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Jim Cramer
Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramer. My friends, I'm just trying to make you a little bit of money here. My job not just to entertain, but to educate you. So call me at 1-800-743- CNBC- Twee. Meet me, Jim Cramer. Many times in my career I've heard people claim that a week was pivotal, as if it can change the direction of the entire market next week. No, hyperbole is pivotal. It's significant. I'm going to make it a full free fire zone of superlatives. And here's why. We have not only a Fed meeting, not only the nonfarm employment report, but we also have earnings from Apple, Amazon, Better platforms, and Microsoft. In short, next week determines the market's direction for the duration or at least the rest of the summer. But before we get to the specifics, let's deal with something my morning colleague David Faber broke a few weeks ago. The planned merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, a seminal deal that's allowed to happen. Something that would have been unspeakable under the previous administration and honestly most other administrations. It would be a tacit admission that anything could be approved as these companies were always expected to compete against each other. If you hear talk of a compromise, Combined Rail has pledged to not raise rates for say, I don't know, the next five years, then you could expect that this deal would actually be approved. Now I think it's a coin flip because there are only a handful of major railroads in the United States. So it might be a tough sell even now that we have more business friendly regulators. So I want to see something definitive on Monday. Also before we get to earnings, keep in mind that the bulls want to see trade Dolores go trade deals galore this week because it's the last week before President Trump's remaining tariffs by fiat start in earnest. I can't tell you who could be pitulate but now that Japan's thrown in the towel, I expect more countries to follow suit. If I had to put my money on it, I'd bet on South Korea, if only because we have so many military bases there and well, let's say we do a lot of commerce. I think they get the better of us. But others might argue otherwise. Now with that in mind, let's talk earnings Monday at the close. We are from two companies that I actually have a fascination about. One is Celestica and the other is Whirlpool. Many tech products were thought to be made by nameplate companies but you know what they're actually get built by Celestica, Flex or Jabil. Celeste will tell us how so many areas of tech are doing. It's worth paying attention to. I've stopped paying. I kind of dropped out of looking at Celestica. I was only focused on Flex. But I want to look at all now. How about Whirlpool? The President's tariffs on steel made Whirlpool's competitors more pricey than America's own. This stock could really fly if we get the kind of opportunity to sell unfettered full price washers and dryers without the dumping of our so called trading partners. Tuesday before the open UnitedHealth Group reports yesterday the company basically admitted there's a criminal probe and it's cooperating. I think this cooperation actually takes any existential worries off the table. You don't have to be concerned that Medicare fraud could take down the entire company. It's a positive development even as I think this remains an investable story. Next week I really want to hear what Boeing has to say that Kelly Ortberg has the company humming. My hope is that he gives us a timetable about when we can stop worrying about the government's control of how many planes are allowed to make each month. I bet this stock goes higher. Procter Gamble reports doing this one's a question of raw costs and tariffs versus marketing muscle. I think the tariffs lose as this company finally has the currency tailwind from the weak dollar. They've been the most heard of any company I deal with other than Johnson Johnson. At the close we get Starbucks. That's a company that's climbed relentlessly until today. Yesterday of course, after that dropped the 70s, I bet new CEO Brian Niccol is ready to announce his China plans and to speak proudly of this success in improving throughput. That's quite a contrast from the weaker Chipotle, the company Starbucks poached from him from that was a very tough quarter. Hey, speaking of of relentless, there's almost always a wave of selling in Visa after the company reports because its financials are pretty hard to understand. If you look at the chart of this behemoth though, I think you say buy the dip, which is exactly what I expect will happen. Again, be a buyer on to weakness Wednesday we have the Federal Open Market Committee meeting and the press conference by Fed Chairman Jay Powell. My thing is he says stay the course. Perhaps comments on the need to exercise caution when it comes to tariff induced inflation. He also say intends to fill his entire term which takes him out to May of next year. I also could use some help redesigning my kitchen. He seems to have a knack for it. Maybe when he's done. As I said earlier, this is a pivotal week for the kind of week where it feels like the biggest tech companies on earth are trying to work me to death. For instance, we've got Matter and Microsoft two of the magnificent report at the exact same time. Both stocks have been giving off signs of better than expected numbers. Call me a believer. Of course with Microsoft you have to wait to hear from CFO Amy Hood on the conference call. Speaks in the middle of the before you can make a move on the stock. Metta it's all about Mark Zuckerberg. I think he's crushing it with this Instagram advertising. Does he start charging for WhatsApp? Hey, what a windfall that would be. After the close Thursday we have two more members. The Magnificent Seven. When Apple and Amazon report now both stocks have been going up steadily. They could be look it could be like Outfit which rallied consistently into the marvelous print and kept going up. Apple I'M not sure why I say own it, don't trade it and I'm unwavering about that. I'm expecting an unexciting quarter and a slowdown in growth in services revenue stream. Not good. I'm also worried about whether they can still receive 20 billion from Google in exchange for making it the default service provider, something a judge seems eager to put an end to. There's something to be said about commenting on the decision by a lower court that said Google's monopolist, which could really hurt Apple, as well as litigation related to Epic, a video game company that's fighting Apple's currency current policy where they take a 30% cut of any transaction done with it within an app you downloaded from the App Store. Epic wants to bypass that. I don't know if that seems right. How about Amazon? I'm a huge believer that like Google, Amazon has a lot of things working for it. The online store, the web services, business, advertising. Hey, you know what? Alexa plus Been a long time since Amazon stock exploded higher on earnings, but it's also been a long time since the company had something exciting to say. I expect a very solid quarter. Friday is usually a day of relaxation during earnings season, but not when you have the non farm labor report coming out. We need to see continued growth in hiring with stable wages. The president can Hector Jay Powell cut rates if wages go higher. Any weakness in the president might decide he could create a Fed chairman in waiting to put pressure on Powell to quit it. Oh man. All right then to wrap things up, we have Exxon and Chevron reporting with Chevron coming right off its legal victory against Exxon. I regard as a victory, a victory that let them buy Hess. I expect Chevron to raise numbers, especially now the president's allowed it to restart pumping in Venezuela. I have no idea what Exxon will say either way. I think oil's headed lower thanks to tepid demand from China, actually helped by more drilling, more pumping in Venezuela. I'd like to know what everybody thinks about that now. The bottom line, if we get through this week with with takeovers that would have been unheard of under Biden, along with good earnings and no pickup in inflation and maybe some big trade deals. Look for the average to make more record highs. I know it's a big gauntlet. I think we make it through despite a huge degree of difficulty. Don't worry, we've got your back either way.
Mad Money Producer
Coming up, Kramer's laid out his game plan for the week ahead. But what about the long term? He's revealing his tricks of the trade to conquer any market. Next, don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow imkramer 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.
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Jim Cramer
Tonight I'm letting you in on something big. The Method to my Madness I believe that you can do everything I do at home if you're willing to put in the time and effort investing. Simply investing in individual stocks, running your own portfolio rather than dumping your money in some buy and forget index fund is something I am confident all of you can do do by yourselves. I always emphasize the homework and I hope you do the homework for my Chapel Trust stocks. If you join the CNBC Investment Club in the old days my rule was that you need one hour per week per stock. These days are the research so readily available online that I'm willing to count as less than an hour a week for a portfolio of five stocks, say a few hours. If you own 10 stocks, unless you belong to the club itself and you have a much easier time and cut down how much? Well, oh, you have to do because we do it with you, investing is more in more than just 10 stocks then I get worried because that can be difficult unless you're managing money full time. Of course, if you don't have the time or the inclination to pick stocks, then you are better off parking your money in a low cost index fund that mirrors the s and P500. And I like those. They're good. I'm in some. But if you're willing to put in the work, regular people can trounce the averages. As long as you're disciplined, you follow the rules. Rules Be constantly highlight as part of the CNBC Investing Club. How do you start? Well, that's what we're talking about tonight. Like I said, the show is all about the method or methods to break from strictly quoting the Bard to my madness. How do I pick stocks? What gets on the show? How do I tell you some stocks are worth buying and dip and some aren't? Those are the questions that people Constantly ask me. Tonight, you're going to get a piece of the answers. The truth is that I've got far too many methods, far too many ways of picking out great stocks to ever cover all in one show. But I want to give you some of the tools of my trade. Enough so that you can start to pick stocks like me on your own. Remember, I want you to be a manager, a great manager of your own money because you can focus on a smaller number of names while I have to file practically everything for the lightning round then the day. This show is about educating you, giving you the ultimate insider's perspective on how the market works and how it can help you try to make money. I'm not here just to dole out stock picks like this proverbial fish. You give a man if you're too lazy to teach him to shop for fish at Whole Foods. What I'd really like to do is empower you. And that starts with me teaching you all the many tricks I use to pick out great stocks and invest in them like a pro. Methods that have served me well for more than four decades. And that allowed me to generate a 24% annual return after fees for 14 years. My old hedge fund, not bad. Three times better in the market. These skills are what refresh this show and guide me as I manage my own charitable trust. Now, a learning exercise that you can follow, of course, by joining the club. Now let's get rolling. One of the easiest ways to identify potential Kramer names. The stocks that could possibly. I should possibly own, but not necessarily end up on the show, is by watching a list that comes out every day. It's called the New High List. Stocks in that illustrious list, the highest of the high, obviously is something going for them. And that's especially true when the market's in bad shape, as only the best of the best can hit new highs when the averages are falling apart. So what does it tell you when a stock's on the New High list? Either that it's part of a broader bull market because its sector is on fire, or the company itself has some serious earnings or sales momentum. No matter how they get there, many stocks in the New High list often keep going higher because it's kind of a list of a students that are worth betting on. They tend to keep getting straight A's on every quarter, just like the real smart kids in school school In a great bull market, we see this over and over and over again. The same stocks would hit new high after new high after new high. And following Them was a perfect way to make money, even as the Bears claimed endlessly that the bull market was false and couldn't be trusted. Listening to the Bears has caused you to miss out on some of the greatest rallies in history. Of course, I'm not saying you can just chase any stock that's hitting new highs because they'll keep going higher. That would be the ultimate in foolishness. True Boso the Clown behavior. I am saying that if you want to identify potential winners, unless there's been a stunning sea change in the market caused by changing interest rates, possibly the political environment, then a good place to start. A wonderful place to start is the new highlights. Emphasis on start. See, that's the thing about the market. It's not always that hard to play. Once you understand that there's often more continuity than change. Things pretty much keep going the way they were going until something major shifts and then you have to order your course. Those courses, course changes, they can be pretty radical though. And that's why you always have to be reevaluating your ideas. And you should never dig in your heels when the facts change. Something I emphasize over and over again when I send out these investing club bullets. Now, I rarely recommend buying stocks trade off the New High List unless there's some special circumstances. Circumstances I'll talk about later tonight. What I like to do when I'm hunting for stocks. And what you should do is wait for something to pull back back from the new High list. Because that is the best place to start. Buy. Buy when you're buying. New High list is not a shopping list. It's an inspiration list. You keep an eye on those names, then wait for them to come down so that you can pull the trigger. The pullback, ideally 5 to 8%. 5 to 8% gives you a good lower price entry point in a stock that likely has a lot of positives going forward that maybe it's been pulled down by an overall move move in the stock market that's been the optimal level. I found less than 5%. You're probably too early. More than 8%. It's more likely that something's going wrong. Very wrong, maybe even with the underlying company pouring over. The New High list is a fabulous way to identify potential and I stress that word, potential stocks to buy. You only buy stocks that have pulled back from the New High list if you're confident they'll make a comeback for substantive reasons unrelated to the broader market. Okay, unrelated to the broader market, but related to your stock. You need to do the all the same homework you ordinarily do. Before buying a stock, you absolutely must have conviction. Even if it's a cynical conviction, stocks going higher, that it deserves to go higher. And the biggest caveat of all, when you're shopping for stocks that have pulled back from their highs, make sure they haven't pulled back for a good reason. The sell off needs to be extraneous to their business. Don't go buying a homebuilder that's down because interest rates flew up because that could genuinely hurt the numbers. But if a big pharma stock gets hurt by higher rates, that's nothing to do with their earnings. So maybe it's worth buying. Be certain you're dealing with a momentarily damaged stock and not a troubled company that's going down, down, down. How can you tell the difference between a damaged company, damaged stock? The fundamentals haven't changed. The stock probably hasn't fallen from grace. It's pulled back for mechanical reasons, profit taking or some panic in the market in general, now more than ever, stocks are traded like commodities by ultra leveraged fund, ultra levered hedge funds frequently causing huge sell offs that make no sense whatsoever. So you'll see high quality stocks pull back off their highs for unrelated reasons to their core business. But if the fundamental picture changes and whatever made that stock attractive as it climbed its way up to the new high list goes away, then that stock is no longer a candidate for your portfolio. The story has to be intact or this method won't work. Here's the bottom line. That's the first method of Kramer's madness. Watch for stocks that have pulled back from a pre selected list. The new highlights especially because a broad market sell off is sometimes a great opportunity. Some of my best picks for the club have come out of the process and hopefully some of yours can too. Let's take some calls. Let's go to Andrew in Georgia. Andrew.
Caller
Hey Mr. Kramer today.
Jim Cramer
Good day. How about you Andrew?
Caller
I'm doing well, thank you for asking. Fairly new investor. I've only been investing for about three, three years. One I just want to say I appreciate everything you do for the, for the, you know, the new guys who don't really know what they're doing.
Jim Cramer
Thank you. Thank you Andrew. That's terrific. How can I help you?
Caller
My question is about earnings and IPOs. I want to know after earnings announcements how long should typically wait? Like when you know, you say smoke clear and when it comes, you know the IPO is the same thing and with what do you look for when it comes up, down, flat, you know.
Jim Cramer
Okay. How long to wait after an ipo? Okay. So, you know, I find that after an ipo, you really have to be very careful because what you've got are a lot of analysts who kind of want to say positive things, and they tend to lose their critical faculties. My advice is very clear that when you get a stock that's down substantially from where it opened, that's how you look at it. Because a lot of times the opening is controlled by people who are just way too enthusiastic. A company with actual earnings and a good balance sheet that trades at a premium to the stock market, but has a premium growth rate, that might be okay, but otherwise, no, thank you. I'll find better stocks. How about drenna in West Virginia? Drenna.
Caller
Well, good evening.
Jim Cramer
Good.
Caller
First of all, for everything that you.
Jim Cramer
Do, I think you're a national treasure. I have learned so much from listening to your show. You're very.
Caller
When you want to generate cash, how do you decide what stocks to sell?
Jim Cramer
Okay, we talk about this a lot on the club. And I tend to rate my stocks one to four, about following their fundamentals, always willing to sell a four, even a three, on any lift. What I try to look at is I look at, like, paintings. I'm like, Katie Collection. I don't want to buy a new painting without selling an old painting. I want to have a museum. And what I look for are companies that reported a bad quarter. Okay, that was disappointing to me. That have a little bit of lift that I can start lightening up from because I don't want to sell a company that just reported good quarter. I'm looking for companies that disappoint. They're already always there. And you have to have the discipline, discipline to sell, sell, sell, as hard as it might be. Timothy in New York. Timothy?
Caller
Yeah. Hi, Mr. Kramer. Thanks for taking my question.
Jim Cramer
Sure.
Caller
I. I want your opinion on quants. My understanding of quants is that they screen dozens of parameters on thousands of stocks and use algorithms to rank them in terms of valuation, growth, momentum, profitability, revisions, and so on. Outcomes are graded buy, hold or sell recommendation. Portfolios have a very good. Except a repeatable performance. It seems to me that at a bare minimum, these are a valuable tool on the other end. Why wouldn't an investor use them exclusively?
Jim Cramer
That's a great question. Look, I happen to. I think that a lot of times the quants go up and down, trade too much. They recommend stocks, and then the chart says no, or the numbers say no. I like to buy great companies. With great management that have good secular tailwinds behind them and the quants don't necessarily catch those. But I do think that everything, whether it be quants, whether it be charts, whether it be everything that is from research, I like to include it all. And if some quants have some great records and they share us with what they share us data that they're using, I'm okay. So now you know the first method to Kramer's Madness. Watch for stocks that are pulled back from that pre selected list of good companies called the new HIA list. Especially because of a broad market sell off and not because of something happened at the company itself. Some of my best picks have come out of this process. Hopefully some of yours can too. Oh man. Tonight I'm giving you an in depth look at many more methods to my madness, from watching shorts to trading around key positions. If you want a better, more well rounded sense of how to get curate your own stock portfolio, you do not want to miss the rest of this show. So stick with Kramer.
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Jim Cramer
Welcome back to tonight's Methods to Madness special where I'm reviewing some of my best tricks for buying and selling stocks, trying to give you the real sure ones. You could call it truly tireless investing wisdom for the ages. But I'm too humble to say that if my audience were older, I to tend tell you to think of me as the pen and teller of the stock market with a physique that's a whole lot more like teller than pen. I want to pull back the curtain and show you how a professional looks for stocks to buy and knows what to sell. There's no magic, there's no hidden talent. Just a bunch of disciplines. Disciplines that can help you try to make mad money if you master them. You don't have to be A genius. You don't even have to be all that smart to be completely honest. You just need to know what the heck you're doing and put in some homework. And that's where Kramer, the Sabbath wise clown, comes in. Maybe less of a sad clown these days and more like the fool from King Lear. Something to think about. Enough Shakespeare. Let's move on to more important things, like how to find stocks that are great buys. Now, earlier I was talking about picking up off some stocks that have pulled back from the new high list because you get a cheaper entry point. Something that's already been a proven winner. I said you rarely want to buy names right off the new high list because you're paying too much for them. You usually get a better chance, better deal if you're patient and wait for some weakness. You know, 5 to 8%. Given how volatile the market can be, even when things are going well, there are very few occasions when buying a stock right off the new high list can be justified. Have some patience. But sometimes the stock's so hot that you got to buy it even whenever you can, as soon as you can, because it's not heading lower anytime soon. I felt that and you felt it. You won't find these often, but when you find them, you have to remember not to buy all at once. You want to buy 100 shares of a stock. You think it's got so much mojo that it won't get a pullback for the highest. Hey, how about this? Buy 25 shares. Worst that happens, it goes higher still and you don't get to buy more. So you grab a quick profit and find the next one. Believe me, there is always another one coming down the pike. Now, I got one exception where it's okay to buy stock that's hitting a new high. If you see insiders buying the stock when it's already up a great deal, that's a total green light. Don't laugh. It does happen. It's rare, but it does happen. In my experience, it's rare still that this method of picking stocks doesn't work out. I love it when I see insider buying after a decent run. That is a terrific sign of the confidence that the insiders have that the rally may be just beginning or that there's a big Runway ahead. And they sure think it's going to be long lasting. FYI, insiders can't flip a stock that they buy immediately. They have to wait at least six months. Otherwise the government takes away the gains. That's the law. So these people are Seeing positive things that likely aren't going to disappear in six months time. Boy, do I like that. Normally insider buying ranges from meaningless to a small but on its own insufficient reason to buy a stock. Sometimes you'll catch insiders buying their stock because they want to give the impression of confidence, creating an illusion that they're doing better than they really are. Insiders aren't stupid. They know that they're seen buying their own stock, even small amounts and the market will smile upon them. So occasionally they game the system. That's fair. But it means we ignore most insider buying that is not substantial because it could be pure flim flam word. That said, when you get truly colossal insider buy, even if it's not all at the high but then you might want to take another look at the stock in question when these others buy a whole lot of shares. What a powerful endorsement. Crucially, if the value of the insider buying that really does declare its sincerity. But we're only focusing on one sort of insider buying right now. The kind you see in stocks that have been running and aren't perceived as being as historically cheap or low dollar malplays. Those sometimes can be down there for a reason. See, there's nothing more arrogant and yet telling than when an insider backs up the truck for their own stock when it's been rolling along at a good clip. Think about it. What they're saying is yeah, we know we rock. Our stock has been in fuego and we're so darn confident it'll keep going higher that we're going to buy shares right now hand over fist. Arrogant, sure, but this is it's rare, but it is bankable Hubris. Corporate insiders aren't fools, with some notable exceptions Occupy the Mad Money Wolf chain. Plus, if their stocks are already on a tear, there's probably a good chance the executives know what they're doing. Of course, not everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt in this business. And after so many investors got burned by the 2021 boom in IPOs and spa, I know that a lot of people assume most CEOs and execs are really a bunch of liars, frauds, crooks, mouth banks. But look, that's the wrong lesson to draw from the IPO implosion. Healthy skepticism one thing, a total unwillingness to believe anything positive is something else entirely. If you invest in the stock market, you need to be willing to extend some measure of trust to the people who run the companies that you own shares in. Otherwise, why bother? Just go buy the index fund what else could be going on? Just Burnside are buying. Even when the FTC and the Justice Department antitrust division are hostile to mergers, you still get some takeovers. Sometimes executives will buy their own stock because they hear footsteps of a potential acquirer. They've been told by bankers there's a lot of companies interested in them without anything specific. Maybe they've been contacted by companies and they turn those companies down. Spurned overtures happen all the time. And if executives expect that they may be next, well, it's a. It's a healthy and honest reason to buy. Or maybe they realize that the business is indeed worth more than they thought and can be broken up by bringing out some value. All different generations have seen them. Altria, Tyco, even dupont. We've seen tons of these breakups over the years and they genuinely produce long term gains. Because Wall street like smaller, more straightforward companies that are easier to get your head around. Think of. Think about it. Think about. About carrier, about Otis, about the old United Technologies. Maybe the executives see the ability to create value and they want it on themselves. Or maybe the stocks run just a bit, but they don't think the run is over because they recognize how much better the business will be once it's broken up. For me, buying after a big rally can certainly feel a little reckless and even lazy. Most investors are smart enough to wait for a pullback before they pull the trigger. But insider buying after a decent run tells me that one of the people who knows the business best doesn't believe there will be a pullback. And there's nothing more bullish than that. Sure, ideally you want to wait until the stock sells off after the insiders are bought. But that's the best of all possible worlds. It doesn't happen on all that often. I've seen it happen in some red hot tech stocks that cool off very momentarily. And that's a terrific sign to buy. Bottom line. One more method of Kramer's madness. When you see insider buying in a stock that has already had a solid run, admittedly a rarity, you might want to do some buying too. Man, money's back after the break.
Mad Money Producer
Coming up. Need another tool in your belt to help identify the right time to buy a stock? Kramer's revealing how short interest in a name could be your telltale sign to buy it next.
Jim Cramer
You're in luck because you caught Kramer on a good night. I'm not going home to sit that cheap scotch on my dirty linoleum floor. And by the way, I apologize to Dewar's Which I once suggest was linoleum floor scotch of choice. Actually pretty good stuff. Especially that boutique 18 year old. Hey guys, ever tried the 18 year old Jameson? Sweet. All right, don't waste that one on the dirty little floor either. Nope. I'm in a great mood. A manic mood even, which is me at my best because, well, let's just say I'm pretty darn productive and pressured when I'm in high gear. I'm so revved up that I'm revealing many of my secrets, the methods to my madness. Better than give me a stock pace. I'm giving you some of the best ways I know to to pick stocks. I'm teaching you invest and trade like Kramer, if not to be like me, because I have some emotional issues that frankly, you probably would prefer not to emulate. Somewhat off track. So far I've given away two of my precious secrets to the tools that I use at my hedge fund and still use my travel trust. Which of course you can follow by joining the CBC investing club, where unlike Lady Gaga, I play with an open hand, not a poker face. Allowing subscribers to see all my trades before they happen. What I'm teaching you tonight are really what I call tells their signals that a stock might be worth owning. That it's worth your time and effort to go through the often boring process of reading through the conference call transcripts and quarterly filings to do the necessary homework. There are thousands of stocks out there and any method we can use to narrow down the ones that might be attractive to us is a method worth having. I talked about insider buying near the high, and while I don't usually use, insider buying is the only way to determine whether or not a stock has got to go. And there's one other scenario where insider buying makes for incredibly bullish tell. And that's when a stock has a heavy short position, meaning a lot of people out there borrowed shares, sold those shares, and are now waiting for those shares to go lower before they buy back the stock, return them to the bank they borrowed them from, and collect the difference between the price they sold them at first and the price they bought the stock back later. You think of shorting is like regular investing, only in reverse. We try to buy low and sell high, right? Is that what we do? Shorts? Just turn that around. They try to sell high and then buy low. When a stock has a high short position, that means a lot of smart people have serious conviction that the stock's headed lower. In fact, it takes more conviction to short a stock than it does to go long. Because when you're short, the potential downside is infinite in it. When you're long. A stock stops losing money when it hits zero. Shorts lose money when stocks go higher and there's no lid on it. Right. The other thing about short sellers is that if there's a lot of them in a stock, all of a sudden get some great news. We get what's called a short squeeze. And it sounds exactly like what it is. In order to close out the positions the shorts have to buy. This is called covering. Short covering. When a lot of shorts cover at the same time in a panic, the stock will surge because what you really have is a lot of people desperate to buy the stock to cut down their losses. A lot of demand they have to buy unless they want the performance to be wiped out. This process is so predictable that sometimes concerted buyers will foment a short squeeze. Hey Listen, that's what GameStop was all about. That's what AMC was all about. That's what the meme stocks were all about. So where does insider buying fit in the short selling equation? Okay, let's say you have a stock with a high short interest. Then some of the people who run the company start buying shares for themselves. Or maybe an outsider takes a more than 10% stake in the business and indicates it wants more. It's almost like drawing a line. The sand for the short saying our stock goes this low and no lower. This is an explosive combination, people, and one that often leads to a short squeeze that sends the stocks much higher. Shorts are smart. In fact, they often tend to be smarter than regular long side investors. But they usually don't know more about a business than the insiders who run. If a lot of people are shorting a stock and management starts buying it in sizable amounts, you start doing your homework right then, right there really. So usually it makes sense to side with management. Then you can ride it higher and higher in true Jackie Wilson style, higher lifting me up as the source panic and push shares higher. In their desperation to cover their positions and cut their losses and move on. Similar, when a company with a heavily shorted stock announces a gun to buyback bet bigger than any previous one. That's another line in the sand situation where management is contradicting the shorts, companies often repurchase their own shares. And while not all buybacks are bullish, some of them are just outright waste of money. A substantial new buyback in the face of the shorts is often a good reason to take a closer look. Now a Note of caution here. You need to be very careful when dealing with a company that's in the crosshairs of the short sellers, especially when people are nervous and the market's in bad shape. Know the landscape. The shorts have the ability to wreck a stock, even if the fundamentals, the underlying business are fantastic. These days, stock owners no longer have the benefit of rules they used to slow down short selling and make it harder to create bear rates. When I got started in this business, it was much harder to bet against stocks. But the SEC gutted those rules under both Democratic and Republican administrations, all of creating more efficient markets without these protections where you can't smash the stock down, the shorts can easily assassinate stocks. They smash them down anytime something goes wrong. We see it during the financial Crisis back in 2008. Oh my God, that was such a horrible period. And we saw a smaller version of that during the mini banking crisis of 2023. For the shorts, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. So many regional banks traded like they're going bankrupt, but other than a few near wells like First Republic, they were fine. Of course, in recent years, the short sellers have found themselves targeted by bull raids facilitated by social media platforms. So they have to be careful, but only when the meme stock crowd goes after them in force. You never know when that's going to surface. These are highly unusual situations, though. You can still find great opportunities in stocks with the shorts of overreach and the insiders are buying. But before going into one of those situations, I have to warn you that the balance of power still favors the short sellers. That means even if the short sellers are wrong about a company's prospects, they can still demolish its stock, especially if they mount highly visible campaigns against the stock. And look, many times the shorts are right. The stock deserved to be slaughtered. Just don't underestimate the amount of damage the shorts can do to the stock. In the end, the best protection against bear rates are stocks that pay good, solid dividends. Because when you short a stock, you have to pay those dividends whoever you borrow the stock from. That's terrific deterrent. When you see a stock with a big dividend being attacked by shorts and yields going higher, that's often a terrific place to be, especially when the insiders are snapping up stock, too. So the bottom line here, insider buying plus heavy short interest can equal raging bull buy, as long as you avoid situations where the shorts are determined to crush the stock at any cost. Now we're going to go to Vincent in New York.
Caller
Vincent Hey Kramer, how are you?
Jim Cramer
I'm good, Vincent, how are you?
Caller
I'm well. What advice would you give a 26 year old that's been day trading for about two years and is looking to, you know, do better and go as far with this as he can?
Jim Cramer
All right, well let's look. If you're day trading, it's a full time occupation. So what you want to do is put some money in the Vanguard Total Return fund and put some money in the vanguard S&P 500 fund and just keep putting money away every single month. If you have some good day trades and you made a lot of money, put take off some of that capital and put it in those Vanguard accounts. That's the way I would suggest do it. Because I want you to have exposure to the broader market, not just to the stocks you trade. Look, in most cases a stock with insider buying and heavy short interest equals buy as long as you can avoid situation where the shorts are determined to crush the stock that you own. Much more money. I still some tools in my belt that I want to share with you, including my method of trading around a core position. So stick around. Regular viewers know that this show is all about investing. Owning stocks for the long haul, not really short term trading. Because it's much easier to be a good investor than to be a good trader, especially when you're doing it part time. However, knowing how to trade makes you a better investor. And trading around a core position is one of the most basic and useful disciplines out there. Especially in markets that often get hit by wild swings. And that's most markets in recent years. So what does it mean to trade around a core position? Okay, let's go through it step by step. First you need a stock. Pick one that you like, one that you got an opinion about, one where you have a bias. A stock you believe is headed higher over the long term. What you're really searching for here is a great company with shares that might get tossed around by market volatility, even as you believe they'll ultimately go higher if you're patient. Now if you were just investing, then you just position the stock buy in gradual increments. Because we all know that buying all at once is just pure arrogance. And that is by the way, this whole process of buying in increments is something that we constantly showing you how to do. If you belong to the CNBC investing club. We talk about trading around positions and take something like Nvidia, that's a chip maker with fantastic long term story because they make the most powerful semiconductors on earth that we needed for cutting edge applications like artificial intelligence. I love video for the long haul, but it's got an insanely volatile stock. Now let's say you want to own 100 shares of Nvidia over time. Then the way to set position would be buy 25 shares four times over a period of weeks or even months. And that's your core position as an investor. But let's say you want to trade something that's hard to do but also cheaper than it's ever been because home gamers can now fit in. They can fit in and fill out no stock commissions. Now, I wouldn't recommend pure trading something like Nvidia. My stance is own it, don't trade. But trading around a core position, different story. So let's go back. You own 100 shares of Nvidia and let's assume it's sitting at, I don't know, how about fifty five hundred dollars? For the purpose of it, it's five hundred every time the stock jumps another 5%. You could sell 25 shares a quarter of your position. You shave a little off to bring in some profits. So once in videos 525, you don't. 75 shares keep scaling out of the same way on the way up. But don't ever sell the final 25 because that is your core position. Then you wait until something happens to knock the stock back down. And as long as nothing's changed with the underlying thesis, you use that weaknesses stock up on more in video. We've done this for for the chapter trust and it's going to happen pretty often. Because since we're in a world where stocks can get crushed by all kinds of factors, nothing to do with fundamentals. That's what happens now. As the stock comes down the original cost basis, you buy it back in increments. Since we started with 100 shares, let's keep using increments of 25 to buy it back. Every 5.4% decline, you can go beyond 100 shares if it comes down low enough too. Now, this might appear to be small potatoes. Up 5%, sold 25 shares down where you started by 25 shares and repeat the process on the way back up. But over time, your profits will add up. And that's what trading around a core position is all about. Now, a lot of people think trading is incredibly exciting, and it can be. But if you're good at trading around a core position, you should be pretty bored. All you're really doing is watching the stock Move and then trimming or adding your position accordingly. Contrary to the image of trading is something that's reckless and irresponsible. Trading at a core position is really the highest height of prudent portfolio adjustment. Boring by the way is good in this business. Exciting. Save it for the stadium. Obviously you can scale these numbers depending on how big your position is. But the basic idea is avoid putting yourself in a spot where you have too much on the table in case the stock gets squatted down or too little on the table to take advantage of any upside that comes your way. Trading around a core position is an important basic strategy that everyone can use. Even those of you who find the notion of trading totally abhorrent because it's less trading and more just a supplement to investing. So here's the bottom line. Now you know the basics of how to trade around a core position. Yet another method to my madness. One that allows you to generate lots of small gains that I am telling you will add up over time. We have money is back into the break.
Mad Money Producer
Coming up, Kramer's reveal the his tools to the trade of buying a stock. But what about selling them? Kramer's breaking down how to get out of a stock at the right time When Mad Money returns.
Jim Cramer
Booyah for the emperor of Cramerica.
Caller
Honorable James J. Kramer. You got me jumping around my office right now. Thank you so much for all you do for us.
Jim Cramer
I enjoy your show and it finds a very entertaining and informative.
Caller
I watched your first ever episode of Mad money back in 2005 and I've been watching every single episode ever since.
Mad Money Producer
Don't miss Mad Money every night at 6pm Eastern. Plus join the CNBC investing club and stick with Kramer around the clock.
Jim Cramer
I've got one more trick to teach you tonight. One more method. My manners. And this time I wanted to talk about selling. How do you know when to sell hot stock? Yes, about that all the time. How do you get out before the party ends so that you're not one of the last people around who gets stuck cleaning up the mess? Now this is a question needs to be answered because there's a lot of money to be made by owning hot stocks with lots of momentum. But when you play the momentum game, you need to know when it's time to leave the table. There are always naysayers and eventually the naysayers almost always proven right because sooner or later, virtually all hot stocks implode. Memorable. But the hot stocks here remember everything that roared in 2021 collapsed 2022. That's what I'm talking about. But the collapse usually occurs later rather than sooner. And all the negative talking heads who kept you out of the momentum stocks for the recklessness disguised as prudence actually cost you a great opportunity to make money. People shy away from these stocks because they don't know where they're going to stop. They don't know where they're going to top out. It's understandable. And I'd be afraid to buy them too if I didn't have a discipline that let me know when to get out. Lucky for you, I do have one, and you're about to learn it. First, when I'm talking about hot stocks, I really mean hot speculative stocks. Stocks of companies up with fairly low market capitalizations. Usually these stocks begin with very little research coverage from major Wall street brokerage houses. They often don't even have earnings. They may not even have sales. I would never buy these for the travel. Trust me, we're not talking about that. These names can go up for a very long time. They can catch fire and stay on fire for years when they have the wind at their back. The key to figuring out when interest is peaked and it's time to sell, it's not from the stock. It's by watching the analyst coverage. You have to use your own judgment here, but a good rule of thumb is that once one of these hot stocks has at least a half dozen analysts covering it, the run is going to peter out because the stock in question is becoming too well known. It's the rare speculative winner that can keep getting, keep winning after it gets big. You can find out how many guys are on a stock by looking it up online. This isn't hard to find information. This formula has worked for me for as long as I can remember. As far as I can tell, it works because the number of analysts on a stock is a good gauge of how much awareness and interest there is in the name. Hot stocks get tapped out when there's nobody left to be attracted to them to be to go buy more, when all the people would be interested in buying, have already bought. They come out of nowhere, attracting more and more attention, more and more backers, and eventually everyone who wants a piece of this stock has a piece of it already. When that happens, the runs over, it's time to go home. Oh, and if the Meme stock guys get their hands on it, take advantage of their enthusiasm to ring the register, that's a great sign that you want out. Because they can only push a stock up so much before they run out of firepower. Of course, there are other situations where speculative stocks go out of favor all at once, regardless of how much attention they're getting. In 2021, we had a huge run in anything related to electric vehicles. Think carmakers, battery players, charging stations. Same goes for enterprise software stocks. Now a lot of this was fueled by an easy money environment with near zero interest rates. There was a lot of liquidity kicking around back then and it had to go somewhere, which is why so many money losing companies had red hot stocks. But then the Federal Reserve declared war on inflation in November of 2021, letting you know that the age of near zero interest rates would come to an end. At that point, we knew that the speculative force was about to be drained out of the entire market because that's what always occur when they tighten rates. Now I very quickly told you, we're in a new environment where anything speculative was toast and instead you wanted to own real companies that make things or do stuff out of profit. Now I know it wasn't the most elegant way to phrase it, but these names held up much better than speculative plays that got obliterated in 2022. But putting aside the interest rates issue, when the Fed's not tightening and it's safe to speculate, you need to watch how many analysts are following these little speculative stocks to know when the run is going to end. Bottom line, once a red hot speculative stock gets too much attention, it means the rally is likely on its last legs because there are only so many people who are willing to buy these things and eventually the bulls, they run out of firepower. Like I said, there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise I'd find it just for you right here on Man Money. I'm Jim Kramer and we're going to see you next time.
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All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal or their parent company or affiliates and 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. Kremer'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 Trading at Schwab.
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Episode: July 25, 2025
Host: Jim Cramer, CNBC
Description: In this episode of "Mad Money," Jim Cramer delves deep into the current market dynamics, offering detailed analyses of upcoming earnings reports, potential mergers, and strategic investment methodologies. He engages with callers, providing personalized advice and unveiling his proprietary methods for stock selection and portfolio management. The episode is packed with actionable insights, expert opinions, and Jim's characteristic energetic delivery.
Jim Cramer opens the episode by highlighting the significance of the upcoming week, emphasizing that the combination of a Federal Reserve meeting, nonfarm employment reports, and major earnings announcements from giants like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and others will likely set the market's direction for the rest of the summer.
Notable Points:
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern Merger: Cramer discusses the potential merger, describing it as a "seminal deal" that reflects a more business-friendly regulatory environment. He expresses skepticism, stating, "I think it's a coin flip... it might be a tough sell even now" ([04:30]).
Trade Policies: He anticipates President Trump's enforcement of remaining tariffs and expects other countries, possibly South Korea, to follow Japan's lead in relinquishing certain trade agreements ([05:15]).
Earnings Highlights:
Other Key Stocks:
Federal Reserve Meeting: Anticipation of Fed Chairman Jay Powell's remarks, hoping for indications on combating tariff-induced inflation and potential rate cuts ([08:50]).
Quote Highlights:
Jim Cramer introduces his signature segment, "Methods to Madness," where he shares his strategies for selecting and managing stocks. He emphasizes the importance of active management and disciplined investing.
Key Strategies Discussed:
New High List Pullbacks [14:30 – 20:00]
Quote:
Insider Buying and Short Interest [25:00 – 38:39]
Quote:
Trading Around a Core Position [30:00 – 43:54]
Quote:
Interactive Segment:
Caller Questions: Cramer addresses questions about earnings announcements timing, IPO evaluations, and the role of quantitative analysts ("quants") in stock selection.
Key Insights:
Jim Cramer expands on his trading arsenal, introducing more nuanced tactics for seasoned investors.
Short Squeeze Opportunities [31:50 – 38:39]
Quote:
Managing Volatility with Core Positions [38:54 – 43:54]
Quote:
In the closing segment, Cramer discusses effective strategies for exiting investments, particularly "hot" speculative stocks.
Key Points:
Identifying Peak Interest:
Quote:
Deflationary Environments: As seen in 2021 with electric vehicles and enterprise software, tightening monetary policies can drain speculative investments, signaling a good time to exit.
Decision Framework: Use analyst coverage and market sentiment as key indicators for when to sell, ensuring you exit before a significant downturn.
Illustrative Example:
Quote:
Jim Cramer wraps up the episode by reinforcing the importance of disciplined investing and strategic trading. He encourages listeners to remain informed, adaptable, and proactive in managing their portfolios.
Final Takeaways:
Closing Quote:
Jim Cramer's comprehensive analysis and strategic methodologies provide investors with valuable tools to navigate the complexities of the stock market. By combining fundamental analysis with disciplined trading strategies, listeners are equipped to make informed decisions aimed at maximizing their investment potential.