Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 12/12/24
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Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to the Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. I'll be with my friends. I'm just trying to make a little money. My job is not just to entertain, but to explain what the heck is going on. So call me at 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Kramer. We had a thrill today on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when the president-elect Donald Trump came to celebrate being named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for the second time.

The market may have yawned that Dallas is sinking 234 points as it be declining 0.5%. Now it's not losing 0.66%. But there was no yawning when he was talking with an upbeat message about business in our country. Now, I'm well aware that Trump's views on business aren't in play every day here.

We had lots of good stocks that really got pounded today. Trump himself wasn't going to give you the green light to buy stocks. I'll have more about my interview with the president-elect later in the show. But if you listen to this interchange, you'll understand that he's not just a cheerleader. What can you say to the working person who owns stocks? Should they buy more stocks?

Well, I don't want to get into a situation where they do and we have a dip or something, because that can always happen. You know that better than anybody in the world, probably. I think you're the leading authority in going up and going down, but you always end up. He always ends up. That's the good news.

Look, but there's something to be said about optimism toward business, and that is what I saw today. Hey, look, love him or hate him, Trump's unabashed love for business makes it easier to be a good investor because investors do need staying power. It's tough out there. You have to be able to own stocks through thick and thin if you're trying to make big money in the market, and you do like owning stocks more when your companies aren't being prosecuted regularly for being too powerful.

Of course, Trump's pro-business attitude won't matter every day. There's no way the president can expand the gross margins for Adobe or tell you to ignore the guidance for the next quarter, which was perceptibly weaker, sending the stock down 75 points or 13%. Adobe either has to lower prices to compete or come up with something that makes it clearly superior to its rivals. No amount of presidential optimism is going to fix that.

He's not going to send the stock of Chevron when he says that there'll be much more oil production, that it'll make up for whatever inflation we have in the system. We know that oil execs saw their stocks get clobbered when they overproduced during Trump's first administration. They eventually got disciplined about pumping, but the results didn't kick in until the Biden administration. Yes, ironically, the oils thrived during the Biden regime, which was sincerely hostile to fossil fuels.

especially with that moratorium on approvals of new liquefied natural gas exports. But my takeaway from Trump's unabashed pro-oil and gas stance is that America's become such an important part of the oil equation that we can truly bring down the price with our own overproduction. After the very hot producer price index numbers he got this morning, which really hurt the stock market, I found it a welcome word. We don't want inflation to heat up. We can use oil down 10 bucks pronto.

But there was something reassuring about the president-elect coming to the New York Stock Exchange that was just like when President Reagan came to ring the opening bell back on March 28th, 1985. You know, I remember the occasion. I was at Goldman Sachs, probably about 200 yards from here. And when it happened, I marveled that a president was so comfortable ringing the opening bell. His predecessor, Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter, he didn't think much of the stock market. A lot like Joe Biden.

Reagan embraced the market, though, and it made you want to go buy something. And it was a halcyon time to buy. I know that's simplistic. I know. But ringing the bell is a big deal because it's simple being simpatico with Wall Street, which actually helps again to invest. Coincidentally, we had a huge IPO today, Service Titan, which makes enterprise software for regular people, for tradespeople. Again, Trump had nothing to do with it. But if you got some of the IPO at $71, well, you're now up 42%.

Call it ethereal, but it mattered with Reagan and it matters with Trump, too. How will this new president pan out once he's installed in the White House? Listen to this. Any company that spends $1 billion in this country will be rewarded with lightened regulation. A lot of incentives are going to be given. You saw yesterday a billion dollar investment that we give you very fast approvals. Nobody's come up with that one yet, although it seems pretty simple. I think you're going to have some great days ahead.

Of course, even with the president's backing, it's insanely hard to build things in this country. We're a nation of due process, which means important constituents can use the legal system to delay just about anything. But that's not the point. What matters is that we're about to have a president who's the corner man for business. Even if he singles out some actors who he thinks are doing the wrong things, he favors higher stock prices. Just like Reagan, who famously said he wanted the bears to be in permanent hibernation.

Sounds strange, but that matters. We never saw Joe Biden on the floor of the stock exchange, did we? From my dealings with him from the old Kudlow and Kramer days on CNBC, a political business show, he simply didn't care about the market. Hey, many don't. Given that my whole ethos is about trying to get regular people to be rich via the stock market, I always viewed Biden's view as needlessly antithetical to creating wealth.

Would it have been so hard for Biden to come to the New York Stock Exchange and ring the opening bell? Would it have been so hard?

I think the answer would have been yes, absolutely. It would have been too hard. The legacy of this departing president could have been that he helped create wealth for the huge number of people in this country through their savings, their 401ks, their IRAs, their pensions. The average has certainly demonstrated that. He could have laid claim to it. Tens of millions of people benefited from the market during his tenure. But then Biden would have been able to be true to his assistant attorney general for antitrust, hammering of...

Apple, hammering Alphabet. He would have been on the other side of the trade from the FTC's endless harassment of Amazon and its recent investigation of Microsoft. More importantly, it might have threatened his self-image as a champion of the working man. Or to put it another way, here's what I heard when I walked on the floor this morning. Stocks went up these last four years despite Biden, despite him. If they go up the next four years, they will, at least in part, do so because of Trump, if only because he's willing to take the credit.

Here's the bottom line. Biden continually underestimated the sheer number of people who built trillions of dollars in wealth in these last four years. So, by the way, to Vice President Harris, Trump embraced the investing class from day one. Politically, that's not always a slam dunk. But today, like that shiny hill day in 1985, when Reagan stood up here, right there.

It's a reminder that the Trump White House will be very much in favor of higher stock prices, and that makes it easier to invest. As far as I'm concerned, that's great for the stock market, even if today was a suboptimal session that will mean absolutely nothing in the great long term. Let's go to John in Kentucky. John. Hey, Jim. This is John.

I've got a question for you about Lindy Corporation, symbol LIN, an industrial gas producer. They also have a green hydrogen unit. It's only about 10% of their profits right now.

They're spending a goodly portion of their CapEx on it. They're scheduled to grow at over 10% for the next few years. But I'm worried about the stock, even though after seeing them on your program and doing some research and buying the stock, I'm up 80%, and I really like that. But with the changing administration and the de-emphasis on stocks,

the renewables, what do you think that should do with the stock? Well, John, I got to tell you, Millennium is an industrial company and industrials do go up when rates go down. You're right. Look, the stock's been weak this year. It's not what I want. However, it's been a great long-term producer. And let's remember that this company has not had the luxury of having any volume growth yet. That's going to happen in 2025.

Stay long, Lindy, just like we do for the Chappell Trust. Got a lot of talking next week about that when we do our sit down and we do our club call. Anyway, President-elect Trump has embraced the investing class. Hate him or like him.

He's done it. As far as I'm concerned, that is great for the stock market long term. On Mad Money Tonight, after having a chance to interview President-elect Trump on the floor here, I'm sharing more of my key takeaways about where the market stands under a second Trump presidency. Ted Lowe's is firing on all cylinders. I sat down with the company's top branch right over here in Brooklyn. And Under Armour founder's back. Yes, that's right. Kevin Plank. He is at the helm of the iconic sportswear brand. And we're going to hear how he's preparing to right the ship. So stay with us.

Cramer. Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow at Jim Cramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Cramer. 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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When I broke into the journalism business about five decades ago, I was notorious for my willingness to get in front of people's faces. It's not a quality this former crime reporter easily forgets. So when I found myself sneaking behind the vice president-elect Vance to get to the president-elect Trump, it was a little like the 1977 vintage Jim Cramer.

When you get in front of the president, you don't punt. I had my list of 25 questions logged into my head. They tumbled out chaotically. But Trump said things in response that needed to be gone over because they matter to the market. They matter to you. So let me annotate these responses to help Americans understand what this moment means for your portfolio. First, how about Trump's invitation to companies to come here and create new business?

I think you're going to see some very good days ahead. A lot of incentives are going to be given. You saw yesterday a billion-dollar investment that we give you very fast approvals. Nobody's come up with that one yet, although it seems pretty simple. I think you're going to have some great days ahead.

This one reminded me of how difficult President Biden made for companies who wanted to build liquefied natural gas terminals here, biggest projects in the country. Well, at any consultation, he declared this bizarre moratorium on the permitting of LNG plants. Speaking of wars, LNG exports would have been the best way to push back against Russia's influence in Europe because all of these countries are addicted to Russian natural gas. Next, Trump said a lot about taxes. Comments like this.

We're going to do things, I think, that haven't been really done before. We're going to be cutting taxes still further. You know, we got it down to 21 percent. We're going to bring it down even below that. You pay 21 if you don't build here and meaning your product or whatever it is you're building. And if you do, we're going to try getting it down to 15 percent. But you have to build your product, make your product in the USA. The numbers aren't as relevant as the fact that he's talking about corporate taxes being cut. We're

Regardless of where you stand on that policy, if you own stocks, it's good news for your portfolio. More profits for companies means more profits for you. I know a lot of you care a great deal about crypto, so listen to this one. We're going to do something great with crypto because we don't want China or anybody else, not just China, but others are embracing it and we want to be the head. We're going to be a head of AI.

Here's a president that senses opportunity in crypto and AI. Now, you need to know that behind the scenes were many people who worked in finance who told me that if we didn't go all in crypto, eventually it would go somewhere else and America wouldn't have an edge. More importantly, we wouldn't have any ability to control the crypto ecosystem. If you own crypto or you want to buy some, I found that positive and reassuring. Trump had two things to say about China. First, this.

We're having a lot of talks with China. We have a good relationship with China. I have a surprising relationship. Now, when the COVID came in, I sort of cut it off. That was a step too far. That was, as they say, a bridge too far. But we've been talking and discussing with President Xi some things and others, other world leaders, and I think we're going to do very well all around.

This was in response to my concern that the Chinese could try to block us from getting product from Taiwan, like the chips Taiwan Semi makes for NVIDIA. I was pretty surprised that he said he had a good relationship with China. Made me feel somewhat reassured that existential worry about NVIDIA and Taiwan Semi could be taken off the table. But then we got this.

We've been abused as a country. We've been badly abused from an economic standpoint, I think, and even militarily. You know, we put up all the money, they put up nothing, and then they abuse us on the economy. And we just can't let that happen. We're not going to be abused anymore. We put America first, but we're also going to help other countries.

So while the president-elect is saying good things about the relationship with China, the Chinese government should not be, and better not be, complacent about our relationship between our countries. I felt a little chilly, but maybe that's what we should be expecting when we're talking about two superpowers with huge nuclear arsonists. Finally, we heard about the Magnificent Seven, or at least their derivatives. Mark Zuckerberg's been over to see me, and I can tell you Elon is another, and Jeff Bezos is coming up next week.

I know it's just a morsel, but this is a reminder that the Trump White House wants to listen to business leaders. We made news actually with the Bezos stuff. He's not willing to shun these leaders. He wants to sit down with them. He's willing to sit down with CEOs without fearing embarrassment and the disdain of his own party. He's even breaking bread with someone who he really did not get along with. Go back to what he first did when he came in with Amazon and Jeff Bezos.

As an investor, I favor a president who consults with big business over one who seems to enjoy watching endless prosecutions and inquiries against the companies that my charitable trust happens to own. And you probably do, too.

Am I just being prurient? No. Here's the bottom line. Dialogue is reassuring. Not talking is forbidding. Reassuring can still lead to oppositional stances, but it's more likely going to lead to reasoning. And reasoning is good for business, good for the country, and yes, good for your portfolio. And Mad Money is back after the break. Coming up. Looks like Christmas came early. We're here at Lowe's in Brooklyn talking to Marvin Ellison, the CEO. We're examining this economy from the ground up.

When you check out at the pharmacy, you see the journey from idea to medicine, thanks to our intellectual property system, or IP for short. IP safeguards inventions, like a new way to prevent seizures or lower cholesterol. And IP supports competition from other brands, then lower-cost generics, which are 90% of prescriptions filled in the U.S. Innovation, competition, lower costs, thanks to IP.

Learn more at phrma.org/ipworkswonders.

Are you ready to elevate your trading skills? Discover the power of day trading equities with Trade2Target. Whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your strategies, Trade2Target offers training tailored just for you. Learn from industry experts, access cutting-edge tools, and join a community of passionate traders. Our live daily sessions teach you in real time as the market moves. Our easy-to-follow courses cover everything from the basics to advanced techniques, helping you gain valuable insights by watching our expert traders apply strategies in real market conditions.

We'll see you next time.

Position yourself to succeed in the next economic downturn by simply trading for an hour when the market opens, then enjoying the rest of your day. Visit T2TMadMoney.com today and start your journey toward financial success. That's T2TMadMoney.com. T2TMadMoney.com.

Well, I guess you know where I was today. Yes, the Brooklyn store of Lowe's with the chairman and CEO of Lowe's, Marvin Ellison. We sat down to talk about pretty much everything from tech to the Fed to housing turnover and to what it looks like to go to a beautiful store. Take a look. Marvin, you're at my Lowe's and you and I know that. And it's been a journey since the day you took over seven years. Give me the run here.

Well, Jim, it's great to be here with you in Brooklyn. I remember we had lunch that day. I came to the store for the first time a little over six years ago, and this store has been transformed. That's beautiful. And as we discussed, we've transformed it with people, with product, and with technology.

A lot of the technology that we had no idea at that time that we needed because the previous management didn't really understand that retail is about technology, technology that makes the associates' jobs easier and the customer experience better. And so, man, I'm just, I'm

I'm grateful and I'm proud to be here with you today. Well, you should be, and there are certain milestones of what you've done. I remember when the pro did not want to come here. The percentage of pro that you have from when you took over is extraordinary. So six years ago, the pro penetration of this store was about 20%. Now it's close to 50%.

And so what that tells us is that A, we put the right product in place. Number two, we put the right people in place and we put the systems in place like our rewards program. It gives the customers a reason to come back. And so for an urban store like a store in Brooklyn, if you don't have a pro penetration that starts with a four or five, then it's really hard to get the frequency and get the productivity. And so we are pleased, and this is a model,

for what we're building around the company. - And I think that one of the things you're doing, when you take Pro, you are taking Share, and you're doing it with perpetual product improvement, including things like the speed, the time, the way the aisles work. How do they get in and get out? 'Cause time is so precious for them. - It is, Jim. And so the one thing that we figured out early on is that we had to find a productivity loop.

And so we call it PPI. It's our initiative to look at ways we can make every asset and every aspect of the store run better, from labor management to pricing to cost out to supply chain. And that's all driven primarily through technology. I mean, we have some great innovation that's in this store. We redesigned the front ends. We redesigned our labor management system that's activity-based.

by department, by day, by day of the week to make sure that we're putting the associates where they need to be to drive customer service. And that helps to create a frictionless customer experience, which is what it's all about. Well, I want people to know it's just not for show. We could talk about Vision Pro, but I love this Nudge program that you've got with NVIDIA, which makes it so checkout's good, but also it helps shrink too.

It does. You know, we were one of the retailers that continued to expand self-checkout when other retailers were pulling back because they were concerned, you know, with the shrinkage. And one of the things that we determined that you could use, you know, this nudge technology by using cameras and also AI

type of interfaces that reminded the customers of what they did and did not scan. And you would be amazed at the effectiveness at that technology. And now we're testing something else that we're calling Dwell. We put cameras around the store, we put heat maps around the store, and we can determine where customers are versus where our associates are located. And then we can then

alert an associate there's a customer that's dwelling in an area that may need customer service and we can help that associate to get there a lot faster so our partnerships with computer vision with nvidia with palantir and even with open ai

has been really remarkable. And we're working on some really, really cool initiatives that we'll be rolling out next year. At the same time, you still are hostage to some degree. You've been talking about how it is a moment where there's some people hurting. You do Lowe's Essentials. We got to talk about that. But also just in terms of housing turnover, which you need, it's not happening yet. When can it happen and what will it mean to Lowe's bottom line?

So just as a data point, we have the lowest housing turnover since the mid-1990s. It's going on right now. We call it the lock-in effect, where roughly half of the country has a mortgage rate of 4% or less. And so you're not really incentivized to put your house on the market. So we're stagnated. So we do need housing turnover to start to happen. But also, Jim, the thing that we're happy about is that you have

Good disposable personal income is now rising faster than inflation. Your houses are the oldest they've been in since record keeping was available. And so we feel good about the fact that the homeowner is economically healthy, but we still have a consumer confidence issue. We have a turnover issue and we still have consumers that are feeling the pain of inflation and interest rates.

And so when the macro environment frees up a bit, you'll see turnover happen. And when that happens, it's gonna be like a tailwind to our business and other business that's dependent on housing. - People have to understand that when the Fed cuts rates, it's meaningful to business. You have a lot of money locked up in homes.

I would have to believe as rates come down, you might see some of those people take out, say, home equity loans and come here and do what they have to do to be able to make the price great. So the data point is you have $35 trillion in home equity in the marketplace right now, and it's literally frozen.

And so what we predict, we don't know when it's gonna happen, but you're right. You're gonna have people that's gonna tap into that home equity and they're gonna do things like remodeling their kitchen, putting in new flooring, redoing their bathrooms. And the good thing is, Jim, we've made investments over the last five years

to put in best-in-class showrooms for flooring, kitchens, bath, appliances, because we know that when that cycle happens, from a macroeconomic perspective, we want to be ready for it. We don't want to be chasing it. But we also have been working, as you know, just on the technology infrastructure.

our digital infrastructure, our IT infrastructure. And so we're in a really good position when the market starts to inflect. We think we're going to be positioned to take share. But in the interim, you're not wasting time. You're helping people. You're giving people every... The democratization that Lowe's offers, when you do something like Lowe's Essentials, you are appealing to people who have every bill... They want to do their home, but they've been priced out. That's right.

Yeah, that's right. We basically decided that we're going to create a new private brand called Lowes Essentials that's going to give our customers a great value but also great quality at a value. So rather than having a customer having to go to a dollar store environment or even a mass merchant for a lower price point,

home goods item, we're gonna create our own brand that's gonna create that opening price point, that cart starter to get them to come in. So we're really excited about it. Our merchants and I talked about this a few months ago, asking the question, how can we be a better opening price point

retailer for home improvement and they took the lead and we created this Losey Central brand that's going to be rolling out next year and we're very excited about it. Same time you've done a lot rural, you've also come in, I mean I like what you're doing, Carhartt, workwear. And you're competitive pricing with some of the other companies that offer this. For sure, for sure. You know what's interesting Jim is, and you know I,

I spent four years at JCPenney and it was an incredible learning experience and I met some of the best people in the retail world during that time, but I also built some relationships and Carhartt was one of those relationships. - Oh, okay. - And so when I came over here, we opened the door up and asked them would they be willing to work with us. We started online and now we've started to put it in the store and what surprised me

is that we thought this will definitely work in the rural environment. And then I come to find out that one of our best Carhartt stores in the company is Brooklyn. Brooklyn? Right here.

And we just decided to put it in just to see what would happen in an urban environment. And so we found out that oftentimes with all the fancy data we have, we get the customer wrong. And so now we've determined that this is not a rural brand, this is a consumer brand. And so now we're expanding Carhartt, we're expanding PET, we're expanding automotive across the entire company in addition to our rural locations. And again, we have Wrangler,

We have Lee. So we have other brands along with Carhartt that we're really excited about that's helping our pros and our DIY consumers get into workwear. And it eliminates one trip that they would make. They don't have to go to the other place in here. No, they do not.

They can come here, they can get those goods, and then they can get their home improvement goods at the same shopping trip. Okay, now, people don't know about you. You're a humble person, and you're also not going to brag, but I will tell you that I think your hiring of vets is unparalleled, and I think it's because you believe in vets as being great business people.

For sure, Jim. Jim, we have 26,000 current or ex-veterans working for us right now. For everybody watching this broadcast, if you're in a Lowe's store and you see one of our associates wearing a camouflage vest, that is a vet. And so we are proud of them. They bring a work ethic, they bring a love for this country and a love for their fellow associates like no other associate population we have. So we are extremely proud of them. And we're proud to be a company U.S.-based

all of our revenue is driven in the U.S. that we can support our vets because they need it. And we also philanthropically, I mean, the veteran population is one of our largest areas of philanthropy. And we offer this 10% discount with very few restrictions year round for our vets because we want to say that we appreciate it. All right, last thing.

I got to get, like many other people, I got to get, in this case, my wife, some Christmas presents from the store. What is hot? What should I buy? Well, look, you can always, we got the best assortment of appliances, so I'm taking you high first. Who are you? So we got some of the best appliances. We got every brand. We're the only retail in the U.S. that can do next-day delivery in almost every zip code in the country and install for an appliance. So appliances are big.

Tools are really big. I mean, this is a time of year where you can't go wrong with our tool brand. So we got to take you over there. And again, anything that has to do with the home gym, whether it's grills, whether it's outdoor power equipment, I mean, you're in the right place. We can take care of all of your needs. Well, I got to take a break here, but let's go do some buying. Marvin Ellison, Chairman, President and CEO of Lowe's. Thank you so much. It's a joke. Thank you.

Coming up, sometimes this market feels like a battle. So is it the right time to invest in some Under Armour? Kramer is going one-on-one with the CEO. Next.

Can Under Armour finally make a sustainable comeback now that its founder is back for a second stint as CEO? Today, the company hosted Investor Day here in New York City. I want you to get the same insight as the professionals at the meeting, maybe even better. So let's go straight to the source with Kevin Plank, the founder and president and CEO of Under Armour, an old friend of the show. I'm glad to have you back on the show. Mr. Plank, good to see you. Jim, it's great to be here. Thank you. Okay.

When you came back, I said, I called you. I said, I want you to come on. And you said, no, I'm not coming on until I have the correct story to tell because the facts are in our favor. I begged again. I said, I'll come down there. Don't worry about it. Today is a day where you feel like you can talk. Yeah.

Step back into the chair, April 1st. So in the last eight months, what we've been able to accomplish, A, just get our arms around the business. And it's pretty simple. It's going back to basics in many ways of just under-refining itself. You know, we've done a number of things from, you know, in the first three weeks, we cut 25% of our SKUs. It's an ambition we have in the next 18 months.

We reset our workforce a little bit. We made some really difficult decisions. Added a nine-month go-to-market to our 18-month go-to-market to speed up our process. And probably the most important thing that we did is we defined who we were. Because I think for a long time, you can see with a brand, it's so important to be able to

know who you are, but be able to articulate that to your consumers who you stand for. Is that what went wrong? The predecessors forgot who the brand was or didn't know it? I just know today, walking into this chair, it was important that we were clear. And so I speak through video. And so in the first three weeks, we commissioned a video called, you know, Who Are We? Basically, I call it our M&M, our B-Rabbit moment, if you're a fan of 8 Mile, where he basically stands up and says, you're right. He says, I do live in a trailer park. I am this. I am that. So we've sort of got it all out of the way to take...

vulnerability and being comfortable being uncomfortable to just say, okay, this is where we are. So what are we going to do about it? And somewhere, somehow this theme of, of what and who we were, which is the underdog, right? This wasn't complicated. And as we said, it just became so obvious that, um, we started crystallizing it. We put up 138 second video together that I think

I showed you the last thing I did at Investor Day today. I said I could have probably saved us the three hours we just tried covering by articulating through this way, which talks about everything from what it means for that person who wasn't born big enough or fast enough or tall enough or strong enough or handsome enough or pretty enough, whatever it might be, who had to apply the rule of 10,000 hours, a Steph Curry-esque.

that said, that's what I'm going to do to create my superpower. And Under Armour is for that person. It's for that person who does have to try more. We say we don't innovate so that we can run up the score. We innovate to give our athletes a fighting chance. And that underdog striving DNA is, I think, it's what we've been missing. And it's a position which is so clear and so authentic to what and who we are. Well, what I'm worried about is this.

When I first met you, you were the underdog to Nike. Now, Nike does have its own problems, but I now feel you're the underdog to to on on holdings. They're so smart to Hoka. New Balance has made a major comeback, as you know. I mean, these are heavy competitors who are really as feisty as you are. Yeah.

But what's unique about us is one of the things we covered today was that Under Armour, I'm trying to create the vernacular for an industry, because you said they wouldn't cover the athletic industry. You know, I respect those other brands, and they're very good at what they do, but they're competing in the running segment. You know, brands or companies are built because, you know, you make a product and it becomes famous. It's a silhouette. It's an aesthetic. It's a product. However, brands become famous or prove their brands because they demonstrate we can do that over and over and over again. And so...

Under Armour has a diversity of who we outfit, which is more than just running, more than just yoga, more than just at leisure. Under Armour can outfit everything from Notre Dame football in the college football playoff all the way to Tony Rudiger and three guys on Real Madrid outfitting and they're kidding their boots out.

to Stephen Curry in the NBA or Olympic finals. And that ability to play multiple sports and the way that we can do that, we call ourselves a sports house, a podium brand. And I believe there's only four of us globally. And it's three of our bigger competitors. It's Puma, it's Nike, it's Adi.

And it's an underarmor who has that ability to show up on any athletic field, court or pitch virtually in any athletic endeavor anywhere around the world and be seen as credible. Well, let's talk about that, because I felt one of the most important things that you talked about today was international, the different strategies for different geographies. Because I got to tell you, Kevin, when I travel, I think you're bigger in Europe than you are here. Absolutely.

What we need to do is there's the three regions that we look at between APAC Europe and here in the States is that as the father of an 18 year old daughter, 21 year old son, which is one of the things I enjoy doing when I wasn't as the CEO and the ability to really be with my kids. You know, my daughter doesn't wear Under Armour because dad works there. Right. And so and I don't think that the kid is mad at us because we identify our consumer as 16 to 24 years old.

but they're just not thinking about us. And so that's our job is to make them care. And one of the big points we made is that here and globally, you know, we...

we got money. We have resources. We have more than a half a billion dollar marketing budget. It just doesn't feel like that. And so when you walk around the states, that's one of the things where bringing someone like Eric Lidke to our team, who's the former president of both marketing and product at Adidas before, having someone like Eric here who can then mandate one is like, go find that

Go find a significant slug so we can let it be felt. But in Europe, you're right. We've got a we've got good trajectory. That's been positive for us. And then here in the States where, you know, we've taken some positions to reset our business right now. Well, we should just talk about it was a positive surprise. I mean, you wait to get a good number. Come on.

Last number was good. Now, I want to know, and this is what people are going to say is, oh, my God, Kramer's drunk the Kool-Aid. The guy left. He was doing liquor business. He was doing all this stuff. Now he's going to come back. I mean, it's nothing good since 2018. What do you say to the people who say, you know...

It's been too long and it's too late. Yeah, I'm 52 years old. I can't imagine trying to do this at 62. I don't know what that would feel like. But I got to tell you, number one, the last eight months have been some of the best times I've had in my entire life. The ability to drive happy is because...

Look, I'm a lousy golfer. And one of the things I said is that, you know, what we're going to do this time around is going to make sure that we're driving and building a really quiet company and a really loud brand. And what you learn with hopefully bringing a little bit of wisdom to that of 28 years having done this where you can just feel it, you can smell it, you know what it is. And the key this time is, you know, the great golfers aren't, you know, the harder I swing, the farther it goes. The guys that hold the club really loosen their hands. And so I'm doing that, empowering our team and bring it around and applying all those lessons from chapter one here in a chapter two.

When I speak to Marvin Ellison at Lowe's, he's saying the modern retailer has to know technology almost more than anything else. Now, in the time since you went away, the technology really changed. Now, are you able to bring enough to DTC? Are you able to bring enough of the wisdom of tech to be able to make it so you can catch up and pass the other guys?

I think that's an opportunity. How is AI going to affect our speech? Which are all the things that everybody feels like we're, we've got FOMO on that, I think like everyone. And so how are we going to address that? But first and foremost, we're starting with our brand. We went back to basic blocking and tackling. And blocking and tackling for us right now means

it's reducing getting our margin structure right. You know, we said we're gonna clean the brand up. When I walked back in in week six, May 16th of this year, we reset expectations and took about 700 million out of our top line. You know, we took about two thirds out of our bottom line and just said, it's time for us to get the brand healthy. And so a year ago on e-commerce, we were about one thirds full price, two thirds discounted.

This year, a year later, we've basically inverted that close to it. We're about more than 50 percent full price and the balance and off price. What should be the goal here?

i mean a hundred percent right but you know what i can but i'm saying if you can go up that way then the margins are going to explode but but but that's what happened is that that's what we see happen is that that it actually has been incredibly a creative and we've been uh... we said because if you know where so much right on the screen we're saying let's reset the math one indicator that we can all use a look at this consistent is gross margin so that's been good to us for us today but you know that's part of what we did today is we had a a qualitative conversation we were ready to talk about what the future looks like

But we showed them our team. We wanted to come in and feel our energy. We want to look in the whites of our eyes and say, do you have a strategy? Do you know who you are? And be able to articulate that in a pretty clear way. So I'm really proud of what our team did today. Were they skeptical today? I mean, were they embracing? What was the temperature of the room? I think the audience there was really good. But you're walking into, you know, as an analyst, you're going, where's the beef? And I want the math. And without that, it's going to be a tougher conversation. But, Jim, we haven't held an investor day.

in six years. So it's been 2,189 days. So to the day, December 12th of 2018. So the ability to just go in and just tell our story and really represent our team because you have to put these flags in the ground, these markers along the way that just says, okay, that'll be something we'll look back at December 12th of 2024. And I remember when, what they said they're going to do is that they are a sports house. They did articulate this underdog message.

Wow, it does. I do. I met Eric Licky. I saw Yassine Saidi's, you know, product vision. I was able to listen to Euron White and Kyle Blakely, our head of innovation. It is this mixture between new blood that has come from our industry mixed with some, you know, classic 15, 17 year U.A.ers. And so I think we put a pretty good diverse group and mix of people together. It's going to be, you know, we'll see what happens, but I don't know.

Okay, so if I say, what is, someone says, what is Ardor? Are they sneakers? Are they clothes? Who do they want to be? What do I say about this company and who you are? Yeah, we're not emulating anybody else, but we're certainly, we're going to listen and learn from our own lessons. And again, 28 years having done this,

We've seen a lot of different machinations and chapters of what this brand is and where this brand is going. So we're about to reinvent a new chapter. We know we've got founder DNA here. You know, you and I, at certain points, we felt like that maybe things were not awry and I had been somewhat critical. For you to come on to me says, Jim, I am not going to let you down. Are you going to let me down? Are you going to let those people down? No, no, this is.

But this is about the brand. Right. You know, this is about the name of the jersey. It's your team. It's about the name of the jersey on the front. Is your team going to win? Listen, I know that you want to win, but I know you hate to lose. You hate to lose. Going to win? You know, we are opening a new headquarters in Baltimore.

Quick answer is yes. We're opening a new headquarters in Baltimore. And it's thinking about things of like what happens in a sort of post-pandemic world, how people are coming to the office. You know, I've thrown enough good parties in my life to know that you can beg people, pay people, spit people, try to get them to come to your party. Or you can just focus on throwing the world's greatest party and everybody's going to want to be there. If you're looking for a proof point, because we say our best

Our brand will inflect before our business does. Somebody asked, give me an example of that. And probably the best example were the people sitting on stage with me today. It was Cara Trent, our head of North America, who everybody who took our business in Europe from $600 million to $1 billion. You ask about the upside we had there. It's Eric Lidke. It's Yassine. We got a squad, and I'm really excited about the squad. So we're in the fight. There's no guarantees in this world, but I sure wouldn't bet against this. I'll give you a guarantee. I respect you and everything you've done.

Thank you, Jim. There's my guarantee. Appreciate that. Thank you. That's Kevin Plank, the founder, president, and CEO of Under Armour. He's here. If he's here, I believe. May the money back in for the break. It is time. It's time for the lightning round. We're going to play it.

And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Let's get it. I'm starting with Jay in Nevada. Jay. Hey, Jim. Hey, longtime follower and club member. I've had this stock for a while. With chip factories starting to be built in the States, I thought this would offset its China exposure. I lowered my cost basis with a few buys on the way down. Now I think it's just a falling machete. Should I hold on or harvest a lot? My stock is applied material.

That is a Floyd machete. Very good analogy. However, I will say this. Let's forget about the chart, which is about one of the worst in the book, as many of the semis, and just accept the fact that they're going to have better orders next year than this year. And therefore, I say pull the trigger and buy. Let's go to Quinn in Oregon, where my daughter lived for a very long time. Quinn.

Hey, Jim, respectfully, booyah and sco-beefs. So here's the pitch. I'm 26. I've been a listener since I was a kid. I have to report that your show plays on the trading floor of my brother and I's very own contrarian hedge fund every day. And so I want to pick your brain on worldwide dry bulk shipper FBLK.

Yeah, that's a play on China, basically. Dry bulk, I'm not there. I've got to be against that. I'm sorry. I don't even think that yield can hold up, given the fact that their orders are where they are. I need to go to—but thank you for the nice comments. Keep watching. Let's go to—although that was somewhat of a—well, yeah. Let's go to Mark in Wisconsin. Mark!

Dr. Kramer, thank you for taking my call. A while back, I talked to you about this stock as a spec. You said, OK, for a spec, but they're losing a lot of money. Ticker symbol NVTS, Navitas Semiconductor. You know, that's OK for a spec, but they're losing a lot of money. Let's go to, don't mean to be too facetious, but it's true. I mean, what can I say? Let's go to Ben in Florida. Ben.

Yeah, the stock that I'm thinking of is down 25% this month. Is it time to buy stock picker VAH? You're going up against Elon Musk with that one. And I found that to be somewhat of a suboptimal situation. So I'm going to say no. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the lightning round. The lightning round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

Traders are always jonesing for action. They can't resist. Data points zoom by and they want to bet on what's next. But it's so much easier to patiently invest in stocks for the long haul. Let me give you some examples. Tonight, Costco reported they give you monthly sales numbers in between quarters. But the people reacting to the quarter tonight either don't know or don't care that the monthlies tell the real story. There's nothing new here. So anyone pulling the trigger in after-hours trading simply hasn't done the homework, even as the number was a good one. But it

But it wasn't a surprise. It can't. See, the truth about Costco is retiring CFO Richard Glanty explained to me repeatedly. It's a subscription business. They make their real money from the member dues. You can be a Gold Star member at $65 or a year or executive member like me at $130 a year plus 2% back on qualified Costco purchases up $1,250.

Now, they raise the price periodically, and no one cares because the membership pays for itself, given the bargains in the store. Because Costco's prescription model, they can afford to take chances with merchandise, bring in new stuff to make it exciting, along with that free samples and, yes, the Buck 50 hot dog. They sell plenty of stuff at or below cost, including the incredible discount price for Caymus, my favorite one.

I go into this because I'm addicted to the subscription model, not to the products they sell. It gives you a steady source of income that can be raised at will if the service is any good. And that tells me that Costco's a buy. Who else can do this? How about Netflix? In 14 days, Squid Games 2 comes out. And as we get closer to that date, the analysts will fall over each other themselves, praising the company and raising price stories. They know the truth. Netflix can raise price at will. If you can't afford it, well, you can always take the ad to your...

Spotify is insanely popular, too. And I believe, you know, honestly, you can't even remember, I bet, what you paid for this amazing product because it's such an incredible bargain. And the subscription is a good deal. Finally, there's Amazon Prime. Lots of people thought I was too ruthless toward the soon to be former head of the FTC, Lita Khan. She's been trying to crack down on Amazon in order to bail out not the consumer, but the mom and pop businesses that she says can't grow because they have to play by Amazon's rules.

I think Khan's FTC fails to recognize that these small retailers have other options. She must not know anyone who uses Shopify or even Etsy. Granted, the government does have to weigh competing interests. Amazon's a huge disruptor. It often seemed like Khan wanted to roll back the clock to help the smaller operators who've been disrupted. But she didn't seem to care about the tens of millions of consumers who think Amazon's a bargain or they wouldn't keep paying up for Prime. I think the stocks will buy precisely for the reasons why Khan went after them.

They're too good. They price way too low, and therefore they can disrupt anyone. And that's why we own Amazon for the Charitable Trust along with Costco. We'll have plenty to say about that in our Investing Club bulletin tonight. That's how good the Costco numbers were. With these subscription-based companies, there's no reason to trade in and out of their stocks at every data point. Any company that can raise price at will is a company with a stock that I love.

Whether it's Netflix or Spotify, Amazon or Costco, let me tell you something. Trading those, sucker's game. I like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise you if I didn't, just for you right here on MadMoney, I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow. All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Cramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal, or their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by Cramer on television, radio, internet, or another medium.

You should not treat any opinion expressed by Jim Cramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Cramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money Disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com forward slash madmoneydisclaimer.com.

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