Listen to Jim Cramer’s personal guide through the confusing jungle of Wall Street investing, navigating through opportunities and pitfalls with one goal in mind - to help you make money.
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 3/4/24
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I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a more market summer, and I promise to help you find it. Mad money starts now. - Hey, I'm Kramer. - Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramer, America. If you want to make friends, I'm just trying to make a little money. My job is not just to entertain, but to educate, explain all that's going on. So call me, 10743 CBC, TweetMeach and Kramer. The non-believers, they've had the microphone. They'll never stop hating this market, will they? And days like today, we're now slipping 98 points. This will be dipping point one to 12, and the NASDAQ declined point for 1%. Well, all it does is encourage them. Look, we are due for a pullback. I've been saying that. We have a very high cash decision for my travel trust. Members of the CBC Investing Club know all too well, put it from our annual meeting. But we like this market the whole way up. Many of the critics hated it the whole way up. First, they hated it because we were in some sort of pandemic inspired inflationary cycle. And they hated it because of the mini backing crisis started this time last year. Oh, they hated it because the Fed was ruthlessly raising rates, and they saw the economy head for a hard landing. They hated it because, oh, so much of the market strength was concentrated in the Magnificent Seven. And now they hated it because of what they call the AI bubble. All along, they failed to celebrate the market's incredible victories. They ignored the end of high inflation. They ignored what sure feels like the end of the Fed's tithing cycle. Not only was there no hard landing, you could argue the plane never really had the land because of all that job growth that's been so strong. And they didn't even care when the Magnificent Seven started bifurcating and passed the leadership baton to the industrials and the boarding rally is small to mid-cap stocks, which are still cheap after making an early high last week. So I don't wonder, what the heck's wrong with these people? Why can't they never admit that the market deserved a rally, even if it might go down now? Everything that happened so far has made a lot of sense to us. And I think the AI move we're seeing is actually perfectly logical. The context of world-wide tech growth. First of all, let's just focus on the fact that it's an election year. Supreme Court just certified the former president of Trump will get the Republican nomination in a walk. That removes a lot of uncertainty about this election. Oh, sure, there are other prosecutions. But we have an overwhelmingly conservative Supreme Court, and I bet they can kick the can down the road on anything that might interfere with the election. That matters to the market because, like I'm or hate him, Trump's arguably the most probest is post-stock market president in history. Hey, he uses Dow Jones and Joshua Average. This is approval rate. President Biden is much less friendly to think. This is to put it mildly, frankly. But in fairness, the political agenda of throwing trillions of dollars in infrastructure has been a major boon to a huge number of companies, especially our believer in industrials that are so true. With that out of the way, let's deal with the so-called bubbles head-on. Now, the first of the obvious bubble that they never seem to talk about the haters is not in the stock market at all. It's crypto, which has no real underpaying when it comes to its actual worth. However, it's relevant versus the US dollar is palpable. People view crypto as a hedge against potential inflation brought on by Sky High National debt. But when we actually had high inflation crypto performed to Ireland, it doesn't matter. People still think it's a hedge against inevitable inflation from the government, and we've gotten the point where there are exchange-traded products for Bitcoin, and there'll be some for Ethereum as well. And the hedgers are out in full force, it makes sense. Meanwhile, it feels like there are no Bitcoin sellers. That's what's bubble-ish is about it, even up here. So I can see crypto continuing to rally. Just remember to jump shift inflation really does spike. Hey, by the way, the bump up in gold confirms the bull in and pull out of crypto. See, crypto is moving every speculative asset, and it's a hedge, 'cause gold above 2000 spec. Next, how about the non-bubble though in artificial intelligence? Let me start by saying that sure, there are some stocks in the AI cohort that are over-inflated, but that doesn't mean they can't go higher. See, I didn't really like that the Super Micro got added to the S&P 500s. That one's just blowing through levels at a pace. Makes you think it's stealing something really highly proprietary, and that's not the case. Super Micro can and does have competitors, but let me tackle Nvidia up huge today. Now, it's the third largest company in the world with a valuation worth of $2 trillion. For a very long time, I've told you to own Nvidia. Don't trade it. I actually get called out in the street now a lot about it, which is really terrific. I like that, and in my dog-in-video, when the stock was about a tenth of where it is now. Why not trade it? Well, simple, the valuation's too low. But don't just go get today's price earnings global. That doesn't help you. What do you think of it like this? Wall Street expects Nvidia to earn $24 per share this year. I think that's a global number, but let's use it. Well, matter of fact, the stock does look a little pricey, selling for roughly 35 times this year's earnings estimates. But now let's go back a year ago, a year ago this week. At that point, Nvidia, the stock traded at $238, and there were many people who hated it and thought it was incredibly overvalued. But it was only overvalued because the earnings estimates turned out to be way too low. Do you know what it turns out to be that it's only selling for 10 times the current estimates for this year? That's right, when it was at $238, 10 times. We just didn't know they'd give us so many upside surprises. Now, go to October. The stock stood a little more than $40 per share, in retrospect. It was still selling for less than the average name in the S&P 500 when you look at 2024 estimates. Over and over again, it turns out Nvidia's been selling at a certain levels. Crazy, absolutely low. So if Nvidia keeps trouncing the estimates, then I bet it ends up looking cheap once again. Now, isn't that the opposite of a bubble? Okay, now, let's take Jensen Wong at his word, right? I mean, do you think he deserves his word? He thinks the entire digital world is going to be turned upside down by channel AI, not just service, not just the data setters, not just the PCs, not just the factories, not just the others. I mean everything. This is what's really going on. We don't even know how big AI is going to be. We get bits and pieces from a meta or an Amazon or a Microsoft or an Alpha. We know that last week Dell talked at length about what can happen when you get all the Nvidia high-end H100 chips you need. Well, no, the Broadcoms. They're going to dress it on Thursday. AMD, genuine rival Nvidia, we'll be talking to it at HP Conference. These are all tremendous companies benefiting from the commitment to AI. It is undisputed that Nvidia is the king of AI and it's undisputed that this company has repeatedly surprised the upside. So let me ask them, how the heck are we supposed to value it other than against the estimates? What do the bears keep? What do they have? What is their edge? The third alleged bubble, blah, blah, blah, blah. These GLP-1 weight loss drugs from Novo and Norzky. We have a worldwide epidemic of obesity. Just last week, the authoritative British medical journal Lancet raised assessments for the number of obese people on the planet from $8 or $97 million to $1 billion. Diabetes is an epidemic proportion. Fortunately, we have reasons to believe these GLP-1 drugs lower hypertension and help with fatty liver disease on top of treating diabetes and making loose weight. I think these are the most important to class of medicines since maybe antibiotics. How are we supposed to value them? It would be a shame for you to have a cheap stock here, but the bears want us to make it cheap, you can't. Now, what's typically the cases that we do get a sell-off? I'm ready for it. We aren't all that over bought. The trusty oscillator says that. We aren't in bond trouble. We do have a labor report on Friday, and I'm still expecting a strong set of numbers, which is not what Wall Street wants to see. Strong job numbers could take a summer rate cut off the table and cause some serious concern that might lead to a sell-off. We see what's happening in Apple. That looks like it's rolling over. You know how I feel on it don't trade it. I'm not fretting, I'm just expecting. And I have my shopping list of what to buy on we just for the travel trust. You are never set for a big decline unless you are net short. We can't short stocks for the travel trust, but we have raised a lot of cash. And you can see that when you join the CMC Investing Club, we make everything public before we do it. Put the bottom line. I will be ready to buy at this market sell-off. Not immediately, I'm not gonna be like that. I don't think the first bite, but the haters, they'll be ready to show scorn. They'll say, I told you so. I say, thanks for nothing, you can tell us anything. Just raise some cash and be ready to do some buying if and when the market has its inevitable pullback and for this incredible run from November of 2023. Ed, in California, Ed. - Hi Jim, this is Ed from La Rica, California, and I've been on your club for the very first day. We could sign up and I love it. - Thank you so much, we work our butts-off. I really appreciate that. There's a man who knows how hard we're working. Thank you, Ed, thank you very much. What my question is with this new drug that literally has the diabetes, and as you know better than me, it curbs the appetite or desire for food and alcohol beverage. How's that gonna affect consolation brands? Should it turn long? - Okay, it's a great question. Now, here's the fact is, is that beer sales have not been hurt. It hurts the hard liquor, not as much beer. We don't know why it doesn't act as negatively on beer. We think it's just because beer tends to have a social component that that hard liquor doesn't have. We're eyeing it, we're watching it, but it does not seem to have the impact that it has on what we call the Browns and the Clears. Let's go to Sandy in Arizona, please, Sandy. - Professor Kramer, how are you? - I'm doing well, Sandy, how about you? - Fine, I was a little kid driving in my uncle's desoto. Boy, we're going back some. I saw this big Cadillac and I said, "Gee, Uncle Joe." Wow, that's a great car. And he turns to me and he says, "Those are for other people." Mr. Kramer, you are to your wisdom and tutage. For the rest of us, we're becoming those other people. And I thank you very much. - Thank you. Oh yeah, these cars making me feel good. Working so hard yesterday, this is great. Let me go to work for you, sir. - Yes, sir. Okay, I'm a retired data security director worldwide. I opened up my platform this morning and what I saw at Palo Alto Networks just made my blood run cold. Basically, Palo Alto is facing a gaggle of lawsuits. There's a verdict of 152 million. An investor is suing them over a big share tumble. Three law firms are suing them over violations of security fraud and so forth. Is Mr. Nikesh not telling us something? - No, no, these lawsuits are all, I'm gonna say it, point blank. I see these filed every day, any time the stock falls. And I want to just say someone, please, some judge, somebody stand up and say, "Look, we got rid of this." When Al Shugard got this, changed the law years ago, worked so hard to make it so that at the beginning of a conference call, these people don't know what's gonna happen to have to just say it. And yet these law firms never stop. It's a disgrace. It's a national disgrace, what those law firms do. A disgrace. Why, I will be ready to buy if this market sells off. The haters, they'll be ready to show score and insight. I told you so, I told you so. I say thanks for nothing. I'm at money tonight. With clear prices seeing two straight months of gains and natural gas seeing its four straight monthly loss, I'm getting the bottom of what's really happening in the energy sector with the CEO of Kotara. Then, we're at the time of the year where I like to take a look at the top dividend boosters, DSP 500. Are there any fits for your portfolio? I'm hot at it at the top 10. Next Tracker is one of the best performing IPOs in 2023. So what does this solar company have in store for this year? Do not miss my exclusive with the CEO. So stay with Kramer. (upbeat music) - Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow @chimcramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Kramer, #MadMensions. Send Jim an email to madmoney@cnbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. Miss something, head to madmoney.cnbc.com. - In life, we're often driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring, the best way to find candidates isn't to search, it's to match with Indeed. 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Get to know what's inside EV HY, the symbol of high yield done right at Eden Vance.com/Cnbc. Before investing, prospective investors should carefully consider the investment's objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. The current prospectus contains this in other information and is available at Eaton Vance.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. Not FDIC insured, offer no bank guarantee. May lose value. Not insured by any federal government agency. Not a deposit. Investments involve risk. Principal loss is possible. Distributed by four-side fund services, LLC. (upbeat music) - It's been a little over two years since Russia invading Ukraine, caused the price of natural gas skyrocket. It sure gets 40% of their natural gas from the Russians. If the initial spike though, the price has come down, it comes down hard, over 80%. It just keeps getting hit. You know, all's up, almost 10% over the same period. Even though natural gas, the commodity had a tough time, some natural gas peruse has been a lot better than others. Take Co-Terra Energy, the used to base oil and gas producer, that was created when capital oil and gas merged with Simrex back in 2021. In the past, Co-Terra has been more natural gas-oriented, but a couple of weeks ago, they reported a solid quarter, better than expected production, found huge free cash flow numbers. At same time, Matt just had to be cutting back on investments in the gas-oriented Marcella shale, priced too low. They have the flexibility to pivot between oil and gas, and that is huge. People will take it from me. Let's check in with Tom Jordan. He is the chairman, president, and CEO of Co-Terra, in a big position for my travel trust. You get a better read of this situation. Mr. Jordan, welcome back to May of Money. - Good afternoon, Jim. - Tom, this is when your model shines. I mean, there's some people who are in Nat Gas, and they're getting hurt. People in oil, they weren't able to take advantage of Nat Gas when the prices were higher. Talk to us about how great the pivot is for you, and how you know better than to be patient, and watch for the recovery gas macro, because missing a few months in the recovery is much better than flipping, just saving the downside. - Jim, thank you for noticing. We build Co-Terra to have flexibility of top-tier assets, low-cost supply, but also a team that is nimble, always looking at iterations, and ready to pivot. There's another element that's critical, and that is that we've built our service contracts so we don't have many long-term commitments. And that means we can move capital from one basin to another in fairly short order, as we did with our recent release. We feel pretty solid about where we stand. Now, one of the things that I think people don't understand about oil companies is they tend to be very episodic. The idea of getting a six-month projection is really hard. Where as you get a consumer bank is good companies, they give you a pretty steady dividend increase. You know what you're gonna get? They give you a two-year outlook. You're giving us a three-year outlook and giving us a return to capital. We can really budget. Our individual investors can budget Co-Terra like they would be any great consumer products company. - Well, because of our asset quality, and also organization, we can project a stability of revenue and stability of cash flow that gives us that luxury. We can never predict commodity prices at least. Maybe there are those that say they can. I've never known anybody that could. And so we keep our debt low. We keep our assets low cost of supply and really build an organization that can capitalize on it. - Well, let's talk about the scale of what you're doing at oil this year. And you've told us last year, "Look, you can't just pivot in a quarter." But it seems like that you're going to be doing with the couple of weeks you have a huge number of wells are going to be drilled. I know you don't gauge toward production, but the possibility is that you could have a really bountiful year if oil stays high. - Well, we always hope for that, Jim. You know, we don't manage a company by production growth. We manage it by capital allocation in the most profitable places we can invest. But we've just got some tremendous projects in our oil assets, particularly in the Delaware Basin where we have these large projects that really give us capital efficiency, economies of scale, and set up the future quite nicely. - What do things you pointed out to kind of a, well, you have a lot of talk to your moments and you're called many more than everybody else. But the journal has a story every week about these companies merging. Now, they happen to be very fine companies. I happen to like Diamondback. I like the acquisition. You know, I like Chevron. I think that nobody's better than Sheffield other than you. But, I mean, aren't they getting a little carried away? I mean, all these burgers are they spent then enough time thinking about this? - The real question to ask yourself on any transaction is what's better? A share of the company you have or a share of the combined company. And we've looked at a lot of potential combinations everybody has, but we feel pretty comfortable where we are with our inventory duration, our low cost of supply, and our ability to execute nimbly. We're always gonna be opportunistic. We'll always be curious, but we like what we sit right now. - Now, a lot of the commentary about the Permian is that it's peeking out. I just don't see that, but I rely on people like you to tell me about whether it's more bountiful than a lot of these journalists and a lot of the, I would say the arm share critics say. - The Permian Basin has been described as a very forgiving basin. And believe me, it's forgiven us a long time. And we find that with emphasis on technology and innovation, and Jim, you know what a technology business while in gas is today, we find that we continually push the margin, we continuously improve, and I think we're gonna see that for some time to come. - Now, the end of Darko, it's not an aggressive ramp up, but a lot of people are very skeptical. You apparently see this, and I know you told me this last year when I was in Dallas, that end of Darko could be a very bountiful area. - End of Darko is tremendous. It's high pressure, great quality rock. It also has natural gas liquids. So in addition to the natural gas, we have natural gas liquids, the butane, the propane, the ethane, and so on, that really adds to that revenue stream. It's tremendous place to operate, and we've got some really nice things to do there. - In the meantime, I saw EQT. EQT is a really good company, but they cut back too. I imagine you're watching, all these people cut back, they'll come and we'll get some cold weather, or maybe something unfortunate, I hope doesn't go wrong in Russia, but you will be able to ramp back up much faster than the other guys, correct? - Well, time will tell. I think we're well-positioned, as we announce in our plan, our production will decline single digits, five or six percent this year, but we have contingency plans to ramp back up, if things look better. You know, the thing we've taken a little different approach, we've never been able to make sense out of shedding production in. What we wanna do is not invest in future wells, at least put a pause on that, and redirect that capital to other assets. - Are you surprised that natural gas has fallen as far as it has? - Well, I am, but you know, it's simply we're, until we get more LNG exports opened up, we're in the weather business, and we didn't have the kind of winter that we've had the past few years, and storage is in good supply. So, you know, this is just part of managing the business, and that's why we have the ability to pivot from one asset to another. This is kind of what we are designed for. - And then last question, are you surprised that when an OPEC does something like they did, extending the cuts, that it just doesn't seem to matter anymore? - Well, OPEC is still gonna be underwriting oil prices for some time to come, but I think there's been a psychology of supply in the global marketplace, that people just don't worry about the way they used to. I mean, there was a day when any shock in the Middle East, and Lord knows we've seen lots of them, would have made a huge volatile change in the price of oil. And to be honest, Jim, that's a credit to our industry, I think we've created that psychology of security of supply, and we're gonna continue to do it. - Well, you're a big part of why we have energy independence and have security more than we've ever had. Now, I thank you, Tom Jordan, chairman, president, CEO of Kochar, just doing a fantastic quarter, and I think this can be a great year for you. Really great to show the show. - Thank you. - Thanks, Jim. - Talk to you soon, Tom. Thank you. May everybody's back here for the break. - Coming up, investors crave dividends, and these companies are putting their money where their mouth is, a special year-to-day dividend delivery. Next. - Resourceful small business owners know how to get value from the purchases they already make for their businesses each month. 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(upbeat music) - Every year around this time I like to take a look at what the companies that have raised their dividends the most in January and February. Because a major dividend boost is a fabulous sign of strength. Companies don't boost their payouts unless they're feeling very confident in their ability to make good money in the near future. And we now have the official logs of which S&P 500 components have raised their dividends in January and February. That's courtesy by the way of Howard Silverback. Thank you, Howard. He's the senior index analyst, product manager at S&P Dow Jones, who meticulously maintains this data. So far 104 companies in the S&P 500 have boosted their payouts this year, when averaged by 8.5%. And 30 of them raised their dividends by more than 10%. Within that group, I looked them over and you know what? I've decided to give you my top 10. Share it with you, so to speak. 'Cause I'm in a benevolent mood today. All right, let's start with the company that put through the biggest dividend boost here today. Can you believe it? Charitable Trusting Walt Disney, which hiked its dividend by 50% after suspending its payout during the pandemic. Disney only re-instituted it late last year. And now they're raising its substantially. Although it's still barely more than half of what they were paying before COVID. So I got my fingers crossed that there'd be more ahead. Still, I see this is a real sign of confidence from management. Same goes for the $3 billion buyback authorization. Disney's strong couple of solid quarters together. Disney's now says it's one attractive liver, 7.5 billion in annualized cross cuts by the end of year. Up from 5.5 billion in the original plan. Of course, there's also the proxy fight with Nelson Pels, legendary activist investor. But Pels is so good at what he does that I think he would be happy either way. I had this big white pivot, it just dropped. I don't know for sure what Disney holds his annual medias in early April. Look, that's one of the reasons why we stuck this one through thick and thin for the Charitable Trust. Even as we did tell you that we did let you down by believing. Now it's coming back. The second largest dividend boost kid from Leonardo with the Kramer-Fave home builder raising its pay up by an astounding 33% in January. What the $5 billion increase to its buyback? Remember this is in the middle of a thin tightening cycle. The home builders had miraculous run over the past couple of years despite much higher mortgage rates. They're cleaning up because we've got a massive housing shortage in this country. And the numbers run by the bankable Stuart Miller's among the best operators in the group. These guys report next week. I bet it's gonna be a good one. Next I like monolithic power systems, which is a semiconductor company that makes specialized power chips that are maximized for energy efficiency. Now they put to a 25% dividend boost when they reported about a month ago. Now I, Kayleigh, I don't know monolithic well, but it always seems to pop up when we pull lists of the market special forward. Definitely deserves more attention. For now I'll just say that monolithic has the potential to be a major AI winner. So even though the stock's already run, I wouldn't be surprised if it got more upside if you're looking at a super microwave. And you know what I mean, AMD. Next there are two restaurant chains that made the list of largest dividend boosters. And the really exciting ones, frankly, are dominoes, which raises pay up on more than 25, when nearly 25% last month. And then Yum Brands, which put through a 10.7% boost back in January. Dominoes has finally gotten over its post-pandemic. Hangover under the leadership, I know, under the extraordinary leadership of new CEO Russell Wiener. They delivered a stellar quarter last week. Stock's still down more than 100 points from where it peaked in 2021. I think we can revisit those highs over the next year. As for Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, they actually had a disappointing fourth quarter port in early February. But stock's still rally. And that was because Yum offered a strong full year forecast. Saying the international headwinds that they've been facing should improve over the course of 2024. Oh, I believe in Yum. How about number five, Sherwin Williams, the paint company. Boosted is dividend by 18.2%. And this one intrigues me. Home Depot recently told us that consumers are doing a lot of home improvement projects, but they're shying away from big ticket projects that require financing. Well, maybe that means they're just repainting a room instead of completely redoing it, meaning more sales for Sherwin Williams. And then if that ever starts cutting rates, home building will boom and these guys will clean up next little twist year. Kind of exciting. Westinghouse air brake tap. Well, it's exciting to me. Also known as Wobtach, which is more commonly, that's what people call it. It's stuck in the top 10 where they did nearly 18% dividend. Like, not bad, huh? Now, regular viewers know that I'm a huge fan of the railroad industry. I was almost gonna press the oil board but I'm staying right here. Even as the individual railroads can be hit or miss, Wobtach's an equipment supplier to all the rails. And it's the industry's working this one too. The stocks run from below 100 in late October to 142 today, but I think it's still reasonably priced here. Seventh pick, all one I've liked for a long time, MSCI that put through a 16% dividend boost. That's Henry Fernandez run that place. Now, a couple weeks ago they were attacked by a vicious short sell with some pretty serious allegations that I, frankly, have gone through and don't believe are, I think are ill-advised charges. At the same time, I told you not to bet against MSCI because this is the company that creates global indices that are the benchmark for foreign stocks. Sure enough, when MSCI reported its fourth quarter results, they shot the lights out, boosted the dividend. However, the stock's not put back to only 10% for its post-cular highs. You're getting an opportunity here. Next, there's Varis in analytics, really boring, but so what? It increases pay up by almost 15% last month alongside a mixed quarter. Varis provides risk assessment and decision analytics software to the insurance industry, I told you it was boring, but it's chronically underappreciated even if the stock seems to grind higher over time. Can the company keep doing well in a falling interest rate environment which hurts the possibility of the insurance industry? People are concerned, which is why the stock's been trading sideways for over six months now, but I'm betting that Varis will keep winning because their software is just that good and management clearly agrees, or they would have just given you that big dividend boost. Finally, there's Dan or her yet, DHR, the maker of life science and diagnostic equipment. We own it for the child, but trust, it was bad. Now it's great. I won't go into the details too much here. I want you to join the club, frankly, and I think you'd like it for heaven's sake, but I will say that the life science industry seems to be bottoming here. I just checked in with another analyst this weekend about how things are just kind of quietly humming. Dan or I had actually lowered his dividend late last year to account for the spin-off of its water business, as varalto, what a winner that's been. But with the 12% dividend hike day announced last month, the full breakup dividend has been restored. I think it's just another sign of confidence from this great company. Here's the bottom line. After going over the 30 companies, the SP500 that raised their dividends by more than 10% in January, February, you've now got my 10 favorites in that list. I'm telling you, write these down. This is terrific stuff. I think anyone of them could be worth putting on your shop list, and we do get to decline that I'm looking for, and some people were just saying, listen, it's inevitable to happen. Philip in North Carolina, Philip. - Hey, Jim, how you doing today? - Well, you know what? I am doing well, Philip. Thank you for asking. And I want to know how you're doing. - Well, I'm doing what they say down here, down the south, it's fair to Midland, Jim. - Fair to Midland. I like that. I like that phrase. What's happening? - I want to just start off by telling you that I'm one of the early members of your club. - Oh, fantastic. - This club is the best in the business, Jim. - Thank you. I'm trying to tell people, they always think I'm being too promotional, but you know how much I love it? You'd see the stuff I pour out on the weekends, and Jeff does. We're really, we're trying to kill it here. - Well, that's the whole thing. You don't even have to do it, because I'm spreading the word anyway. - Well, thank you. That's very kind. I like that. I'm sure, look at my second producer. She knows how much I care about this, and she's doing a great job with it, too. How can I help you? - Okay, one more other thing, okay. I want to wish you a happy birthday to belated birthday to one of your coworkers. This guy reminds me of you 25 years ago, okay? He's downtown Josh Brown. It was his birthday a little while ago. - Hey, look, Josh, you might be a few. - You know, Josh is, I'll look up. And Josh is the only other guy who's ever admitted that he ever had a stock that didn't work. That's why I love him. He's the most candid, terrific guy, and I always want to work with him, and I just am so proud that he comes on and just does nothing but great things, and teaches, teaches, teaches, which is fantastic. - Right, this is the way you were 25 years ago. He could be fresh, and yet respectful, not afraid to tell a CEO that he disagrees. - Oh, you got that right about Josh. He is owned by no one, and that's the highest cop on I can play. Absolutely highest cop on him. - Okay, now let me get down to my stock, okay? You always think that never buy a stock on speculation of a merger or a buyout, right? So I've had this stock for a while, okay? It's gone down so much that it's almost, it's not even worth it to get out, okay? I don't know what Mrs. Redstone is doing about this, but should I just hold paramount? - Yeah, just hold it, just hold it this time. I think that they're gonna have to, look, you're absolutely right. The balance sheets are awful. They do really need to do something. My hope is that Larry, or the LLC might get involved. There's something, my hope is that anybody gets involved, because that pulled down the whole darn industry. It's really crushing even near and dear. But anyway, thank you for those kind comments and yes, play it after birthday to Josh too. All right, look, a major dividend booster this time of the year is a fabulous sign of strength. That's why I think any of those 10 big dividend boosters could be worth putting on your shopping list. Much more money, including my exclusive with Next Tracker. After highlighting this under the radar solar play a few weeks ago, I'm getting a closer look at the story of the finances with the company CEO. Then, it's been a year since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, so I'm taking the pulse to the regional banks to see where they stand today. Of course, all your calls, rapid firing tonight. It's just a lightning round. So stay with Rayburn. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Couple weeks ago, I talked about a company called Next Tracker, which has a technology platform that helps solar panels move with the sun in order to maximize their energy production and protect them during bad weather. This is a company that came public a little over a year ago with a little fanfare. But after its quiet start, the stock has steadily chugged higher. A month ago, it was trading in a little over 40 bucks. Then Next Tracker put it, the latest industry of terrific quarters of management. Hiking their full year earnings. It's just, I mean, just gigantically. In response, the stock's up almost 25% in a single day. Even though the stock's had a huge run. You know what, I think this one is still worth the only because it is a gigantic winner if the solar industry balances interest rates come down this year. So let's take a closer look with Dan Schiller. He's the co-founder and CEO of Next Tracker. We're more about what's going on here. Show welcome to me, buddy! - Hey, Jim, thanks a lot for having us on. - Absolutely. Now, because we need a little Next Tracker one on one because you are the skeletal system of the solar power ecosystem. But people are gonna understand that there is a skeletal system. - Yeah, and before we get to what we do at Next Tracker, let me talk about the amazing progress with Solar. - Sure. - So I brought something I give for you, Jim. These are little solar cells that I'm holding here in my hand, okay? Now, in a solar panel, which is about the size of a desk, there's about 75 of these solar cells. If you stack up the cells out of a panel, you can hold them in your hand like a deck of cards. And over its life, this generates the same amount of energy as burning 20 tons of coal. What's happened in solar is the efficiency's gone up, the cost has come way down. And what we do at Next Tracker is we make a system that helps the solar panels follow the sun in the day and then also adjust with machine learning to real-time atmospheric conditions, generating up to 30% more energy for these parts. - Is that how we can, they can give you a big order from Sweden where it's not that sunny? - It's crazy. Solar used to be a Sunbelt thing. Now Solar's, and you know where the largest project in the United States we're building now is in Indiana. So because the panels can harvest a few slight, scattered light, solar's now economic almost everywhere. - It costs have come down, but also you talk in your documents about an incredible level of energy demand in this country and how much solar's gonna make of it by 2030. - What's amazing is solar has been the largest single source of new power generation for three to five years in a row. But what's being forecast now is, solar will be the largest source of energy in the United States and that's being forecast by the Energy Information Administration. And not just here at home, Next Tracker is also serving markets in Latin America such as Brazil, Australia, Saudi Arabia, when Saudi Arabia is doing solar, you know it's the numbers. - There's one thing in you, the battery source system has helped, but a lot of people got burned in solar who watched, not our sugars, we won't recommend, but they did the end phase and the sun power. You are not those, that is not Shug's thing. - What we're really focused on, Jim, is utility scale solar power. So we support the residential. - Technology. - Technology. - Corporate. - Well it's for corporate, like for example, data centers. - Right. - But also utilities distribute the solar energy through the wires to folks that are in apartment buildings or homes, it can be used by, for example, steel mills, we're powering steel mills directly with solar. So these utility scale solar farms are well over half the market and they're growing at a 26% annually compounded growth. - Now when I look at your site, I ask everyone to do this, you have the worst things that make it so that you are able to produce more energy. Hell's not a big problem. Hell doesn't destroy your stuff. You've got things that gives you an edge over the other guys. - What we're focused on, Jim, is practical technology at NextTracker so that these systems can work and be reliable through a variety of extreme weather. So not only are they cost effective, and when paired with batteries can provide firm power well into the evening after folks go to bed, but also hold up for the long term, which is why solar is the most strongest new power generation technology, and why NextTracker has focused on delivering on our expectations, why our stocks perform so well. - Okay, so competition, we know you've got an alpha that's up against you, but looks like you're taking more share, but you have patents, no one can just come in and rip you off, right? - NextTracker has over 500 patents issued in pending. We want all our solar companies in our space to be successful, because not only are we lowering cost for customers, but we're furthering national energy security, energy dependence, and we saw the need from that when Vladimir Putin launched this whole war on Ukraine and cut off the gas to Europe. So now what we're seeing is, U.S. is a top producer of conventional energy, but also solar is now the largest form of new energy. - And I know that you had not even had to talk about these orange centers coming from the federal government that could help your earnings. Goldman says they're gonna really boost your earnings. I don't want to focus on that. I want to focus on your core business, which is extraordinary, booming with gigantic backlog. - Yeah, we've seen our backlog go up very consistently. We've reported that on our earnings, and folks can download that off our homepage, because the fundamental economics for solar have never been better than right now. Not only in the U.S., but also abroad, which is why we're focused on serving a global international customer mix. - And why your company is the solar company I am recommending from now on. That's just the way I've said. Ever since we discovered it, there's really others are just, they're just not there. - Jim, I hope you have an opportunity to come visit us in Silicon Valley, where we're headquarters, but we also have many offices around the world, and what we're focused on is consistent performance. - Well, I mean, now they're, obviously they're periodicals. Periodically, there's political pressure against, a different president comes in, we still make money. - Look, we grew a lot under Obama, we grew more under Trump, we're growing now, because the economics work. This is not about politics. What this is about is fundamental technology. Just like computers, obsolete typewriters, digital film, or digital cameras, obsolete film, solar is the next generation that's gonna obsolete fossil fuel like coal. - Fantastic, fantastic. Guys, stand straight, we're just the next tracker, battery CEO, NXT, and I mean it, you know I've been talking positive about these guys. I just wish I had been on it earlier in my bed, but in the '50s, the still-represented great bargain made money is back after the break. - Thanks a lot, Jim. - Coming up, Kramer takes your calls, and the sky is the limit. It's a fast fire, lightning round. Next. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - It is time, it's having a life run, 'cause that's what we call a life run, we call a life run, we call a life run, we say in the end, we say, "How do you think we're gonna go close in your place?" (buzzer buzzes) And then the lighting round is over, are you ready, scheme? That's what we call a life run, 'cause we're gonna go to a Frank, in New York, Frank. - Hey Jim, how you doing? And thank you for taking my calls, Jim. - Oh, my pleasure. - It's my pleasure, Frank. - One thing you have, that all of us home game is love, and that's integrity. We love it, Jim. - So all you have. - That's all you have. - But, I know, well, that's all you need. - Thank you. - And you mentioned a stock a while ago, and I've been following it, and I even bought some. And then the market, it doesn't like it's earning, it's sold off, and it's come back some. But it's not doing as well as somebody that's in the same business. Confluent's laying there, and Newton, it's just flying. When is Confluent's gonna get exposure? - You gotta give it a couple quarters, just had some issues involving their financials, and, you know, on mad money, we do not back companies with financials that are not pristine. So we're gonna have to hold off there. Let's go to Sanquit, New York, Sanquit. - Hi, Jim. Nice to meet you. I could actually talk to you, and ask me about your indie pop Super Micro. - Super Micro's gotten too hot for me. I mean, you know, I'm gonna draw the liner, 'cause we had the company on, I loved it, but it's since almost triple. I gotta pull back on this one. This one is two. This is lean. Well, you get the point of it. You get the point of it. Okay, that was embarrassing. Let's go to Doug in Alabama, Doug. - Hey, Jim. - Hey. - Look. - What's up? - I'm gonna have to talk to you about Chewy. My, uh-- - I had to think that Chewy is bottoming. I really do. Now, I've been saying that. It's been 17 forever. I'm sticking by my call that, you know, right now there's just a low-peded option. That's really the issue. Let's go to Jerry and Nebraska, Jerry. - Yeah, thanks for taking my calls, Jim. - Okay, Jerry. - I've heard you say many times, look what the kids are doing, or the ladies are doing, and I'm interested in on holdings. - And you should stay interested, because we had a really good piece out today. UBS saying that it's doing really well. I've been saying it's doing well for a very long time, and I'm sticking by my view. Let's go to Michael in California, Michael. - Hi, Jim. - Hi, Michael. - I'm Tyler. - I want to get your thoughts on the prospects of the indie summer conductor. - The indie semi is too late to auto, and I'm not interested or as interested in the auto, in the ADAS, or the, you know, frankly self-driving, I'm just not there. Just doesn't have to support yet. And that ladies and gentlemen's conclusion of the light and round! - The lightning round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up, one big bank is looking brittle, but a year after regional banks gave the market a jump scare, nobody seems to care. What gives? Kramer explains. Next. (crowd cheering) - What a difference a year makes for bank stocks. This week last year, Silicon Valley Bank Corp experienced a hideous run that was so swift, it seemed like you could bring down the whole financial system. Almost nearly every regional bank stock got put through the meat-cliner, and it took months for the situation to stabilize, but now we're in a totally different world. Today, for example, the situation in your community bank work looks perilous. Socks of two bucks and change, often another 23% today, down from $14 last summer, and what happens? The rest of the banks have been rallying furiously. That's right, furiously. What's different this time? First recognize that not all banks are created equal. Silicon Valley Bank Corp took in a lot of cash from venture capitals all at once. Then invested it where it could be crushed if the Fed raised short rates aggressively. They weren't too prescient. SGB had the worst possible portfolio of the safest possible assets, U.S. Treasures. And their hope is it's dependent on the success of their Silicon Valley clients. They banked there, they used their liquid PIPO shares, collateral, so when the IPO market froze, Silicon Valley Bank had a problem. It was frantically trying to do a recap. When Word got out, its big investors made a very noisy exit, ensuring that the bank would go under. (crowd cheering) Second, while many excellent regional bank sold their stocks get pancaked by the Silicon Valley bank run, only two were closed by the regulators after gigantic capital, a signature bank, with a lot of sandwich of actual and digital deposits, and a few months later, First Republic, a very good bank known for its white glove treatment for rich people. If that allowed JP Morgan to buy First Republic for a song, it was a great deal for the government, but a much better deal for JP Morgan. (crowd cheering) But the Fed also allowed New York Community Bank Corp to buy signature, which was just pure folly. I've been warning people to sell, I mean like, and my CB Freige is excited like it's high leverage, or it's not so high lending standards. I don't have the access to the Fed had for heaven's sake, but you know what? You had a really, really easy red flag here. I'm a little embarrassed by the Fed, frankly. I mean, it always had a well above average deal, which has been the kiss of death for any bank stock. I'll never forget why the heck the Fed let them buy a truly troubled alpha-like signature. The good news here though, is that New York Community Bank Corp is largely dedicated to a parking landing, which is fine, very strong in New York, and not office lending real estate, which is dismal. Any decently capitalized bank that requires them should make out like a bandit. I keep thinking that P&C's gonna do it, I wish they'd let Wells do it, 'cause it would be fabulous for Wells. I hope the Fed is a pseudo-lined up though, because the stock is enacting that well, put it mildly. What's incredible though, is that this time investors aren't worried at all about a New York Community Bank Corp failure reverberating throughout the entire financial system. They know most banks are actually stronger than ever, which is why their stocks have been able to rally lately. At this point, American banks are probably the best capitalized banks in the world by far. We've jacked up capital requirements endlessly, and the Fed has shown no mercy. By comparison, the ones plastered bank environments of England, Germany, and Switzerland are now roiled, and even their best operators are much less able to handle the fall from a fellow bank. China, they could learn a lot from our financial industry, not like our tech industry, but they don't want to. I wouldn't trust the paper that most of those banks issue. Of course, if America had a terrible economy, we might get some, still some contagion from MOCB, because the banks always take it when the chibblin' landings cut back and bedload spike, but we have the exact opposite situation now. Now, the Fed never really lowered the boom on the bank examiners who allowed Silicon Valley bank to get away with its high-risk bank up on portfolio and loose lending standards. We count on them to do their jobs. I know, I relied on them when I told you to be in the year of the mistake that I like to stop. I own that, I made that mistake. But the regulators were able to contain the contagion in just a couple of other banks. Unfortunately, they were just too darn cavalier about signature. There had to be a better suit of the New York community bank work, because those guys clearly weren't up to the test. Maybe the Fed was too worried about concentration. I don't know. Now seeing something might have to be done. So memo to the Fed from a guy who's hated your community bank work for ages. Hope for the best, but be prepared this time for the worst. I like to say this always is more market summer. I'm probably starting to find it just for you right here at Man Money. I'm Drew Kramer. See you tomorrow at Let's Call starts now. (upbeat music) All opinions expressed by Jim Kramer on this podcast are solely Kramer'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 Kramer on television, radio, internet, or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Jim Kramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Kramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable. But neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com/madmoneydisclaimer. This is Rob Wilhite, founder of the Wilhite Law Firm. If you've been seriously injured in an accident, you want Wilhite to handle your case. Awarded best law firm in 2023, Colorado drivers know that when they're hit, we hit back harder. Our firm stands up to insurance companies who want to keep the settlements down. Big accident, win big with Wilhite. Get your free case review right now. Just call 303 Good Law today or visit wilhitewins.com and chat with us 24/7. That's 303 Goodlaw or WilhiteWinds.com. [BLANK_AUDIO]