Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 5/23/25
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This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information-packed daily market preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash market update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. Other people are my friends. I'm just trying to make a little money. My job is not just to entertain, but to educate the teacher. So call me at 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Kramer. What can I say?

We temporarily forgot who was in charge, who determined stock prices, who decides whether we're going to have an up day or a down day. No, I'm not talking about the invisible hand of the market. I'm talking about the president.

That's right, because President Trump isn't happy with this trade negotiations with the EU. He decided this very morning to slap Europe with a 50 percent tariff on June 1st unless they come to the table, make a deal. On top of that, he singled out Apple for 25 percent tariff on cell phones made in India because he wants those products. Well, once I'm made right here, honestly, it's cheaper for Apple to just pay the 25 percent.

That unfriendly government intervention is why the Dow declined 256 points, the S&P lost 0.67%, and the Nasdaq dropped 1%. Hey, Simic, what about this guy? Trump sure makes his business interesting.

Of course, these actions make it much harder to own stocks for you and me. I own my travel trust. You own an individual. After the averages bottomed on April 7th, we very quickly got used to the idea that the president was done rolling the markets. We thought he learned his lesson from that brutal 19 percent decline from the highs in February to the post-liberation day lows in April. We were wrong.

It's tough to tell what awaits us when the market opens next Tuesday if the president's back on the tariff warpath. I was heartened to see that the market could recover some of its losses ahead of a three-day weekend. Heartened enough that we actually did a small buy of a bank stock for the tribal trust today. We would have bought more, but I am concerned that this market now is a downward bias to it. The early morning futures have been down for days on end. And you know I don't like to sleep. And I see them, and they just make me sick.

3.34, 4 a.m., the market's already drenched in red ink. Now, we do know this. Next week is a huge one, huge one for earnings with Costco, Dell, Salesforce, Nvidia. Any one of those can impact the entire sector, if not the market itself. Let's get out of ourselves.

We have some high profile companies reporting on Tuesday. Now, we started one of the top performers of the year, and that's a company called AutoZone, A-Z-O. This auto parts chain has been on fire, and it doesn't hurt that AutoZone is one of the most aggressive buybacks I have ever seen. They've more than cut half of the stock out in the last decade. If the stock gets hit, please do this. You should just go buy it because management will be right there alongside you buying it after a few days.

What a horse. It's a closed Tuesday. We hear from a company that's suddenly adored. It's Okta. They've been on. Topic has been on a bunch of times. Cybersecurity specialist that handles login and verification credentials. Analysts have been climbing up all over themselves to recommend the stock ahead of the quarter. I think they're right. I think the numbers will be tremendous. Wednesday morning. Well, let's see. We got two retailers to exporting goods with a stock that's been crushed and announced its plan to buy Foot Locker last week. And Macy's, they now product the underperforming department store chain.

It is imperative that Dix explains its rationale for the Foot Locker deal. Maybe the stock can get some footing. But right now, people think this deal is a game changer in a real bad way for Dix. I don't know what they can say to change that, but I tell you, the stock has just been eviscerated. Wednesday night is huge.

We have not one, but two big quarters from NVIDIA and Salesforce. NVIDIA is regularly on the hot seat these days, so often we forget it's been morphing from a hardware company into a hardware company with a huge software component. Yes, that's what CEO Jensen Wang spoke about in the big speech in Computex in Taiwan earlier this week. I

I bet we'll see and hear more about the software side of NVIDIA going forward, including this call, because that helps explain why the stock could still have a lot more upside. We own it for the Chapel Trust. And for now, we're just sitting on it. Look, the stock's in no means thing. Salesforce is a very tough call here.

Some analysts are saying AgentForce with Agentix platform is producing a revenue breakout for the company. Others say that AgentForce is a distraction, making it harder for CEO Mark Benioff to make the numbers this quarter. I'm not sure. So once again, the travel trust is doing nothing ahead of the quarter. Oh, and tonight we got a real complication with buzz that Salesforce is once again in talks to acquire Informatica, the data management company.

Now, this is a deal that Wall Street clearly doesn't want. As Salesforce's stock tanked when it was first reported in April of last year, only recovering when they walked away from the deal. And that's why the stock fell nearly 4% today on the news that it might be back at the table. Now, I am sure Mark Benioff is paying attention because the market could react to the same way that the market reacted to Dick's Foot Locker.

Next, on Thursday after the close, we hear from the company that I think has the most consistent earnings and also the most persistent sell-off after we see the earnings, even when they're good. And I'm talking about Costco. It's unnerving to watch a fantastic quarter and still see a stock go down. That's just how it's done with this one, even as we have a fairly good idea how the company's doing. Because you know what? This company gives us monthly numbers. As we tell investing club members, don't buy Costco ahead of the quarter. It's going to go down.

It's like TJX. You'll usually get a much better price if you just wait a couple of days. TJX may be the most undervalued stock in our entire portfolio. Why? Because it had the huge sell-off. If you now wait a couple of days, it's probably going to rally. Hey, speaking of retail, ever since Richard Dixon became CEO of The Gap almost two years ago, he's been busy reinventing the place. We've had him on a number of times. It is working, people. And since the last quarter, analysts have been falling all over themselves about this story. And now here's one that if it comes down ahead of the quarter, you have my...

permission, no, my blessing to pull the trigger and do some buying. Fall into the gap. Remember that? Also on Thursday night where there's a lot of chatter about what Marvell Technologies, MRVL will report. Same with Dell. Both are integral parts of the data center and there's been a lot of speculation about how Marvell might miss the quarter while Dell will blow away the numbers. I'm not so sure that Marvell will disappoint. Matt Murphy's a pretty good CEO. But I do expect Dell to be darn good. I bet they pull back a

ton of stock, just like Michael Dell said he would if the stock went down. Oh, and then there's a charm stock, Zscaler, cloud-based cybersecurity company that's gotten into the habit of reporting upside surprises. It's unnerving to me that it doesn't seem to matter what this company reports. It seems to be so loved these days. That's where the opportunity is. Lots of chatter, by the way. Ulta. That Ulta Beauty is going to have a very strong quarter. Ulta is a stock that people like to make bets on. I don't like that. I think retail is very hard to navigate here. If you want to own Ulta, please don't trade it. Just own it.

Going back and forth while you lose your money. As long as you believe in the business, just hold on for the ride. Finally, on Friday, we get a read on the inflation from the personal consumption expenditure numbers. Before Jay Powell took over as Fed chairman, we never used to focus on this indicator. But it's Powell's favorite way to measure inflation, so it's become incredibly important. We need inflation to cool off. And that's mighty hard when plenty of goods are going up in price thanks to the tariffs.

If you mandate tariffs, you're mandating higher prices. I mean, because a tariff is just a sales tax on imports. It's never really meant anything else. We can't spin it beyond that. Bottom line, we're heading into a fickle week, one that will no doubt be punctuated with presidential postings about our trading partners, their intransigence, their negligence, their perfidiousness.

Of course, the market only shrugged off the real negative posting from this morning and instead focused on the endless obsession, the 10-year Treasury, which was steady enough to trump President Trump and his renewed call for high tariffs. I hope that can continue next week, but there's something I wouldn't count on it. Can we please start with Bill in Massachusetts, please? Bill?

Jimbo, with your friend from Boston, I just wanted to thank you and your staff for giving us incredible encouragement and knowledge to get through this tough time with all the tariffs. Bill, you always thank our team, and I love that, and you are a faithful friend of the show. Let's go to work together. What's going on? Jim, I want to know what you think about Boeing and when the government, do you think, will let up on it and let it fly?

I think Boeing goes higher, okay? I think that Kelly Orpberg's got a handle on things. Bill, it's an up stock. And when I say that, what it means is that if it comes down, buyers immediately come in, they pounce, and they buy. And I'm with them. I want to go to Clive in New York. Clive. Yes, Jim? Yes, partner. What's up? Not too bad. I'm Broadcom. I like Broadcom. I have a lot of Broadcom.

Roycom is good, my friend. It's one of my biggest positions for my charitable trust. This stock has been a horse. And I got to tell you, as far as I'm concerned, even up here, because it's in the data center and it's taking names and taking share. That is tough to tell what awaits us next week. So you'll have to keep a level head. I know that's hard for me, but you can give it a try and stay steady in the face of unpredictable

I'm giving you my latest on the intersection of Wall Street and Washington and how Trump is positioned to impact tech giants like Apple, like Nvidia. And is Ralph Lauren fit for long-term growth in this tape? I'm going to break down the stock after yesterday's report. Plus, I'm giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what I do every day in the investing club. Don't miss my take on some of our club members' questions and stay with Kramer.

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.

This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information-packed daily market preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash market update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

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Are you still quoting 30-year-old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now. It pays to discover. Learn more at discover.com slash credit card based on the February 2024 Nelson report.

This morning, we were joking about whether the president was on the boards of Apple and Nvidia, given that he's making big decisions that directly impact both companies. I said to David and Carl, no, he's not on the board. He's the chairman of the board, and it takes some getting used to.

Look, this was a real bad week for free market capitalism. We saw the White House turn down Jensen Wong's pleas to let him sell advanced chips to China because Jensen believes it's better to dominate that business than to let Chinese competitors take over. We used to have 95% of that market over there for super high-end chips, and now it's down to about 50%.

But the White House wasn't buying it. They don't want China getting its hands on these chips for national security reasons. End of story. I think Judge is right. If you get China using our stuff, they'll have much less of an incentive to develop their own with zeal and, let's say, even anger. Now, with these export controls, China will go all out to make their advanced chips, and they'll make good ones. Personally, I feel America would be a safer place if China depends on NVIDIA for its best semiconductor.

Even more troubling, though, the White House went after Apple for trying to move its iPhone production to India. Not that long ago, Apple was frantic to get out of China because of Trump's extremely high tariffs. The company knew that they could quickly make good phones in India, so they shipped as much as possible, figuring anything that punishes China would make the president happy.

The president had other ideas. He doesn't want the phones to be made in India. He wants them made in the United States, even if it costs a fortune. And it would. Like Jensen, Tim Cook did everything he could to convince the White House not to punish his company with individual tariffs for moving to what he thought was a safe zone. But he failed.

This morning, when a story appeared in the Financial Times that Foxconn, a key manufacturer for Apple, is spending $1.5 billion to help Apple build cell phones in India, the president took to social and threatened Apple with 25% tariffs on phones made there. It's pretty clear to me that Trump wants Foxconn to spend that $1.5 billion here. The undercurrent here is that the president's trade people don't believe that Apple honors his pledges. So they're now being ordered by fiat. I think it's outrageous.

Apple's created more jobs in this country than just about any other company, but that seems to mean nothing to the White House, not under their pledges. Please, this is Apple. While there's some precedent here, we've never seen a president do this kind of thing during peacetime.

Let's step back for a second. We know that presidents have acted directly against business before. In 1946, President Truman temporarily seized the rails after a national strike. In 1962, President Kennedy switched some steel contracts away from Bethlehem Steel after he felt double-crossed by them in a union contract negotiation. Those were pretty intrusive. But Truman and Kennedy were dealing with national issues of incredible importance. The conflicts now are about a president telling companies what to do and where to go and going after them hard if they don't.

NVIDIA loses the China business. Apple either pays the 25% tax or makes American phones that are too expensive for anyone to buy. Trump is making board-level decisions for these companies. Now, I can see where the president might philosophically disagree with Jensen Wang on this one issue, while the two remain close. There's a legitimate reason to keep NVIDIA's best chips away from China, and of course, Jensen's now all in with the president after the decision's been made. But

But Apple, you have an incredible company creating a product that's the envy of the world, the best there is, and you're jerking them around. Apple's committed to splitting more than $500 billion worth of investments in the United States. If the White House doesn't think they're fulfilling that pledge, they can just talk to Apple rather than go into war against them. America's finest. Now,

No matter what, the president's function is the chairman of the board, overruling company executives about business decisions. He's not accepting the rationales. He wants it his way. In that sense, he's inching step by step toward running what I call command economy. But the bottom line, we have to make our peace with it. And yes, add it to the risk factors of owning stocks here. It puts a premium on companies that Trump and his people play no role in. Unfortunately, the list of companies that are exempt from presidential meddling grows shorter by the day. Hey, let's take questions. Let's go to Dean in Florida. Dean.

Hey, Professor, how are you doing today? I'm doing well, Dean. How about you? Doing great. Founding club member and fellow logophile here. I've always appreciated your lexicon, so this is just for you. In the healthy days of a bull market, Jim Cramer often adopts a sanguine outlook, reflecting the zeitgeist of investor optimism while cautioning against meretricious stock picks that may seem attractive but lack substance.

Hope you like that. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. So let's go to work with the stock. What do we have?

I'm talking about UNH. Is this a buying opportunity or has it become a value? Look, I think now this is a really tricky one because my rules say that even if I like that stock and I got to tell you, I think that Mr. Hemsley is fantastic. Even if I like that stock, if there is a Justice Department inquiry, if there are problems with the government, I have to take a pass because more often than not,

I've been hurt when I speculate. Now, the president is appointing himself chairman of the boards of a growing list of companies. Now, that is, of course, facetious. But I think it's something we've got to make peace with if we want to go successful. Hey, look, we're going to make money either way. I'm not worried. I just got to know the lay of the land. Bad Money is back after the break.

Coming up, up for some polo? Kramer's digging into the latest earnings from Ralph Lauren and seeing if now is the time to get in on the iconic fashion and lifestyle brand. Next.

This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information-packed daily market preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash market update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

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We've heard from a series of retailers this week, and Wall Street doesn't seem to know what to make of them. Take Ralph Lauren, which I talked about a little last night, as my late father used to call it Rafe Lauren, because misnaming things is a tradition in the Kramer family.

This is a stock I recommended a little over a month ago, March 13th, when it was trading at just $216 and change. Now it's back up to $274. I'm betting it can continue to climb. See, yesterday morning, Ralph Lauren reported what I thought was an excellent quarter, but the market couldn't figure out what to make of the numbers, and the stock turned into a roller coaster.

Only finishing session up three and a half bucks. The way I see it, the stock should have been up a lot more, but it was down a lot at one point. Now, there was just too much to like about this quarter. Revenues came in higher than expected, driven by strong results in Europe, Asia and North America. Those are the three key regions. Ralph Lauren's gross margin came in at sixty eight point six. Wall Street was only looking for sixty seven point one. The bears have been on the prowl for any signs that the uncertain economic environment might be causing consumers to pull back on discretionary spending.

That's not happening, at least at Ralph Lauren. At the same time, the strong marketers tell you that Ralph Lauren didn't have to engage in tons of promotional activity to move its merchandise. It's so important, people. Instead, for the 32nd straight quarter, the company once again grew its average unit retail, which basically measures the average selling price per unit after accounting for discounts and markdowns.

This quarter, their AUR was up 9%. Even more encouraging, management, which is Patrice Louvet, who's been on the show a number of times, and I spent a lot of time talking to him because he really taught me a lot, indicated they expect this high single-digit pricing growth to continue into the next quarter.

Now, all of this strength flowed through to Ralph Lauren's bottom line, with the company earning $2.27. Now, the speaker's only looking for $2.04. Of course, while the numbers were excellent by themselves, I always tell you to get on that conference call, right? Luckily, Ralph Lauren's conference call was fantastic, in keeping with Patrice, who just runs a terrific call.

Cool. After several years of elevated inflation, consumers have started pushing back against high prices. So for a while now, the best retailers are the ones that offer a unique value proposition. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean their goods are cheap. It just means the customer feels like they're getting a good deal because maybe the product will

Alas, Ralph Lauren is many things but cheap is one of them. Their customers tend to be on the wealthier side, which makes them less price sensitive. That's why the company still is moving a lot of merchandise, even though they're not offering much in the way of discounts. I wouldn't call Ralph Lauren a ridiculously cheap

high-priced brand, but it's not known for its bargain hunting either. So what keeps these customers coming back then? In other words, what is the value proposition here? As management emphasized on yesterday's call, customers see value in Ralph Lauren's products because the brand's considered, quote,

Timeless. Hard to argue with that. This is stuff you can wear forever. It might not be the height of fashion, but there are very few occasions where you look like an idiot for wearing something with that iconic polo player logo. I've been wearing the same stuff for like 20 years, this Ralph Lauren. Let me be honest. For many people, that Ralph Lauren logo might be the only reason they even know what polo is in the first place.

This sense of timelessness is evident in the company's core products as knit shirts, Chino pants, Oxford cloth shirts, my fave, select footwear and accessories. These brand staples all delivered low double digit sales growth in the quarter. Big deal, because these categories account for over 70 percent of business. And it's not just Ralph Lauren's core business that's seeing that momentum. Management also called out strength in several, I quote, high potential and quote categories, including women's apparel, outerwear,

and handbags. Collectively, these categories delivered revenue growth in the high teens.

So how come this stock didn't simply roar higher yesterday? Well, there was some concern about management's forecast for 2026 fiscal year, which started in April. I thought the concern was overdone. But let me tell you, Ralph Lauren's most qualitative guidance was more or less in line with expectations, including an outlook for low single-digit sales growth. But management also noted that in North America, they've taken a more cautious approach to their preliminary guidance because of the broader economy and the impact of cost inflation on the consumer, thanks to, yes,

The tariffs. Now, that's a fair concern. You never want to hear a retail CEO express caution about consumer spending. But obviously,

But I think those that sold the stock down yesterday morning are missing the bigger picture. Ralph Lauren's expressing caution only in North America because their business in the rest of the world, it is on fire. Remember, this isn't the Ralph Lauren of old or even the Ralph Lauren of a few years ago. The international business now makes up 57 percent of total sales. Remember, the international Europe's doing better than we are in a lot of different categories. Now, before the pandemic, international was only 45 percent of the business. And again, international is roaring.

Ralph Lauren's seeing a lot of momentum in Asia, where sales were up 13 percent. China stood out with sales rising over 20 percent, even though Chinese business was up against a very tough comparison last year. And we think that China is doing so badly. Well, it's only 9 percent of the business now. Management believes it will keep going like a weed. I guess the brand's so timeless that even the trade war didn't do much damage. Or maybe people in China think that Ralph Lauren's British because where else do people care about Polo?

At the same time, the company's European business grew at a 16 percent clip. Even more impressive, Europe has the company's highest operating margin of any region. It's just insanely profitable for these guys. Imagine playing offense overseas with a focus on what they see as key cities. That's what they call them, the key cities. Outside of the obvious domestic names like New York and, yes, San Francisco. Unbelievable. Ralph Lauren's been making moves in London, Paris, Cannes, California.

in Europe, as well as several big cities in Asia, like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Speaking of international exposure, when it comes to tariffs, Ralph Lauren's done an amazing job of diversifying its supply chain. No single country makes up more than 20% of total production. A lot of people sold the stock down because they thought that it was going to be hostage to China. No. Only a single-digit percentage of products being sold in the United States are made in China.

If the tariff situation worsens, I'm confident management has the flexibility to adapt accordingly. They are so good at sourcing. Finally, they've got this rapidly growing direct-to-consumer DTC business that's drawing in lots of younger customers.

Everybody in retail wants to get customers when they're young because that's when people form their lifelong habits. Hey, speaking of young consumers, Ralph Lauren's fabulous when it comes to doing social media. The company increases total following by low double digits compared to a year now, surpassing 65 million followers across their platforms, calling out TikTok and a few other ways to be able to get the growth. When you put it all together, Ralph Lauren's not only holding its ground against the backdrop of an uncertain economy,

It's positioning itself for long-term success. So here's the bottom line. It's clear that demand for RL's timeless apparel is more than intact. And when you factor in their strong international business sourcing flexibility and momentum in high potential categories, project momentum, Ralph Lauren's looking really good after that quarter. The sellers were wrong yesterday.

They know nothing! And the buyers who sent the stock back up were dead right. More important, I think this thing has got a lot more to run. I'm taking questions. I'm going to Corey in Utah. Corey. Booyah, Jim. Thanks for taking my call and thanks for all you do. Booyah, sunshine. Hit me.

So the company I'm calling about has a couple bullish upgrades from analysts recently and is a profitable company. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on Albertson, the ticker symbol ACI. Yeah, once they got away from that merger, I think that people realized the value of the company. It's still a low-mortable stock. I happen to like Kroger more, but I've got to tell you, this is a survivor, and I think that Albertson is going to keep going higher. I need to go to Tony in Georgia, please. Tony.

Hey, Jimbo, tell me all you can, all you will about Dutch Brothers stock, please, sir. The Dutch Bros, the Dutch Bros be on higher, sir. I mean, when they were on just last Friday, as a matter of fact, we had Christine Barone, and I thought she told a great story. The stock has had a nice dip. And you know what I say about that dip? I say...

All right. And you know what? We're not done. I want to keep taking calls if you don't mind. I'd like to speak to Kyle in New Jersey. Kyle. Behold, my best friend, Jim Cramer. How are you, buddy? So you are my buddy. You are my buddy, partner. What do we got going? Happy Memorial Day weekend, man.

So here's my question for you. I'm up big in this stock, and I still think it is heavily undervalued. I feel like they could be a buyout target, or it could just keep ripping higher. I'm looking for it to double from here, and I'm thinking about buying more lift. What do you think? I don't know.

Look, I like David Risher. The stock just had a nice pop. I would not come in on top of this pop. I would let it come down. I think it just had too big a move, and I don't like parabolic moves, but you nailed a good one. And if you're up big, how about this? How about a little schnitzel? Take some off and then play with the house's money. Anyway, look, I think the sellers are...

They're here. I like them.

And of course, all your calls rapid fire in tonight's edition of the lightning round. So stay with Kramer. There's an awful lot to pay attention to in this market right now, from the president's postings to important earnings and everything in between. So with markets just posting their...

Worst week since early April. We thought it would be a good thing to slow down, take a step back, and answer some of your questions about this market. Yesterday, we held our Investing Club monthly meeting where Jeff Marks and I get together to walk club members through our decision-making process for the portfolio. We discuss our current holdings, and then we take questions from our club members. I love educating investors on how to grow their wealth. Every day after Squawk on the Street, I meet daily with club members.

At 10.20 a.m. for our morning meeting, it's a TV program, basically, sharing candid insights and detailed stock updates for the market. It's 10 minutes. Everything you need to know. As a member, you'll see every move I make before I pull the trigger with the precise reasoning behind each trade before I make it.

You gain access to the charitable trust portfolio with key insights to help you learn to grow your portfolio. And we have a special offer going on right now to join. Simply scan the QR code or visit CNBC dot com slash Kramer Club today. Now, my favorite part of these meetings actually take your questions. It's just we've never had time to take all the questions we've got. I'm going to give you a little inside look at what happens in these monthly meetings while also hopefully doling out some, let's say, much needed market advice. So let's start with Bill in New Jersey, who asked,

What do you do with small positions in stocks that have run up too high after the first one or two purchases? Jim has called this a high-quality problem. Is it okay to hold them as long as the basket is properly diversified, sort of like an index approach?

I got to tell you, Bill, no. What I prefer is just say, you know what? I made some money. I didn't get the whole position in. Boom. Let's take the profit because I don't want too many positions that are on my sheet, so to speak. You can't keep track of all the names. So let's just ring the register. Ka-ching, ka-ching and find the next one. And maybe we'll build a bigger position with that one. High quality problem, isn't it? Because you're making a profit.

Next up is Artem in California. He says, there are arguments that a combination of tariffs and high interest rates can push our economy into stagflation. What's your take on the possibility of a stagflationary outcome and what companies could do well in such an environment? Okay, nobody does well in that environment, but that's not what I think we're going to have.

I think that there are many different things in the economy that can help things. You could have inflation go down once we figure out this tariff thing. We could end up with some high growth because the bill that was passed in the House is supercharged with stimulus. So I'm not buying that stagflation thing. That's from people who just want to get us down because there is nothing that works in stagflation, having traded and lived through and investing the 70s.

I can tell you it's a loser. Next up is Roger in Florida, who says, what is the team's view on Stryker based on the recent tariff situation? Recently, the CEO of Stryker was on the money extremely positive. Any updates in light in the club? I like Stryker, but, you know, I don't like it enough. I don't like it as much as intuitive surgical. That's the one that I thought we should buy.

ISRG. Let's go to Ronald in California who asks, is it okay that we buy high growth stocks like CrowdStrike and maybe Palantir, yet not consider that their P.E. ratios at over 200 and the Ford P.E. at 100 are just too overvalued for purchase? Let's really parse this, okay? First of all, we own CrowdStrike for the club. It's been one of the greatest performers of all time. George Kirch is remarkable. Is it right to be able to own such an expensive stock? If you look back,

at where it was. It turns out it was very cheap because the numbers came up so quickly. And by the way, that actually is how I found NVIDIA. NVIDIA was the same thing. It looked very expensive, then it wasn't. Palantir is just plain out expensive. But there you can use...

a rule that tells you about growth versus margins. And it turns out to be much less expensive than a lot of other companies because the growth is very good and the margins are high. So we're not going to use traditional valuation metrics to measure either one of those stocks. And I like them both.

very much, although Palantir is a little too speculative for me. CrowdStrike, sweet spot. Next up, Christopher in Georgia wants to know, how do you know how many speculative stocks to have in your portfolio? I have nine individual stocks in total, with three of them being specs, Aurora Innovation, Pinterest, and Rubik, although these three are the three lowest percentages of the total portfolio in dollars. Before you told me about the lowest percentages in dollars, I would say, you know what? That's wrong.

I don't even like to have more than two. I like speculation. I think informed speculation is terrific. I think you're fine as long as the dollar amounts are low. And by the way, in my new book coming out, I do stress the need to speculate and be able to make enough money to be able to retire on because the speculation can work out. Look at the way the nuclear stocks worked out today. It's crazy. Next is Kenneth in the U.S. who says, I have owned both Salesforce and ServiceNow for several years.

I bought both because I did not know which would be the winner and decided to split the difference and own half as much of each. Do you support that approach? Or should I ditch ServiceNow since the club owns Salesforce? No, I do totally support that. Particularly, by the way, if Salesforce goes and buys this Informatica, that would be very bad. And it would make me question what the company was up to.

I hope they don't do that. I like Asian Force very much, which is their division at Gentix. But I also like ServiceNow. I love what Bill McDermott's doing. They're actually going at each other right now, or at least Bill McDermott's declared war, so to speak, on Salesforce. These are two really fine companies, and over the long term, they've both been sensational. So anyway, I want to thanks again to all our callers, all our questioners, and remember that you can join the club ahead of next month's meeting. People really like the club. I spend a lot of time talking to club members.

all over the country. And people really get a kick out of it. But more important, they say they make money with it. And money's back. Coming up, Kramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast-fire lightning round. Next. It is time. It's time for the lightning round. We play the sound.

And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Let's get that to the lightning round. I'm going to start with Brian in California. Brian. Hey, Jim. A big booyah from California. Good to have you on the show. Thank you for all you do and being a positive influence for us investors. What are your thoughts, please, on Eli Lilly? Thank you. Thank you.

Eli Lilly. Okay, Eli Lilly. We bought some just the other day for the Chapel Trust. Why did we do that? Because it's down very big, and yet it's been beating Novo Nordisk over and over and over again. So I just think this is a decent level to start a position if you don't have any. Let's go to Mark in Wisconsin. Mark. Thank you for taking my call, Dr. Tush Push Kramer. You and your eagles.

I'll take it. I'll take it. Hey, listen, I didn't really care for Mr. Lurie's actual tagline. But you know what? Troy Vincent, my buddy, said that he didn't like it either. So we're good to go. What's up? I've got a semiconductor stock for you. They recently got some great news from NVIDIA. They're going to be using one of the products in this company's lineup.

And should I take a modest profit or should I back up the truck and buy more? Yes, Navitas. Navitas. No, that one's done. That one's done. I mean, look, it's terrific what happened, but you just had a gigantic gain. It's almost like a takeover. I say take your money out that you put in and then you can let the rest ride. Play with the house's money. I need to go to Rich in California. Rich.

Jim, big booyah from Napa, California. Napa. Oh, my God. I wish I were there right now. What's happening?

Well, it's beautiful. Wish you were here, too. My my question is about Mr. Coop. Got a big profit on it, but it's getting bought out by Rocket. Would you sell? You take your profit right now. That thing's done. Mr. Cooper is done. I know I'm like, you know, that's like is it done as Gary Cooper? This is Bo Jess, my friend. Let's go to Paul Maryland. Paul.

Yes, hi. No, Virginia, actually. Hey, Jim. I had a question about RCAT, or Red Cat. R-C-A-T is the ticker. Oh, my. No, no. Look, Red Cat is an absolute... This is a... It's got everything you want. It's got drones. It's got flight recorders. It's got this stuff. And you know what?

It's just one darn crazy stop, but I'll tell you, it's not making any money. So right now, you have to go to another show. There's many shows. You can call in on them and they'll say Red Cat, Blue Cat and go buy it. OK, Red Cat, Blue Cat. Let's go to Eric in Michigan. Eric. Jim, I love the show. Thank you, Eric.

Jim, Mike Wilson on a recent podcast said that Morgan Stanley economists are predicting one rate cut this year and seven rate cuts next year. I own a large, very large position in a rocket company. Well, if that's the case, if that scenario occurs, then you've got to buy, buy, buy, rally. Now, that's not my scenario. My scenario is that nothing happens because the president is doing stuff that will make it so that Mr. Powell may say, listen, I can't encourage any inflation.

And that could go on for a little bit. But you know what? I think Rockets are a very fine company. I need to go to Mike, Mike, Mike in Colorado. Mike. Booyah. Booyah, Mike.

Liberty Energy. Oh, man, I used to, I love the guy who used to run this thing, you know that, but I've got to tell you, I am not in the oil service business. And not only that, but there's a guy named Halliburton. A lot of people seem to like him. I don't care for the stock of Halliburton. I like Schlumberger. Now I'm going to go to Lew in Pennsylvania. Lew, we're Lewing down here. Lew.

Hi, Jim. Thanks for taking my call. First of all, I want to thank you for your wonderful staff. I don't know what you do to deserve them. The staff is incredible. A lot of that's involving Regina Gilgan more than me. I'm okay. I don't throw things at the staff, which distinguishes me as being a nicer fellow than people think. Your staff is fantastic, so thank you for that. Yeah, well, it's the A-team. I call them the A-team. They are A-plus.

With international access to materials becoming more and more essential, what do you think about Rio Tinto or other alternatives? I like Rio Tinto. I like Rio Tinto. I like the yield. I like the company. It's a globe-trotting company, so to speak. I like those guys. Now we're going to go to, because I haven't dropped dead yet during this lightning round, let's go to Andy in Colorado. Andy! Andy!

Hey, Jim, sending you a big Rocky Mountain blue sky booyah from Western Colorado. Give me a Coors booyah, will you?

Seriously, I love it, man. Hey, I'm calling about DeFi development. Another Ben Stoto name this time. It's a crypto. Now, here's where I am on crypto, okay? I am an owner of Bitcoin. I am not going to deviate. I like Bitcoin. Even up here, I would be a buyer of Bitcoin, but I got Bitcoin. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the Lightning Round. The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

Last Friday, we got a call from Gabe in Michigan who wanted to know about Universal Technical Institute. That's UTI for you, home gamers. It's a company that offers training programs for jobs in transportation, skilled trades, healthcare, among other fields. Now, this is a stock that's up 36% year-to-date, 134% over the past 12 months. I told Gabe it felt right for this moment because tons of people need training for new jobs as artificial intelligence makes their old jobs a little bit redundant. After the company got on, got...

in touch with us. I'm so terrific. Offering to come on the show, which is great because this is a small company that most of you probably never heard of, but you should have. So let's take a closer look with Jerome Grant. He's the CEO of Universal Technical Institute. Welcome to Mad Money.

Jim, thanks for having me on the show. Sir, I have to tell you, this is a company whose time is so perfect in our country. And I feel that I should just turn over the floor to you initially to tell people about your fine company, about how, frankly, it is a lot of people's savior right now. Yeah, thanks, Jim. Well, Universal Technical Institute has actually been around for about 60 years.

We focus in education for skilled trades, transportation, healthcare. And I think I agree with you that it's really in a sweet spot right now. I think with a lot that's going on in this country and a lot of focus on new manufacturing jobs, the number of manufacturing jobs that are open, over half a million says the Labor's Department right now.

we feel that we've got a lot of good runway here to be able to do some good work. So if someone comes to your school, let's say they want to learn how to fix a windmill, which we see everywhere in this country now, and it's a really good business. I don't know anyone who would know how to teach people to do something like that except for Universal Technical Institute.

Yeah, well, I mean, there are a few around, some community colleges and some other players. We are the largest in the country. And we take it very, very seriously. I mean, we employ master technicians, whether they're welders, whether they're electricians, whether they're HVAC techs, et cetera, and very industry aligned. We work very closely with them.

very, very closely with our OEM partners like Ford, GM, Mercedes, Peterbilt, Harley-Davidson, et cetera. And we try to give them the most industry aligned education we possibly can. Now, there was a period where we had a lot of for profit schools and it turned out that they were kind of diploma mills and they didn't people didn't get jobs and the return on investment was not great. That's pretty much the exact opposite of yours, isn't it, sir?

It absolutely is. I mean, we graduate nearly 70% of our students year in, year out. We get jobs for between 80 and 90%. At the Universal Technical Institute, which is one of our two divisions, Concord Career College is our healthcare division, Universal Technical Institute, there are at least four or five open jobs for every graduate.

And usually the graduates who don't go on to a job right away go on to another program so that they can be cross-trained in other skills. In the healthcare area, there's somewhere between five and 10 jobs for every graduate on our job board.

You know, getting a high quality education industry aligned and getting out there in the in the market and working is something we're really, really focused on. So how does it work? Does the student pay? Is the federal government helping? And you're going for what, a certification in many of these jobs, correct?

- Absolutely. Well, the funding happens just like any other school, whether it's a community college or a four-year campus. Most of our students are fully Pell eligible, so they'll get some sort of a grant. They'll also be qualifying for federally backed student loans, and then parents often help them out

as well as they move through their curriculum with us. And so, you know, we operate a model where students move through the curriculum very, very quickly. That's one of our value propositions. Whereas you may be in a community college for two years, you'll be out working within a year if you want to be an auto tech or even nine months if you want to be a welder.

OK, can you help me with what you see in the job market? There are many people suddenly and this one reason why I think your school's doing so well. But many people in their 20s suddenly tell me and I do more than just anecdotal empirical that they can't find a job because they're in these going from these professions where a lot of companies are saying, maybe I can have these people replaced by artificial intelligence. Are you hearing that or is that just anecdotal?

Well, we are hearing it. I mean, we're, you know, we are doing well and, you know, our enrollments were up over 20% in the last quarter. And part and parcel to that is we're getting more young people who are rethinking what they're going to do with their lives. Artificial intelligence plays a big role in even the skilled trades. I mean, diagnostic tools in automotive and in healthcare are all, you know, incredibly infused with artificial intelligence. And we teach those cutting technologies.

But they're enabling tools. At the end of the day, though, artificial intelligence isn't going to take blood from you, isn't going to change your oil. And what we're able to demonstrate to students who are thinking, do I want to go into one of these fields or one of those, is that, you know, what we offer is something that has the technology but is not going to be replaced by it.

Okay. Now, also, it seems logical and natural that high schoolers should be thinking about universal technical institute, correct?

Yeah, absolutely. We actually have over 150 recruiters out in the 25,000 high schools around the country. About half of the students that come into Universal Technical Institute come directly from high school. The other half come either through the military after serving their service or are people who probably should have come after high school but went out into unskilled labor, found that that wasn't really a career.

and then come back to get a certification or an associate's degree or one of the programs that we offer. Well, this is a terrific company. I'm glad that our viewer, of course, brought it to our attention. But boy, is it ever right for when you get a more tepid economy and people really need a job and there are jobs, but you can't just walk into these jobs. It's too hard. They got to be trained by Universal Technical Institute. That's Jerome Grant, CEO of Universal Technical Institute. Mr. Grant, thank you for coming on the show.

Thanks, Jim. Thanks for having me. I like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise. Just for you right here on Mad Money, I'm Jim Cramer. I will see you Tuesday.

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.

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