Jim Cramer explains why the visionary CEO should be admired for telling the truth.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer felt for Tesla CEO Elon Musk after the auto chief’s bizarre post-earnings conference call on Wednesday.
« Last night was absolutely, hands-down Musk’s best conference call, ever. By far, » the « Mad Money » host said on Thursday, not long after applauding Musk’s unusual behavior on CNBC’s « Squawk on the Street. »
The call, which sent shares of Tesla into a nosedive during after-hours trading, followed Tesla’s first-quarter earnings report. The car maker logged a narrower-than-expected loss.
Cramer particularly liked Musk’s jab at the short-sellers piling into the automaker’s stock: « We have no interest in satisfying the desires of day traders. I couldn’t care less. Please sell our stock, don’t buy it. »
« Tesla’s stock is unnerving, not for the faint of heart. I sure don’t like it, » Cramer said. « I think people don’t understand the risks that are associated with it and how emotional it can be. »
As markets swung lower, then higher on Thursday amid geopolitical worries, Cramer vetted a new thesis about what could be next in the U. S.-China trade clash .
» The new thesis I’m hearing is that the president’s woes are making the Chinese more intransigent, » Cramer explained. « They’re beginning to take a longer view that Trump’s in real trouble and they can take more pain than we can and wait out the president. »
« In other words, the Mueller investigation weakens the Trump hand, and it could actually hurt the global economy if it results in a prolonged trade war, » he continued.
President Donald Trump, whose personal lawyer Michael Cohen is at the center of a scandal involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels, revealed on Monday that he knew of a $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
When Cramer-fave MGM Resorts’ stock plummeted more than 11 percent after its earnings report last week, the CNBC host couldn’t believe his eyes.
« The selling here has been extreme, » Cramer said on Thursday. « Whenever we see this kind of action, we need to ask ourselves, are we looking at a broken company here — which means sell, sell — or is it merely a broken stock? »
« In other words, is this the kind of development that makes you want to sell MGM for good, or are we merely getting a buyable pullback in a stock that still has a compelling long-term story? » he said.
Cramer has long recommended buying the stock of MGM, a hospitality giant with numerous hotel and casino properties in Las Vegas including the Bellagio and Mandalay Bay. But since the January peak, shares of the hotel operator have been sliding, so Cramer had to investigate.
On Thursday, Cramer sat down with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio aboard his company’s new vessel, the Norwegian Bliss.
With roughly 1,800 employees, a water park and a racetrack on board, the Bliss is a statement — not only as a ship, but as a reflection of Norwegian’s business, Del Rio said.
« The occupancy of these vessels, on average, [is] 110 percent. We are supply-challenged, » the CEO said, brushing off a common misconception that cruise ship operators are over-supplied. « I only have 26 vessels. There are at least a dozen unserved or under-served markets… [where] I need more vessels. »
Del Rio emphasized that the cruise ship business, while niche, is extremely stable, with visibility into the state of the business extending seven or eight months into the future.
« And the barriers to entry – anyone can buy a piece of land and build a hotel, » he added after Cramer noted how cheaply Norwegian’s stock trades relative to hotel stocks. « You know how long it would take if you and I wanted to start a new cruise line today and get our first ship? Six, seven years. »
« So the barriers to entry are great, you need a lot of capital, the order book at the major ship yards is all taken, supply growth is limited, » the CEO continued. « The analysts, the investors are all wound up because over the next two or three years, the supply growth is going to spike to 6,6.5 percent from an average of 5 percent over the last 10 years. You’ve got to be kidding. You’ve got to be kidding. »
Cramer also heard from Gary Steele, the CEO of cybersecurity player Proofpoint .
Steele shared a worrying statistic from his company’s recent Human Factor report: that « over 80 percent of organizations surveys [have] experienced an email fraud attack. »
« This is pervasive, » Steele told Cramer on Thursday. « It’s a problem, and … it’s one of the reasons we’re growing at the rate we are. »
For companies that want to protect their employees from cyberattacks, Steele said the No. 1 strategy is to raise awareness.
« It’s very simple: you have to be thoughtful about what you click on and you have to be thoughtful about what documents you open, because 80 percent of malicious messages have ransomware, » the CEO said.
In Cramer’s lightning round, he zipped through his take on callers’ favorite stocks:
Celgene: « Look, if you want to do that, buy Amgen. That’s another beaten-down one that has a giant buyback. Or Regeneron, which actually had a pretty decent quarter but nobody cares. Because I think Celgene overpaid for an acquisition from a couple years ago and it’s still hurting. And Regeneron had a good quarter and it’s going straight down. But, that said, I don’t even like the group. »
Exelixis Inc.: « It’s a development-stage biotech and they’re not working right now so I’m not going to say, other than for total spec, [that] you should buy it. »
