← Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 6/2/25
00:45:32
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
Loading summary
Transcript125 lines
- [00:00]
Jim Cramer
At eisneramper, we are creative problem solvers that take a 360 degree approach focusing on you. We're an award winning firm with decades of experience. Eisner Amber, let's get you ready. As America's leading business lender, bank of America is on your corner and in your corner. With $215 billion in business loans and over 3,700 business specialists across the nation, we help businesses thrive so communities prosper. What would you like the power to do? Learn more@bankofamerica.com LOCALBUSINESS bank of America Official bank of FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Copyright 2025 bank of America Corporation all rights res.
- [01:09]
Russ Becker
Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to make money. Welcome to Kramerica. Other people make friends. Hey look, I'm just trying to make you a little money. My job is not just to entertain you, but to put it in context. So call me at 1-800-743- CNBC. Tweet me at jimcramer. We're always one posting, one whisper away from rallying. As long as you recognize that the President's in control of the stock market, at least when he wants to be, we can make sense of this tape. And that's my conclusion when I look at the averages which were down badly in the morning and then rebounded with the Dow gaining 35 points. SB rising.4%. Nasdaq gained 0.67%. Quite a comeback from the lows today around 10:30 with the market looking real ugly. A casualty of no talks with the Chinese this weekend. Here CNBC's own IM jabbers, K1 Air reported that President Donald Trump and the Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to speak this week. The expected discussion wouldn't happen today, he reported, but it was likely to happen very soon. In the words of of the senior White House official. Jabber spoke with and with that one report, the market did an entire one 80.
- [02:20]
Jim Cramer
That was easy.
- [02:21]
Russ Becker
Funny, we saw the same exact pattern on Friday. Market going lower like really spiraled down at the president's. No more Mr. Nice Guy. True social posting early Friday morning. Then during the farewell event for Elon Musk at the White House Friday afternoon, the President says something positive about talking to Xi and the market flies right back, allowing the month of May to finish extremely positive way, the strongest since 1990 with gain of more than 6%. So what does this tell us about the stock market? First, it says that the President means completely in the driver's seat, regardless of his mercurial nature. No one thought he hasn't really delivered on his promises at all yet. At least when it comes to trade, no one has come to the table from Europe or Asia except for the UK we already had trade surplus with. Imagine anyone else leaking that the talks could be back on after nothing happened this weekend. We're told the talks could be coming this week. Really? I mean, do we even know? A single anonymous source turned this whole market around today. Incredible. It gets worse. The Chinese are attacking our government handling of semiconductors and tit for tat. They're now slow walking licenses for key rare earth minerals. In other words, it's not that nothing happened this weekend. Things actually got worse this weekend. Now American companies are complaining they're not getting rare earth magnets that are critical for the auto industry and the Defense Department for that matter. Amazing. We let the Defense Department be hosted in China, but they have a stranglehold on these rare earths. Given that both sides are taking an ever harder line with a phone call, will she even accomplish anything? The answer? It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter at all whether accomplish anything. This market's so hopeful that President Trump will do what's right for stocks that it's blind to the truth. He is happy to have operas leak just about any story to stem a decline, but he's not happy to have a genuine trade peace with China. Let me give you the details. We know that the Chinese desperately want. What do they want? Nvidia's chips. That's their whole complaint. The market again so hopeful. Sending video, stock flying on the news, potential talks. Buyers are betting that Trump will change course and allow Nvidia to sell up to $50 billion with the chips. Billion dollars for the chips to China this year alone. And China will cut us a break with our rare earth needs. The art of the deal. Yet this stance, leaked by still one more White House official, seems pretty definitive. Maybe it's all negotiation, another hopeful view this market keeps taking. Or maybe it's over. But does anyone truly believe that this administration will give China what it wants? Hey, anything's possible. That seems a stretch to me. Even Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said the President has a plan. By the way, I think Jensen makes a very compelling case when he argues that we should let him video sell those chips to the Chinese because otherwise China will indeed invest much more heavily in their own semiconductor industry. Wouldn't it be better to blunt China's efforts to leapfrog us and keep them dependent on our chips the same way we're dependent on their rare earth minerals. Sadly, the White House says no. I think it makes a ton of sense. There's a larger issue here. While Wall street remains constantly optimistic Government do something good for private industry. Our stocks keep getting walloped. Case in point, Dell. Now I love the quarter Dell reported last Thursday. It was huge and the buyback was incredibly aggressive. This company's a true believer in itself. Good for Dell, good for video. By the way, one of the key component makers. Great business. But on Friday the stock actually went down. One possible reason the government's General Service Administration is trying to put the squeeze at federal contractors, including Dell. According to the Wall Street Journal, the GSA is quote, asking executives to justify their work and find areas to cut. Do you know how many of these federal contractors buy their pieces and servers from Dell? It's definitely not a small number. Now these tech oriented government contractors and consultants, they have seen their stocks eviscerated by Booz Allen Hamlin stocks plunged 129, 103 over the past week and a half. 129 to 103 after its grim guidance in anticipation of more federal spending cuts. Now I think they'll still be tremendously. But if the government keeps cutting back on its tech spending, that's going to hurt them too. Hence the $3 decline for Dell today. Sure, the White House periodically looks like it's going to do something for business like this trip by three cabinet officials. Alaska jumpstart incredibly expensive natural gas pipeline One that's unnecessary because we have so much gas in the lower 48 states and that's not in the in the Arctic. It's not in a wildlife preserve. Not that East Texas feels like a wildlife reserve. The feds had to get involved because the energy companies aren't interested. Too costly. It's kind of like how the administration favors opening federal lands for drilling. Lower 48. While cheaper and cleaner than drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it's not cheap enough to justify drilling in these places with oil $62 a barrel. Of course, sometimes we get something genuinely good from the White House for business. Our tariff happy president just doubled the duty on imported steel from 25 to 50%. Something that helps a couple of very good steel companies but hurts every company that makes things out of steel. Did you see how badly the oil companies acted today? It's maybe called a push. Ultimately, I believe the president will end up helping business. A big part of these trade negotiations is Trump helping Boeing sell expensive plays while GE Vernova sells similarly expensive Turbines put the turbines put that, that charge ev up. It's unbelievable. Nvidia Many tech companies like Cisco racked up big wins when the President visited the Gulf monarchies. But against that, consider that on nearly every quarterly conference call I've listened to since Liberation Day, companies have had to quantify their tarif it it's been brutal. Just as shareholders of the gap which punched from 28 to 22 on Friday. I don't even want to think about what's happened to Apple because it dared to move some iPhone manufacturing from China to India. Trump's hitting those phones with a 25% tariff because he wants them to be made in us. From Apple's perspective, it's probably cheaper just to pay the 25. So we have to appreciate the markets underlining optimism when a nameless White House Stafford can save the day by down the prospects of a phone call with President Xi. It just reminds us how bullish investors really are right now. They just only seem beari bottom line. We have to be ready for disappointment because we've seen it over and over and over again. This administration is perfectly willing to disappoint the stock market. Not bitcoin, but the stock market to advance their agenda. And it's foolish that you should believe otherwise. Hey, speaking of Texas, Jim in Texas. Jim, hello, this is Jim Texas from Houston. Fantastic. I love Houston. What's going on?
- [08:36]
Jim Cramer
Well, first of all, I want to wish you a warm to Mr. Sir James and his royal entourage.
- [08:45]
Russ Becker
Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
- [08:48]
Jim Cramer
Ten years ago, I retired and started watching Mad Money. As soon as each club was formed.
- [08:55]
Russ Becker
I joined the club. And as a result of the divers.
- [09:00]
Jim Cramer
Versified portfolio and the sage advice that.
- [09:03]
Russ Becker
I've gotten from the club, my nest egg is now bigger than what it was when I retired. That's what I want. That's what I want. Even though he's not working, that's good news. How can I help you now?
- [09:14]
Jim Cramer
Well, even though it's a diverse rifle for it, so like to improve it.
- [09:18]
Russ Becker
And the one thing I'm looking at.
- [09:19]
Jim Cramer
Now is something free to help with all the hassles going on with the trade talks. And I've been thinking about Netflix. The problem is every time I look at Netflix now, it's going up and up and up.
- [09:32]
Russ Becker
Well, Jim, here's what you do with a situation like Netflix. What you do is you buy a little. Okay, Just bite. Bite it, just bite it. You have to bite some more. Buy a little. You want to buy 100, go by 20 and then work it down. But don't let it get away from you because it is. I would tell you this Netflix, this may be still the best growing stock in the entire market. Rick in Michigan, Rick.
- [09:57]
Jim Cramer
Jimmy Chill, longtime listener, long time caller and club member. I want to a thank you for everything you've done. And I have a session on a bank used to be a Kramer fave.
- [10:11]
Russ Becker
Okay.
- [10:12]
Jim Cramer
This bank was planned to merger to merge with TD bank back in 23, but the timetable, you know, was kind of cut short. I'm wondering with First Horizon.
- [10:26]
Russ Becker
Oh, I like First Horizon very, very much. I like it very much. I think it should be bought. It's a terrific situation. And I'm still thinking that what the heck happened to that deal? Because man, whoever buys that franchise is going to do incredibly well. That is a nice growth franchise. All right. Today's action is a reminder exactly how bullish investors really are. But we still got to be prepared for disappointment given how this administration is going to let the market down in order to advance its agenda. But there's always someone for the white to make a call. We just don't know who it is. On Mere Money tonight, last week you learned that President Trump will be doubling steel tariffs from 25 to 50%. So what could this mean for the domestic player that we like called Nucor? I'm going to dig into all the factors. Play. Then there's this old adage in this business called sell in May and go away. Well, it turned out to be the exact opposite. It's dead wrong. I'm sharing you why this strategy isn't working. And you know, I was relatively anti spac, but there were some trends. There's a couple that buck the trend. I'm seeing a fire safety company, API Group, is doing just that when I sit down with the CEO. Won't that be something if we have a good spat? So stay with Kramer.
- [11:41]
Jim Cramer
Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow Im Kramer on X. Have a question. Tweet Kramer. MadMentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneynbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC. Missed something. Head to madmoney.cnbc.com the $150 billion pet industry is booming as people absolutely love their dogs. If you're looking for a solid investment, Dogtopia is the name to know. With 300 locations across North America, it's the largest, leading and fastest growing pet franchise offering a recurring revenue membership model. Dogtopia offers safe, open play. Dog daycare, boarding and spa services. Want a recession resistant franchise? Check out Dogtopia because every dog and dog parent deserve it. Go to dogtopia.com to learn more. Comcast operates the nation's largest converged network, reaching 64 million homes and businesses with $80 billion invested to expand broadband infrastructure in the U.S. comcast is actively supporting the goal of bringing broadband to everyone, including rural communities across the country. Comcast has connected 1.2 million new homes and businesses in the last year and are on track to do the same this. Learn more about how Comcast is bringing high speed Internet to communities across the country@comcastcorporation.com youm just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. Indeed sponsored Jobs help you stand out and hire fast. With Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, Sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit. To get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com madmoney just go to indeed.com madmoney right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com madmoney Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.
- [14:11]
Russ Becker
There's an old adage to this business. It's called sell and May and go away. Great Little Diddy, except these days it's dead wrong. The idea originated with the Stock Trader's Almanac, first published by Yale Hirsch way back in 1967. First thing was based on this idea that the best returns for the market typically come during the six months between November and April. So you should be fully invested during those months, then swap into something safer like cash for the period from May through October. Now conveniently, that also let money managers take an extended summer vacation. Over the years, sell in May and go away has evolved into something more like this. On average, you typically have some nice gains by the point this point in the year, although not this particular year. So you need to protect those gains. After May, trading gets thinner as the masters of the universe head to the Hamptons for the summer. Given that accidents can happen, the selling May thesis argues that you're better off hopping out of the market for a couple of months while you're distracted with the joys of life in the summer called Labor Day weekend. I've never cared too much for the idea of selling May and go away feels too much like an attempt at market market timing. Trying to jump out ahead of trouble and then jump back and once the trouble is over. I have often wondered if it weren't such a nice bit of dog roll, it would have been left for dead a long time ago. In reality, the vast majority of your gains will come from a small number of very strong days that come throughout the year and I don't want you to miss any of them. We certainly don't know which ones they're going to be. Unless the entire financial system is collapsing like the summer of 2008, you're better off keeping your money in the market, even if things get choppy. But is there something to the seller May and go away thesis? Well, we don't have to guess. It's very straightforward. Over the weekend as May turn June, we decided, well, you know what, we're a little curious here. Let's crunch some quick numbers. To answer a simple question. Over the past 25 years, what's happened to the S&P 500 from the end of May through the end of August? Let's start with the first decade of that 25 year period stretching from 2000 2009. If you just looked at that decade selim and go away defensible during this 10 year period, stocks were negative in 5 out of 10 years. In fact, the average performance from the end of May until the end of August was a 1% decline from 2000 to 2009. Although the median performance, the one that was right in the middle, was a gain of 0.5.5%. I want you to keep this in mind. 20002009 included three of the worst summers on record. 2001 we were down 9.7% thanks to ongoing.com collapse. 2002 we had a 14.2 decline. Holy cow. Which in retrospect was a darkest for the dawn moment for the broader market right before it finally bottomed. October 2002. In 2008 we were down 8.4%. As we got closer and closer to the financial crisis with these three horrific summers in the data set, the average is only down 1% over those 10 years. And look, 20002009 was a lousy time for the stock market as a whole. It wasn't just the summer from the end of 1909 through the end of 2009, the SB 500 lost a quarter of its value thanks to the dot com collapse and then the Great Recession. We had two generational meltdowns in the same decade, but sell in May and go away barely gave you an edge. All right, how about the next 10 years from 2010 through 2019? Different story. During this span, the market was positive in 7 to 10 summers. Average gain of 1.2%, median gain of 3.0. Not bad. Buy in May and go away. There's a strategy for you. This year got off to a rocky start. There was a nearly 4% decline in the summer of 2010 when investors began to question the durability of the rally off the financial crisis low and then got spooked by the flash crash in May of 2010. Sell, sell, sell. Then in the summer of 2011, we had that debt ceiling crisis, culminating our government's first debt downgrade that August. Hence the 9.4% decline from June through August after that. Smooth sailing. So for a bad summer in 2015, a lot of that was because of China. We were up every summer from 2012 to 2019. And toward the end of this 10 year period, we were actually stacking some nice gains. Up more than 7% in the summer 2018, up more than 6% in the summer 2019. Last five years during this period, sell a man, go away. I'm calling it financial suicide. The S&P 500 best up in four of the past five summers. Every year since 2022, where the S&P was down 4.3% over the summer as inflation was all at its worst and the Fed was hitting us with increasingly large rate hikes to get it under control. On average, the market's been up 6.6% over the past five years. Media performance 7.6%. 2020 alone, we caught a 15% summer rally as the market rebounded from its Covid lows. Now if we take a step back and look at the last 25 summers as a whole, here are the numbers. S&P 500 has been up 16 out of 25 summers. That's 64% of the time. Average gain 1.4%. Median gain 2.7%. At least in this current millennium. Sell in May and go away. It's been a loser and it's only gotten worse over time. When you look at the last 10 years, you'll find that the S&P 500 was up in 8 out of 10 summers with an average gain of nearly 5%. Median gain of 6.7%. We should be sitting here thinking what can we buy? If you're on the hedge fund on these summers when you decide to take off, you could be out of business. Send me. I'm going to send you an invitation to your funeral. Long story short, selling man Go Away has a terrible track record. On average, you've been much better off doing the exact opposite. Even if cuts into your vacation. Of course that doesn't mean that the market's definitely going to rally this particular summer. We got plenty of worries here from the on again off again tariffs to the budget bill negotiations, inflation looming through the bond market. I don't endorse sell Mango I but maybe you want to lighten up a bit after the nice recovery you've had from the April lows. In the end though, it's a mistake to sell stocks just because of a stupid ditty sell in May and go away. Strategy has not helped you over the past 25 years where stocks have been up nearly 2/3 of the time from the end of May to the end of August. If you look even more recently, you've actually been really hurt by missing the summers. Stocks have been up 80% of the time and you've missed out on some terrific mid to high single digit gains during this period from June through August. I like that. That's now. So the bottom line, don't just go blindly sell a main go away. We looked at the data and it says that the so called strategy is indeed a big loser. By all means you can go on vacation, but please stay invested. Keep one eye on your portfolio while you're out there. Hey, let's speak to Jay in Kansas. Jay.
- [20:28]
Jim Cramer
Jim, thank you for taking my call.
- [20:29]
Russ Becker
Of course. Jay, what's going on.
- [20:33]
Jim Cramer
Of this company that I've been keeping a close eye on for a while? They had a solid Q1 performance, although gross margins contracted about 10 basis points. The stock dropped about 5% post earnings, although it did rebound the following week. But last week it took another beating. Jim. And I'm just trying to, I've been trying to make sense of it. My question for you is how much more Runway does Arista Networks have in the AI Boom?
- [20:59]
Russ Becker
Okay, this was a Arista. Okay. I've been, you know, I talked about Arista this morning with someone and we were both aghast. The stock has come down this much. This is a terrific company. And I was with Jeff Marx, my, my partner for, for the club. And we, we think we got to do some work. I want J3 back. Okay. I'm not going to. J Sri deserves to have her story told rather than just accept that 19% decline. That's what we're going to do. We'll have her back. Because I don't understand why it's down this much. How about we go to Tom in Ohio? Tom.
- [21:33]
Jim Cramer
Hey, Jim. How you doing today? And a big booyah to you.
- [21:37]
Russ Becker
Thanks for having me on. I am thrilled that you're on the show. Thank you. Okay.
- [21:43]
Jim Cramer
I want to talk to you about retail. You talk a lot about the big box stores, Costco and others and you know, Walmart and Target. I'm a shareholder with Kohl's KS s and I like.
- [21:57]
Russ Becker
Okay, let me tell you, Tom, look, I think that last quarter was good. Okay? I'm going to be abject. I'm going to say it was good and the company is not losing money. It's going to make money. Do I think it can go from 8 to 12? Yes. Okay. That is a very big move. It could do that. But. And because this guy, the guy's doing a good job. The last guy seemed like a little bit of a. Well, I don't know. I don't want to disprove cash dispersions, but I think you can catch four. But no more than that. All right, now, people, you should, you shouldn't blindly follow the idea to sell a man. Go away the market's performance during the past 25 years. That proves that the practice can cost you some nice gains. Much more man. I include my API group look more than doubling its revenue since coming public. I'm seeing if momentum could continue with the Fire Life and safety company. When I sit down with the CEO, then the packaged food stocks have typically given you an earnings call worth listening to. But if you're listening to Campbell's, I got some different thoughts about the space. It's changed an order calls rapid fire in tonight's edition of the lightning round. So stay with Kramer.
- [23:03]
Jim Cramer
With leading networking and connectivity, advanced cybersecurity and expert partnership. Comcast business helps turn today's enterprises into engines of modern business. Powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply. Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the Now It Pays to Discover. Learn more at discover.com credit card. Based on the February 2024 Nelson Report.
- [23:53]
Russ Becker
In 2020 and 2021, there were hundreds of businesses that came public by merging with these things called special purpose acquisition companies or SPACs. And you know what? Nearly all of them turned out to be lousy investments. I say nearly all because there have been a handful of SPAC winners. And when they're good, they are really, really good. Think DraftKings are vertical, tremendous long term opportunities. Then there's another one that fits the bill. It's called API Group. That's APG for you home gamers. This company is a leading player in a series of niche industries like fire protection, all sorts of specialty construction. It really, it's roughly doubled its sales since it came public. It's got a nice steady business with lots of recurring revenue, which one of the reasons why the stock's up an outstanding 30% year to date. So can it keep climbing? Let's check in for the first time in a long time, Russ Becker, the presidency of API Group, to find out. Mr. Becker, welcome back to Money.
- [24:41]
C
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here and I'm especially excited to be here in person because the last time I had the opportunity to interview with you, it was kind of post pandemic and everything was still virtual.
- [24:54]
Russ Becker
But it was still before the huge great carrier acquisition, wasn't it?
- [24:59]
C
Well, we were fortunate to be able to acquire Chubb Fire and Security from Carrier.
- [25:03]
Russ Becker
Right.
- [25:04]
C
That transaction closed right at the beginning of 2022.
- [25:08]
Russ Becker
And that is one gem of a company company, isn't it?
- [25:11]
C
It's a, it's a great company. And you know, back at the time, everybody talked about Chubb as, as if it was the sleeping Giant. And at our Investor Day just 10 or 11 days ago, I talked about how the Sleeping Giant has awoken.
- [25:25]
Russ Becker
So give me a sense so people know this is not Chubb the insurer. This is Chubb that's probably maybe the foremost of the fire and safety companies in America, you know, maybe the world.
- [25:37]
C
Well, Chubb Fire and Security has basically become the international piece of our business. The business is based in London, has operations in Western Europe, Asia and Australia. And it really has become kind of the international arm of API. We have an equally robust business that operates throughout North America. They're very, very complementary to each other. And we're very excited to have the, our Chubb teammates with us.
- [26:06]
Russ Becker
Now. The verticals that Chubb is in, data center, farm and health care, critical national infrastructure, third party logistics. These are not verticals. That should be affected by a slowdown in the economy.
- [26:19]
C
No, we talk about end markets all the time with, across every aspect of our business. To be honest with you, Jim, Lot of strength in the end markets that you mentioned and the end markets and what we do really do matter.
- [26:33]
Russ Becker
Do you when we go to a data center, will we see you or is it just something that you take care of?
- [26:40]
C
So we want to do the inspection service and monitoring for our data center customers. We also want to be in a position to provide security and fire protection services when they have expansion needs or modification modification needs for their, for their existing facilities and they really work one with the other. We want to lead in our business with inspections and service and then allow, have that great opportunity that we create by doing a good job for that client to lead to the project work or expansion work that they may have.
- [27:17]
Russ Becker
And what would be an example of that project or expansion work?
- [27:21]
C
Oh, so it happens all the time. Like as an example, you know, we, we work with many of the hyperscalers and we're, we're doing the inspection and service work for them. And you know, the data center market is just absolutely exploding, you know, right now. In fact, you know, one of the things that we're talking to our businesses about is making sure that we're not overextending ourselves, you know, in the space.
- [27:45]
Russ Becker
And because you have that much that you can, could do for sure, we.
- [27:49]
C
Want to take advantage of the opportunities that are, that are presented to us and we want to make sure that we're working for clients who value our services. You know, one of the things about API is our culture that's centered on people and our purpose and our purpose is building great leaders. And we are 100% a people centered business. And so we want to make sure that we, we're putting, you know, our people that go to work on our customer sites every day on client sites that value their work.
- [28:21]
Russ Becker
I saw, I used to own an inn and when I went for studying to learn about what to do, I went to someone who was a teacher of hospitality and he told me one thing you need to know is, is that there will be safety rules added every year and there will never be a safety rule subtracted, just added and added and it wore me down. But it was true. You have a secular tailwind which is safety.
- [28:50]
C
Well, there's, you know, when I think about safety and I think about, you know, your common slash question, I think about it in, in two, two sectors there's the safety, health and well being. Of each of our, of our leaders and our businesses. And that is our number one value as a company and making sure that we're putting our people first. But the beautiful part about our business model is the life safety component of it. A commercial office building, a hospital, the different government codes and regulations requires those buildings and facilities to have their fire protection and life safety systems inspected for functionality and operations operability at least once a year. And we want to continue to build on the inspections, doing that inspection work for those clients because we know we're going to get three to four dollars of pull through service work at any point during the course of a year for those clients. And then that leads to our project work where we build those sticky customer relationships so that we're able to pursue that work not based on, on price but based on the value we provide.
- [30:03]
Russ Becker
I've run two businesses that where they went when I took them over, there was inspection once a year and within two years there was inspection twice a year and it was a fortune. But I guess that's also what API has. You get twice as much business.
- [30:18]
C
That's the protective mode around the business, as we like to say. And you know, we recently entered the elevator and escalator space.
- [30:25]
Russ Becker
Right.
- [30:26]
C
And for the exact same, you know, idea behind it is that escalators and elevators have to be inspected by code and by law each year as well. And so there's just tremendous opportunity for us. And the people that we have, we're very fortunate. The people that we have, you know, providing service to those clients, they do a really good job.
- [30:50]
Russ Becker
Well Russ, you have a great business business and I can see why the stock just went straight up. It is a stock and a company that will work perfectly in this environment because safety never takes a vacation.
- [31:01]
C
That's 100% correct.
- [31:03]
Russ Becker
Ross Becker is the President CEO of API Group. Look at that chart. You'll understand what works in this environment because a lot of what you own not have that same chart. That money's back in.
- [31:14]
Jim Cramer
Coming up, Cramer takes your calls and the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire lightning round.
- [31:21]
Russ Becker
Next in 2020, 2021, there were hundreds of businesses that came public by merging with these things called special purpose acquisition companies or SPACs. And you know what? Nearly all of them turned out to be lousy investments. I say nearly all because there have been a handful of SPAC winners. And when they're good, they are really, really good. Think draftkings are vertical, both tremendous long term opportunities. Then there's another one that Fits the bill. It's called API Group. That's APG for you home gamers. This company is a leading player in a series of niche industries like fire protection, all sorts of specialty construction, really. It's roughly doubled its sales since it came public. It's got a nice steady business with lots of recurring revenue, which one of the reasons why the stock's up an outstanding 30% year to date. So can it keep climbing? Let's check in for the first time in a long time, Russ Becker, the President CEO of API Group, to find out. Mr. Becker, welcome back to Money.
- [32:19]
C
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here and I'm especially excited to be here in person because the last time I had the opportunity to interview with you, it was kind of post pandemic and everything was still virtual, so.
- [32:31]
Russ Becker
But it was still before the huge, great carrier acquisition, wasn't it?
- [32:37]
C
Well, we were fortunate to be able to acquire Chubb Fire and Security from Carrier.
- [32:41]
Russ Becker
Right.
- [32:42]
C
That transaction closed right at the beginning of 2022.
- [32:46]
Russ Becker
And that is one gem of a company, isn't it?
- [32:49]
C
It's a, it's a great company. And you know, back at the time, everybody talked about Chubb as, as if it was the sleeping giant. And at our Investor Day just 10 or 11 days ago, I talked about how the sleeping giant has awoken.
- [33:03]
Russ Becker
So give me a sense so people know this is not Chubb the insurer. This is Chubb that's probably maybe the foremost of the fire and safety companies in America, you know, maybe the world.
- [33:15]
C
Well, Chubb Fire and Security is basically become the international piece of our business. The business is based in London, has operations in Western Europe, Asia and Australia. And it really has become kind of the international arm of, of API. We have an equally robust business that operates throughout North America. They're very, very complementary to each other. And we're very excited to have the, our Chubb teammates with us.
- [33:44]
Russ Becker
Now, the verticals that Chubb is in, data center, farm and health care, critical national infrastructure, third party logistics. These are not verticals that should be affected by a slowdown in the economy.
- [33:57]
C
No, we talk about end markets all the time with, across every aspect of our business. To be honest with you, Jim, a lot of strength in the end markets that you mentioned. The end markets and what we do really do matter.
- [34:11]
Russ Becker
Do you when we go to a data center, will we see you or is it just something that you take care of?
- [34:17]
C
So we want to do the inspection service and monitoring for our data center customers. We also want to be in a position to provide security and fire protection services when they have expansion needs or modification needs for their existing facilities and they really work one with the other. We want to lead in our business with inspections and service and then allow, have that great opportunity that we create by doing a good job for that client to lead to the project work or expansion work that they may have.
- [34:55]
Russ Becker
And what would be an example of that project or expansion work?
- [34:59]
C
Oh, so it happens all the time. Like as an example, you know, we work with many of the hyperscalers and where we're doing the inspection and service work for them. And you know, the data center market is just absolutely exploding, you know, right now. In fact, you know, one of the things that we're talking to our businesses about is making sure that we're not overextending ourselves, you know, in the space.
- [35:23]
Russ Becker
And that much that you could do for sure.
- [35:27]
C
We want to take advantage of the opportunities that are, that are presented to us and we want to make sure that we're working for clients who value our services. You know, one of the things about API is our culture that's centered on people and our purpose and our purpose is building great leaders. And we are 100% a people centered business. And so we want to make sure that we're putting, you know, our people that go to work on our customer sites every day on client sites that value their work.
- [35:59]
Russ Becker
All right, so I used to own an inn and when I went for studying to learn about what to do, I went to someone who was a teacher of, of hospitality and he told me one thing you need to know is, is that there will be safety rules added every year and there will never be a safety rule subtracted, just added and added and it wore me down, but it was true. You have a secular tailwind which is safety.
- [36:28]
C
Well, there's, you know, when I think about safety and I think about, you know, your comment slash question, I think about it in two sectors. There's the safety, health and well being of each of our leaders and our businesses. And that is our number one value as a company and making sure that we're putting our people first. But the beautiful part about our business model is the life safety component of it. A commercial office building, a hospital, the different government codes and regulations requires those buildings and facilities to have their fire protection and life safety systems inspected for functionality and operability at least once a year. And we want to continue to build on the inspections, doing that inspection work for those clients because we know we're going to get three to four dollars of pull through service work at any point during the course of a year for those clients. And then that leads to our project work where we build those sticky customer relationships so that we're able to pursue that work not based on price but based on the value we provide.
- [37:40]
Russ Becker
I've been, I've run two businesses that where they went when I took them over, there was inspection once a year and within two years there was inspection twice a year and it was a fortune. But I guess that's also what API has. You get twice as much business.
- [37:56]
C
That's the protective mode around the business, as we like to say. And you know, we recently entered the elevator and escalator space, right. And for the exact same, you know, idea behind it is that escalators and elevators have to be inspected by code and by law each year as well. And so, so there's just tremendous opportunity for us and in the people that we have, we're very fortunate. The people that we have, you know, providing service to those clients. They do a really good job.
- [38:27]
Russ Becker
Well, Russia have a great business and I can see why the stock just went straight up. It is a stock and a company that will work perfectly in this environment because safety never takes a vacation.
- [38:39]
C
That's 100% correct.
- [38:41]
Russ Becker
Ross Becker is the President CEO of API Group. But look at that chart. You'll understand what works in this environment because a lot of what you own do not have that same chart. They have. Money's back in.
- [38:52]
Jim Cramer
Coming up, Kramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire Lightning round. Next.
- [39:09]
Russ Becker
It is time. It's time for the white mount Kramer.
- [39:11]
C
It's.
- [39:17]
Russ Becker
And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Ski Dads number Lightning round. Crazy Monday. Let's start with Eric in New York. Eric, Jim, brand new to the club.
- [39:26]
Jim Cramer
First time caller. My question. ACB Aurora, cannabis.
- [39:32]
Russ Becker
You know, I keep thinking that it has to come alive, right? And the stock is up a lot. Here's what I say. You know what? I'm not fighting it. I'm not fighting it. You can own it. It's a nice speculative stock. There, I said it. Let's go to Joyce in Nebraska. Joyce.
- [39:46]
Jim Cramer
Booyah, Mr. Kramer, booyah. Long time, long time club member.
- [39:50]
Russ Becker
Excellent. Yes.
- [39:52]
Jim Cramer
And tell me about Skyworks solutions. You know, Mr.
- [39:56]
Russ Becker
It's very cheap. It's very cheap. But I don't have a catalyst. I would still rather own Nvidia than I would Skyworks. Gotta go for best of breed. I want to go to Trevor in Kentucky. Trevor. Jim, how you doing?
- [40:11]
Jim Cramer
Hope you're having a great Monday morning.
- [40:13]
Russ Becker
Oh, man, it's the greatest. It's more of an afternoon thing here, but yeah, I mean, it's just a terrific day. What's going on? Hey.
- [40:21]
Jim Cramer
I had put Sezzle on my watch list about two months ago and I.
- [40:26]
Russ Becker
Can'T even remember why. Oh, my. Two months ago you would have made a fortune. Now this happens to be a Ben Stodo. Rhymes with photo specialty. He looks at Sezzle quite a bit and all I can tell you is we think Sezzle's had its day. I don't think we can recommend Sezzle any higher here. I just don't think we can. I'm looking right at Ben and wondering and he's, he's very helpful. Let's go to Aaron in Louisiana. Aaron.
- [40:52]
Jim Cramer
Hey, Jim.
- [40:53]
Russ Becker
Aaron.
- [40:56]
Jim Cramer
Hello.
- [40:57]
Russ Becker
Yeah, you got me. It's me, it's Jim. Aaron. So I told you can talk to me. I'm friendly.
- [41:03]
Jim Cramer
I think I speak for a lot of people out there when I say you drop a lot of good gems and we're here to pick them up.
- [41:09]
Russ Becker
Oh, thank you, Vince. Oh, maybe between the club members and these nice words. Thank you, Aaron. What's going on?
- [41:16]
Jim Cramer
All right, Question I have or the concern I have is with the stock that I've been holding, holding since 2021. I have a five year time horizon on it. Just had a record breaking first quarter. My question is should I hold trim or add to the position? And that position is build a bear.
- [41:37]
Russ Becker
All right. I remember many, many years ago when Danny Meyer came here. Not really here. He came to an interesting studio. We had an Englewood Cliffs where I had an office. It was really pretty terrific. And he said, listen, this is a company to watch. It is a company that is also a great hospitality company. And I'm going to tell you, I have followed it ever since. I cannot believe it had that earnings breakout. And if anything, I am not a, I'm a holder, not a buyer. Just had that spike. But if it came down, I would certainly be a buyer. Now I'm going to go to Alan in my home state of New Jersey. Alan.
- [42:06]
Jim Cramer
Hey, Jim, thanks for taking my call.
- [42:08]
Russ Becker
Oh, my pleasure. Alan. What's happening? I am a longtime listener, first time caller, of course. That's great.
- [42:14]
Jim Cramer
Okay. With all the buzz with the evolution revolution of artificial intelligence, my stock aligns very well with your closing segment on Friday as aip. So I'm curious to hear your perspective on sarins.
- [42:29]
Russ Becker
I like CERNs. And I also happen to like Brian Krasanich, CEO. I am partial. They make money. I think you've got a winner. I was actually trying to figure out whether I could just doing a piece on it because it's not that expensive. Sarns is a winner and Brian's always welcome on the show as we know. Now let's go to Bruce in Texas.
- [42:47]
Jim Cramer
Bruce. Jim, I own a position at a company that produces 53,000 barrels a day, owns 143,000 Permian Basin acres. It's trading at 1.25 times EBITDAX. Has a billion dollars of infrastructure in place, 200 million barrels of proven reserves. Jim. High Peak Energy.
- [43:08]
Russ Becker
HP okay. Rusty Brazil once told me this was a terrific company. The problem is oil at $62 a barrel does not make me interested. If you think oil is going to go up, you do have a winner though. High Peak is levered to the price of oil more than almost all of them. Hey, let's go to Roger in South Carolina. Roger.
- [43:26]
Jim Cramer
Yeah, howdy, Jim.
- [43:28]
Russ Becker
Roger, I want to ask you about.
- [43:31]
Jim Cramer
A stock that's been trading for 27 years.
- [43:35]
Russ Becker
Jim. And all that time it's averaged over.
- [43:38]
Jim Cramer
52% a year gains, but it has.
- [43:41]
Russ Becker
A beta of only 0.64.
- [43:44]
Jim Cramer
What's your short and long term outlook on ticker RSG?
- [43:49]
Russ Becker
RSG is such a good company. Oh my God, it's just so good. We had, we, I don't know if anyone's remember we had John on recently and I just said, you know, you got one hell of a company. That is a great stock. And that. Ladies and gentlemen, conclusion of the Lightning Round.
- [44:06]
Jim Cramer
The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up, do Campbell's latest earnings have investors saying no soup for you. With snacks slipping and costs climbing, Kramer serves up a spoonful of of investing advice.
- [44:22]
Russ Becker
Next. There was a time when you listen to a food company conference call and you hear point after point. But our price increases were sticking, costs were coming down and the return of capital would be immense. Safe growth meets safe income. That time is now long gone. Campbell's report this morning, if you listen to the call, you'd think that they must make expensive gourmet food, not some of the most basic stuff in the supermarket because apparently high prices are scaring away their customers. Over and over again, management stressed the dynamic situation for the consumer, meaning the consumers are addressed. As new CEO Mick Bakehousen put it, quote, we started to see consumer sentiment softening in January. This continued throughout Q3 with consumers making More deliberate choices with their spending on food. End quote. Now it would be comical if it weren't true. For example, Bakehousing said, quote, the consumer environment was a continued headwind in the quarter for some of our more discretionary categories in snacks, such as crackers and chips. End quote. Crackers and chips. Discretionary. Holy smokes. You think they were selling Ozetric caviar, not Cape Cod potato chips. Now they make. I got to say something. I've been very fond of Campbell's with a good dividend, staple set of product lines, meals and beverages. Snacks. Meals were quite strong as management explained the consumers favorite ingredients that, quote, help stretch food budgets. Eaten at home. Snacks, however, quite weak. Together that gives you 1% organic sales growth and a 3% decline in earnings per share under former CEO Mark Klasse came on the show all the time. Now he's now the president of Washington Commanders, the NFL. Campbell's bought Rails, the terrific Italian sauce company Initially that deal bolstered sales. But get this. In a real bit of bad luck, Rao's is tearing down a reciprocal tariff currently. Pause. That could turn out to be an 8 to 9% headwind because we import. They imported from Italy. Plus we just learned that steel and aluminum tariffs are being doubled from 25 to 50%. The classic Campbell's soup can is made of steel. The softer tops with the pull tabs, they're made of aluminum. That's going to hurt. When you look at the weakness in snacks, things get more problematic. The company is hurt by weak sales of Goldfish and Snyder's pretzels. Overall snack sales were down 5% on an organic basis. Now management repeatedly mentioned the economy is the main driver of this shortfall. You know what they did mention once? The GOP Dash 1 weight loss drugs. The ones that make you feel full and they tamp down all sorts of cravings, including cravings for the junk food the Campbell's makes. I don't think they're oblivious, but over and over again the packaged food companies have told us that what sells better in GOP one world is multi pack snacks. And that turned out to be what worked well for Campbell's potato chips. So don't you think there's some similarity? Honestly, I think it's insane to blame the economy for everything when 15 million or more Americans are taking these weight loss drugs. And. And to not acknowledge that younger people are much more concerned about their health than they used to be and no better than eat salty snacks. That seems downright naive to me. The beer companies tried to ignore the two pronged thrust of weight loss, drugs and healthy bodies. In the end though, they just sounded silly. Now Campbell's has a nice juicy good dividend that gives you a 4.5% yield, which seems safe. Here Copy just raises payout by $0.02 per share in December for a quarter. Normally I'd say you're paying, you're paying it away. But now I'm thinking wait for what? For GOP dash ones to go out of style? For younger people to break discipline? For cans to come down in price? More clarity on terrorists. With the benchmark 10 year treasury yielding 4.5% with a possible secular change against snacking, I don't think there's anything to wait for and so I won't wait for it. Unless you think Campbell's will catch a takeover bid. I don't think you should wait either, Alex said. As always, bull markets are my problems. I've been just for your radio man money. I'm Jim Cramer. I'll see you tomorrow.
- [48:22]
Jim Cramer
All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of cnbc, NBC Univers, 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. 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.
- [49:04]
Russ Becker
Hey, I'm journalist Sam Sanders.
- [49:06]
Jim Cramer
I'm poet Saeed Jones and I'm producer Zach Stafford and we are the hosts of a podcast called Vibe Check.
- [49:12]
Russ Becker
On Vibe Check, we talk about everything news, culture and entertainment and how it all feels.
- [49:18]
Jim Cramer
That's right, we talk about any and everything on our show, from real life issues like grief to music and movie critiques. And that barely scratches the surface. Yes, indeed, and it doesn't stop there. We have got a lot to say, so join our group, chat, come to life, follow and listen to Vibe Check. Wherever you get your podcasts.