add it together meant you were long in the tooth if you stayed positive and you were going to lose a lot of money. Until earnings season came along and the Data Center Bears started getting gored by the bulls. That's when we realized we were right along. All started with Vertiv which makes the fiscal guts of the data center the power control system Vertical port A fantastic quarter April 23 said its business has accelerated in the fourth quarter. When they came on the show they told us about their order book being brimming with demand. Then April 28th got an amazing set of numbers from Cadence Design Systems. We knew it to be a big partner of Nvidia. Then we got this misdirection plan April 29th when Super Micro, another partner in video, pronounced weaker numbers which again made people sell anything connect to the data center. But last night the bears were trampled to death when both Microsoft and Metta revealed they were totally on board with continuing to spend big on the data center. Microsoft's data center constraint Mark Zuckerberg Meta says he needs to keep spending because it's just so lucrative to do so. It's simple. It's necessary if big money is going to be made. Monetizing his Mad AI site which he's so crazy about. Even though Wall street didn't like the guidance we just got from Amazon tonight, it sure doesn't seem like they're backing away from infrastructure spending at all. Next you know all the stocks I've been highlighting bust out and the torture we endured Worth every penny. Now most people will be content knowing that we've made it through the desert to the promised land. Not me. Actually. I want to look into this. I want to know what happened. How did the media so Endless doubt here. Did they ask enough questions? Why didn't they believe Jensen Wong for a minute? They constantly interviewing bears who wanted these stocks down. Some of them didn't reveal that their bias was rooted in the fact that they were shorting the entire complex. There was too much money online for the bears to allow the facts to get in the way of a good story. I know it may be hard to believe that huge companies with tens of billions of dollars to spend actually keep funneling that money to the data center suppliers, especially in video. But that's exactly what's happening. And I think it's not too late to own a lot of the members of the complex. Even as I expect that if we wait a few days the bears will be out again citing the Amazon Web Services late line. They just can't stop trying to make money at your expense. It's their job. I get that. I just wish they'd explain why they are so negative if the facts don't support their point of view. I like to say there's always more market somewhere. I promise I'd find it just for you right here on Mad Money. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.
- [44:45]
All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal, or their 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 Jim Cramer 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@hotels.com, we know some.
- [45:26]
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