Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 4/4/25
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Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Bad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. Other people make friends. I'm just trying to save you some money. My job is to put a day like today into context because it's a bad one. So call me. 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me, Jim Kramer.

The implosion of our markets continues. And it's so obvious that this is a man-made obliteration. It's probably not over. Today's action, Dow plunged 2,231 points. S&P plummeted 2.97%. NASDAQ only nosedived 5.82%. Remind you that we're in one of three modalities, OK? We could be in for the grips of a quick bear market, a la the COVID-220 model. We

We could be in for a 2000 style bear market where tech was laid to waste for a very long time. Or it might be the big kahuna. That's the one of October of 1987 where the market went down hard for three days.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then it went even harder on a day we call Black Monday, where the market fell 22 percent. If the president doesn't try to reach out and reward these countries and companies that play by the rules in the 1987 scenario, the one where we went down three days and then down 22 percent on Monday has the most cogency. We will not have to wait out

out too long, will we? We'll know by Monday. Fortunately, we had an excellent set of employment numbers today. At least it makes it less likely a crash will necessarily lead to a recession. But

But if President Trump stays intransigent and does nothing to ameliorate the damage that I saw these last few days, I'm not going to be constructive here. I will contain my anger, but only because I lived through 87. And in the end, I came out OK. I was in cash for the crash. I know what this feels like. Oh, and if Europe moves against our fabulous tech companies next week, then I will be furious. That I promise you, because it should not happen. None of this has to happen. Which brings me to the game plan for next week.

First, if the president does nothing and the Europeans create reciprocal tariffs against our tech companies, we have a very good chance. I want to be very methodical and not unemotional. We're very chance we'll crash. It could be like black money. But he said, I don't see why it shouldn't. But if President Trump realizes it would be best to help our companies, especially the ones that are hung on tariffs, then we can have a rebound.

We will soon find out what CEOs can do to deal with tariffs because Levi Strauss reports on Monday. And it manufactures jeans all over the map from Japan, Mexico, Turkey, other places in Asia. Levi's offered some weaker guidance last quarter and it got hammered. Apparel's been a mixed bag, people. The last company that spoke in the space, we just did a piece on it. PVH said very good things. Calvin Klein, Tommy Elfker doing well. Maybe Levi Strauss made the quarter, too.

A few weeks ago, Walgreens decided to sell out to a private equity firm, a story named, see you later, the company that's buying them, Sycamore. I think this was a great deal for Walgreens because otherwise I fear it would go the way of the zombie firm that is writing. But let's see if things have gotten better or if maybe there's some real buyers from worse. Nothing would shock me. Tuesday night, we hear from CalMain. Now, normally I wouldn't care at all about some egg company, but eggs were the key driver of the most serious inflation experience in ages. So maybe they can explain what the heck happened.

Wednesday, Delta reports. I expect an awful number. They already told us things aren't so great. But has business stayed weak from their last report or maybe even weaker? I worry that the travel bull market is completely done, especially if we're going to go into recession.

After the close, we get results from one of the most controversial companies in America, and that's Constellation Brands, STZ. This liquor company, the maker of Modelo and Corona, simply can't be sure yet what the tariff impact is. If it's imported Mexican beer, will it be tariffed at what rate? Will it not be tariffed? Will it be the old tariff that we had, which was not tough to tell? As someone who's trying to figure out the tariff for phosphor, our Mexican mezcal band that can't be made here, we're trying to figure out, is it 25%, is it 10%, maybe it's exempt.

I have no idea how will Constellation approach things, though. I want to know. This company already has enough problems with the existential threats of anti-craving GLP-1 drugs, including cravings for beer, and the health and wellness trends that discourage alcohol. The last thing it needs is tariffs.

This stock plagued my charitable trust until we finally jettisoned it at a big loss. And I think it's become totally problematic, like all the liquor companies here. I suspect Constellation has also been hurt by Trump's immigration crackdown because so much of their customer base is Hispanic. Hard to see what the company can do about any of this. It's a once great story.

There are so many things to keep in mind when the White House starts to raise tariffs. Right now, I'm most worried about inflation, which is something that will be, let's say, something we'll be thinking about a lot when we have the CPI report. This is what really matters, see, because this is where we are not going to be able to cut rates if these numbers start being bad. Inflation became very sticky and it was no longer going the Fed's way even before the tariffs. Now it's going to go straight up, which is why, well, what always happens with tariffs.

except that they're so high that nobody buys anything. What's the possibility? Given the scale of Trump's tariffs, there's no world where they don't raise prices on the consumer, on you. It's never good when the Fed's trying to cut rates and get the economy going. I say the Fed's locked in a box here and can't do nearly as much as they might like because they don't want to spur another round of inflation on their own.

Of course, that just increases the likelihood of a recession. And many of these banks are coming out and talking about that we're going to have one. They're looking at the 10-year below 4%, and they're saying, oh, it must be a recession. Did anyone in the White House think that these things could happen? Now, anyway, we just profiled a company called CarMax the other night. It reports Thursday. And when new cars get tariffed, used cars become a lot cheaper by comparison, which should spur sales for CarMax. The stock's no longer cheap, selling at 23 times its year's earnings. But I think this might be a real investment, given the fact that the president seems unwilling to back down.

Now, then again, if we get a recession, it doesn't really matter. You don't want to own anything connected to autos in a recession. Friday, well, here we go. Earnings season, and it's real big. It officially kicks off with the big-time financials reporting. These stocks have been crushed because Wall Street now expects a nasty downturn in the economy. The declines here are staggering. Take J.P. Morton. It's one of the best banks in the world, but people are incredibly skittish about paying up for a bank ahead of an unexpectedly horrendous capital market.

So instead of paying 14 times earnings, they're now paying just 11 times earnings. And the stock's declined from 280 to 210. That's down 17 points today alone, by the way. That's an unfathomable journey down from the mid-February high, where we believed in a revival of financial activity spurred by aggressively pro-business president.

Morgan Stanley got the Corby deal done, and thank heavens, done at a better price than I thought could be expected, given how the press was hectoring the deal so much. Otherwise, there's not all that much to celebrate in Morgan Stanley, though. I keep hoping that something will fall in the capital markets, but if anything, it has just gotten worse because of the tariff issues. Charitable Trust owns several financials, including BlackRock and Wells Fargo, both of which are just getting clobbered beyond all recognition. I don't think that they should be, but so what?

Wells is a national bank that was doing incredibly well until it ran into a macro buzzsaw that was the president. I think it's now outrageously cheap. But what the heck is CEO Charlie Scharf supposed to say on his call when he's asked about the future? He has no choice but to be cautious and circumspect. And the stock can't rally in that kind of environment. The best for last, BlackRock. I think that CEO Larry Fink, perhaps the most thoughtful exec in the group, will give us a much needed gut check about what happened here. Well.

where we had a well-oiled economy all set for a pro-business president to take it to the moon. And instead, what we've gotten is a journey to the center of the earth. It's an incredible conundrum. And I really hope Fink will take a moment to tell us what he sees. We need to know. Look, this was a terrible day on top of a terrible week.

It feels like one of those brief crash moments in October of 87, which I lived through and traded the eve of Black Monday. That Friday was terrible. I remember going home thinking, I can't believe how much money I lost. But I sold everything. And then Monday you come in and boom. Our only real hope is that the president comes up with something that can turn this bear into a bull. And he can do it, even as he seems unwilling to scale back the tariffs. All he has to do is offer our companies a path to get out of this hell that they did not create.

And they do not deserve. But the bottom line, that's a very glass half full hope in what feels like a glass totally empty market. Amazingly, a year after the crash of 87, you were up on most stocks. So despair not, because at least I have your back. Scott in Minnesota, Scott. Well, thank you. Hardworking man, Jim Cramer. Not hard enough. Not hard enough. Not this week. I should have worked harder.

My wife was back before I should have spent some time with her. Shouldn't have. Well, I tell you what, you are you are you've taught all our club members and viewers to, you know, look at all this stuff with calm discipline or at least to attempt to stay calm. Thank you, Scott. Thank you. And that's what we want, because even in 87, it was fine by by 88. And in 2007, it was fine by 2013. But I got you out of that one. But clean. Let's go to work.

Right. Hey, with your help, I know we can get some great stocks at a discount. Yes, we can. Instead of selling in panic. Good. I tell you what, as a member of the club since day one, I've been watching this stock for a long time. Is now a time or when would be a good place to begin a position in Caterpillar? Okay, this is a great question because Cat has given up almost everything.

And Jim Appleby is a terrific guy. Here's what you have to do. You have to wait till he reports. You can't jump the gun on this one. Let's say we crash on Monday. We're down 22%. The stock will probably be at 198. I bought it on the day of the crash in 87. It's funny you mention it. But you won't know exactly whether he's buying back stock or he's pulling in his horns until he reports. He's too straight a guy now

to listen to. We can't pull the trigger until he says something. And thank you for your kindness, for your words of encouragement for me. I feel like I didn't work hard enough this week because I didn't say get out now, but that's not what I can do anymore. Anyway, just remember, even a year after Black Monday, we were up on most stocks. So do not panic. I have your back, Craymerica.

Someone has to. Man, tonight, after another day deep in the red, I'm helping Cray America make sense of this part. Hey, for Luxury RH plummeted on the news of the tariffs. You hear that thing about the other day? I got the CEO get a better read on the company's global business in the tariffs. Then I want to look at the possible opportunities for success amid the sell-off. And that's why I'm seeing it. I got one for you. I got an auto parts company that I think you can buy right into this miserable tape. Plus, could a salad chain be a sweet spot in this tape?

Because remember, domestic, no tariffs, people still going to eat. I think it's David Kramer. Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow at Jim Kramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Kramer. Hashtag Mad Mentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneyatcnbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC. Miss something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com.

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On Wednesday night, as President Trump rolled out his MEDAX tariffs, the luxury home goods retailer RH was holding his conference call after reporting a little bit weaker than expected quarter. Stock was rolling over. But once these not-so-reciprocal tariffs were announced, the darn thing got crushed because most of their manufacturing is overseas, especially in countries that now have shockingly high tariffs, like, think Vietnam, China, Indonesia, India, even Europe. It was so ugly that the CEO made, well, let's say he spoke freely. And they

In the end, RH plummeted 40% yesterday, plus a bit more today. Now the stock's down roughly 63% year-to-date. So what happens next? Are just trading like this is an existential crisis for their business? Is that really a concern? It's a great growth company. Or are people simply panicking? Let's talk it over with Gary Friedman. He's the chairman and CEO of RH.

who should be commended for coming on and talking with us during a very tough time for his company and many others in his industry. Although I think he's really in an industry of one, and he is in the arena right now. Mr. Friedman, welcome back to Mad Money. Thanks, Jim. All right, so Gary, I obviously want to start with, take us through Wednesday night and what happened, because it was obviously very different than a typical earnings report that you've given, and it was happening in real time. I'd just like to know what you were thinking. Yeah.

Well, you had to be able to think on the spot, right? I think the tariffs that were announced, while somewhat anticipated, were somewhat shocking at the levels that they were communicated. And what we tried to do, at least what I tried to do, is address the situation as we saw it. And

Look, if you just motor up and say, you know, our company's been operating with 25% tariffs out of China since the last Trump administration. So, tariffs are not a new thing. And we've successfully resourced the majority of China sourcing to Vietnam at significantly better than pre-tariff landed cost pricing. So, we feel like we've been, you know, we're in pretty good shape.

And additionally, we communicated that we've resourced a meaningful amount of China production to our own factory in North Carolina. So, you know, start up there. That's number one. Number two, you know, we communicated and I tried to be direct and honest with our point of view on this is that.

You know, we believe that President Trump is using these significant tariffs to really, really as a negotiating tool to accelerate the negotiations with the intent to improve balanced trade conditions around the world. I think that's the intent of the administration. And quite frankly, I mean, I can't really criticize them for that. I mean, we're kind of happy it's not death by a thousand cuts that

We're not starting with 10% or 20% tariffs and three or four months negotiation goes by, it gets raised, it gets raised again, it gets raised again. It becomes an elongated situation in fact.

If you think what's already happened, I don't know if you're aware, if you saw President Trump's tweet on Truth Social today. Sure. But he just said he had a very productive call with Tho Lam, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who told the president that Vietnam wants to cut their tariffs to zero.

and believe they can make an agreement to do that. Now, do we believe tariffs will go to zero?

They may not, but they may not be 46%. I've worked with you since 2018. You have diligently moved. I mean, you were 46% China and 41% China, then 38, then 35, then 34, then 29, then 22, all the way building up with Vietnam. And I was so proud of you. You listened to what the president wanted and you understood that Vietnam was a better place to

In terms of being a better friend, you did everything you're supposed to do. And then the tariff is like monstrously high on Vietnam. It is. But you've got to even even if it's at 46, you've got to keep it in perspective. OK, we resource product to Vietnam at a better than China pre-tariff pricing. So even if you put 46 percent on top of it, it's is it.

more difficult than you know, then then 25 out of China it is but you're starting in a better price at a better place, right so You know net net to us. It looks like it's about another 20% increase Which is manageable which can be absorbed through, you know, some negotiations with our manufacturing partners with some

higher pricing to the consumer and somewhat minimal impact to our margin structure. Because remember, we sell relatively high priced goods compared to anybody else in the market.

So you've got with with furniture, you have a big landing factor on the goods because you have a big freight cost getting product to America. So at higher prices, even if they are tariffed, you've got leverage on the freight cost. So freight cost is a percentage goes down. Supply chain cost is a percentage goes down. And I think what the market doesn't understand is.

with tariffs is what does it look like through the entire economic model of a company like ours? We've been able to negotiate, to navigate the last tariffs. We can navigate these tariffs even if they're 46 percent. Is it more difficult? It's more difficult. Is it

going to change the outcome of the company? We don't believe so. But at the same time, we also don't believe. We don't believe they're going to be 46%. True. I sure hope they're not. But at the same time, you did talk a lot during the call about the repurchasing you did, about

about what that did to the debt load and what it did to your cash position. I've seen you come through everything. In 2008, I saw everybody else get crushed. You came out and you were stronger. Can it be like that again? Or are you playing it a little bit closer than you like, given your negative free cash flow?

We're perfectly comfortable. Look, Jim, I'm the big shareholder, single biggest shareholder in the company and have 99% of my net worth in our age. So I'm not going to put my own net worth at great risk.

Do we have meaningful debt? I address that on the call. Yes, we do. And it's in my letter. Do we also have tremendous business momentum right now? Yes, we're just up 18% on a 13 versus 13 week basis in the fourth quarter. We're 15 to 25 points ahead of anybody else in our industry. So we have tremendous business momentum and we have significant assets.

We own roughly estimated $500 million in real estate assets that we can monetize as marking conditions warrant when we want to.

We also have brought in incremental inventory basically to de-risk our merchandising transformation and de-risk the potential for tariffs. So we've got, call it $200 million to $300 million at cost of additional inventory we're carrying today. Now, that's not just, you've got to think about cost at retail. You're talking about $600 million to $900 million at

that we can turn into cash and we have less risk in a tariff transition, I believe, than any other retail company of our kind on the planet today. Some people think that extra inventory means we have more risk. It's exactly the opposite.

We've already paid for that inventory. That inventory can be turned into cash. And it also de-risks. It puts us in a position to not have to order immediately while tariffs might be 46 percent or whatever country we're coming out of. It allows us to say, hey, we've got enough inventory to kind of play this game the way we want to play this game. And I don't believe anybody else does. I know, but you taught me also that the stock market matters.

that if the stock market gets killed, there'll be some wealthy people who will pull back. Well, we got killed. They might pull back, Jim, but they also might run to buy furniture if they believe it's going to be more expensive. That's true. I would tell you,

that the last couple of days looks like people are probably running to buy furniture, running to buy cars, and so on and so forth. So it's going to move around a lot. I'd say today we're very comfortable with where we are. We just, in fact, at this moment, I believe we're putting out a press release to kind of give an update on the reciprocal tariffs and our view to kind of reinforce some of the things and add more color.

uh but you know our business to date this quarter uh you know in the rh brand is up 20 percent uh you know our whole competitive field is guiding plus two plus minus two five so you know think about a company of our size

You know, with demand running up 20 percent now. What is your release? I mean, we're not missing any release. I mean, you're not burying it. There's not some big story in the release that's going to come out. I'm going to say, why didn't I ask Gary about that? I thought he liked me.

Well, I'm telling you about it right now. I don't want to take any risk. I'm only telling you. But look, because we went on moments after the Trump tariffs came on,

You know, we're kind of the poster child for tariffs at this moment. Yes. And because we have cleaner disclosures, I believe, than anybody else in the country. We disclose exactly where we're sourcing from, where many people are much more opaque saying, oh, we're sourcing.

you know, we're sourcing the highest percentages, this country or all of Asia, you know, we're very transparent. And so I think our transparency is hurting us a bit. Other people that are more opaque maybe aren't getting hurt as much. You know, people can see we have a meaningful amount of debt based on the fact we bought back $2.2 billion of our stock. And, you know, that's, you know,

understand some of the noise. But the key thing is don't let the noise dilute the truth and their true signal here. This is a company that is growing massively faster than anybody else, that is well positioned to move through this tariff situation, however it plays out.

And some of the debt we have is because we've got two to $300 million more inventory in anticipation of this. So look, I think, you know, I decided to come on today

Because I thought, look, somebody's got to go out there and fight for our shareholders because the press isn't always so kind if you're the first person out talking about it in a conference call like we did. So, yeah, I'm just trying to be clear to everybody. Well, you've got rates going your way. Interest rates are coming down. You didn't even mention it. Interest rates are coming down, which is something – now, your people are richer than worrying about a 6 percent versus 7 percent. But that goes your way in terms of –

The possibility of the worst housing market in 50 years. Maybe we're going to catch a break with mortgages and we get some transactions. Maybe that happens. That that might happen. But honestly, we're somewhat indifferent. We know if we're out, we're outperforming everybody in the worst housing market by a meaningful amount. So I just say, you know, just however the cards play out.

You know, I'd say bet against us at your own risk. But I would like to see, I don't want to bet against President Trump. Maybe President Trump listens to the interview and realizes maybe I should do something this weekend.

Yeah, well, look, I think, like I said, I actually think the whole world's a little shaky about this. We haven't had a leader who's ever moved at this speed with this clarity and who has negotiated at this level. I tell people this is somewhat like the negotiations during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is kind of...

President Kennedy, you know, communicating directly to Khrushchev, you know, but we've got a president that's communicating to the whole world. Right. Right. And he's he's got leverage and he's using leverage. And at the end of the day, it's all going to be really good for a country that has a broken balance sheet and

and needs to balance budgets, needs to fix our balance sheet, I think our economy could come out booming post this period. So the key is to be able to navigate through this. Well, look, you're a gent to come on. You've been the best. You've been with me the whole way since the show started. And yes, I am pulling and rooting for you, but maybe I don't have to because the numbers are good. Thank you, Gary Friedman.

who's the chairman and CEO of RH. It's great to see you. Great. Thank you, Jim. And Khrushchev did blink, didn't he, in the end? He blinked big. He did blink. That was the high water mark of that whole darn operation. Everybody's back after the break.

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We're now two days into this insane new era where we need to come to terms with sky-high tariffs on essentially all imported goods starting next week and most industries as well. And I got to tell you, the market is clearly not ready for it. We all see that. So what do we do? We got to look for new ideas. Some stocks that can work in a truly terrible environment because we're going to try to make money in any market.

Last night, I kicked off the show with a list of sectors that should work in a government mandated slowdown in health care, utilities, phone companies, all price retailers, certain financial technology places with no credit risk. Those were down today. What a great opportunity. That's the way I look at things. I also think the used car dealers win in a world where new cars are becoming a lot more expensive.

It's a good list to come back to, and it's not Mag7, okay? I can say those names. If you want to hear the names Mag7, I can always rattle them off in my head. But I like to talk about new opportunities. I like to talk about money. But we can take that thesis one step further. Some people won't even be able to afford a used car if we're headed for a serious recession, will they? You know what I mean.

Remember, these tariffs will make all sorts of imported stuff more expensive, potentially reigniting inflation. And the Federal Reserve can't bail us out when rate cuts...

They can't do rate cuts when inflation is surging. That's just not in the textbook. So if you can't afford a new car or used car, what the heck are you supposed to do? Simple. You keep driving your old car, even if you need to spend a lot more on maintenance to keep it running. And that's why tonight I want to talk about the auto parts retailers, O'Reilly Automotive and AutoZone. No, it's not Microsoft. OK, no, it's not NVIDIA. These make you money.

These are the two big players in this space. Don't worry, the others will make you money, too. I'll tell you when they will. Now, there used to be a third major player, advanced auto parts, but they've been lost to the wilderness for years and show no signs of making a comeback. We're going to leave that one out.

Honestly, while I think the tariffs on new cars will help these companies by forcing people to stick with their older vehicles, you don't need a special occasion to recommend O'Reilly and AutoZone. They have some of the best track records of outperformance that you'll ever find in any market. Pick any time, any time, one year, three year, five year, 10, 15, 20, over whatever period you choose. These two stocks have drastically outperformed the S&P 500.

And it's not Fisher family. These two both O'Reilly and AutoZone have some of the most beautiful long term stock charts you'll ever see. It's just steady upslopes for basically the past 20 years with very few interruptions along the way.

Full disclosure, the last time these auto parts changed reported, their numbers were technically mixed, but they mostly look pretty good to me. First, O'Reilly Automotive reported in early February and delivered a big same-store sales beat with a smaller overall total revenue beat. I care about same-stores more than I care about total. Their earnings came in a little light, but that was really entirely because of a self-insurance reserve adjustment that was very hard to understand.

O'Reilly's a little unique in that, unlike the vast majority of publicly traded companies, they don't report adjusted earnings, just the gap numbers, which is the only reason this looked like an earnings miss. Had it been adjusted, you would have said, wow.

However, O'Reilly's full-year forecast was clearly below expectations, with in-line same-store sales, and we couldn't expect their earnings. Now, that doesn't scare me. Why? Because these guys always issue low-ball guidance, which is one of the reasons why the stock barely got hit at the time. In fact, even with the market-wide meltdown, including the horrific last two days, this stock's still up double digits for the year. How many other stocks do you have that are like that? As for AutoZone, long my favorite.

They reported early last month. AutoZone also had strong same-store sales with an earnings miss. The problem? Unlike O'Reilly, AutoZone has some international exposure with hundreds of stores in Mexico and a little over 100 more in Brazil. Now, that international business hammered them this past quarter largely because of currency fluctuations, but the core business in North America, very solid.

Now, AutoZone doesn't give formal guidance, but management sounds very confident about its outlook going forward. With CEO Phil Daniel saying, and I'm going to quote him, we are excited about our momentum heading into the back half of the fiscal year and we are all well prepared for our spring and summer selling season, end quote. So the stock got a nice 2% pop on the news and it kept running until today when the whole market went into a tailspin. But AutoZone is still up 5% since the quarter and 14% for the year.

Now, some of our sharp viewers may say, wait a second, isn't Trump placing tariffs on auto parts, too? And aren't auto parts made in China? Oh, yeah, there's a 25 percent tariff on imported auto parts. That's the same rate as imported cars, although the auto parts tariffs don't go into effect until May 3rd. Still, even with tariffs on auto parts, I like O'Reilly and AutoZone because automobiles and auto parts are two very different markets.

Buying a new car is usually a discretionary purchase. But buying a used car, buying used car auto parts and new car auto parts. Wait a second. That's a necessity. People will be willing to pay up because the alternative is your car won't start. Consumers will eat the 25 percent price increase on auto parts because they have no choice. They need them to have their car work. Let me make one more point about these two auto parts change. And this is the most important one.

For years, O'Reilly and AutoZone have been such huge winners because these two companies are gigantic repurchasers of their own stock.

For O'Reilly, its share count peaked in 2011. Since then, they've shrunk the number of shares by nearly 60%. AutoZone's been doing this for even longer. It's one of the reasons why I've recommended this stock since, literally, since the show started. They started getting aggressive with buybacks in 1998. Since then, their share count has shrunk by a remarkable 90%. That's right, 9-0. They had 152 million shares in 1998. They now have less than 17 million shares. In the past 20 years alone, AutoZone's share count is down almost 80%.

It's like these companies are kind of, I always say, slowly taking themselves private. Hey, by the way, both the big auto parts chains have buyback authorizations in place right now. So if they get hit because of this crazy market, they'll probably be in there buying. O'Reilly has roughly $2.3 billion left in its authorization. O'Reilly has $1.3 billion. And that's why I love these companies. Even if their stocks end up getting hit at any given time, you can count on them to be buying their own shares right there alongside you.

So here's the bottom line on these two terrific stories on a day when everyone's worried about the Mag 7 and all the rest of the nonsense. We're looking for new groups that work in this horrifying new environment. It's slim figures out there, I can tell you that. But there's still some good opportunities that you can make money in any marks with.

And those include O'Reilly Automotive and AutoZone, which should benefit as consumers who can't afford new cars anymore are forced to extend the life of their old ones. Like I said at the top of every show, there's always a bull market somewhere, and I keep trying to find it just for you. Right now, I'm committed to trying to find the bull market opportunities wherever they are in this red tape because we can make money in any market, you and me.

One place I think you could look is the auto parts retailers. They're growth stories and they buy back a lot of stock. I'll take that any day of the week. Much more mad money ahead. Including my look at the state of the consumer with Sweet Greens top brass. We're going to find out whether people are still going to Alabama. Of course they are. Then what should be the game plan in the Oval Office for the markets? Massive move lower that they've caused. I'm telling you where I stand on the tariff talk from Washington. Of course, all your calls rapid fire. Tonight's just a little lighting. We will find ways to make money. Stable Kramer.

Look, I know the market's a nightmare, OK? So do you. But there are a couple of companies that have minimal tariff exposure and do fine in recessions. Stocks are selling off just like everything else. That seems wrong to me. Take Sweetgreen, health conscious, salad oriented chain with about 250 locations across the U.S. Look, the stock's been hammered as part of the market wide sell off. It's down another 7 percent today. This thing was trading at $45. It's high in November. It's now at $20 and changed.

Now, this company is not sitting on its laurels. It is doing things to expand and it's not impacted by political issues or the deficit or anything in Washington other than the founders went to Georgetown. They're on the front line of the American consumer and we've got to fight on the front lines to do it. So let's take a closer look with Jonathan Neiman. He's the co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. Find out. Mr. Neiman, welcome back to Mad Money. Always great to be with you. Thank you, John. Now, one of the things I've been thinking about.

is that there are two kinds of companies in this country. There's the companies that cater to domestic consumers and are doing a pretty good job. And then there's the ones that moved overseas, and those are the ones we have to worry about. When I look at Sweetgreen, I think it's a company that if it does a new loyalty program,

If it has a new French fry, if it does something exciting like infinite kitchen, it still matters. And we shouldn't just be thinking, oh, woe is me, China. Oh, woe is me, Vietnam. We're doing fine. Is that a reasonable assumption in your mind about what sweet greens up to?

I think that's largely right, Jim. We're very focused on just playing our game, focusing on the fundamentals and taking care of our customers. So we started this business almost 18 years ago with the simple vision of redefining fast food and just serving healthy, delicious food to communities.

And we're going to ride the waves. There's a lot of turmoil in the markets right now. There's a lot of things going on. But luckily, our businesses here in the US, all 250 company-owned locations, and again, just focus on delighting our guests by serving really, really delicious food and continuing to innovate with a number of the things you talked about, like our new ripple fries.

that came out a couple weeks ago, our loyalty program that launched just this week, and our rollout of the Infinite Kitchens. So, I mean, this totally fits my thesis, which is that

People who want to give up on the stock market don't realize that it's a market of stocks. And there's a company like Sweetgreen that has a game plan. And that game plan is not necessarily impacted by what is happening every minute in the market. But it could be impacted by huge inflation in terms of your raw costs. It doesn't seem like inflation is eating that much into what you do.

Listen, it's a very fluid situation. Luckily, we have a mostly domestic supply chain. But of course, these sorts of moves can impact prices. They can impact consumers. So we're watching things very, very carefully. We're trying to be super disciplined. But again, it just forces us to sharpen our focus. When the waters get a little rough, all that we can do is just be more disciplined and

execute better. And that's all we can do right now. So focus on providing the best value for our customers on the food we serve, continue to innovate, you know, just put out delicious food that is healthy, open great, great new restaurants and manage our costs as best we can. And so, you know, I think we're better situated than most, but

but it's a very, you know, as we're all seeing, it's a very, very fluid situation. At the same time, it's not like you're just sitting back and saying, let's hope things go okay. You put in a loyalty program. I've always felt that companies that don't have loyalty programs that are in your, in your industry, just haven't thought through the new kind of value conscious consumer. And it's everyday value. It isn't like they wake up today and say, Ooh, well, man, the market's really bad. I'm suddenly caring about value. They're going

to look at your place and say, look, he's got a certain deal. Sweetgreen's got a deal. I don't know. Is it as good as another deal? And they think like that. That's the new consumer. How did you configure your loyalty programs?

So our loyalty program was thought about of how do we create a program that can provide very simple construct rewards for everyone. $1 gets you 10 points, and you have different point tiers to earn different things, but also layer on some special things around community and recognizing our best customers. So there's a lot of surprise and delight built in, including a special tier we call the goat tier, the greenest of all time. So our best customers will be put into this goat tier.

And then there's the personalized one-to-one marketing piece. So what it allows us to do is really kind of leverage our CRM and offer rewards to customers on an individual basis, get to know them, know what their eating behaviors are, what their likes and dislikes are, and market to them directly in a one-to-one way. And we think, given the digital penetration of the brand,

We're looking at over 50% of our businesses is digitally connected. It gives us a huge opportunity to leverage that data to better market to our consumers. The beauty of the sweet green bowl is how habitual it is. So we just want to play on that habituation because you feel good when you eat it and you just want to eat more.

Well, you know what? I'm glad you came on because I wanted to hear something other than the fact that the president did this or that and companies had to do this or that because I really think it's vital for people to realize some companies have a little more control over their destiny than others. And that, I think, is what you have. Jonathan Neiman is the co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. Delighted to speak to you today.

It's a delight to have someone who's got something good to say on a day like today. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. I've got to say, people have got to eat, right? Oh, they always do. Isn't that terrific? Everybody's back after the break. Thank you. Coming up, Kramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast-fire lightning round. Next. Next.

It is time. It's time for the Light Round. And then the Lighting Round is over. Are you ready to keep that light on? Let's start with Bruno in Massachusetts. Bruno. Jim, I'd like your take on Archer Aviation, which recently... A little too speculative. A little too speculative. We're not going to recommend Sox. We're losing money in this kind of environment. Let's go to Jerry in New Jersey. Jerry.

Hey, Jim, how you doing? I'm doing good. I go out and I buy an American ship company, BFF. What's going on? Well, the problem is, is they make small. They do not make the latest and greatest. And that's the problem. Taiwan Semi does. And no one wants to touch that stock either. So don't feel bad. Let's go to Roger in Arkansas. Roger. Thank you for everything you do for us, Jim. Thank you, Roger.

So buy, sell, or hold. And what price should I buy ORI at? Right here. ORI is a winner. It's a terrific situation. Let me throw in Chubb. I like that, too. How about Kevin in New York? Kevin. Hey, Kramer. I am here with my 13-year-old son, Mason. Excellent. Who has his own portfolio. And he also has a Roth that he contributes to. Okay. Hi, Jim. Nathan, how you been, buddy?

So, Jim, a couple of months back, you said that you might like this stock if it came down enough to have a 7% yield.

Well, right now it's at almost 9%. So what do you think of Dow Chemical? Yes or no? 9%. See, I looked at that today. There were a bunch of guys who cut the price targets. I said to myself, wow, 9%. That is no longer a go. When something's that outside the yield, I have to take a pass because it means that there's something awry. And thank you to Ethan Tu for listening up. Let's go to Henry in Colorado. Henry.

Hey, Jim, I'd like to get your thoughts on the impact that you think that these impending tariffs will have on Danaher, DHR. Danaher is a stock that I wish I did not own for my travel trust. I keep hoping for the best, which would mean that Mr. Blair would be able to spend more time with his family because he is the CEO. And right now, I think that he's not doing an appropriate job. I am concerned that next day I'll wake up on Monday and find that the Chinese have taken him out.

So let's just say that there's a way to be able to manage your business. I saw this with Estee Lauder. Same thing. Great company. Didn't do it right. Time to step up. Dana, her board. Let's see. Let's see a pulse. OK, I'd like to speak to Logan in Wisconsin. Logan. Oh, yeah. Jim. Oh, yeah.

Looking for your thoughts on Robinhood stock. Okay, I like Robinhood very much, but the problem is that when it had this big spike where things looked like we're going to have a president that was a little more pro-markets, I would own the stock. I would not buy it right here. I think the stock has another 15% to 20% downside before we really find exactly where it can be bottoming. Raymond in Massachusetts. Raymond. Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Kramer, and thank you for taking my call. Thank you for calling. Okay.

Okay. You said a while ago to keep an eye on Lyondell Bissell, ticker LYD. And I have been. And I'm wondering if, one, if you see the company is stable and its dividend is stable,

And would you recommend accumulating some shares? Here's the problem. This and I'm going to do it, too, for this and Dow. They need China to get stronger. They need worldwide growth. And we've got China getting weaker. We've got worldwide weakness. And that's unfortunately makes it so we can't take we can't take some down. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the lightning round. The lightning round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

There's a path, a way out of this box, as I said at the top of the show.

The president is fixated on the long term when he talks about trillions of dollars that the tariffs will bring in. He says the tariffs will allow us to fund both tax cuts and a lower budget deficit. Putting aside whether that's going to be true or not, I don't think we have the full luxury right now of focusing on the potential long-term benefits because the short term is a horror show. These tariffs are incoherent and enormous and not at all reciprocal, which is why they triggered a needless firestorm.

It's almost like President Trump wanted to be as dramatic as possible. He's producing a TV show rather than running the country, right? He's supposed to be through the roof. But in the stock market, we don't want Trump. We don't want a TV show. We want a president who can get things done besides rolling over law firms, which he certainly could do, and ideally not throw the economy in recession or save it. The Hamid way the president ordered these tariffs, which, by the way, are larger than the Smoot-Hawley tariffs that arguably did help cause the Great Depression, was bonkers. Here's what I care about.

I don't want there to be a crash in the stock market, not on Monday, not Tuesday night, ever. I don't think the president wants one either, but he doesn't seem to be worried about it. He should be worried because we're a nation of people who are trying to save for retirement, and the stock market's the best way. Americans should not have their savings sacrificed on the order of long-term benefits, especially when he could have lowered the boom on our trading partners without causing all this disruption.

And remember, I am a hardliner on trade, harder than pretty much everyone. I don't like globalists. If the White House had rolled out genuinely reciprocal tariffs as opposed to whatever the heck he did, then our government could have started the process of rejiggering the world order.

The president called it an operation. Patient will be well and he will have trillions. I disagree. I think the patient is now touch and go and is in real trouble because of the ill-considered surgery. Sure, the Fed has the ability to lower rates. That's great. Yes, Treasuries are going in the right direction. We could see great maybe housing recover, great unemployment. Oil is going down, too. But with the exception of the employment number, these are all signs of an impending recession.

Consider everything that's going wrong here. First, the stock market isn't working right at all. Look at the stock of private equity companies. They're being killed because they own a lot of highly levered businesses that they were planning to bring public under President Trump. People are worried that those IPOs won't happen anymore. The market's so ugly. If we want to get out of this mess, we need some signs that the president understands the need for a functioning market. We just saw today Klarna, Chime, and StubHub pause their IPOs. Very bad. Second, Trump needs to recognize that we may have strong employment now, but that won't be the case in the future.

which is what matters. He has to focus on what can happen in the shorter term, too, not just the longer term. It's part of the job. We don't elect our leaders for just long term in this country. If you can't deliver in the short term, too, your party's toast. Third, he needs to be more constructive toward the countries that genuinely want to do deals like Israel and Vietnam. Why not? In Trump's first term, the administration was encouraging manufacturers to move from China to Vietnam, as you heard with RH tonight. Those companies need our help now.

It's so ironic. The president's always talking about the working people who lost their jobs in the order of free trade. And that is true. And that's what makes me not a globalist. But how about the workers in current jobs will be laid off because of the crushing tariffs? Why is there no recognition of them? I'm not a free trader, but even unfair trade is better than no trade.

The president needs to make a commitment this weekend to help companies that would want to avoid the tariffs. He needs to call world leaders and say that they can roll back some of the tariffs that he's putting on them. But they got to play ball. Mr. President, don't cause a crash. It will be your legacy and it can easily be avoided. I got an idea. Just bring back the art of the deal. I like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise I'll find it just for you right here on Mad Money. I'm Jim Cramer and I will see you on Monday.

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