Well, it happened again. Investors are panicking over rising inflation. Why? Because the fear mongers don’t understand how the stock market works, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers Thursday. He called these inflation fears “misplaced,” based on incorrect assumptions that are only costing you money.
Yes, Wednesday’s consumer price index was indeed scary. But let’s not forget that the CPI is a backwards-looking indicator and isn’t really telling us anything we didn’t already know. There’s a good chance that inflation has peaked, Cramer said, and when you strip out gasoline and used cars, yesterday’s CPI was a lot less scary.
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But that didn’t stop the bears, fear mongers and inflationistas from crying foul. According to them, growth stocks are in a bubble, the Rivian (RIVN) – Get RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE, INC. Report IPO is a sign of speculative mania and weak earnings prove that companies are broken. But Cramer had a different take.
Growth stocks aren’t in a bubble, Cramer said, we’re just in a really good market. Rivian isn’t speculative, it’s backed by Ford (F) – Get Ford Motor Company Report and Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report, and it’s the closest thing to the next Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report we’ve seen so far. As for those broken companies, the only reason earnings are weak is because demand is so strong, they don’t have enough products to sell. That’s a high-quality problem to have.
So the next time someone thinks the market’s falling on inflation fears, Cramer said he wouldn’t be selling, he’d be buying.
‘Salute to Service’ With Lockheed Martin
In honor of Veterans Day, Cramer offered up his annual “Salute to Service” by speaking to Jim Taiclet, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin (LMT) – Get Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) Report, the defense contractor where one out of every five employees served in our military.
Taiclet said he learned a lot of things as a pilot in the Air Force. He said the military teaches you how to handle a lot of responsibility at a young age and that authority and respect are not things that are given, they’re earned. You also learn important life lessons, like remaining calm under pressure and a sense of duty that lasts a lifetime.
Taiclet is using his military skills at Lockheed by applying the best technology America has to offer to real-world problems, like our growing wildfire problem. He said Lockheed has “the whole package” to effectively fight fires, they’ve just never put all of the components into motion. Lockheed now has a team working to combine their heat-sensing satellites, with cutting-edge aircraft, mission management, artificial intelligence and communications abilities to give firefighters the edge when fighting historic wildfires.
Veterans and Benefits for Business
The best thing businesses can do for veterans is to hire them. It not only helps the vets, it also helps the businesses. That was the finding of a recent study from JUST Capital, which determined that if your business has a lot of vets, it’s also likely to have a higher return on capital.
According to the report, some of the companies with five-star ratings when it comes to hiring vets included Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – Get Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Report, Merck (MRK) – Get Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Report and United Rentals (URI) – Get United Rentals, Inc. Report, while four-star companies included names like Amazon, Union Pacific (UNP) – Get Union Pacific Corporation Report and Humana (HUM) – Get Humana Inc. (HUM) Report.
The “Forbes 20 Best Employers For Vets” for 2021 included Ford, 3M (MMM) – Get 3M Company Report, Boeing (BA) – Get Boeing Company Report and Southwest Airlines (LUV) – Get Southwest Airlines Co. Report. Military.com’s index of veteran-friendly places to work calls attention to CACI International (CACI) – Get CACI International Inc Class A ReportI and Chevron (CVX) – Get Chevron Corporation Report, among others.
Cramer said all of these companies deserve our thanks for supporting our veterans.
Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp.
For his next interview, Cramer spoke with Eric Grubman, chairman and CFO of Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp. (SEAH) – Get SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT ACQUISITION CORP Report, a SPAC that is working to merge with Super Group Holdings to provide sports betting here in the U.S. Grubman served in the U.S. Navy aboard a nuclear submarine.
Grubman said you don’t need a day off from work to celebrate veterans. The best way to honor them is through recognition, he said, and by understanding that their mission doesn’t end when they come home.
Among the things Grubman said he learned in the military is that you always need to be ready for a challenge and that different viewpoints and backgrounds are a strength, not a weakness. There will always be people that know more than you, he said, and that’s also a good thing.
When asked about how things are going at Sports Entertainment, Grubman said the merger is ongoing and they are expecting regulatory approval sometime in 2022.
Renaissance in Retail
In his No-Huddle Offense segment, Cramer proclaimed the renaissance in retail is finally upon us, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a retail stock that’s not soaring.
When a lumbering department store like Dillard’s (DDS) – Get Dillard’s, Inc. Class A Report is able to rally 10% on strong earnings, you know things must be good. Even forgotten names like Fossil (FOSL) – Get Fossil Group, Inc. Report were able to deliver glorious earnings that sent the stock skyrocketing 23% in a single day. Cramer said the earnings at Tapestry (TPR) – Get Tapestry, Inc. Report, which soared 8% Thursday, reminded him of the good old days, when Coach was a darling on Wall Street.
What does this mean for the future? Cramer said he’s bullish on Macy’s (M) – Get Macy’s Inc Report now that international travel to New York City is returning. He also liked Signet Jewelers (SIG) – Get Signet Jewelers Limited Report, along with Kohl’s (KSS) – Get Kohl’s Corporation (KSS) Report and even Target (TGT) – Get Target Corporation Report. It may be time to revisit Ralph Lauren (RL) – Get Ralph Lauren Corporation Class A Report and Costco (COST) – Get Costco Wholesale Corporation Report as well.
The only flies in the ointment were Home Depot (HD) – Get Home Depot, Inc. (HD) Report and Lowes (LOW) – Get Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) Report, two stocks where expectations, and stock prices, have gotten too high and disappointments are likely.
Lightning Round
Here’s what Cramer had to say about some of the stocks that callers offered up during the “Mad Money Lightning Round” Thursday evening:
Gogo (GOGO) – Get Gogo Inc. Report: “I haven’t recommended Gogo in a long time, but I can see it as a trade as the world reopens.”
Trade Desk (TTD) – Get Trade Desk, Inc. Class A Report: “I think the quarter was good and that stock is a buy.”
Piedmont Lithium (PLL) – Get Piedmont Lithium Ltd Sponsored ADR Report: “I’d take profits. I think the lithium stocks are too high.”
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