Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 7/21/26

Summary

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer — July 21, 2026

Host: Jim Cramer (CNBC)
Episode Theme: Rebalancing High-Flying Tech with Diversification, Credit Card Stocks’ Outlook, & 3M’s Comeback
Date: July 21, 2026

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Overview

In this episode, Jim Cramer delves into the current tech stock frenzy—particularly memory and semiconductor stocks—urging investors to resist overconcentration and to diversify. He highlights the importance of portfolio balance, explores emerging opportunities in consumer staples and credit card companies, discusses the remarkable turnaround story of 3M with CEO Bill Brown, and takes callers’ stock questions in a lively Lightning Round. The show closes with reflections on the recent struggles in software versus hardware within the tech sector.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Case for Diversification in a Tech-Crazed Market

[01:02 – 08:54]

• Cramer pushes back against claims that he's “anti-tech,” stating he’s long favored memory and chip stocks like Micron, but warns against portfolio concentration.
• He recounts prior market crashes (the Internet bust, Great Recession) and how “diversified index funds saved a generation.”
• He criticizes professional money managers’ disdain for individual stock pickers:

  “I hate their disdain for your stock-picking abilities. It is condescending, it is petty and is arrogant.” (Jim Cramer, 05:00)

• Recommends a core S&P 500 index base plus a select few great stocks.
• Warns of the dangers of margin and leverage in high-volatility tech sectors:

  “Every one of the people in these margin situations... they were rich and brilliant before they became poor and stupid. That's where I'm coming from.” (Jim Cramer, 08:52)

• Highlights Micron (memory) and Nvidia (GPU) as favorites but emphasizes timing and caution after big runs.

2. Call-In: Defense (AVIX) and FedEx’s Outlook

[08:55 – 10:19]

• Avix (defense tech): Cramer suggests caution due to budget constraints and recent sector weakness.
• FedEx: Very positive; approval of integration strategy, holds both core and spun-off business in his trust, sees holiday tailwinds.

3. Defensive Picks & The Kimberly-Clark/CanView Deal

[13:02 – 19:55]

• Cramer spots value in consumer packaged goods as a tech alternative; hails Kimberly-Clark’s acquisition of CanView (formerly J&J consumer health).
• Lauds 4.7% dividend yield, “dividend aristocrat” status, and planned synergistic cost savings.
• Identifies risks: integration challenge, some shareholder dilution, Tylenol-autism regulatory controversy, but sees long-term upside:

  “I’m looking for stocks with good potential upside that will also let you sleep at night. Kimberly-Clark is a defensive business... the CanView acquisition gives it a credible path towards faster growth.” (Jim Cramer, 18:30)

4. Off the Charts: Credit Card Stocks’ Surge

[21:34 – 28:48]

• Collaborates with Bob Lang to analyze Visa, MasterCard, and American Express charts—bullish technicals, institutional accumulation.
• Retail sales and robust credit card usage signal consumer strength.
• Visa and MasterCard praised for capital returns; AmEx for high-spending clientele.
• On PayPal: Cramer is neutral-to-positive because of suitor interest and risk-reward, but prefers mainline credit card stocks.

  “At 10 times earnings with the possibility of a suitor and new management... good risk/reward. Not a great one, but a good one.” (Jim Cramer, 29:06)

5. 3M’s Comeback: Interview with CEO Bill Brown

[31:00 – 39:00]

• Brown credits team for “strongest quarter in years,” with organic growth, margin expansion, and robust cash flow.
• Commits to restoring 3M’s innovative legacy—plans for >350 new products in 2026, pipeline vitality index trending to 25%.
• Details a Microsoft Azure data center partnership and advances in optical connectivity and clean room tech.
• Industrial safety segment called out as a stable growth area.
• Brown addresses “forever chemicals” (PFAS) legacy head-on, stating full exit and $1B+ in water treatment spent.
• Memorable observational quote on employee culture:

  “There was only one company that treated [my dad] like an individual, not just some sort of cog. It's 3M.” (Jim Cramer, 38:10)

6. Lightning Round: Rapid-Fire Stock Analysis

[39:22 – 43:22]

• Steel infrastructure (mega theme): High risk, high reward—Cramer likes the speculative opportunity.
• Truist Financial: Likes it, but prefers Key Bank for the regional banking play.
• Archer Aviation (aerospace/defense): Valid speculative bet; size positions accordingly.
• Ollie's Bargain Outlet: Disappointing recent quarters; Cramer recommends TJX instead for discount retail exposure.

7. Market Outlook: Is Software Dead?

[44:03 – End]

• Contrasts surging hardware and struggling software stocks—Salesforce, Adobe, Intuit, and others face declines amid generative AI competition and leadership turnover.
• Raises concern whether even strong execution or buybacks are enough for “the narrative to change.”
• Expresses hope that software’s time will return but sees no catalyst yet.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On piling into one stock theme:

  “Your whole portfolio cannot be in memory chips. That money is back into the bank.” (Jim Cramer, 19:53)

• Advice on margin/leverage:

  “I've seen so many people never ever come back here because of 330.com that got blown out in 2000…” (Jim Cramer, 07:52)

• On regulatory risk:

  “Ownership of the Tylenol brand... wasn’t controversial until RFK Junior... drew an unproven link between Tylenol and autism. (Jim Cramer, 17:50)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Tech & Diversification Rant: [01:02 – 08:54]
• Lightning Round (Defense, FedEx, Stock Questions): [08:55 – 10:19] & [39:22 – 43:22]
• Kimberly-Clark/CanView Deep Dive: [13:02 – 19:55]
• Off the Charts: Credit Card Companies: [21:34 – 28:48]
• 3M CEO Interview (Bill Brown): [31:00 – 39:00]
• Software Sector Struggles Commentary: [44:03 – end]

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Conclusion

Jim Cramer’s message is clear: Enjoy the tech rally, but protect yourself. Diversify, avoid concentration risk, and don’t go all-in on last quarter’s best performers—or the same fate as previous investing “casualties” may await. Investors are shown actionable alternative sectors (defensive consumer staples, credit card titans, 3M’s turnaround) with compelling risk/reward. The episode mixes practical portfolio wisdom, technical analysis, Cramer’s signature candor, and always the promise of another bull market to find—just, this time, in more than one place.

Transcript

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[Jim Cramer]

My mission is simple to make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. Other people make friends. I'm just trying to make a little bit of money here. My job is not just entertain, but to teach you. So call me at 1-800-743- CNBC. Tweet me at Jim Cramer. Holy cow people, I am not anti tech. I am not a Luddite. I like data centers so much I wish I lived in one. And I did sleep next to a nuclear power plant during the rather ignominious time I lived out of my car. No police officer has ever roused in someone sleeping in 1978 for Fairmont in the parking lot next to some long shuttered Sacramento news facility. Yet on a day like today where The Dow gained 385 points, SB climbed.89% but the Nasdaq jump 1.29%. People are talking about being like I'm running around here with my hair on fire trying to get you out. The biggest winners of all time, the memory stocks, theorems and the glorious high bandwidth plays like Micron and SK Hijinks. That's my nickname for SK Hynix. Because this monster from Korea that now trades here has hijacked our trading and often determines how our chip stocks are going to end up. Yes, the addition of that stock in the NASDAQ 100, which should happen soon. Plus the inclusion of Space X has added a ton of volatility, something I don't think you truly appreciate. Oh, and I wish I had some hair to catch on fire, but that's old news. Some of you have complained to me that I've kept you out of SanDisk, which is up 570% year to date, Micron up 240%, Seagate up to 24%, Dell up 22 221% and Western Digital up to an 18%. I don't know how that's possible. I've liked Micron for ages. And if he asked Michael Dell who's the most positive person in the media toward his amazing company, I bet he'd say Jim Cramer. So I'm not anti tech, but I do like diversification. We've had some sickening days of late where all these stocks that I just mentioned got clobbered. I started this show in 2005 determined to keep people in the market and not get blown out. Many of you forget that a whole generation of investors was wiped out by betting on the Internet. Another whole cohort was destroyed, just destroyed by the Great Recession because they owned too many stocks that were connected to finance. They just didn't know it. These two events are the reasons why we all default to index funds going for average because average was per se diversified. Now I run an investing club and I wrote a book called how to Make Money in any Market. Both stand for picking some individual stocks, but only after you build up a comfortable position. S&P 500 index fund most of the so called smartest investors have spent no time studying what happens to your portfolio if you buy an index fund and marry it with some of the greatest stocks of all time. They hate it when you buy individual stocks. They want your money so that they can pick them for you. I hate their disdain for your stock picking abilities. It is condescending, it is petty and is arrogant. But I do want you to know all the risks included in concentration risk, which is one of my biggest worries when it comes to this group. In the end, I like tech, but I like it in a lot of different places. If you think Johnson Johnson is about band aids, you don't know the company they sold. That business change is a company with a triple A balance sheet that vendors do life saving drugs practically every month. Later in the show you're going to hear from 3M's Bill Brown. His company, which used to be a tremendous Innovator is now back like the old three with scores of new products in all sorts of industries could in data centers. It could have a multi year move using its industrial scientific savvy. Hey how about cvs, the only real drugstore left this country that also provides health insurance through Aetna. Win two different ways. Or if you consider the tech that goes into running a bank like Goldman Sachs or Wells Fargo or BNY and how you're buying these stocks at valuations that radically lower than almost all of tech. Robin Vince, CEO of Chairman of BMI might just introduce you. Last week he just joined this evening the board of Open Air and OpenAI Foundation Bank Tech meets AI Tech Happy? It just doesn't make sense to me why you can't diversify into these other stocks and sectors and make money. Something we've done with my charitable trust where we've given out almost $5 million in gains by being diversified through thick and thin for more than two decades. I don't want you getting blown out because you own nothing but semis and the group has a bad day. I fear you will take your licks and move on to another form investing like cash, especially those who are on margin. I certainly don't rebel at owning tech. Hey, my travel trust largest positions are Apple and in video for heaven's sake. Sure these haven't kept up with Sandisk or Western Digital lately, but they are unique excellent companies that are making fortunes. And Apple stock has advanced Nvidia stock stuff for the moment. Some of that's because it doesn't sell enough in China. I think it's because Nvidia's clients are so anxious to both praise it and work against it. And the media loves to port it whenever a customer tries to design their own chips away from video. But it's really cheap and arguably Nvidia, I think it's the best run company in the world. Like I always say, you should own Apple and Nvidia, not trade them. I think Apple's brand will allow it to pass the higher cost of memory on to telco carriers while they also get the benefit of alpha it's Alphabet's spending Nvidia. My position on this one's become controversial. I wanted Nvidia to be the chip of choice for China so that the Chinese would write on our tech. That was a controversial position. It wouldn't be used by the Chinese military because they don't want to be dependent on American chip maker anyway. But once they started to run against a brick wall in China, I Didn't want more American companies to give away trade secrets to the Chinese in order to be able to get cheaper. I. Hey, why don't you go look at the case Micron brought in 2017 against a Chinese entity that stole so much micro intellectual property the case became criminal investigation by the Justice Department, one that the Chinese company pled guilty to. I'm not making this stuff up. I respect Nvidia so much more than listed reason. But not if national security is at stake. By allowing China to have secret access to so much data from so many of our different companies, I don't think that's smart. So here's my advice. If you want to go on a memory chip maker, I like Micron. If you want GPUs, to me, that's AMD or Nvidia. If you want CPUs, that's Intel racks. Call it Dell Optics. Make it corny. We always forget that when you get a big pop in semis, that's a good time to reposition. But I need you to recognize that as much as I like Micron or Nvidia or Apple, consider how you're doing in software, say, right? Not that well. Also consider if you bought micron at 1200 at its high. Now it's at 970. How about Western Digital 799, 548? When you look at it like that, these stocks are down so much that if you bought them on borrowed money, well, you're not watching this, so you're gone. I don't know what you're looking at. I don't know. Maybe the. I don't know what you're looking at. That's up to you. Okay? So be aware that as someone who has worked in margin. That's right, worked in margin at Goldman Sachs. Do you know I've taken someone's keys after a big blowout in technology? Send me what you have. They give me the keys. As a hedge fund manager, I moved into a tech brokerage house office after it was cleaned out because it couldn't meet its margin requirements. I've seen so many people never ever come back here because of 330.com that got blown out in 2000. So, I mean, what do you think? I. I know where my ankle. I just had here. This is. I'm trying to get better. I got a big wedding this weekend with my son, my stepson. Just trying to do a good job, you know, what can you do? Anyway, the bottom line, every one of the people who were in these Martin situations. Do you know that they're rich and brilliant before they became poor and stupid. That's where I'm coming from. And not only do I not apologize for my stance, I know I'll lose you as a viewer and a club member sometime in the next year if I don't make you take the need for Diverse Vacation more seriously.

[Caller]

Oh,

[Jim Cramer]

that's the right one. Randy. Randy in Michigan. Randy.

[Caller]

Hey, thanks, Jim, for all you do. I religiously follow your strategy for one speculative, speculative stock in my portfolio. I purchased a stock for 34 after the IPO in April and attended the earnings call in May. And the stock I'm calling about is Avix.

[Jim Cramer]

Yeah, Defense technology. People have turned against Defense because they think the budget is going to be a real problem for them. I'm not going to disagree that I've been looking at all these defense stocks. They're not, they don't seem to be coming back. As long as we're spending so much money in Iran or at least trying to take out Iran. That's what the plan is. Let's go to Timothy in North Carolina. Timothy

[Caller]

FedEx with them integrating Express to the ground. How do you see their growth potential in the next five years coming together?

[Jim Cramer]

I've been plummeted by FedEx. It's been. It was down 6 yesterday. It's up 9 today. I think that Roger Subramanian is killing it. I think that you want to own FedEx into the holiday season. FedEx Freight I think is the spin off. I think is terrific. I kept them both for the Chabot Trust. I usually get rid of one. I did not do that. I think FedEx Freight has a great advantage. They're going to be able to take out costs and be much more focused. So there you are.

[Caller]

Tech.

[Jim Cramer]

I don't know.

[Commercial Narrator]

I don't.

[Jim Cramer]

Tech, I don't know. All right. Anyway, diversification is always important but I'm pounding the table on it right now especially. I can't believe I have to defend myself for diversification after all we've been through on Man Money tonight. Kimberly Clark's buying can be. So how this is positioning the CPG company for more success. I'm taking a second a look at the steady Eddy dividend payer and give you my take. You probably hate it because it's steady and pays a dividend anyway. The credit card companies have been holding up well lately. But what does that hold for the future? I'm going off the charts and 3M just reported a fabulous quarter that sent the stock up nicely. I'm sitting down with the company's bankable CEO to find out more about the quarter and the path going forward. So I want you to stay with the diversified Kramer

[Caller]

Foreign

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[Jim Cramer]

Even though the last couple of days have been terrific for most of the AI data center stocks, they're bouncing after multi week beat down. That made me more cautious on the entire group. I'm urging you to be a little more selective. Like I told you last night, you might want to use this moment, the bounce, to trim some of your tech holdings and start diversifying into sectors that are less volatile, as we've been doing for the Travel Trust, which you can follow along by joining the CNBC Investing Club. Which brings me to the stock of Kimberly Clark. The personal care company you know is Huggies, Diapers, Kleenex and a bunch of other paper products. Like many consumer packaged goods stocks, this one's finally found its footing after struggling for years. Best of all, Kimberly Clark realized it needs to consolidate, which is why it's acquiring CanView, JJ's old consumer consumer health business. I want you to think there Tylenol, Neutrogena, Listerine, Band aids. These are everyday necessities that consumers buy, regardless of the state of the economy or the price of gasoline. Doesn't hurt that Kimberly Clark will pay you handsomely while you wait for the deal to close. Company raised its quarterly dividend to A$28 per share earlier this year, giving it a 4.74% yield. At these levels, this is not just a dividend aristocrat with 54 consecutive years of dividend increases, this is a dividend cage. Unfortunately, the stock itself has been going Nowhere for Kimberly Clark's down 20% over the past five years, 15% over the past 12 months. It's had a better start in 2026, up over 7% year to date, but it's still trading near its cheapest valuation in a decade, aside from the lows from earlier this year at 14 times this year's earnings. Thank heaven, something cheap. I think this is one It's a steal, given all the cost cutting opportunities ahead from the can do deal, especially when you consider that you're not going to see Chinese tissues in your bathroom or Chinese diapers on your babies. Last November, Kimberly Clark agreed to buy can view for $48.7 billion in cash and stock last November. More than 80% percent of that, though, is in stock. When this transaction closes, existing Kimberly Clark shareholders are expected to own 54% of the combined company, while Existing can be shareholders won 46%. They're paying the stock in part because they don't want to blow up the balance sheet. The deal seems likely to close in the second half of the year, with Kimberly Clark CEO Mike Shu, my favorite consumer products group honcho, staying on as chairman and CEO of the combined enterprise. That enterprise will own $10 billion brands and sell products to touch nearly half of the world's population. The strategic fit makes so much sense. The strengths of the two companies are complementary. Kimberly Clark has spent years in pool improving its commercial execution, its manufacturing network, its digital marketing and relationships with major retailers. While can you bring stronger scientific capabilities and relationships with health care professionals, including pediatricians, dermatologists and dentists can view as terrific brands. But the company has struggled to generate consistent growth since being spun off from J and J. Kim Le Clark believes it can apply its commercial playbook to those brands and get them growing again. Mike Shu said that the closer he looks at can you the better the opportunity gets. I agree with it. Then there's a geographic opportunity. This is one of things that excites me most about it. Kimberly Clark believes it can accelerate can be brands in China, Mexico, South Korea and Indonesia. Can you can help expand Kimberly Clark's categories in India and Western Europe. Hand in glove the companies are targeting about $2 billion in total run rate synergies. That includes 1.9 billion cost savings and $500 million of incremental profit from revenue opportunities offset by $300 million that we reinvested in the business. Management expects to capture the cost savings within three years of closing and the revenue benefits within four years. They say the deal will be additive to earnings within the second year. Okay, good enough to be sure. I would like it to be the first year can have everything. Of course this is a massive integration and large consumer mergers rarely go according to plan. To achieve these savings, Kimberly Clark and Ken View plan to spend $22.5 billion during the first two years post closing. But Kimberly Clark has earned some credibility on efficiency. The company's delivered productivity savings of around 6% annually for many years in a row, including in the last quarter. It's already more than halfway through a five year $3 billion productivity enhancement program that was launched in 2024. And look the base Kimberly Clark business was already doing just fine in the first quarter reported in late April. They delivered a healthy top and bottom line beat for fueled by solid volume growth, Kimberly Clark has been improving both its premium and value products. Households have gotten more selective, especially North America and Kimberly Clark feels the need to offer something compelling at every price point to fend off private label competition. Now Kimberly Clark reports second quarter earnings on in two weeks on August 4th. I'm not expecting a blowout Quarter Streets looking for $2.01 earnings per share $1 for $4.23 billion in revenue. Quarter also faces a tough comparisons of the year after North American volumes grew more than 5% in the year ago period. There's also this distribution center fire in L A. Something is weighed on the business in the second quarter. Big paper products fire but management expects shipments to accelerate in the second half as the company ramps new products, moves beyond the fire related impact and faces easier year over year comparison. In other words, maybe not great quarter ahead, but maybe better quarters after. Of course there are legitimate risks here. I need you to know these. The CANVU transaction is enormous. Existing Kimberly Clark shareholders will own only 54% in the buy business, so we're talking some serious dilution. Copper will take on additional debt and plans to limit share repurchases until its leverage ratio gets back to down around 2 sensible, but probably will not help the stock can be Spreads are fantastic, but fantastic brands do not necessarily guarantee fantastic execution. Kim and Clark needs to integrate two large global organizations to compared buying systems and supply chains. Avoid distracting the core businesses and deliver billions of dollars in savings. The Can View portfolio also brings additional regulatory risk that didn't exist for tissues and toilet paper, including ownership of the Tylenol brand, something that wasn't controversial until RFK junior HHS Secretary drew an unproven link between Tylenol and autism claim that can be refuted, but that's why the stock trades at a big discount the S&P 500 so let me give you the bottom line and this is not a runaway situation. This is one of those things I'm trying to show you that you can add while you take a little bit of tech out of your portfolio. I'll I'm looking for stocks with good potential upside that will also let you sleep at night. Kim and Clark is a defensive business with a 4.7% yield and a cheap stock that is protected from a lot of foreign competition. Plus the can you acquisition gives it a credible path towards faster growth, higher margins and a much broader health and wellness platform. I'm not expecting second quarter report to be the catalyst here, but I think it's a great long term opportunity. In fact, I actually hope it sells off in the quarter, which you very might well. Letting you buy some on weakness. Your whole portfolio cannot be in memory chips. That money is back into the bank.

[Show Producer/Host Assistant]

Coming up is now your chance to cash in on the credit card stocks. Kramer's going off the charts to find out next.

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[Jim Cramer]

I have no fear of failure.

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[Jim Cramer]

my favorite pieces of advice think about what your boss's boss needs.

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[Jim Cramer]

For months we've been hearing endless hammering about the state of the consumer. Something it's only gotten worse as the rekindled war with Iran sent the price of oil back in the 80s. But this market isn't always as obvious as you expect. And the consumer surprisingly resilient, which is confounding a lot of these economists. Just this week we got some solid retail sales numbers for June. Retail sales were up 6.7% year over year last month. That's extraordinary. National Retail foundation is projecting that they'll grow 4.4 clip for the full year. I think it's actually too low and consumer spend that. You know how they do it? They use credit cards. They represent 35% of consumer transactions, far and away the most frequently used single payment method. About 81% of Americans have a credit card, usually three or four on average. Consumers tend to eat up about 29 to 30% of their available balance. The median household has a cash balance of about $8,000. But many consumers would rather use credit for purchase than draw on their cash and savings. All this is to say that the three big credit card companies, Visa, MasterCard and American Express, have a tremendous read on the state of the economy. And after a very rocky first quarter, these stocks have been steadily chugging higher since April. And that's why tonight we have the privilege of going off the charts with the help of Bob Lang, old friend, founder of exclusive explosive options.net and the author of Know your Options to take a closer look at the major credit card companies and what their stocks look like and what they're telling us. Why don't we start with Visa? That's the most used credit card. 60% of cardholders have one. I've got one. I don't know if you do check out the daily chart. Visa has been roaring higher on terrific relative strength lately. I mean, this is not what Visa's chart looks like. When the consumer is being squeezed. When you look at the moving average convergence divergence, that's the Mac D and it's right here which is. That's an important momentum indicator that can detect changes in the stock's trajectory before they happen. Not, you know, look, this isn't a coincidence thing. This is a predictive. It made a bullish crossover mid June. That's what really got people excited, okay, right there. But that's when the black line crosses over the red line. And it's one of the most positive reliable patterns there is out there. Sure enough, the stock's been on fire ever since the cross. And you can see how on fire it's been. Now I want you to look at the on balance volume line down at the bottom. Okay? This is really important because it's a lot of people don't bother to look at this. This is a volume based technical indicator that adds volume on up days and subtracts volume on down days to gauge buying and selling pressure. It can help spot trend reversals. Lately visas on balance volume has been spiking and that's a strong sign that big institutions can't get enough of this one. This is rather extraordinary how much they love it. Meanwhile, the stocks in a solid uptrend having made a series of higher highs and higher lows again textbook bullish. Last quarter Visa rolled out a $20 billion buyback. Lang thinks there's a chance they might add more to the repurchase plan when they report again next week. In his view, a good quarter should push this $355 stock to 400 by the fall even as it's currently within spitting distance of an all time high. Now remember, unlike American Express, Visa and MasterCard have no credit exposure. They don't have losses if you don't pay and that's why they're so blood by mutual funds. Now let's take. I want to talk about the next chart which is one of my absolute favorites. Michael me back runs its MasterCard MA second most commonly used credit card. 25 to 30% of cardholders have one. Again, you can see that the stock's going crazy in the last few weeks bouncing like mad off of June low although unlike Visa, still hasn't taken out its January highs. This is what I mean by the way, when I see you need to divide versify away from some of your tech. MasterCard is a tech company in bank clothing. It's always been a terrific place to be. Lang knows that MasterCard has made a bullish trend channel of Higher highs and higher lows. The MACD line that I told you about threw off a buy signal last month. Let's go to that. Here we have the buy signal where the black cross is.

[Caller]

Right.

[Bill Brown]

Okay.

[Jim Cramer]

The same bullish crossovers we saw Visa, the relative strength index, another key momentum indicator, has been trending steadily higher. Put this at the top this time. We like that. But hasn't quite reached overbought territory yet. Would be a little bit too dangerous for me. Lang points out that MasterCard stock hasn't just been flying here. It's been flying on high volume. And you know, that's, you can see that that's a spike in volume. And the unbalanced volume is pushing higher in a very encouraging way. I told you, people don't look that enough. Here we go. That's the subtraction. As he sees, the stock has legs, but there's a powerful ceiling resistance of about $35 from here at 573, which is where the stock was trading before a gap down in January. Liang's betting mastercard can challenge its January highs in the not too distant future. This one also reports next week. And we know that MasterCard has been a voracious buyer of its own stock. If they announce any kind of additional capital return, either an increased buyback or dividend boost, well, that could give the stock blinks. Now, finally, there's one that I have been near and dear for as long as I can remember, and that's America's best. Now, this only has 10% of purchase volume with fewer cards in circulation. But their cardholders tend to spend a lot more money. Plus they charge fees for their best cards, basically making you pay for access to their generous rewards programs. But it's a fantastic business model. Remember, they do have credit risk. So what does Liang see in the daily chart? Okay, American Express has been flying since its early June, just like Visa. MasterCard after it broke out above its 200 day moving average. Lang points out that it tested the that new support level several times, then finally made a nice jump higher on strong volume. In his view, that's a very successful move. Strong volume goes up like that. Meanwhile, the MACD line, still flashing a buy. Let's go there. Black line crosses the red.

[Bill Brown]

Right?

[Jim Cramer]

And this stock's been strong at a time when the market's been weak. Lang thinks it's likely to be a smooth sailing until the 350 level, which gets closer there. February highs was for the 3, 370. That's where the sellers came out. Last time. Now I've got to tell you in his view Mark Express the best in class. Given that we've seen big numbers in travel here, Lang expects that amex will shoot the lights out when reports on Friday. This Friday. Now I agree with him that this company is best to be but I also want to point out that American press the stock no matter what they seem to report tends to sell off in response to earnings on that Friday even when the numbers terrific then it gradually finds its footing afterwards and mounts strong rallies in between quarters. Which is why I always say you know about like 10:30, 11, you might want to buy this one. I'm not kidding. It's been a good prediction so far. Here's the bottom line the charges Bob Lang suggests the big three credit card companies are poised to report excellent results this earnings season allowing their stocks to keep running. I think he's got a point. These three have run up dramatically over the past few weeks so they're coming in hot and often makes things a little more difficult. I almost hope that they report good numbers and sell off anyway giving you a better buying opportunity as all three of these are remarkably good companies. Now we're going to take some calls and we're going to start with Jim in Wyoming.

[Caller]

Jim, thanks for taking my call. Longtime listener since the days of Kudlow and Kramer.

[Jim Cramer]

I miss Harry

[Caller]

and thanks for all your excellent advice. I've benefited substantially. My question Today is about PayPal. What do you think?

[Jim Cramer]

Okay. I think you can actually win now PayPal only the return Enrique lawyers is there. I mean he had time at Yule Packard. I don't know what he can do with with PayPal but PayPal's got suitors. Stripe is interested. Apparently that was old news. Stripe had been hanging around but I think at 10 times earnings with the possibility of a suitor and maybe new management kind to turn things around I think think it's got a good risk reward. Not a great one. Not a great one but a good one. I do prefer the other credit card companies and I'm not as big a fan of buy now pay later with with PayPal. I like the buy now pay later option of fur the charges interpreted by Bob Lang suggests that the credit card stocks can keep running. I'm hoping for kind of a little pullback to get a better price much more mad money and including my exclusive with one wow 3M then what will it take for the market to appreciate the software stocks again if they can. I'm taking a look at the beaten down cohort to figure out what's going on and of course, all your calls. Rapid Fire, tonight's edition of the Lightning round. So stay with Kramer. Look at the stock of 3am Run. Ever since Bill Brown took over CEO just over two years ago, this industrial tight has been undergoing a remarkable turnaround and it's really started to pay off for shareholders. This morning, 3M report a magnificent quarter. A handy top and bottom line beat with organic revenue growth north of 5%. Stunning. Even better, management raised their full year forecast which is why the stock shot up over 7%. I actually thought it should have been higher earlier today. For the first time since he took over the company, we had the chance to speak with Bill Brown, the chairman and CEO of 3M for an interview. Check it out. Mr. Brown, welcome to Man Money. Hey Jim.

[Bill Brown]

Great to be on the show. Thank you so much for having me.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, I have to tell you, I usually don't start like this, but I'm so proud of you. I think that you told me this company could be saved and grow again. I remember when you took the job, you've always kept me up. Tell me about your commitment to excellence and, and innovation and returning three to the company we remember it as.

[Bill Brown]

So Jim, thanks for having me on the show today and I'm really proud of the team. They executed exceptionally well here in the quarter. We had a very strong second quarter result. Organic growth was at 5.4% which is the best it's been in more than five years. Margins came up by 40 basis points. Earnings per share was up 11%. Cash generation was, was really strong. 107% of net income which is a reflection of the quality of the underlying earnings. And on the back of the first half performance, we raised guidance for the year as well by 25 to 30 cents on the top and bottom line in earnings per share. With organic revenue now more than 3.5% and free cash generation of 4.7 to $4.9 billion. That's more than 100% conversion. So we're on a great trajectory, a great role. We're back to innovation. We're back to business building. We're executing better. Our margins are up 500 basis points over the last three years. And we're starting to step up more in organic growth. It's becoming sustainable and durable and I'm really proud of the team's execution.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, that you start with organic growth because there was a time when I would interview the CEO of 3M and they would talk about the percentage of revenue gain that was from new products and then that stopped being talked about about and some legal issues that I didn't hear talked about on the call, thank heaven, started to dominate the discussion. Are we back to where we can say, you know what, in our pipeline we see maybe 25% new growth coming out?

[Bill Brown]

So look, we bottomed out at about 125 products launched in 2023. You know, years ago, Jim, we would launch 700 or 800 products or even more. And it came down a bit quite, quite precipitously. Our new product vitality index, which is a measure of the freshness of the portfolio, dropped to 11% last year. It's up into the mid teens this year. It's going to be at 20% next year and we'll be back to where we should be, which is north of 25% over time. And it's through this innovation machine, we're launching more products this year. We'll launch more than 350 new products into the marketplace, which is triple the level we were at three years ago. And we're on this accelerating journey again. Business building is back at 3m. I'm really encouraged by what the team is doing. We are known our legacy is materials science. We use material science to solve some of the toughest challenges in the world across our industrial portfolio, but also in our consumer goods sector as well. So we're leveraging material science. 5000 engineers and scientists doing work every single day and we're back to creating new products to the world.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, the old 3M always had, it always went to their absolute best annual. Then when it was put online, they would have, it would look at. It was the. At the periodic table and you would click on each one and you would see all the new products that you created. I now feel like you can go back to that, particularly because I'm seeing what you're doing in the data center is a very good place to start with the Microsoft deal.

[Bill Brown]

So it's that we're really proud of that deal. The company has a lot of deep expertise in optical connection technologies. This goes back many, many years. And we've been working over the last couple of years on a new optical fiber connection technology, expanded beam optics. We have 100 patents in the space, another 50 patents pending. And we're very optimistic of growth in that sector, mainly because we're seeing copper trend data transmission in data centers, shifting over to optical transition. That's what's happening over time. So we're building a business here. I'm really excited at Microsoft, after several years, years of testing, has certified us as a provider for them toward their Azure data centers. We're working to scale up that technology both internally as well as externally with contract manufacturers. And Jim, another key piece of this is building out the ecosystem of partners. Hyperscalers require supply assurance. And what we're doing is working with about 44 or 45 other suppliers in the, the, in the ecosystem to enable people to manufacture this product for us as well. While we'll do the same thing internally, that's what's going to help us grow that data center business, which today is relatively small but growing very quickly.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, that's something you told me. I mean we talk about on the commerce call these places people realize they're dirty and dirty shuts them down. If you shut them down, that's billions of dollars that can be lost. Yours cleans up a clean room.

[Bill Brown]

Yeah, so. So it's there, they're dirty. You get vibration, what. You use, it expands the beam and then reconnects the beam back when it comes back together in another piece of fiber through that. Any dust that might be in that fiber link, that light path, you know, is, is not distracted. The photons aren't distracted by that. So it's going to be clean, it's going to be resilient, it's durable, you know, and it saves 85% of the installation time by hyperscalers. And to your point, time is money for hyperscalers. We've proven out that it's 85% lower time to install.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, I'm glad you mentioned. What I'm trying to get across to people is that if it works for one, it's going to work for all. And you're just at the beginning and that's why you have such a good roadmap. I also think that you're involved in an industry that I love, which is industrial safety. Because no one's ever going to come out and say, you know what, this year I think we need to less safety.

[Bill Brown]

So Jim, we have a big position in industrial safety across eye protection, hearing protection, fall protection, scba. So, so for firefighters, self contained breathing apparatus, it's a great business. For us it's growing. It was high single digits in the quarter. We're putting a lot of effort into that, a lot of innovation dollars. And we see our ability to grow in that sector very, very substantially over time. So we're really encouraged by our position in the safety sector.

[Jim Cramer]

One of these, I don't want anyone to think I haven't Thought about it, there's pfas, these are so called forever chemicals. There's a combat arm decision, but I think you and your predecessor have worked mightily to make it so. That should no longer be the focus of people who are thinking about investing in the stock of 3M.

[Bill Brown]

So, so Mike set a good foundation on, on exiting PFAs. We decided to exit PFAS Manufacturing a number of years ago that is now out of our portfolio. As of the end of last year. We continue to work to discontinue use of PFAS from other suppliers in our individual products. We've, we've invested over $1 billion into State of the art water treatment systems at a number of our chemical facilities. You know, and we are embarking, we took a 12 and a half billion dollar charge several years ago to pay for a lot of us public water suppliers. There's other things ahead of us, but what I'm focused on Jim is getting people back to executing, distributing, developing great products at great quality on time for our customers. And 60,000 employees of 3M are doing exactly that.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, I want to leave with that notion. I'm going to hold up a board game. It's called Stocks and Bonds. My father worked proudly for 3M selling Scotch tape, sashing ribbon and games. And he worked for many people. And he told me there was only one company that treated him like an individual, not just some sort of cog. It's 3M and it sounds like that's exactly what you're doing now at this company.

[Bill Brown]

Thanks Jim. I really appreciate that. Appreciate all your support on three and you know, we've been around 424 years and the future looks very, very bright for the company. So thank you.

[Jim Cramer]

Absolutely. My dad said don't forget it's Minnesota mining manufacturer. I said, dad, no, it's three. That's what they call it.

[Commercial Narrator]

It's three.

[Bill Brown]

Three.

[Jim Cramer]

Bill Brown, chairman and secretary of the 3M Company which is not only back but it's just going to get better and better and better. Bill, thanks for being on the show.

[Bill Brown]

Thank you Jim, nice to see you.

[Jim Cramer]

Absolutely, man. Why are you back at Coming up,

[Show Producer/Host Assistant]

He's the fastest mind on Wall street so we're putting him to the test with your help. Bring on the lightning round next.

[Jim Cramer]

It is time. It's time for the white. And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Ski dad, tell the lightning. Let's start with Chris in New York. Chris, hi Jen.

[Caller]

This is Chris from New york. Because my one intro I got to meet you 20 years ago. Very good, sir. Very good.

[Jim Cramer]

Was I nice?

[Caller]

Oh man, you were awesome, man. That was at Steinhardt's office. Michael. Michael Steinhardt. Yeah. It was cool, man.

[Jim Cramer]

Thank you, Michael.

[Caller]

You might want to delete that. I don't know. It's up to you, man. I guess.

[Jim Cramer]

I love L. I love L. Go ahead.

[Caller]

Yeah. My wife used to work here. Sorry, sir. So if you make. If you've had a big impact with Christopher and Sophia, our kids and since then early investing was huge for us. Our stock is steel infrastructure. Our thesis is mega.

[Jim Cramer]

Now I'm glad you mentioned this one. This is the kind of thing I'm willing to blast. Okay. It's a high risk infrastructure company where I do feel that something good could happen. You know, it's not going to be down 8. I mean some of the look I think nebius congratulations to them. You want the next Niebuhr creepiest though. How about that? Let's go to Charlie in Pennsylvania. Charlie. Good evening, Jim.

[Caller]

I really appreciate the latest book. And as with your prior works, I will pass it down to my nephews. So he chewed the clinic on me.

[Jim Cramer]

That's been a tremendous help.

[Caller]

The last.

[Jim Cramer]

I want them to be just mad, you know. Be happy, you know, it's like enough to be happy. That's all I want to do. Go ahead. I'm sorry, that's too philosopher. It'll fill a spirit, soften.

[Caller]

I'm thinking about taking a position in a super regional that's had a higher than expected earnings last week. It has a low P and a great dividend. Roughly 4% Truist Financial.

[Jim Cramer]

But you know, I like Truist. I mean someone has some negative things to say about key. At 3.57 the stock was only down 37 cents. I prefer key to Truist. Don't forget Ohio. Greatest state to the business. I. I know this. Let's go to Alex in Nebraska.

[Caller]

Alex. Hey. Hey, Jim. Good afternoon. How you doing?

[Jim Cramer]

I am doing well. How about you?

[Caller]

Pretty good. Trying to beat this Nebraska. He thought I'd cool down with a little bit of mad money this evening.

[Jim Cramer]

I hear you.

[Caller]

I hear you. Okay. Checking in with aerospace and defense stock. Archer Aviation.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, okay. Archer might speak of that Keel at the beginning. They're down so much. You can put a little. Look, you could have own a stock for $2 and it goes to zero. It's going to hurt. If you own Archer at five and it goes to four. It's going to hurt. But I do think that it's Like Keel, you can risk a little money. You're allowed to have a speculative stock in my portfolio. I always say that. Now we're going to go to Will in my home state of Pennsylvania. Will.

[Caller]

Hey, Tim, how you doing? This is Will from Philadelphia.

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, man. Hey, go Birds. Hey, how about Go Phil's? Okay. Someone throw Trey a glove. He needs a glove out there. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

[Caller]

And Flyers, too. Well, I guess you're over with. I guess.

[Jim Cramer]

Yeah, but.

[Caller]

Yeah, no, I'll tell you, I'm in the house of pain, man. I called you a few months back and you did a little story on it. I appreciate it. It was about. But I'm like, I bought this stock at 94 and then 88 and now 70. What's happening with Ollie?

[Jim Cramer]

O L L I, man, Ollie's Bargain Outlet. It's been missing the quarter, you know, and it's tough. And my one in Quakertown, I don't know. I stopped going to it myself. But I'm a member of Ollie's army. But they haven't sent me anything lately. Look, it's tjx. They own that segment. You don't want to be in anything else. And even TJX is tough. Hey, by the way, I've got a really great dollar tree out in the Hamptons, but even that's not killing it. I don't know. Let's stick with tjx. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the Lightning Round.

[Commercial Narrator]

The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

[Jim Cramer]

Coming up.

[Show Producer/Host Assistant]

Don't touch that dial. Kramer has more on this market you won't want to miss. Next,

[Caller]

Jim Cramer, the die hard of the doll. Hey, Jimmy. Love the show. My five year old grandson loves to watch your show. I have to thank you for making us money when it's there to be made. Our world is a better place with you in it.

[Jim Cramer]

Can software be so horrendous that it's uninvestable? Wrong question. Instead, we should ask if software will ever come back now that it's down so much. Right now we're witnessing a historic increase in the value of hardware coupled with a shattering decline in the value of software. At the top of the show, I talked about the incredible gains in tech. Even as I acknowledge that it's time to trim back those positions and to strength at least get more diversified. But those gains are on the hardware side. Software is just a new nightmare. Consider these returns for some of the most sainted companies of the last decade. Salesforce and Adobe, each off 35% Workday down 34% Service now up 33% I'm not even talking about wicks off 50% because anthropics Claude can apparently take share from Wix and Sleep or Intuit, which has plunged 56% because customers might switch to the bots to do their taxes, even as I think that's a real stretch. The house of Pain fact is that when Morgan Stanley downgrade Salesforce from an overweight to an equal weight, or takes Adobe and work day from equal weight to underweight, as happened this morning with an analyst change, it's no longer even a shock. Consider the Adobe downgrade. For the longest time Adobe was a must own. You'd never think of selling it. This $227 stock was $638 two and a half years ago. Isn't that pretty much the exact opposite of what you're seeing in the hardware? It seems to me that Adobe has been under attack from Canada and Figma on the low end and Claude and Chachi Be t on the higher end, although the cost of the latter two is unclear. As much as you may think that Adobe's decline is overdone, remember this the Morgan Stanley underweight rating makes it pretty darn clear that it's hard to invest in A company is now searching for both a CEO and a cfo. It's been a very long time since I can recall a company that was hunting for both positions. CEO Shantan Shantanu Narayan announced his retirement after the second quarter earnings report March 12. CFO departed June 15. I think the board has an obligation to pick people for those positions. This is not a small cap company, for heaven's sake. It's a major American business. I say, come on, are you serious people or not? I understand that there's been some turmoil at the top of work day too, but what's happened is but the return of co founder Neil Bush re to the CEO role he built the company doesn't seem to matter, though. There are few CEOs as able as Bill McDermott at ServiceNow, and he's done his best to integrate AI into his operation, but it seems like nothing's ever enough. We'll know the story after Tomorrow's close when ServiceNow reports. But the last quarter was an upside surprise. It meant very little. Maybe it's going to be meaningless. The toughest one for me, of course, is Salesforce. I've championed this story from 2008 all the way up and now a lot of way down, and the company seems perfectly positioned to use Agent Force, its AI Agentix business to help its customers. I think it's doing a terrific job and I know CEO Mark Benioff will be able to to tell an excellent tale of customer adoption, but he has to deal with some people thinking that there's going to be a slowdown at the rest of the company. Let me tell you about what I am most concerned about though. What happens is ServiceNow tells us a good story, but it's no longer good enough for buyers. What if Mark Benioff says, look, we have we have customers who love this product and the stock market is not impressed. Salesforce is buying back $50 billion worth of stock. ServiceNow is a smaller buyback. The problem is there may not be enough to change the narrative that this is enterprise software in a market that only has eyes for enterprise hardware. In other words, these are good companies with good products, but they're not growing at their old growth rates. And to Wall street, that's all that matters. I like to say there's always more markets on my palm side just for your man Money, I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.

[Commercial Narrator]

All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC or its parent company or affiliates and may have been previously disseminated disseminated by Kramer on television, radio, Internet or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Kramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Cramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com madmoneydisclaimer Snoring, gasping for

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