and rangers -- >> i have to get my ranger stein out. >> we mentioned medtronic is too cheap, it still is, mel. >> thank you for watching "fast." see you back here tomorrow for more "fast." "mad money" with jim cramer starts right now. my mission is simple. to make you money. i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there's always a bull market somewhere. and i promise to help you find it. "mad money" starts now. hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. other people want to make friends i'm just trying to make you a little money. my job is not just to entertain but to educate and teach you. call me 1-800-743-cnbc. tweet me @jimcramer. every morning i write up a list of the stories i'm working on for "squawk on the street," the

show i did at 9:00 a.m. you may get a truncated one in your e-mail box every day. it's 15 items. and the creme de la cramers, the magnificent seven, whatever you want to call them. upgrades or price target increases for tesla or meta or apple and amazon and definitely microsoft. i bridge this up after a not so hot day where the dow inched up ten points, s&p declined .34%. nasdaq shed another .56%. because since the new year began i've had this explosion of positive ideas from every nook and cranny in the market. today's typical 45 new ideas, almost all positive except for yeti which was slammed by an analyst due to the popularity of the new stanley thermos competition. meanwhile we're seeing a host of inve invective toward the creme de la cramers. including apple. i wonder who's going to downgrade it next. it's become a common refrain of incredibly pessimistic proportions -- >> sell sell sell! >> an echo chamber of negativity

no doubt written on a mac, told with an iphone read on an ipad or listened on second generation air pods. it's fantastic for the stock market. a market not just controlled by an elite group of companies. that has no sustainability. no longer do i have to come out here and talk about seven stocks plus or minus salesforce. we're up it two markets. the giant tech companies and lilliputians. i don't think we're going to have a convergence the magnificent seven are too big and the rest of the market is too small but i am saying the mag seven may run in place or work their way lower while the rest of the market might even get stronger and certainly more rewarding on a percentage basis. i always tell people to remember that in the end we're trying to make our money work for us, work hard for us. to do that you need to buy stocks that go up a great deal, not just incrementally. and the magnificent seven now feels very incremental mixed up with some rather upsetting slides down. there are simply better opportunities right now out there for 2024.

today a legion of research firms praised the incredibly inexpensive regional bank stocks like comericaa. huntington bank shares. these stocks were on the ropes ten months ago but reports of their demise were highly exaggerated. now they're among the cheapest stocks on the market. two upgrades of american express today two firnlz named the stock the top pick while this stock has rebounded ai great daal off its lows i think it could rally another 30 points from here at 18 before it gets too expensive to talk about. verizon. regional bank. $14 takeover bid not that long ago. the deal fell apart due to regulatory interference not related at all to the acquire -- to the actual first horizon but the acquirer. fhn. check it out. our how about this classic recommendation we got this morning of home depot by wells fargo? get this. this is a company we all know, right? the 2.7 dividend yield, one everyone was worried about when interest rates were soaring.

but now that rates are going down it just makes so much more sense to buy home depot. as the report put it, i'm going to do it a little kind of like -- you know, the kind of argo that they use on the street. the 24 bar is lower. buyers are normalizing, long-term -- home a.g. shortages, et cetera. in other words, buy buy buy. barclays jumped on the pro home depot bandwagon too upgrading the stock. they're betting that after a turbulent peered we're going to start seeing more normal levels of demand. i agree! let me quote another barclays upgrade. they got behind one of the worst performers in 2023, dollar general. last year was rare to see anything good about them. they could not defend. the dollar general was too awful. and even if it did it would fall on deaf ears. today the recommendation propelled the stock up 3 1/2 bucks off a 131 basis. you aren't getting that kind of percentage gain from the magnificent seven anymore, at least for now. i love, love this morning's recommendation of merck talking about how this stock sells at 14 times earnings.

average pharma name sells for 16 times earnings. under the hard charging ceo rob davis the current market is anything but below average. he's taking the money his company makes from one of the greatest onklogical franchises in the world, keytruda, and putting it to work building out the new drug pipeline. i thought merck's acquisition of prometheus bioscience for $10 billion last year was a work of genius because they have a fantastic drug for irritable bowel disease, could be gigantic and it's not in the numbers. here's one from out of left field an upgrade of the prosaic allstate by morgan stanley. they like the insurance company because of higher rates that jumped the stock from 145 to 148.50. last year the stock wouldn't even react to an upgrade and buyers would remain scarce. now it has a multiday move. in this market people want cheap. they want value. they want the stock of an auto company that sells at less than five times earnings. they want gm! and that's what wolf research gave you today with a warm-up to the great auto company where they slapped it with a $42 price target. starts at 35 and change.

ask yourself do you think you're going to get that kind of percentage gain from a mega cap tech name? maybe. but i think it's unlikely xwichb how much they ran last year. if they go lower. that may have to happen. finally this. a couple firms pushed verizon. when was that? honestly, can you ever remember a time somebody did that? you know, not too long ago the stock was a first-rate pariah. but now wolf research says the spending on 5g is finally waning the telco balance sheets are starting to improve and they see verizon, and i quote, a glass half full that's gaining water. you know what? that makes a 6.75% yield seem, well, mouth-watering. now, i'm not saying happy days are here again. remember my position, there are too many investors who are offsides. betting we'll get a slew of rate cuts this year. when i simply don't see a reason for more than three. the economy's too strong to justify more than that. and there are plenty of people who think the market is the magnificent sxechb friends. each day one or two of them will pop. but you need to be wary of these

upward moves. like the early morning jump in microsoft that couldn't be sustained even after talking about adding a button for its artificial intelligence platform co-pilot to the pc. let me give you another example. today we learned that amazon captured a staggering 29% of online orders during the holiday shopping season. in the old days that might have been worth five to eight points for amazon. well, guess what? today amazon's stock climbed almost 4 bucks. that's what we're dealing with. i expect this change in leadership will only get more pronounced as the month goes on because analysts are seeing stocks react to positive recommendations after years their ideas were almost irrelevant as the magnificent seven dominated no matter what. they've now rediscovered their own relevance. but bottom line to me as a stock picker i think this moment's kind of oddly joyous. we don't want two markets. we want one market. while i'd love it to be the mag seven and friends, they could simply go up more slowly than the other 493 stocks in the s&p 500, there's just not enough money to go around. so we've got a massive rotation

going around, one that could be with us for a long time. until the people who own the magnificent seven but don't know what half of them do get blown out, and it will happen at lower prices. how about bill in massachusetts? bill. >> caller: boo-yah, mr. cramer. boo-yah. >> boo-yah, bill. what's happening? >> caller: i had a question for you about danaher. i got some at 190. it's going great. and i wanted to know your opinion. >> first of all, congratulations. i got some much higher. and then i bought some lower. but you did a lot better than i did for the charitable trust. but i will tell you this. when i listen to what a bristol-myers is doing or merck's doing, they're buying these biotech companies, they're going to have to buy a ton of equipment from danaher, that's why the stock's been red hot. that's why i think the stock is back after being away for a long time. that's why i think danaher should be bought. how about ryan in connecticut? ryan. >> caller: hey, jim, thanks for taking my call. i'd like to give a special shout out to my wife amanda. >> i'm liking that. i'm liking that kind of -- hey,

i'm giving a shout out to lisa my wife. should i doesn't know i have a show. what's going on? >> caller: the stock i'm looking at has the cfo buying shares currently. the p/e sitting at 14, which is significantly less than the 15-year average. 10-year average is slightly less than the 3-year average. is this undervalued or am i missing something and should i be a buyer or be more patient in regards to fedex and when's the next book coming out, jimmy? >> actually, that's a secret. i happen to think that fedex -- i love the ceo of fedex. the fact the stock really didn't get hit if they missed the quarter, what does that tell you? it tells you that raj subra manian is the superman who is going to get fedex to be on track. 13 times earnings you've got a winner. phillip in michigan. phillip. >> caller: hey, good evening, jim. >> hey, phillip. how are you doing? >> caller: i'm doing great. boo-yah. >> boo-yah to you. >> caller: i just wanted to give a shout out to your staff.

partic particularly zev. i appreciate the work he does. >> i am really a marionette when it comes to the staff. >> caller: you know, the economy looks like it's going to go back up with the fed potentially raising rates -- i'm sorry, lowering rates in the near future. >> okay. >> caller: so i was looking to make my portfolios more industrial. and so i was looking at dow chemical. i know you love -- your thoughts on that. >> i saw rpm down today it's a chemical company i like very much. and i was thinking don't be too aggressive with the chemicals. but that is a higher multiple that has a higher price to earnings multiple than dow. i think jim is going to do a great job this year. by the way for those technically inclined it's unwith of the greatest head and shoulders i have seen in ages. emily in arkansas. emily. >> caller: hi, jim. you and jeff are great with the investing club.

and your "mad money" staff is the best. >> thank you very much. we are very, very good. and i always like these comments because you know, these people work incredibly hard and they make me look good every day. how can i help you, emily? >> caller: i have held some cisco stock, csco, for quite some time and i still have a small loss. do you see a catalyst that would move the stock higher in the near future -- >> not this quarter. not this quarter, emily. i'm sorry to interrupt you. but no, not this quarter. i think you're going to have to have another quarter and maybe two quarters before that stock can really make a run. it does yield 3%. chuck robbins is terrific. but that last quarter, it was a letdown. what can i say? you know, we're not done with questions. i'm going to take questions from now until the cows come home. let me go to trey in texas. trey. >> caller: boo-yah to ya. and happy new year, jim. >> moo-ya. that was something my daughter sent me today. she saw a sign that said moo-ya. i might have to change that on a thursday. special moo-ya day. what's going on? >> caller: i enjoyed a james

bond marathon over the holidays and it got me thinking about these two questions. first, has anyone ever told you look like a young pierce br brosnan? and second, is paramount a buy on potential m&a opportunities with other -- >> what was that first question again? i want to hear that really slow. slow time. paramount i don't like the debt load. pierce brosnan, of course. that's the coolest guy on earth. can i have more questions? because there might be a question about the late sean connery who i -- okay, that is it. that's the end. people are warming up to the rest of the market outside of the magnificent seven and as a stock picker who reminds people of pierce brosnan i find this moment oddly joyous because we don't want two markets. we only want one. on mad tonight we're covering the best in the s&p and dow. who reigned supreme in the nasdaq 2023? i'm revealing the top performers. then it's just as important to ienlds the losers. i'm revealing the names of who landed at the bottom of the barrel. yeah, the nasdaq in 2023. and just ahead of one of the

biggest invest health care conferences in the company i'm getting a preview before our trip to the conference with jpmorgan health care analyst lisa gil. so stay with cramer! >> announcer: don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on x. have a question? tweet cramer. hashtag mad mentions. send jim an e-mail to madmoney@cnbc.com. or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com. that first time you take a step back. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this.

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oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is. all week i've been going over last year's best and worst performers because you can't figure out where the market's headed unless we understand where we're coming from.

we've gone through the dow and the s&p. so tonight let's talk about the nasdaq 100, starting with the winners, and then we're going to come back to the losers after the break. after a hideous performance in 2022 the tech-heavy nasdaq 100 rallied 54% last year, hit anything all-time highs in the final weeks of december. and we can learn a lot from the biggest winners in the nas. the top two are nvidia and meta platforms, which i already covered last night because they're also the top two in the s&p 500. so why don't we do this? let's jump to the third best performer in the nasdaq and that's crowdstrike. wall street's been so focused on ai that people end up ignoring the remarkable bull market. we have new s.e.c. rules that requires companies to disclose cybersecurity issues within days of discovering them. since then we've heard about hundreds of data breaches. clorox, mgm resorts, caesars, johnson controls and then vf corp. which got hit last month.

sometimes these cyberattacks turn to major corporate sabotage because the hackers usually want a ransom and some companies don't pay. that happened to clorox last year. i'm a big believer in the hackers are like any other criminal in that they like to go after soft targets, the digital equivalent of people who leave their cars unlocked at the mall that creates more incentive for businesses to bring in the best cybersecurity software. and along with palo alto networks crowdstrike is the best of breed. when we spoke to the ceo he explained crowdstrike winning as a consolidator in the industry with customers eager to switch from multiple vendors to fewer stronger more comprehensive players. best thing about crowdstrike, though, is that it always beats expectations. this company's beat the sales and earnings estimates every single quarter since it came public in 2019. that's why the stock always ends up looking cheaper in retrospect because the real earnings consistently come in much higher than the estimates. for example crowdstrike selling for 66 times this year's earnings estimates which seems

expensive but i'm betting those estimates are way too low. that's it. do i think crowdstrike's a winner long term maybe it needs a breather in the near term. if it pulls back too much before the next earnings report in early march probably want to pounce. by the way, the nasdaq 100's fifth best performer is palo alto networks the other best of breed cybersecurity play i just mentioned a minute ago. we own it for the charitable trust. up a cool 111% last year. initially sold off in response to the company's last report in mid november. the issue os stensably was a billings guidance miss. but the ceo came on this show and said that night that there was no problem with demand. the billings forecast seemed light because they started offering customers different structures. while the stock sold off 5 hers the next day we hammered you to buy it because it quickly came roaring back. you could have bolt it in the low 240s back then and now it's at 283. just like crowdstrike and the

magnificent seven i think palo alto will keep pulling back for a bit. that's why we trimmed some in the charitable trust. but make no mistake the cybersecurity theme is here to stay and i'd love to buy this one back at a lower level. next we skipped the fourth best performer in the nasdaq 100 which is amd um more than 127%. whole semiconductor complex caught fire last year because it became clear the industry was bottoming especially pcs. amd got some great news last month when they rolled out their new rival to nvidia's ultra high powered chips for artificial intelligence. amd thinks these new chips can do a billion dollars in sales by the middle of this year. while nvidia's still the best of breed ai play i've always stay the only semiconductor company with a chance to catch up is the fabulous amd lisa suh. plus the personal computer business seems primed for a major rebound. the microsoft button, that could be important for a refresh. i like amd long term and i like the semis for 2024 but again i'm respecting the tape. since the new year the semis have gotten slammed.

let the pullback happen for heaven's sake. maybe you'll get things at a discount. you don't need to buy right here. in sixth place there's mangodb. enterprise software play. their software trukt proved to be a big hit with companies running jefrntive workloads. that's why they exploded. earned 81 cents per share in the fiscal year ending last january and looks like they'll be making $2.93 a share for the fitsical year ending this mop i am a big fan of mongo db's ceo dev icharia. but most of the stock's gains were achieved by the halfway mark in 2023. what you want to do is avoid a situation where they all came here and they did nothing. it's actually been more or less flat for the past seven months. i don't like that. in fact yesterday ubs downgraded mongo db to neutral. it sees it as a durable 30%

grower nothing to sneeze it. but after last year's monster gain these analysts wanted to take their foot off the accelerator. makes sense to be let's say disciplined. i think it's a good summary of what's happening here. if you like mongo db and i certainly do like it i'm betting you'll have a chance -- maybe you can buy it somewhere around here. it's not unusual. these stocks can have these kinds of declines. finally in seventh place in the nasdaq 100 doordash up almost 103%. alongside uber doordash emerged from the pandemic with enough market share in the food delivery business they can now operate as kind of an oligopoly frankly. like uber they've pivoted in a major way all while cannoting to post solid mid 20s revenue growth. if you put a gun to my head i'd say take that gun away you idiot. i'd also add i'd go with uber. but food delivery's become a entrenched behavior. it's one of the things that didn't change post covid and doordash is one of the few good ways to play it.

that said like all the other big winners in the nasdaq 100 you might want to wait for this one to come in too. i am circumspect about the nas. nasdaq 100 has some huge winners but this is the time of year when people ring the register on their best performers so let's be patient. stick around after the break. you'll hear about the five worst performers of the index and see which of them can play catch-up. "mad money" is back after the break. >> announcer: coming up, they're the nats of the nasdaq. these stocks weren't buzzing in 2023. will the new year give them wings? st stick with cramer.

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the worst performers in the nasdaq 100 for 2023. just like the dogs of the dow, maybe just maybe there are some quality stocks here that are ready to make a comeback. now, the worst performer in the nasdaq 100 in the last year was none other than moderna, which i highlighted last night because it was also fourth worst in the s&p. so we'll start with the second worst then. we'll start with this company called ill yumina. it's the leader in dna sequencing and on the surface it's very similar to moderna because it was a huge winner during the pandemic yet failed to find its next act. but the story is a lot more complicated. the company's been in this weird state of limbo for a couple years ago. they announced the $7 billion acquisition of a company named grail. i was excited about this deal, closed in 2021. but then the ftc and its european counterpart challenged it after the fact since then they've been find fighting it out in the courts with illumina losing in a big decision. they said they would sell the

grail business which has been a positive catalyst for the stock. if the grail saga was the only problem for illumina i'd be tempted to kick the fires unfortunately it's not. carl icahn the famous activist investor entered the from a launching a proxy contest and urging the company to sell grail. fired the ceo made major changes. he was partially successful. hes got one of his people on the board last may and the ceo was pushed out short tli thereafter. back in september icahn said the new ceo jacob facen had his full support. after the court zeis and the grail divestiture we started hearing reports that icahn might launch another proxy contest to take control of illumina. maybe he'll win completely this time and it will be good for the business. to me it's too messy. they're still optimistic on the business but don't like the risk reward given how much the stock's run from its november lows i say you've got to wait for more clarity here. third worst performer in the nasdaq 100 is let's talk about

walgreen's boots alliance. i covered it on tuesday because it was the worst performer in the dow. while the company reported a better than expected quarter this morning it cut its dividend in half crushing the stock. i was encouraged by thestrong numbers. seeing the dividend cut as a rational move by new ceo tim wentworth. might be worth a second look especially if the stock's been obliterated. i am very intreethd about walgreens. total pro, seasoned operator. i like that. next on the nasdaq gnats list we've got multiple utilities. only four utilities in the entire index yet three of them were among the worst performers. i'm not surprised given that these are all dividend stocks and the yield plays got killed last year tharngz to the relentless rise in interest rates at least until it peaked in october and the whole situation turned around if you believe long-term rates have truly peaked and the fed's ready to start cutting short rates then this could be a great year for the utilities now the worst

of the group excelon didn't bottom in october because the stock got hit again in december when they got an unfavorable rates decision from the state of illinois. very troubled. let's say a hornet's nest when it comes to the government there. one of their most important markets as the marinate company of chicago utility com ed. excellent stock fell to 34 in response though it's now rebounded to $36. i do think it's a solid company operating in some strong markets like philly washington, d.c. and baltimore stock now yields just under 4% but the illinois decision was a real negative a shocker frankly so let's see how much this hurts excelon's earnings before we pull the trigger. i feel much better about recommending american electrical power. we spoke to ceo julie sloan after the company report aid really good quarter in november of course it didn't matter because all that matters is the fed when it comes to this stuff but she did say the strong results were driven by excellent commercial load growth thanks to growth in her service areas, of

course the eastern midwest as well as texas oklahoma and louisiana you could do worst than those markets. particularly called out data centers especially in texas. a.p. has an even better yield i think it's a safer bet than excelon. how about xcel energy? they serve 3.8 million electric customers, 2 million nat gas customers. i do prefer american electric power but xcel seems find even though it's got a 3.25% yield. while it's not my favorite it's a winner if the interest rates keep falling finally the sixth worst performer in the nasdaq 100 was paypal. down nearly 14%. while there are all sorts of tech winners in 2023, few fintech stocks participated in the rally. and by the way in 2024 it's all regular fins, not fintech. frankly i have a bad history with paypal. we used to own it for the charitable trust then sold it at a loss nearly two years ago when the stock was in the 80s. it was tough to swallow at the time. but given that the stock's now fallen to the high 50s selling was clearly the right thing even

though buying it was horrendous. when i talk about my winners i have to talk about my losers. paypal's a loser. you could make an argument it's become cheap as it sells for just ten times this year's earnings estimates. but i don't know. it could be a value trap. also the company has a new ceo alex chris recruited from intuit. that's a company i like very much. but can't make a good fundamental investment case for paypal right now. at the end of the day their core digital payments offering is no longer special. they're being challenged by apple, amazon two, companies it's very hard to compete against. meanwhile, paypal never found a way to make much money off venn moe, its popular peer to peer payments platform that's going up against block's cash app not to mention zelle which is owned by a consortium of old school banks. yeah they got into buy now pay later but who hasn't at this point? the best thing i should say is alex chris should come on the show and tell us why he thinks the stock should be bought. until then sidelines. bottom line we've now gone through the best and the worst of the dow, the s&p and the nas. now you know where we're coming from you've got a better idea of

what might work in 2024 which is the real $64,000 question here. nasdaq gnats indeed. ♪ hallelujah ♪ or -- [ boos ] bill in arizona. bill. >> caller: yes. boo-yah. >> boo-yah, bill. >> caller: i'm interested in two banks. banks have been a dog for the last year. but they look like they're coming back. and that's gotten interest in citizens financial cfg and keycorp, key. i was wondering whether it was time to hold, buy or sell. >> i want you to buy key corp. citizens financial is a little too murky. key is a very good neighborhood. i love the area because it's a big footprint. i like the dividend. and i think it's very well run. citizens financial is kind of a little too opaque for me so to speak. let's skip that one. now we've gone through the best and worst names from the major indices in 2023 i hope you have a sense of what might work this year because that's the big

question moving forward. much more "mad money" ahead. early next week we'll be heading to the george health care conference in san fran where we'll be talking to the ceos of walgreen's, cvs eli lilly and many more incredible names. before we head out there i'm going to give a preview of what we're going to talk about and see from jpmorgan's best health care analyst lisa gill. then france's largest grocery store car four is doing away with pepsico products citing high prices. could this be the beginning of what it takes to bring down worldwide inflation? at least at the grocery store. i'll give you my take. and all your calls rapid-fire in tonight's edition of the "lightning round." so stay with cramer. the first time you connected your godaddy website and your store was also the first time you realized... well, we can do anything. cheesecake cookies? the chookie! manage all your sales from one place with a partner that always puts you first. (we did it) start today at godaddy.com

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next week we're heading to san francisco for the annual jpmorgan health care conference. and it's just jam-packed with huge announcements. this is an interesting time for the health care stocks offering tempting prices many of which have underperformed last year. we're also in an election year, though and drug companies tend to get targeted. there's so much to cover from the government now having the ability to negotiate medicare prices, assuming that doesn't get struck down by the courts, to the rise of diabetes and weight loss drugs. that's why we want to get a head start, talk with lisa gill managing director and head of the health care services equity research team at jpmorgan who's one of the hosts of the conference and she does an amazing job. ms. gill, welcome back to "mad money." >> thank you as always for having me. and this is one of my favorite days of the year. >> i want you to tell people exactly the stuff you're going to cover this year is all fireworks. why don't you give us some of the themes? >> yeah. you talked about glp-1s. i'm very excited. we have a great panel on glp 1s that year. we'll have a doctor who actually prescribes glp-1s. we'll have icer who's going to

talk about pricing on glp-1s. and we'll have dan mendelson from morgan health give the employer perspective. that's one thing i'm excited about. we'll also have another rx channel and healthcare supply chain of what's going on in the real world where we have a number of people from d.c. representing pharma, the pbms, et cetera because as you talked about there's a lot of change going on. >> walgreen's today. you and i both know a terrific ceo. the stock was down horribly. they're moving quickly into healthcare like cvs. will we be able to talk about whether that's a smart move or not? >> it is a smart move. and i will tell you and i spoke when i upgraded walgreens in october. i upgraded walgreens on the premise that i really believe in tim. i think there's not a lot of people that know him like you and i do. he was a former executive at medco went from medco to express scripts, express scripts to cigna. >> win, win, win. >> i will tell you that walgreen's. i sat here last year and said i was super excited about john

driscoll. here i sit a year later and i never upgraded the stock. why? because only the ceo can really truly drive the strategy. you can have great leaders underneath you, but i think at the end of the day it's driven by the ceo. when i look at tim, he is the first ceo of walgreens that actually understands what people are doing on the other side of the table. pbms, managed care, et cetera, honestly when the stock was down 11% today it kind of crushed me a little bit -- >> no, you had told people dividend's in danger. i think you're too hard on yourself as you always are. this is when you want to start thinking about it. >> but being down five i said to myself if it can end down five today i think that's a great entry point. >> now, cvs, they're both trying to get away from the front of the store, which is obviously difficult. do they have good plans? is that going to work? >> i think it is. one of the things to think about when you think about pharmacy, it's the highest touch point of anything in healthcare. it's been proven time and time again that if you can keep a patient on the medication -- think about glp-1s.

it's all the rage. but keeping a person adherent to the glp-1 is what's going to be most important. at the end of the day when you think about kroing conditions whether it's diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, even depression, you need that person to stay on their drugs. and you need to change the model. and so you heard cvs at their analyst day a few weeks ago talk about changing this model. and we really think that it comes to transparency, it comes to the consumer being at the center of all things, which we've said for years. and so they have to do this. and again, the front end is becoming less and less important. >> we met with andy jassy from amazon. he's destroying the front end. he wants to destroy the back end. can he do it? >> you mean on pharmacy? >> yeah. >> listen, i think there will be lots of competitors. i think that what companies like amazon do is make these other companies smarter. so if you never have evolution, if you never have disruption, staying in the same place is never good for anybody. >> now, look, one of the things that you covered that nobody

else does is surgery, the need for more surgery. people getting more surgeries. surgery partners. are we going to hear more about that? is that an actual secular change, what female do to their bodies? >> it's not so much that it's the site of care. the interesting thing about surgery partners is the shift to ambulatory surgery centers. so out of the hospital, wes a really high-cost setting, into the ambulatory surgery centers. they cost 25% to 40% less than the hospital for the same exact surgical procedure. >> wow. okay. so we've got to obviously follow that. now, we did have the lilly news. lilly direct. initially it seemed like a big day. in the end isn't this david ricks the ceo trying to make it so wherever you want it you can get it? >> i think what it really is at the end of the day is coming back to that whole idea of the biggest disruptor in healthcare is the consumer. i also think there's two things going on here, right? one, that they want to try to keep people compliant on a medication. they talk about compliance within those programs. two, when you look at the drugs

that are actually on there, they're mostly older insulin drugs. and their new weight loss drug. right? now, i think what they want to do is shift people from getting that weight loss drug at some random place to a place that they can control it, right? because the last thing you want is that you don't know -- and again, coming back to adherence. you take a weight loss drug, it doesn't work, lilly doesn't want that. they want to have more control over that channel in my opinion. >> understood. now, election year. look, all these companies -- i was shocked when -- i had rob davis on from merck. terrific ceo. suddenly they're doing stuff, they have to twist because of medicare. i mean, is it really going to hold this thing up? >> you're talking about the inflation reduction act. >> yes. >> we'll have to o'wait and see. >> there's a lot at stake. >> a change in the administration that perhaps the next administration if it's not the current administration tries to make some changes. i think there were a lot of unintended consequences. for example, you look at within

the inflation reduction act what happened with the prescription drug benefit, pdp for grandma. preeflsly her premium was about $34 a month. under the new inflation reduction act because she will pay less out of pocket ultimately but her premium is going to go up by 85%. so it's going to be like $70. >> you're going to flush all this stuff out. >> we will next week. >> and i love the fact that you have an employer on the glps. i want to know -- >> we didn't put the manufacturer on there. >> no, i want the payers. >> yes, we want the payer perspective and we want the prescriber perspective. >> nobody does this like you. i was telling you before we were speaking on air, this is where everybody is. and there's deals made. and there will be announcements of things that we don't know every year, right? >> there usually is. i think if i look back to last year cvs had said hey, we're going to do an acquisition and while it wasn't announced at our conference it was pretty clear they were going to buy oak

street. >> this is what we want to find out. and you've made a lot of money for people. but i want to know what we're going to be focused on are all these companies but always through the prism of what you tell us. lisa gill, jpmorgan's head of healthcare services, putting research ahead of the big conference next week. "mad money's" back after the break. >> announcer: coming up, pop open those umbrellas and tee up your toughest questions. cramer takes on all comers in the "lightning round." next.

i could use a little help. yeah, there's a lot of risk out there. huh ♪♪ hey, is this thing hard to learn? nah, it's easy. huh. you know, i think i'm going to ride it home. good thing you chose u.s. bank to manage and grow your money. with our 24/7 support at least you're not taking chances with your finances. yeah, i think i'm gonna need a chair. oh, ohhhh. it is time! it's time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad money"!

play -- this sound. and then the "lightning round" is over. are you ready skee-daddy? time for the "lightning round" on "mad money." i'm going to start with brandon in new york. brandon. >> caller: boo-yah, jim. how are you doing? >> not bad. how are you? >> caller: i'm calling about citi. >> everybody loves citi all of a sudden. 37, 38 where were they? now they're all the way up to 53. i say ixnay citi-nay. i likes wells fargo. charlie sharp. >> victor in virginia. >> caller: i want to know your thoughts about altria group. >> i don't remember the tobacco companies. i know you can get a 9% yield but that does not entice me. i don't recommend them. let's go to scott in indiana. scott! >> caller: hey, jim. first-time caller. i'm looking at yrzb. wanted to know if you think that's a buy. >> that ship has sailed, my friend. bristol-myers bought them and

it's one of the reasons why i'm warming up to bristol-myers, because it's one of two drug companies they just bought recently that i like very much. stay tuned to next week's jpmorgan conference. why don't we go to august in pennsylvania? august. >> caller: hey, jim, big boo-yah from the great state and beautiful state of pennsylvania. >> you betcha. >> caller: my question is regarding tlcr. >> i've got to tell you i thought i hated them. i didn't hate them. they're not the dallas cowboys. they should come on the show and talk about that last quarter. it was pretty good. let's go to juan in nevada. juan. >> caller: boo-yah, jim. >> boo-yah, my friend. thank you. >> caller: you are the carnac of the stock market. i need some help knowing what you think of stock lad, lithium automotive. >> we had brian deboer on from med from where my daughter used to live and that stock took off on what was not a great quarter.

i happen to like the auto dealers here. carmax the magnificent. couldn't resist. and i like lithia. let's go to caroline in new york. caroline. is this caroline? caroline. >> caller: hi, jim. how are you? >> i'm good, caroline. how are you? >> caller: just great, thank you. i've been following you since the street.com days. >> oh, my. i owned the boulevard, the street, the avenue. i bought them all up. fooled everybody. then i called it the street. true story. was going on? >> caller: okay. i heard what you said about general electric this morning. i'd like to know more about why you like it. >> first of all larry culp was running the company. the guy is the most dedicated -- i think the world of the guy. he ought to come on the show. has been a little absent lately, hurt my feelings. they are doing some great things in aerospace. they are an inexpensive stock.

even up here. i own the stock. i got it from when i used to work with -- i used to work with general electric. not a big position but i do like to mention, disclose everything. i own comcast. but these guys are the real deal. i like them even more than boeing. i like aerospace. play it with that one. and let's go to george in massachusetts. george. >> caller: hi, jim. i own stock in an oil company where the analysts are expecting both revenue and earnings per share to be up about 25% this year. the stock is selling at about six times earnings and there's been a huge amount of insider buying recently. so when it comes to matador resources are you a bull? >> oh, my, i can't resist. this fella's got a little sense of humor going. i happen to like the company. i like matador. but remember, i am in the end a coterra person. ctra. coterra. let's go to devon in west

virginia. devon. >> caller: hey, jim. boo-yah. how are you doing this evening? >> i'm doing well. how about you, kevin? >> caller: doing great. thanks for taking my call. >> of course. >> caller: i've been watching you for years and really want to thank you for all the hard work you do for us home gamers. >> oh, thank you, man. doing my best. appreciate it. thank you. what's up? >> caller: i've got a question regarding -- i took a small position in a stock after it was split off from its parent company and wanted to get your thoughts on klg. >> okay. now, this is a complicated story. and the reason why it's complicated, because it doesn't have a lot of growth and it doesn't have a lot of yield. i actually prefer kelanova but i'm not jumping up and down on any food stocks. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the "lightning round"! >> announcer: coming up, pardon my french? infl inflation's battlefield has reached the city of love and one

major retailer is leading the charge. cramer explains next. (grunting) at morgan stanley, old school hard work meets bold new thinking. (laughter) at 88 years old, we still see the world with the wonder of new eyes, helping you discover untapped possibilities and relentlessly working with you to make them real. old school grit. new world ideas. morgan stanley.

it sure took long enough. i'm talking about a major retailer finally pushing back on a large consumer products company that tried to raise its prices. today we learned that carrefour,

a gigantic french grocery store over 14,000 stores told companies it won't sell pepsico goods because their price hikes have made the products too expensive. they don't want the soda, not lay's potato chips either. carrefour still has products in italy spain and belgium. we are no longer selling this brand due to unacceptable price increases end quote. to which i say what took so long in hardly a day goes by in my house without my wife complaining about the high price of everything in the supermarket. she showed me a ruby red grapefruit and asked me how much she paid for it. i said a buck 99 because i remember i used to get two for two bucks for ages. she laughed. she said are you kidding? one grapefruit is now $3.99. now, i'm lucky enough that i can afford these price increases even though it bothers me on a visceral level but i wanted to know why hasn't someone put their foot down and said enough is enough? i know costco is often willing to fight for you, fight for the consumer, one reason why they

announced the strong december monthly sales, 8.5%. costco makes the biggest money off the membership card which i regard as an incredible bargain, not unlike amazon prime. costco makes its own products under the kirkland signature brand. i find their products are superior at i afraction of the price. but carrefour's playing hardball in the only area where even costco hasn't been able to rival and undercut the household names. carbonated soda. that's right, costco's failed when it tried to do that. will it matter? look, those who believe blithely that the fed's going to repeatedly cut interest rates this year, they ought to go to the supermarket. the true inflation battleground for most americans and europeans. when i look at the numbers for most consumer product companies i always see the same thing. higher prices and lower volumes. but the price hikes have gone up so much that they make up for the decline of volume. this is the kind of core inflation that can be really

sticky. you need a carrefour mindset to beat it. makes sense that the pushback started in france where the whole country riots every time the government tries to raise taxes on gasoline or slightly cut back on public pensions. of course, in truth you actually don't need to buy pepsi products. you can drink water. you can certainly skip doritos. and yes, if you take a glp-1 drug like the one that eli lilly just made so easy to get with its direct to consumer initiative today, the old lay's tag line is literally true. you can't eat just one. because you don't want to eat any. listen, as long as we have strong employment and we still do, it will be difficult for retailers to push back on pricing like carrefour. people want variety at the supermarket. they have the money they're going to shrug their shoulders and buy what they want. but if every grocer were to have the business model of costco or the guts of carrefour we'd see prices coming down all over the place. everyone in the food chain so to speak would make less money, which could hurt the stocks. but the real inflation, the one

we see every day, would finally go down and maybe, just maybe we could go back to paying two bucks for two delicious ruby red grapefruits. i like to say there's always a bull market somewhere and i promise to try to find it just for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you tomorrow. "last call" starts now. tonight, last call from miami beach. we are coming to you from the cleantech and utilities conference. we have a high-energy hour ahead and it's not just about any energy. we will speak with the ceo of chevron and later on we will be joined with a real estate guru one of the kings of the hockey world and enjoy conversation with the most highly respected energy analysts and get some stock picks just for you