Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 11/14/25

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Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. Other people, my friends, I'm just trying to make a little money. My job is not just to entertain, but to educate. Explain how we get bottoms like today. Call me 1-800-743-CBC. We meet Drew Kramer. Sometimes it is so darn ugly that you have no choice but to view the weakness as a buying opportunity. This morning, the future has created some serious ugliness, but...

The individual stocks, the index wouldn't comply. Why? Because, well, we have a lot of stocks and companies that aren't making money. And, you know, I don't like them. We also have enough solvent, strong companies with stocks that would be getting killed this week. So today felt like a little counter trend move with the real economy focused Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 310. while the more diversified S&P 500 dipped 0.05%, and the tech-laden Nasdaq actually gained 0.13%. But look...

It's a very complicated date because it really did feel like a bottom, and yet I know that could be chimerical. But how about next week? Look, the next leg of this market comes down to the Federal Reserve and a few very important quarters.

I think both could be tailwinds after this week's vicious shakeout. Let's tackle the Fed first because, well, they meet in less than a month on December 9th and 10th. And in the lead up to that meeting, we're going to hear from a ton of Fed officials. And there'll be a big, big guessing game that I can't stand.

going to solve that for you right now. For example, on Monday, John Williams speaks. He's the president of the influential New York Fed. And bulls need him to talk about how either inflation has peaked or more likely how unemployment has gotten.

After this week's declines, if we get some dovish commentary, I think people will begin to creep out of their foxholes, do some buying. Williams will be incredibly important because he also speaks on Wednesday, and he speaks Friday. This guy's got a lot to say, I guess.

Fed, we got the first of some very big earnings reports on Tuesday morning when we get Home Depot. Now, this morning, Stiefel downgraded the stock from buy to hold, noting that their business could be exceptionally weak, not just because of lack of housing turnover, but also because ICE keeps targeting the day laborers who hang out at Home Depot.

parking lots. Of course, anything connected to housing is joined at the hip with interest rates, so the stock's a buy if you believe the Fed will cut rates next month as I do. I have liked the despot for years and years because it's a growth cycle. In my book, to make money in any market. I stress that growth stocks are the only truly safe stocks. And I'm going to include Home Depot because as long as housing prices have gone higher, which they sure have.

You're going to see some growth from that trend for many, many years. Wednesday and Thursday are chock-filled with retail earnings. Wednesday morning starts with TJX, the parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, which we own for the Chapel Trust. I was cautious last quarter to you because TJX is usually very conservative, but business was just so good.

They went loose with some tremendous numbers. This is a fabulous company. So if the stock gets hit, which it often does, even on good results, picks them up. We also get this is much tougher. the earnings from Target under the tutelage of outgoing CEO Brian Cornell. Now, I want to hear a plan that can get...

Target's mojo back. Mojo being a technical term, meaning it's got to start doing better. Remember, this used to be a very popular chain, especially with young people. But Target struggled with pricing this environment of persistent inflation, even with its extra special private labor. goods, there's a price gap with Walmart, and that has to be solved. Now, Lowe's follows Home Depot on retail weekend. Lately, Lowe's has been in.

better shape. See how Marvin Ellison runs stores that are equally attractive to the consumer and to the professional contractors. That combination's been working better than Home Depot's more contractor-focused approach.

William Sonoma, oh, talk about a real wild trader. They report in the morning, and this one's going to be hard to game. I think CEO Laura Albert does an amazing job. By the way, she has fully embraced Salesforce's agentic game plan. I want to hear how that's working out. I heard her speaking.

It's Salesforce's dream force. And I want to know, because we own Salesforce with a travel trust, I just can't figure out why the stock won't rally. Wednesday night's the big night of the week. The biggest night. Because NVIDIA reports.

NVIDIA is at the heart of the data center because the chips power accelerated computing and artificial intelligence. Besides hearing how the company's doing, we need to hear about the next iteration of chips, the Vera Rubin, and whether it's ready and whether it'll be a seamless transition. That will keep the company well ahead of AMD, by the way, who still is their chief rival. No, I don't expect anything from China. I think that's a dead issue now. NVIDIA is strong.

I think it can ignite not a bounce, but a true rally itself. I continue to say. Own NVIDIA. Don't trade it. And that's our position for the travel trust. I can't stress enough how important NVIDIA is to this market because there's no AI revolution without NVIDIA. But with it.

We could still have a multi-year move. Something that an old friend of the show told me, Dave Cody, now the chairman of Vertiv, which is key to keeping these red-hot data centers cool. They own the best air conditioning company. Now, I think Cody's appearance on Squawk on the street this morning actually catalyzed the bull market.

Because it was so darn bullish, and Cody is as rigorous as a business person I've ever met. I could see things turn around. That's why you've got to watch Squawk on the street. Give me a break. You've got a good number from NVIDIA and a big boost from the forecast next thing you know.

The other six members of the MAG-7, they are going to start roaring. That was easy. Next up, we hear about Palo Alto Networks. Now, that's a cybersecurity company run by Nikesh Arora. And given the endless hacks lately from the Chinese using really sophisticated equipment, I think there's plenty of business for these guys. Now, we've got some jarring news this morning.

Really jarring for me. I don't know why I took it so personally. The retirement of Doug McMillan, the longtime CEO of Walmart. And he's going to be replaced by a fellow by the name of John Werner.

who's the head of Walmart's U.S. business. Now, I had a special relationship with Doug, which included multiple trips with my two daughters to shop there, and I always told him about it. Doug has a remarkable interest in fighting inflation, especially high food prices. He's done real service to his customers.

I think he's an American hero. I think he will be missed. He's quite a gentleman. I expect a great quarter, though, because I can't imagine Doug's last quarter being anything other than a great one. We had the gap one when they last reported, and I was adamant that the quarter was good, yet the stock got crushed. That was wrong.

The stock's been bid up nicely ever since then. Perhaps that same pattern continues. We hear from another retailer, too, that is loved by the market, all stores. This one's a discounter. I don't know if its stock can keep running. I'd be a little careful. Now, Intuit reports, I don't know if you remember, we had Intuit on a couple of weeks last week. And they recently sampled their new individual financial software. I think I thought it was swell.

But I'm sure that many people haven't used it yet, and I think they'll embrace it once they try. Plus, the IRS is phasing out their homegrown competition in TurboTax. Remember that? Also on Thursday, we get the long-delayed September jobs report. Yeah. Get the jobs report. September's pretty far in the rearview mirror at this point, but we desperately need any economic data we can get.

Finally, on Friday, we hear from another club, this time BJ's Wholesale Club. I use this one as a barometer for Costco, that down and out warehouse club that I think is so great. But so far, I've been wrong of late. Right for very many years, though. Here's the bottom line. The year of magical investing may indeed be over.

But there are plenty of companies making big profits that I think will continue to do so. Sell-offs like this can be bought, but only if you have cash and you upgrade out of the morass of ultra high risk speculative stocks. that are losing fortunes. Those may not make it through 2026. How about we go to Kyle, North Dakota? Kyle. Yeah, Mr. Kramer, long-time listener, second-time caller. How are you doing? Excellent. I'm doing well. Thank you, Kyle. What's going on?

So I'm calling for my 9-1-year-old grandmother. She's got trust leading to her four daughters. One of the largest positions is deckers. They've been hit pretty hard since January. They've come down two-thirds, trade wars, tariffs, doing their things. Is there a way for them to climb back, or should she take the profits that she still has and go for something? I want her to take at least half the profits. That quarter's bad.

And I'm beginning to wonder what the heck is going on there. The stock's down 60%. Otherwise, if it went down this much, I'd tell you to sell it all. I have to believe it can bounce. But holy cow, that wasn't just a bad quarter. And the last two quarters have been bad. So anyway, but good luck to you. Good luck to your mom. How about Neil in New York? Neil. How are you, Jim? It's Neil from Long Island. All right, buddy. What's going on? My question for you today is about FedEx.

This company's stock price looks to be undervalued at the moment at about $2.68 per share, but has shown some promise by increasing about 60 points since April. You want to buy this stock. Let me cut you short here because this is so easy, Neil.

It's one of my favorite stocks. I wish we had it for the travel stocks. It sells 14 times earnings. It sells 17 times earnings. The stock is going, I think, all the way back over 300. It's having a good quarter. And can I just say that Raj Subramanian turns out to be just one dyno. might exec who I know is making Fred Smith proud. We miss him very much.

All right. Sell-offs like we just saw can be bought, but only if you have cash and only if you upgrade out of high-risk stocks. Man, buddy, tonight, this market is really struggling to understand the state of the consumer. So I'm sitting down with the CEO of a market research company that we use that's been right 100x to hear what the proprietary insights are signaling then healthcare stock

billion-to-one soared on its IPO. So is it too late to get into the billion-to-one? I'm going to be breaking down the story and giving you my take. And yesterday, we held our monthly meeting for subscribers to the CMBC Investing Club, and we had so many darn fantastic questions. We had to answer some of them right here, right now. So don't miss it 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. Head to madmoney.cnbc.com. Known as the pioneer of Paso, Justin Vineyards and Winery produces exceptional wines perfect for enjoying this holiday season. like Isosceles, their flagship Bordeaux-style red blend.

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As we approach the retail portion of earnings season, we'll be hearing from the nation's largest retailers. And after that, we reach the crucial holiday shopping season. We think it's worth spending a few minutes tonight. trying to figure out the state of play when it comes to consumer spending intentions. We've come to rely upon an alternative data form called 100X.

whose edge comes from the fact that they ask real shoppers specific questions about their spending intentions, going right forward rather than relying upon. stale historical data, which doesn't work. So what are they seeing right now in this very important hunt of the year? Let's bring back Rob Pace. He's the founder and CEO of 100X. To find out, Mr. Pace, welcome back to Mad Money. Thank you. Rob, I'm reading your... incredibly eye-opening intention survey.

And I come back and I say to myself, young people are doing things that I never thought they were doing. They're relying on crowds to figure out what to do. They're looking for bargains. But at the same time, they seem very disaffected. What's going on with this generation? Yeah, so we're seeing a deterioration right now in future purchase intent, specifically amongst that cohort.

It's the holiday time. What are they down about? Well, as you know, historically we saw strength with the upper income consumer and weakness with the lower income consumer. Right now, Jim, we're seeing the 50,000 to 200,000. income consumer, white collar professional, the weakest consumer in our data. And it's consistent with people worrying about their jobs. But look, it's kind of.

We're not seeing AI take away jobs. We're not maybe people who haven't been hired. Are they worried about something they read in the papers and get in social media? Well, let me just give you the facts. So in our data. We look at future demand, future consumption, and our data that peaked in July. It has declined every single month. Since then, October was the weakest month, and this group...

is the weakest amongst that group. But don't we need this group to spend and make it so that we have GDP growth? Yeah, this is a very large portion of the spending dollars. in this country. So it's not great heading into the holidays to have this data. Historically, Rob, these were spenders, not savers. Are they saving at least?

No. So we look at over 40, under 40, because the average consumer is 39 years old. So here's what they're doing. So one of the biggest growth areas is buy now, pay later with that group. So that would be indicative of their spending. They just have lower disposable dollars and they're retrenching. You know, it's one thing if you think you can land on your feet, you have a cushion, et cetera, you are more expansive in your spend. We're seeing this retrenchment.

Well, like Goldman Sachs does with your stuff, I come back and I say, all right, I could be bemoan this or I could just say this is a firm. Our firm is real. They've got the best buy now, pay later. They're the most organized when it comes to trying to figure out. how to get, you know, who should pay back and who won't. Capital One, not as much, but I own that stock. But before we get, I do want to do a lightning round.

You mentioned one particular stock that I see over and over again doing well, and it's not Dollar Tree. It's five below. But I thought five below was for children. No, what they're scoring very well on is uniqueness. So what we see is people who go to discount stores are not only looking for price, but they're looking for unique finds.

to stretch their dollar. Why are they going to Costco for unique fines? Well, they do go to Costco, but it's a different SKU set. These are much lower price points where they're trying to find treasures, sort of like TJX, but even at a lower price point. You know, Rob, if I didn't know better, I would think that these people are disaffected and don't think they can ever make as much money as their parents.

It is a little discouraging. One place we see that is in terms of their future plans, for example, for mortgages, for a home formation. I mean, we grew up where your home was your greatest investment. We don't see that in our data. Wow.

This is rather eye-opening, and I wish I could say encouraging, but I can't. But let's drill down to a lightning round on individual battleground brands. CarMax. CarMax down but not out. They got rid of that CEO. They didn't know what they were doing. They have a lot of used cars for a low price. Last three months, our trends are up. But after a tough start to the year. It's a very interesting counterintuitive call. Chipotle and Cava.

They are both MVP brands. More value for the price. Quality, healthiness, portion size. Back to, though, your opening, they have a core consumer who's under duress, but their business model not broken. And we know that these people can't afford sweet green. Way too expensive. Okay. This is crucial for me because my travel trust owns it. Nike. Better. Better, right? Yeah, we're seeing the turn. Now, interestingly, we're seeing the turn with an older consumer, not the younger consumer.

I think that Elliot Hill might speak to quite regularly would agree with that because it's early. It's early in the turn. And they're also going to count on China. And that's OK, because China is changing its view toward us as we are toward them. because the people at the top are trying to get along. That's encouraging to me. Starbucks. Improvement, but not the bounce yet. Now, part of, you know, we look at everything on a relative basis. So part of what's happening is Dutch Bros, Seven Brew.

Luck incoming. I mean, it's like the bar is being raised as well. But Brian Nichol is the man to meet the bar. That's the X factor. And again, neither Brian or Elliot from Nike is telling you that it's going fast. They're just saying it's going.

And that's OK. I like that expectations. This is tough because we've liked it. Elf beauty. Elf is a barbell. What I mean by that, if if we look at competitive differentiation. They're still best in class. Right. But their momentum in our data is way down. Incredible, isn't it? Yeah. Just wait. I'm getting that same look. Lululemon. Unfortunately, still declining. Hasn't hit the bottom.

Too high a price? Yeah, it's back to this LVP, less value for price. They're going to have to do something. Very good. They have to work hard because I got a Costco outfit that looks just like Lulu. And then toughest of all, Cracker Barrel. Down about 5% on the back of this controversy. Julia's so good. Yeah. But she told me she wasn't going to go that fast. It just, we didn't think that that iconic symbol would mean so much.

Yeah, I agree. You know, you get on the wrong side of these issues. And again, we see about five percent. Can I discover these things by looking at Reddit? Yeah, Reddit looks great in our data. And, you know, what's interesting is about the younger generation, where they get their information is peer-based. It's crowdsourced. Well, you know where I get my information? Reddit. You know why? To me, it seems true. Right. There's an authenticity. Isn't that something? Yes.

God, I hope it is. Anyway, that's Rob Page. It was such a unique way to look at things. It's fantastic. 100X founder and CEO, who, by the way, brought me a beautiful hat. I want to thank you for that swag. And I want to thank you for being. and a beacon of how to look at things. Thank you. Okay, everybody's back after the break.

Coming up, Kramer's breaking down the recent IPO from health diagnostics company Billion to One and seeing if this diagnosis is positive or if it's time to wait this one out next. Your commute, day in and day out, the same old route, but also the perfect time to hear what's new in blockchain and crypto.

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And now, a next level moment from AT&T Business. Say you've sent out a gigantic shipment of pillows, and they need to be there in time for International Sleep Day. You've got AT&T 5G, so you're fully confident, but... The vendor isn't responding, and International Sleep Day is tomorrow. Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal with any issues with ease, so the pillows will get delivered and everyone can sleep soundly, especially you.

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despite the extended government shutdown Five companies managed to come public. Now, most of them didn't do that well. We had a flying car company, Beta Technologies, that swiftly broke below its IPO price. We had an insurance tech company, Exio, that declined almost every day since it came public. We had a restructured Mexican airline, Grupo Aeromexico. That hasn't done that well either. Then there were two health care deals that performed much better. The first was Evomutin.

which is working on treatments for inflammatory diseases, and that shot up 26% on its first day. Pulled back from there, but it's still up more than $2 from the IPO price. The best, though, a molecular diagnostics company called Billion to One. That's B-L-L-N for all you home gamers.

Now, Billion to One priced 4.55 million shares, offering at $60. And that raised roughly $273 million in gross proceeds. But on the stock's first day of trading last Thursday, it opened at $100 flat, hit a high of $120. and change, and then closed above $108. That's up more than 81% from its offer price. Since then, it's pulled back pretty hard. It's now at $90, but that's still up $30 from the IPO.

So what exactly does this company do beyond having the coolest name I've heard for a drug company in ages? OK, in 2016, this company was founded by a pair of interdisciplinary scientists who set out to treat two of the biggest health care problems in the world that have been pretty darn intractable. sickle cell disease, and beta thalassemia.

Now, first, they came up with a novel method for prenatal detection. And through the process to follow, they also came up with a ton of major diagnostic innovations that could change the entire industry. Billion and One says that its single molecular next generation sequencing platform. Let's detect and quantify genetic targets as small as a single DNA molecule.

And that's where the name comes from. As the company's platform to detect a single DNA molecule among the 3 billion other letters in the human genome, these guys launched their first prenatal product called Unity in 2019. This is the first non-invasive prenatal.

test for sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis. Now, this is much less risky than traditional amyocentesis, which is where they stick that long needle right into the mother's womb. With Billion One Platform, the mother just gets her blood drawn like usual. In 2023, the company used the same platform to launch two complementary pre-cancer liquid biopsies. Those are the latest range, by the way, liquid biopsies. And it's called North Star Select and North Star Response.

to detect tumor mutations that will help them prescribe the right treatments. These days, there are all sorts of cancer drugs that can target tumors if they have the right genetic markers. But first, you need a test that can detect them. The second one is a way to quantify the severity of cancer without a tissue biopsy. That enables real time. monitoring so the doctors can immediately know if your treatment's working. These two tests combined are game changers for cancer treatment.

No wonder people got so excited about the IPO. But it was got incredible technology, and it looks like they're years ahead of the potential competition. More importantly, at least from our perspective here at Mad Money, the numbers are nothing short of phenomenal. Billion to One has seen incredible growth since the start of this decade, with sales rising at 167 percent compound annual growth rate from $8 million in 2021 to $153 million last year.

Last year specifically, they put up 113% revenue growth. Bye, bye, bye! And in the first six months of this year, they put up 82 percent revenue growth. On top of that, Billion and One provided some preliminary guidance for the third quarter, too, which showed reacceleration in revenue growth to somewhere between 112 percent and 120 percent.

Most of that's driven by these new cancer tests I mentioned. While still a small portion of the business, their oncology revenue was up somewhere between 600 and 700 percent in the third quarter. Guys, this is stunning. Of course, as much as I like to sustain and possibly accelerate revenue growth, the year of magical investing has come to an end. You know that, which means we need to care about profitability again.

Fortunately, billion to one has been getting closer and closer to turning a profit. When you look at the gap, not net income numbers, the most stringent measure of profitability, their net losses have shrunk dramatically. In fact, in the first six months of this year, these guys were very close to breaking even. And in their preliminary guidance for the third quarter, they said they had operating profit going positive. Wow. Now, some of the other adjusted profitability metrics look even better.

Billion and one's earnings for interest taxes, depreciation tax, interest and amortization. Well, I got to tell you, they're right there. They all turn positive in the first half of the year. EBITDA positive. Rarely do you see this kind of combination of excellent growth and emerging profitability from a company that just came public. I mean, Palantir, I saw it. That's about it.

Rounding things out on the financial front, it's worth pointing out that Billion to One has a very clean balance sheet with just $52 million in debt, which is dwarfed by the $438 million in cash they have after the IPO. And it doesn't look like they're going to need to raise money. anytime soon, as Billion to One's cash from operating activities turned positive in the first six months of the year. So where do I come down on this thing? Honestly, I really like it. Billion to One.

is playing in an industry that I'm a big fan of, diagnostics, and it has a fantastic story within that space, which feels like it's still in the early 90s. I wish Danaher would buy them. That's a travel trust team that just languished here. Their growth is excellent and even possible. accelerating. At the same time, they've just started turning a profit, look to get even more profitable going forward. Still, how much do we pay for it?

Well, the stock came public at 60 bucks, is now a 90, where it's valued at roughly $4 billion. Depending on your estimates for this year's revenue, that means billion to one is trading sometimes between 10 to 15 times this year's sales estimate. OK. Pretty rich. But given the sky-high growth rate and the newfound profitability, you know, I don't think it's all that unreasonable. Frankly, if you like this story, you got my blessing to put on a small position right here on Monday.

That said, we're in a pretty precarious moment for high-risk stocks, as evidenced by the more than $30 pullback that billion-to-ones already experienced from its first day's highs. If this volatility continues, I think the stock will come down even more. But you know what? This is the kind of stock that gets cheaper as it goes lower. So I'd be thrilled to see it come down. That just means you can get a better buy price.

All that said, this billion to one IPO is what we call a sliver deal. They sold 4.55 million shares, which is only about 10 percent of the total share count. That's near return positive because it artificially depresses the amount of supply. But if that lockup on insider selling aspires in May, you're going to have to expect that there's a chance this thing could really sell off hard. Here's the bottom line. I am a big fan of billion to one.

And I love what they're trying to do. But I think you've got to expect some turbulence in the share price. And that's why I'm recommending putting in a small position here on Monday and then gradually buying more into any weakness. If that doesn't happen any soon, I think you're going to get your chance when the lockup expires in six months.

Be patient with this one. If you take your time, I'll bet you get a great entry point. Memo to Dan or her. Take a look at these guys. David in Florida. David. Hello, Jim. Thanks for taking my call. My question was on UnitedHealthcare. I've been averaging down in this stock. And what was your opinion? I'm a buyer. What happened in UnitedHealth?

where there was some chicanery. The authorities don't seem to be looking at that. UnitedHealth has got a lot of good things going for it. This may not be the year that it turns around, but I do think next year it will. I've looked at it hard. Now, my favorite, by the way, is CVS. because they've got another model in front of the store that is real good, too. I need to go, and I'm sorry if I mispronounce this. Neil. Neil in New York. Neil. Yeah, greetings from scenic New York City.

All right, man. I'm right around the corner. What's going on? All right. Hey, I got a question. I've got a boatloader, Novo Nordisk, and I'm unhappy to report that I've ridden it all the way to the bottom. It's probably too late to bail out, but what do you suggest? Okay, you've got to let it come back a little. It's been so beaten up. Give the new guy a little chance so they can get it to the mid-50s, but then you know what? Because there's really only one king in that space and that's E. Fly.

All right, listen, I'm a fan of what Billion to One is trying to do. But you've got to expect some turbulence to share price. Now, we've got much more mad money. I'm opening the Investing Club mailbox, answering some of your most burning questions. from my convention that I had yesterday, that's right, where we do this monthly meeting, and these didn't get answered.

And by the way, when I was writing my new book, How to Make Money in Any Market, I realized something important about this market in particular that is keeping people from becoming millionaires. It's pretty harsh, and I will reveal it. Of course, order your calls rapid-fire in tonight's edition of The Lighting Man. So stay with cream.

Yesterday, we held our Investing Club monthly meeting where Jeff Marks and I get together, 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. My favorite part of these meetings is taking your questions. And since we never have time to take all of them, we're going to give you an inside look at what happens when we take...

take the questions in the monthly meetings while also hopefully doling out some much-needed market advice. Now, first up, the question is from Bob in Virginia. Now, Bob asks, What's the most efficient way to hedge against a rapid, steep drop in the market? I stay diversified and invested in such ways that we can handle bear markets, down 25 to 35 percent, without too much financial strain for three to five years, but worry about an unlikely event that could have.

that could have the market in days or weeks. Okay, look, I know that you probably don't want to hear this, but I've studied this probably more than anyone else, I'm not kidding, in the world. And the way you do it is you raise cash. You have to raise cash big if you feel that way. I don't like to do that. I am a big believer in compounding, letting things grow. But if you do believe that's going to happen, you raise cash. And I've got the demo. to tell you that that's the correct way

Next up, we have a question from Jennifer, who asks, when picking a stock, which metric do you consider is more important when looking at its relative competitor, profit margin or P.E. or growth rate? OK, I want you to go and look at the section. How to Make Money in Any Market, where I discuss the value of the M.

That's from the PE multiple. The value of the M is the logic I use. I've never seen the M explained, so I spent a lot of time on it in how to make money in any market. That's the way to examine these things. Now, let's go to Anna.

in Washington, who asks, as suggested, I've taken profits lately, but instead of reinvesting in the same stocks when they're lower, I'd like to invest in stocks with good dividends. Would you suggest your top three picks from the portfolio? OK, we don't have a lot of. really good dividend stocks. In part, that's because I am more growth oriented and the yields I'm getting are not that great right now because stocks have moved up a lot. So but I would tell you that away from that, the ones that.

What I've been looking at are Kimberly, Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola. OK, those are the three. I'm not going to reckon Bristol Myers because Bristol Myers has become a serial disappointer. All right. Next up, a question from Anthony in New Jersey, who asks, can you tell me how you feel with Meta?

I am down about 7 percent. I usually buy and hold. My time horizon is the longer side, five plus years. I just want to know if there are better places to invest now and come back to meta down the road. No, I think that meta is what. what Alphabet was about a year ago. I totally believe in what Mark Zuckerberg is doing. He did say he's going to spend a lot of money, but I would do the exact same thing because that way I don't have Sam Altman coming after me from OpenAI. He has got a moat.

He's defending it. And I think he's a brilliant business person. I like him very much.

All right, now let's go to Joel, who wants to know Jim and how to make money in any market. You advocate including a non-stock asset in your portfolio as a hedge. Is gold still a good hedge, despite its run-up in the past 18 months, to build a position in a goldie? ETF from scratch in an established portfolio, should I buy it all at once or over time? You buy it over time. And yes, see, I don't care what gold is. That's not how I do it.

What I say is this is my insurance, and right now my insurance has gone up in price. But I'm not trying to trade my insurance. I want insurance because I want my portfolio insured. Next up, Art asks, I purchased Airbnb two years ago. It's been residing in purgatory since then. What are your recommendations on how to make money in any market?

say that Airbnb is dramatically undervalued. I think that because it's so much cheaper than a hotel room. I do think that the story's got to be told better, including by the CEO, who's not telling the story as well as I could. I know that sounds like hubris. It really is truth. Next up, Nancy asks, G. Brinova is off its 52-week high, even though the trust does not like to violate basis. Is it time to buy some more? And the answer is yes.

GE Renova is the way to be able to make it so natural gas is actually turned into the fuel that the data centers want. Now, I will tell you, they should be putting up factories and making turbines like mad. They are not doing that. I want them to do that. But I don't run the company. If I did, I would put a lot of money in. Historically, when they've done that, they did it at the top.

and it's hurt them. This is a five-year thing that's happening, and I want to be involved in it. And next up, man, I'm getting through these, is Brandon in Nebraska. He wants to know, has Berkshire Hathaway lost its magic post Warren Buffett, or does the fact that they're sitting on all that cash make it the perfect?

hedge investment to diversify along with the tech build-out race. Time to buy some Berkshire B stock? Thanks, Team Kramer. First of all, forget the cash business. It's not a hedge. They just don't know what to do with the cash. Second rate. No, I mean, sometimes cash is not. You know, there's not a lot to buy, I think, is what they're saying. And they're waiting for things to come down in value. I don't think that's wrong. But as far as is it different without Buffett?

Of course it is. You were buying Warren Buffett. Now you're buying people who've been taught by Buffett. Could be good, but it's not Buffett. To me, that means cut the position back. That's plain old and simple. I could say there, I could say, hey, listen, the next guy's going to be as good as Buffett. How can I do that? That would be disingenuous. That's not the way we'd play it.

in Cramerica. Thanks again to all our club members. Make sure you join the club and thank you for the multiple references to how to make money in any market, which is having a pretty good week, I have to say. Man, money's back into the break. Coming up, Kramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast-fire lightning round. Next.

Time's time for the White Rock. We're all right. And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? I'm going to start with Sally in Texas. Sally! Hi, Jim. Hi, Sal. Second time caller. Club member from Texas. Thanks for all your guidance. I've learned a lot. Thank you, Sally. What's going on? Here in Texas, we have lots of sunny days and can benefit from solar applications provided by Next Power. It's climbed a lot in the past few months. What do you think? Dan Shugar's the real deal.

I think it's a terrific stock. You notice they changed the name to Next Power. I would be a buyer of the stock. I let go of the stock. I made a profit. I should have stayed. It was my bad. A lot of times I kick myself over this one and Alphabet, two that I sold too early. You've got a winner. Let's go to Alexander in New York. Alexander. A big boo-boo-boo-yah from Queens, New York, Jim. How are we doing? My wife's from Queens. This is fantastic. How are you doing?

Love to hear it. Ever since you told me and my dad to buy NVIDIA after you named your dog, we never looked back. Yeah, that was it. That was the defining moment in my life was that darn Mutt Everest, and he never liked Everest. He liked NVIDIA from the day I told him that.

I think he didn't like that first name at all. I don't think he knew what the mountain was or something. I don't know. Maybe he likes semiconductors. How can I help? So ahead of holiday season, I wanted to ask you about a stock with great consumer products, Shark Ninja. You need the Supreme Court to rule against the tariffs, and then you've got a $120 stock. Otherwise, no. I do like their stuff, though. I gave the...

I gave the ice cream maker to my daughter, and I think she likes it. Let's go to Mark in New Jersey. Mark. Booyah, Jim. It's an absolute honor to be speaking to you today. All right, see you. Hope you're doing well. I'm calling in regards to the nuclear energy sector. Back in November 2024, I bought a stock that has been doing incredibly well. However, I fear I have bet on the winning horse that made the rookie mistake and didn't bet enough.

I know you've talked about this in the past. I'm talking about LEU, Centris Energy. Coming in here up 275%. I cannot count this by any more. I'm sorry. That's just the way it has to be. I know I might limit your upside, but I'm trying to keep your downside lower. That's my job. Pull in Florida. Pull. Thanks for taking my call. I love you. Sure, man. What's up, buddy?

I wanted to ask your opinion on CRNC. I've been a holder for a while. Okay, this is this enterprise software. I'm not touching it. I'm not touching it. I'm giving it the hand. I'm doing it. I'm giving it the hand. All right, let's go to Sam in Pennsylvania. Sam. Jim, listen, I was looking around at companies located here in Philadelphia, and that's where I came across Carpenter Technology.

No, it's too late. It's one of my favorites. It's a great steel company. It's moved up, moved up, moved up, moved up. Don't buy Nucor. It hasn't moved up as much as Quartec, okay? I remember growing up and being very proud that that company was right near me. Let's go to John in Utah. John! Yes. Good afternoon there. Good afternoon. It could be morning somewhere else. I know. It's like that international deadline thing. What's going on? Hey, I'm wondering about energy transfer.

Oh, don't wonder. Bye. I mean, that's just the sweet spot that we want to be in. I need 17 more calls. Let's go to Nicholas in California. Nicholas. Mr. Kramer, it's an honor to talk to you. Thank you for your years of service. Thank you. I know you say the year of magical investing is over, but I believe that the year of American exceptionalism never is.

So I'm in a USA rehearsal at around 10.50 a share. It was the appointment of Barbara Hampton, who was, in my opinion, amazing at Siemens USA. She already got the ball, rolling with an acquisition of less common medals. which grants them a metal alloy making. Well, I'm not going to make any exceptions from the year. The year of magical investing ended, and I can't make any exceptions.

I'm sorry. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the Lightning Round. The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up, Kramer's helping you make money in any market, giving you tips on how to steer the course and how to learn to trust your long-term portfolio. Next.

Every day at 9.30 a.m., I'm listening to my partner, Carl Cantania, announce the names of the companies that are coming public on that particular day. It is often one of the worst parts. of my entire job here, because it's when I hear the names of some companies that simply shouldn't be owned by you.

fight individuals. These are often trading vehicles created to quickly cash in on some trend from Bitcoin derivatives to quantum computing to all sorts of pie in the sky equities where if history is any guide, you will end up making nothing. It drives me nuts because I'm powerless to stop this parade of garbage IPOs from hurting you. Reminds me of when I was a reporter in some godforsaken town in eastern Texas, killing some time walking around only to marvel at a car dealer I discovered.

named Caveat Emther. I mean, that's Latin for buyer beware. If only these new IPOs were that honest. When I sat down to write how to make money in any market, I researched a question that's been bugging me for decades. Since I got into this business in the early 80s, the Dow Jones Industrial was going from...

$1,000 to $47,000. If you invested $10,000 in the Dow back then, you'd have nearly half a million dollars now. So how come the stock market hasn't created more millionaires over that period? I came up with three reasons. Well, first of all, all sorts of experts, including many journalists, are obsessed with the idea that you should own simply the index and nothing else. No individual stocks, but tons of individual stocks, well-known stocks that you and I both know.

Products we use were super obvious. And that was where the real gains were. But you can't do them if you only do an index fund. Second, it is fear. People can't bring themselves to stick around when things get ugly like they did on Friday, like the earlier morning today and yesterday. What do they do? They buy high and they blow out low. And third, a lot of people lose money on junk that seemed like hot merchandise at the time before it fell apart.

Those are the caveat emptor stocks. They're often shameful attempts to cash in on a trend for a few extra dollars by the issuer, even if the people behind these deals know that there's danger lurking for those who buy. How can they live with themselves? It's not their job to protect anyone as long as they're making money. They sleep like babies

The shamelessness doesn't end there. We have a lot of double and triple lever leveraged ETFs that represent great ways to lose money by gambling on the direction of a stock or group on a daily basis. Again, shameless makes no sense other than. to generate fees.

And somehow, when get these squalls of selling like we had this week, the people who got blown out tend to be the same ones who fall prey to this ridiculous merchandise. They don't own stocks of great growth companies that can buy more on weakness when they come down. They own this junk that can't bounce back. because the insiders are usually trying to dump their stock while the companies, they're desperately raising money in the market at your expense. I know I sound extremely cynical here.

But I spent two years writing How to Make Money in the Market, and I spoke to thousands of individuals. I buy restaurants, bottle signings for my wife's mezcal. These are not the people who call into the show. My joint is empirical conclusion. Wall Street often makes instruments that seem like they're helpful to individuals, but in reality, they're nothing more than naked attempts to rip you off.

Days like today are a nice reprieve and excellent opportunities to high grade your portfolio into better stocks. Instead, though, the people who own the Quantum Escapes and the Rigettis and the BitDeers, they look at their beaten down portfolio and often decide that to give. up on the entire exit, the entire asset class. So wrong. That's why so many people end up missing out on the chance to make big money in the stock market, because nobody told them this is a caveat emptor.

business i'd like to say there's always more work some of my problems i find just for you right here on mid money i'm jim kramer see you next time All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Cramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC Universal, 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 official To view the full Mad Money Disclaimer, please visit CNBC.com forward slash Mad Money Disclaimer.

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