Cramer’s Mad Money Recap: Chipotle, Carnival, Wells Fargo

Does Tuesday’s rally have staying power? That depends on the companies reporting their sales and earnings, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers. And so far, things are looking up.

When a company delivers surprise earnings to the upside, it’s mighty hard to keep that stock down, Cramer told viewers, even when millions of anti-vaxxers are hijacking our economic recovery. That’s why shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) – Get Report surged today, and why strong earnings at HCA Healthcare (HCA) – Get Report sent the entire healthcare group higher, including Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) – Get Report, Medtronic (MDT) – Get Report and Abbvie (ABBV) – Get Report.

Other winners included Carnival Corp. (CCL) – Get Report, which is finally getting its ships back to sea. In the financial sector, Cramer said he still likes Wells Fargo (WFC) – Get Report, the most improved bank, along with Morgan Stanley (MS) – Get Report, another strong earnings winner.

When it comes to the back-to-school shopping season, you can’t go wrong with Target (TGT) – Get Report or Costco (COST) – Get Report, Cramer said, and with home buying still strong, both Williams-Sonoma (WSM) – Get Report and RH (RH) – Get Report remain great picks as well.

Finally, Cramer said the chip shortage at the automakers may finally be lifting, which is great news for both Ford Motor (F) – Get Report and General Motors (GM) – Get Report.

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Table of Contents

Executive Decision: Qualtrics International

In his “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer spoke with Zig Serafin, CEO, and Ryan Smith, founder and executive chair, of Qualtrics International (XM) – Get Report, the experience management platform that just posted a stellar “beat and raise” quarterly result.

Serafin said that Qualtrics has never been more relevant or impactful with their customers than it is right now. That’s how the company is on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue for 2021. Qualtrics helps customers like Urban Outfitters (URBN) – Get Report truly understand their customers, both in store and online, across all of their many brands.

Smith added that Qualtrics isn’t just for customer experiences. There is a great employee reshuffling underway thanks to the pandemic which requires companies to understand the “hearts and minds” of their employees and design programs to keep them happy and engaged. Companies who iterate and constantly improve are the ones who win in today’s marketplace.

Cramer said the stock of Qualtrics is very inexpensive versus its peers.

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Executive Decision: Bed Bath & Beyond

For his second “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer went on location to speak with Mark Tritton, president and CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) – Get Report, the home goods retailer that’s reinventing itself for 21st century retail.

Tritton said Bed Bath’s new, remodeled stores ditch the warehouse vibe in favor of a smaller, more personal shopping experience. Stores have less floor space, fewer SKUs and more brand partnerships, along with more private label offerings.

Bed Bath is also embracing an omnichannel future, meeting customers no matter where they like to shop. The company’s app allows for everything from self-checkout to gift registry. Speaking on registry, Tritton noted that Bed Bath is number two in registry, only behind Amazon (AMZN) – Get Report.

When asked about the upcoming back-to-school season, Tritton said Bed Bath & Beyond is ready with great products and easy shopping experiences to make getting back to school as pain-free as possible.

Tritton closed by saying that the iconic Bed Bath & Beyond coupons in your mailbox will continue, but they are also evolving new digital coupons as well. Look for more ideas and innovations from the company in the coming months.

The Risks of Stablecoins

With cryptocurrencies in decline, Cramer continued to shine a light on the risks of stablecoins, like Tether, by speaking to Gary Gordon, professor at the Yale School Of Management and an expert on currencies.

Gordon explained that stablecoins are designed to be bank-like in the way they operate, redeeming cash and coins on a one-to-one basis. However, unlike actual banks, we don’t know what these issuers hold in reserves, and whether they’re actually able to pay one-for-one.

Gordon added that while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and our government officials are beginning to take notice of the risks of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, so far, they’re not sure what to do. “We need to do something intelligent about them now,” he added, before their values increase to an amount that makes them a real danger.

These Turnarounds Look Promising

In his No-Huddle Offense segment, Cramer reminded viewers that turnarounds don’t happen overnight. As we just heard from Bed Bath & Beyond, the company’s multi-year turnaround is only just now beginning to bear fruit. The same is true at IBM (IBM) – Get Report.

Cramer said IBM made a very smart move when it acquired RedHat a few years ago, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at its share price. The company took a short-term hit to its gross margins to invest in RedHat, and those investments are only now starting to hit IBM’s bottom line.

Lightning Round

Here’s what Cramer had to say about some of the stocks that callers offered up during the “Mad Money Lightning Round” Tuesday evening:

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) – Get Report: “It has a lot of smart people behind it, but I find it tiresome.”

Tattooed Chef (TTCF) – Get Report: “I’m sticking with Beyond Meat (BYND) – Get Report. That’s all I’m gonna give you.”

Big 5 (BGFV) – Get Report: “That’s one I want to buy.”

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT) – Get Report: “This one is making a comeback. All of the weak-handed stores are gone.”

United States Steel (X) – Get Report: “There are two steel companies, Nucor (NUE) – Get Report and Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) – Get Report. I don’t care about any of the others.”

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