Despite domestic political turmoil or international trade tensions, CNBC’s Jim Cramer knows one thing to be true: “If you put up better than expected numbers, your stock will go higher.”
The “Mad Money” host has repeatedly talked about stocks that Wall Street underestimated that ended up soaring after reporting strong quarterly earnings numbers.
“Analysts and investors were just too darned pessimistic, or too political, which amounts to the same thing these days, so they kept being blindsided by everything that’s going right,” Cramer said.
With this earnings season coming to a close, Cramer turned to his weekly game plan to see which companies reporting earnings have the capacity to beat the market’s expectations:
Monday: Phibro Animal Health
One of Cramer’s favorite trends this year has been the Humanization of Pets – he even designed his own ETF featuring his favorite pet stocks earlier in the week. While Phibro manufactures medical products for livestock rather than man’s best friend, “like everything tied to animals, the stock’s up huge for the year,” Cramer said. Phibro reports after the bell on Monday.
Tuesday: BJ’s, Best Buy, Tiffany, Hain Celestial, Tilray
BJ’s Wholesale: While Cramer generally prefers rival Costco, he has hope that BJ’s will post good sales numbers after seeing strong same-store growth at Walmart subsidiary Sam’s Club. BJ’s had their initial public offering in late June, so this will be its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.
Best Buy: Cramer has been a fan of Best Buy since two years ago, when the stock price was half of what it is now. Although many have predicted that best buy would be crushed by Amazon, Cramer doesn’t agree. “As electronics keep getting bigger and more sophisticated, you need a human to help explain it or install it,” he said.
Tiffany & Co: Although the luxury jewelry retailer got hit with a downgrade this week, Cramer still has high expectations. “I’ve never seen Tiffany this well-run,” Cramer said, referring to new CEO Alessandro Bogliolo. “Maybe buy some before [the earnings report] and buy some after?”
Hain Celestial: Cramer thinks this organic and natural foods company is one to watch when it reports earnings on Tuesday. “I want to hear whether management is serious about getting some growth back,” Cramer said.
Tilray: With Canada set to legalize recreational marijuana in October, Tilray, which is based in the country, has the potential to massively benefit. Cramer prefers a different Canadian cannabis company though: Canopy Growth, which recently received a $4 billion investment from Constellation Brands.
Wednesday: Dick’s Sporting Goods, PVH, Salesforce
Dick’s Sporting Goods: The athletic equipment and apparel retailer should benefit from “glowingly positive” industry trends, according to Cramer. The stock is up 30 percent this year. Cramer believes these same retail industry tailwinds will also benefit PVH, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.
Salesforce: This company is one of Cramer’s favorites, and he expects “excellent results” from the cloud computing company.
Thursday: Dollar stores, Burlington, Signet, Campbell’s, Ulta, Lululemon, Nutanix, Zuora
Thursday boasts the battle of the dollar stores. Since these retailers source many of their products from China, it was expected that they would be hit hard by tariffs. So far, this hasn’t been the case. Overall Cramer prefers Dollar General to Dollar Tree.
Burlington: Cramer thinks that this off-price chain will keep going up. “You have to go to one of their locations to see it with your own eyes. Mine in Brooklyn is packed,” the “Mad Money” host said.
Signet Jewelers: The Zales, Jared and Kay Jewelers owner has “new management that’s cleaned up its errant ways.” Cramer is betting on a good quarter.
Campbell Soup: This is one company that Cramer advises investors to avoid. He’s betting on a “hideous quarter” from Campbell’s thanks to the series of expensive acquisitions by the company that have weighed on its balance sheet.
Ulta Beauty: Cramer pointed out how a struggling JC Penney could be a boon for the makeup retailer. “Penny has a ton of Sephoras in its stores, and that’s Ulta’s biggest competitor,” Cramer said.
Lululemon: Cramer’s only reservation about this stock? Everyone else thinks it’s great, too. “If LULU goes down before it reports – pounce! This is a go-to name on weakness,” he said.
Nutanix: Cramer would buy this cloud name ahead of its earnings report after the bell on Thursday.
Zuora: This subscription economy play is the “real deal” according to Cramer. He’s betting on a good quarter.
The bottom line
It’s a “ridiculously busy” week for the traditionally slow end of summer, said Cramer. “There are plenty of consumer names reporting, and so far this earnings season, very few of those have turned out to be losers.”
Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Salesforce and Amazon.
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