With markets more volatile than they have been in months, CNBC’s Jim Cramer opened the phone lines for investors on Wednesday to offer advice on their portfolios and favorite stocks.
One caller pointed out that shares of Twitter managed to withstand the stock market’s sell-off earlier this week and wondered if that meant that the company’s stock was a good buy.
“Another way to look at it is [former COO] Anthony Noto did leave there,” the “Mad Money” host said. “I know Anthony as a man of character – he would not have left unless he felt things were in very good shape.”
However, even with Noto’s departure, Cramer argued that investors in need of social media plays should buy shares of a different competitor.
“You know what? I would rather actually buy Snap at a discount to where it went out,” Cramer said. “Twitter at $26, $27, no. Snap at $16, 17, yes.”
Since Snap’srocky initial public offering and subsequent declines, Cramer has been hesitant to recommend the stock of the social media giant to investors.
“Yes, I justifiably warned you away from this practically from the moment it came public,” the “Mad Money” host said. “Of course I did. I mean, it was losing oodles of money with botched plans and little to show for it.”
But after the Snapchat parent delivered a top- and bottom-line earnings beat on Tuesday, sending shares up more than 40 percent early on Wednesday, Cramer felt he had to reconsider.
With a pickup in user growth, longer advertisement viewing times, a broadening reach and a mission to cut costs, Snap’s fourth quarter managed to turn the tide, the “Mad Money” host said.
“Sure, I was a skeptic, but after this quarter, I’m now a believer,” Cramer said. “In many ways, Snap reminds me of where Facebook was years ago when the company finally figured out how to address its mobile problem.”
After several wild trading sessions, Cramer knows investors might want to reevaluate their portfolios and buy stocks that are more resilient to major market swings.
“Which brings me to one of my absolute favorite [secular themes]: defense,” Cramer said. “When the defense contractors get slammed by a big sell-off, they should be right at the top, No. 1, of your shopping list because the things people are worried about — like the Fed possibly getting too aggressive — matter a lot less to the defense industry than, say, to the industrials.”
Cramer has long recommended the defense stocks, many of which are up between 40 and 60 percent since Donald Trump’s election.
Of all the defense contractors that benefit from this convergence of catalysts, Cramer’s favorites were Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Harris Corporation.
Rumors of takeover talks between toymakers Hasbro and Mattel went unconfirmed by Hasbro Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner on Wednesday, who told CNBC that his current objective is to bolster his own business.
“We, first and foremost, are investing in our business,” Goldner told Cramer in an exclusive interview. “We built these capabilities of the brand blueprint over a 10-year period. You’re seeing our performance come to the fore. We always are looking at how we return excess cash to shareholders. Our board just approved raise of the dividend to an 11 percent raise. That’s really been our focus and I couldn’t comment on any M&A speculation.”
Speaking to Cramer after Hasbro delivered its fourth-quarter earnings report, Goldner maintained that worries about slumping Star Wars toy sales were overblown.
The CEO reiterated on “Mad Money’ what he told analysts on the post-earnings conference call: that Hasbro saw “significant” improvement in Star Wars toy sales in early 2018.
Add Clorox to the list of companies that will see huge perks from the newly revised U.S. tax code.
In an interview with Cramer, Clorox Chairman and CEO Benno Dorer touted the benefits of the new law on his company, which will especially benefit from being based in North America.
“Eighty-three percent of our business is here in the U.S., so we are disproportionately benefiting from tax reform,” Dorer said. “Our suggested tax rate for this fiscal year prior to tax reform was going to be in the 32 to 33 percent range. Now, we estimate it to be, post-tax reform, in the 23 to 24 percent range. That is a dramatic benefit and … we will put that money to work for our shareholders and to make our business stronger.”
With the money, Dorer said that Clorox would strategically invest in growth and cost savings, return capital to shareholders and continue to seek out good businesses to potentially acquire.
“Our goal is to put tax reform to work to make our company stronger and to put excess cash into the hands of our shareholder[s], because we have no incentive whatsoever to hoard cash,” the CEO said.
In Cramer’s lightning round, he zipped through his take on some callers’ favorite stocks:
Triton Intl: “Freight containers, good business right now. You know, [the] market’s not reflecting how strong the economy is.”
Corcept Therapeutics: “They’ve been trying to do psychiatric disorders. I think it’s too hard, frankly. It’s a tough business.”
Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Facebook and Raytheon.
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