Cramer’s Mad Money Recap 3/24: Intel, Marvell, Nvidia

How do you explain Thursday’s rotating bull market? Just ask the hedge funds, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers Thursday. You don’t have to overthink it, Cramer continued, the hedge funds are the ones in charge.

To understand the mindset of the market, you must first understand the mindset of fund managers. Funds are always on the hunt for new, fresh ideas, ones the millions of other funds haven’t already thought of. They can’t afford to simply keep investing in energy and the financials, they need to take a risk on something new.  

That means fund managers are looking for stocks that have been beaten down big, but still represent value. Stocks like Intel  (INTC) – Get Intel Corporation Report, that semiconductor dinosaur that’s down big from its highs, now feels new and cheap and fresh, which is why fund managers were willing to pay up, sending shares up 6.9% by the close.

Over on Action Alerts PLUS, the team is ringing the register on Nucor  (NUE) – Get Nucor Corporation Report and Union Pacific UNP, and putting a little of that cash into a certain tech giant. Get in on the conversation and hear more about the moves in the Action Alerts PLUS investment club.

And since Intel is a major component of every semiconductor ETF, that sent shares of Marvell  (MRVL) – Get Marvell Technology, Inc. Report and the other semis up as well. The short sellers were also fleeing Nvidia  (NVDA) – Get NVIDIA Corporation Report, which rose about 9.8% Thursday.

What else is feeling fresh? Fund managers seemingly like DocuSign  (DOCU) – Get DocuSign, Inc. Report as our economy reopens, and Estee Lauder  (EL) – Get Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Class A Report, which is still expensive at 36 times earnings, but always delivers for shareholders.

There’s no magic pattern or formula to these moves, Cramer concluded, it’s just whatever ideas money managers get in their heads. 

Executive Decision: T-Mobile US

In his “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer spoke with Mike Sievert, president and CEO of T-Mobile US  (TMUS) – Get T-Mobile US, Inc. Report, as we approach the two-year anniversary of T-Mobile’s acquisition of rival Sprint.

Sievert said 2021 was the best year ever for T-Mobile with 5.5 million net-new customers. The company remains at least two years ahead of its rivals in the rollout of 5G services and this is the first time the industry’s value leader is also its network leader.

When asked about the Sprint acquisition, Sievert said at the time, the company told the world that by merging, it would usher in more competition and lower prices for consumers and that’s exactly what’s happened. All of the major carriers have stepped up their quality and service and consumers on every carrier are benefitting. We now have a healthy and vibrant wireless industry in the U.S., he said.

Cramer said if you want a dividend, go with Verizon  (VZ) – Get Verizon Communications Inc. Report, but if you want growth, there’s only one name in town and that’s T-Mobile.

What Rate Hikes Mean for Your Portfolio

There’s been a lot of talk about a “double rate hike,” or a 50-basis-point move by the Federal Reserve, but what would that actually mean for your portfolio? To find out, you have to go all the way back to May 2000, Cramer said.

Back then, fed chair Alan Greenspan was aggressively trying to tame the dot-com boom. Greenspan had already put in place five regular, quarter-point rate hikes before delivering the 50-point bomb in May. That bomb came just as the bottom was falling out of the tech sector, leading to nothing good in the months that followed.

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This time is different, however. This time, there’s only been a single rate hike so far, and rates are starting from zero, where in 200 they were hitting 6%.

That’s why you really can’t compare these two events. It was a different time, with different rates and different market forces at work. Cramer said that what is the same, however, is what was working. Profitable companies with earnings, dividends and stock buybacks worked in 2000 and it’ll work today.

Executive Decision: AGCO

For his second “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer also spoke with Eric Hansotia, chairman, president and CEO of AGCO Corp.  (AGCO) – Get AGCO Corporation Report, the agriculture equipment maker that just delivered a monster $1.31-a-share earnings beat that included a 22% rise in revenues. Shares of AGCO are up 24% in just the past three months.

Hansotia said it’s been a record year for AGCO, thanks to new technologies and innovations. These are dynamic times, he said, and AGCO has been working hard to manage supply chains to keep components flowing and equipment heading to their customers.

The invasion of Ukraine has major impacts on the world’s food supply, Hansotia added. That’s why AGCO is helping farmers in any way they can to ensure that seeds get planted and crops get harvested. AGCO has employees on the ground in Ukraine and is supporting them as well.

With more acres coming online in other countries to help fill the gaps, having technology and automation is more important than ever.

Lightning Round

In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Ionis Pharmaceuticals  (IONS) – Get Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Report, Moderna  (MRNA) – Get Moderna, Inc. Report, JetBlue Airways  (JBLU) – Get JetBlue Airways Corporation Report and Stanley Black & Decker  (SWK) – Get Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. Report.

Cramer was bearish on Enovix  (ENVX) , ZIM Integrated Shipping  (ZIM) , Yandex  (YNDX) – Get Yandex NV Class A Report and Peabody Energy  (BTU) – Get Peabody Energy Corporation Report.

We Can’t Do Business With Russia

In his “No Huddle Offense” segment, Cramer said if globalization means funding crimes against humanity, maybe we need a different approach to money management.

For decades, we’ve been told that free market capitalism will spread peace and democracy to the world. But as investors are now learning the hard way, investing in Russia means funding an illegal invasion, war crimes, market manipulation and countless other unspeakable acts.

If a country doesn’t respect the lives of its own citizens or the lives of its neighbors, how can you trust them to respect their capital markets?

Investor consciousness isn’t a new concept, Cramer recalled, but it is one that had fallen out of favor until just a few weeks ago. We simply cannot do business with Russia.

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