>> guy? >> welcome back. i hope you are able to stay up tonight to watch the rangers take on -- no? >> doesn't matter what it is. >> i am doing "squawk box" tomorrow. >> lucky them. mcdonald's. >> thank you f wchorating "fas" see you on "squawk box" tomorrow. "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 a little money. my job is not just to entertain but to explain what's going on. so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc. or tweet me @jimcramer. because these unexpected tail winds appear in the market and they're keeping the bullish backdrop alive in the face of mounting skept izz is m the

tailwinds are frankly extraordinary and very much against the grain. one reason for today's bulls action, dow advanced. and the nasdaq jumped 1.35%. let's go over the unusually positive developments that are playing havoc with the bears right now. even as long-term interest rates keep creeping up higher and wall street's waking up to the fact the reality i guess that we won't get six rate cuts from the fed this year. this morning we got a fabulous contrarian analyst recommendation to buy the stock of one of the most hated in the market, apple. one of my biggest grievances with wall street is analysts love to move as a herd. when a company does well we see a host of upgrades and price target bumps. when a company does poorly the same group rushes to downgrade. what's the value proposition from the fourth analyst to downgrade morgan stanley in that distinctly subomt mal forecast? one more firm raising its price target on nvidia. we get these constantly as the stocks keep blowing through the

price targets. long after the stock blasted off from the mid 400 level where it's been stuck for so long. which brings me to pple. we've seen analyst after analyst downgrade this one on near-term concerns about iphone sales sxleeshl v especially in china where the economy has slowed dramatically. apple's discounting cell phones there is sxt economy is not exactly -- then out of nowhere in this desert of negativity this morning we found an oasis in a highly unlikely place. bank of america's equities research department, which upgraded the stock of apple from hold to buy. i cannot emphasize how important this upgrade was. the analyst who authored it, mohan, is someone who's been a true student of apple. he's often the person with the most cerebral thoughtful questions on the quarterly conference call. he hasn't been crazy about the stock in a while. it's an out of character upgrade. that's the best kind. no wonder the stock rallied 3.2%. by the way, that was the best gain since may. what's driving the upgrade? eight points all worth going over. first he sees a stronger multiyear, not month, not day,

but year iphone upgrade cycle driven by the latest hardware to enable generative ai. how refreshing is it that he's not just focused on the next three weeks, he's focused on the next three years? second he sees higher growth in services. the service revenue, something i've been screaming from the rooftops for ages because there are fees that must be paid if you want to save your pictures and get apple plus or any of the extremely worthwhile subscriptions. third, road map from pcs to autonomous driving which translates into higher margins. fourth strong capital returns including bountiful dividends and buybacks. fifth gross margins stable to higher over time. people don't think that one. that's controversial. sixth he says apple surprisingly underweighted by portfolio managersversus the s&p 500. and the anticipation of ai features could entice institutional investors to increase positions. seventh legal issues manageable. and eighth the stock's relative underperformance suggests the risk everybody frets about, they're already baked into the stock. i know this seems like a usual litany. but in each case it's actually a

breath of fresh air. i salute him for the against the grade upgrade that saw the stock go up nearly six bucks today. this was truly amazing. second unexpected tailwind for the stock market we'vegot a nascent theme going no one's talking about. it's called the return of japan the return of japan is a force in m&a which makes me feel like we're back in the '80s, late '80s. there's been a remarkable run in the japanese stock market of late, almost the polar opposite of the chinese stock market. after spending years lost in the wilderness the nikkei is within spittinging distance of where it pa peaked in 1989. now, most might not remember this but japan was so big in 1990 its stock market accounted for 60% of the entire world's stock market capitalization. back then you had a series of very high-profile mergers. bringstone the japanese tire company bought firestone an iconic company in this country. bank of tokyo acquired union bank of california. sony buying columbia pictures.

mitts beeshy buying the owner of rockefeller center. a chemical company. and matsushita electrical the company behind the panasonic brand acquiring mca. some in congress were calling for i atakeover because japan was becoming too big in this country. then the next 35 years in purgatory. now japan's back, really back, just no one's talking about it. this morning sikusui house bought mbc holdings to become the fourth largest home builder in the world. this one shocked me. we hadn't seen much home builder consolidation in years. this could be hugely important for the industry. looking back a month ago nippon steel swooped in to buy u.s. steel for $55 a share. that was a 40% premium to where the stock was a few days before the announcement. geez these guys overpay -- well, they pay. i shouldn't say overpay but i did. i don't know why no one's

talking about it. as the nikkei climbs i expect to see many more deals. it's a great reason to stay in the stocks particularly mid-cap stocks as i think that's the sweet spot of interest for them. third unexpected tailwind i know that for some disney stock seems like a hopeless and hapless situation. sneezy, grumpy, whatever. don't i know it. we own this one for the charitable trust and i am very tired of defending its terrible performance. but so is change agent nelson peltz, the billionaire activist environment from tryon who wants to be on disney's board and is launching a proxy fight to get in that boardroom. jay rasul former disney cfo while his firm would have little chance to get on the board alone pelts has also stewarded the shares from perlmutter who sold marvel to disney for $4 billion 15 years ago. why does this matter? a proxy fight will concentrate the minds of disney's directors. either they create more value or try to at least help or some of them get the boot. these guys do act as if they are in the playoffs going deep when they ain't even in the second division. finally one of the best calls we've ever made for the charitable trust, taking a

sizable position in meta. when founder and ceo mark zuckerberg nounsed the year of efficiency that was a clarion call to get on board because the company had way too many employees. it worked. now we're seeing a similar albeit less strident firings at alphabet. the stock could be much more profitable now that they're right sizing things or saying ai's helping them -- i don't care. if you apply zuckerberg's chainsaw playbook to alphabet the stock could have a very big one from here. alphabet's year of efficiency. i bring these items to your attention because i want you to get away from the big obsession we have here with the federal reserve, that's captivated so many money managers in a way that's just plain stupid. the idea -- i like to use words like stupid because you understand it. the idea you should only care about how many rate cuts we get this year is an absurd way to run your own money. i'd rather look at tailwinds, much better than playing the pedestrian parlor game of guessing the fed's next cut or increase. don't be a hedge fund manager, people, making moves every day

to justify your existence. unlike them you don't have investors to keep happy other than yourself. don't let ads scare you out of single stock risk, frighten you. i hate this stuff. do we really need to own intel wolf speed to protect ourselves from nvidia? i don't think so. bottom line, invest, don't trade. that's the real edge you have as an individual investor. don't squander it. consider yourself lucky that you don't have investors looking at your shoulder and kobsly second-guessing you. with the right amount of patient homework i'm telling you, you will do just fine. why don't we start with al in nevada? al. >> caller: hello, mr. cramer. i'm a first-time caller and a founding member in the investment club. >> yes! good to have you on board, man. we have a lot of stuff cooking. >> caller: my question is about pfizer. i have a cost basis of $35, and it's close to being a full position in my portfolio. considering the almost 6% dividend along with a multiyear time horizon, do you think i should buy more, sell -- >> i want you to buy more. i think the seagen acquisition

is real. i've got to get back with dr. bourla. the guy's a real guy. he has a real sensibility. i say that because he's a vet and we're like real animal people. but in reality he bought sea sf gen, i know he paid a lot of money but they've got a lot of new cancer stuff that i think is good to go. let's go toone -- now you know my whole dating calendar too. i throw everything at everybody. by the way, no one ever goes out with anybody on tv. they don't do that. it's not allowed. i take it all back. let's go to ann in indiana. ann. >> caller: hey, jim, thanks for taking my call. i'm a club member. but i'm calling about walgreen's because i love the turnaround stories even though they take patience. so i get a bunch of anecdotal evidence from a friend who had a long career at walgreens but then i look at how cvs has struggled, you know, since merging or acquiring cigna at 18. is it a value trap or value stock? >> we struggle over this, both jeff marks and i perhaps adding

to the bullpen of an upcoming investment club meeting. we screwed up on foot locker. we felt the initial redo and the change in pace and then it just got hammered again. will walgreens get hammered again? i don't know. tim wentworth is the real deal but at 22 i'm so tempted to pull the trigger. i just don't know what to do myself. i just don't know. why don't we go to -- i hate to just punt but that's better than a lot of guys i saw on the eagles. let's go to blair in pennsylvania, please. blair. >> caller: boo-yah to you, jimbo, from northeast philly. been there my whole life. >> really? i got most of my ma's side is over there. what are you like gw and northeast? which schools? >> caller: lincoln high school. >> lincoln. a little up -- okay. doing better than us. that's okay. i don't mind that. what's going on? >> caller: tell me about palo alto networks. bought it at the all-time high -- >> what do you need to know about -- first of all, we've got

a billionaire ceo, nikes arora who's running circles around everybody but crowdstrike. can a stock go down? yes. but is that company -- it's like 47 billion different hats every day at jpmorgan? remember, they only have to get through one. jpmorgan's got to stop everyone. that's why you need a company like palo alto networks. individual investors have a real edge in this market you should consider yourself lucky you're not being second-guessed by some rich billionaire right behind you. your billionaire class, let them be on their own. and complain about everything. with the right amount of homework the stock pickers out there will do just fine. on "mad money" tonight could bio help make you a fortune? i'm not talking about fidelity. i'm talking about actual animals. i'm saying animal health could be a strong contender in the phenomenal pet care space with the company's ceo. then close viewers know i had a bullish thesis on the pipeline space in november and with kinder morgan one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in north america reporting earnings last night i'm seeing if the stock fits into my thesis. and investors have been keeping an eye on the red sea with a

number of commercial shipping vessels under attack by the houthis. how do you interpret these headlines so it can help your portfolio? i'm going to run through all of it and let you know. so stay with cramer! >> announcer: don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on x. have a question? tweet cramer. #madmentions. 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.

all right, tandy, what's it gonna be, the drink made from whatever was laying around, or the one made with your drizzly haul? drizly! stock up today, sip well, tomorrow. drizly. [♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's healing formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins.

for all your skins, gold bond. a force to be reckon with. no, not you saquon. hm? you! your business bank account with quickbooks money, now earns 5% apy. 5% apy? that's new! yup, that's how you business differently. in order for small businesses to thrive, 5 they need to bew! smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yup, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company

with the largest fastest reliable network. give your business a head start in 2024 with this great offer. plus, ask how to get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. last week i went out to the jpmorgan health care conference in san francisco to check in with 13 companies. but there are other presenters that didn't get a chance to speak with. take animal health which makes

medicine and vaccines for pets and livestock. they have a lot of exciting products in its pipeline that should have approved in the first half of the year. one reason the stock's already rebounded nearly 90% from its all-time low set last year. full disclosure it was spun off by eli lilly roughly five years ago and took a long time for the stock to find its footing. but after the incredible run of the past few months can it keep going? let's take a closer look with president and ceo of elanco animal health. thanks for being here. >> thanks for the opportunity. >> we have to speak about unmet needs and potential bloc blockbusters. and i want you to talk about a pipeline as if it were a company dedicated to human health. >> yeah. this is our 70th year but i would say the most excite ing pipeline we're bringing six blockbusters over the next two -- >> describe what a blockbuster means to people. >> a blockbuster in animal health could be over 100 million in major markets. came from the north american vet

show talking about unmet needs. today 800 to 900 puppies a day get diagnosed with parvo virus. >> parvo. >> parvo virus. if left untreated more than 90% end in mortality, jim. we now have our first monoclonal antibody approved last year. we're launching it across america. just signed a pledge with the american veterinarians across this country to save a million puppies by the end of the decade. there's an example of left untreated you've got 900 puppies a day that are ending in mortality. we now have an intervention. and that's what's driving the expectancy of care to continue to grow. >> some of the diseases that afflict humans, my daughter works with a shelter and they've been losing cats to diabetes. >> yeah. last year elanco brought the first sgl-2 to the u.s. market as a remedy for diabetes. if you have a cat before this technology, you would have to inject it with insulin twice a day. we've introduced a tablet with

bexacat, a vanilla tablet that can be used once a day. so more convenience also drives not only more expectancy of care but more willingness to pay. that's what's caused this industry to grow 20 consecutive years. >> you also have animal health, talking about companion but you've got a very big business that helps us feed the world. >> yeah. so elanco if you back up we grew up in the farm animal business. in 70 years we spent a lot of time. we also, though, with the acquisition of bayer after we became an ipo we moved from 30% farm animal to over 50% pet. so we're balanced between pet. we also have increased size and scale with bayer. bayer brought us a much bigger international pet business. it made us having more scale allowed us to have a much more competitive innovation engine that's brought these six blockbusters -- >> but jeff, you've also mentioned you've got a lot of debt. i'm always concerned about companies that have a lot of debt. you were asked about it on the conference call and you said

yourself we've got to get that debt down. >> it is a priority for us. i think a couple things you need to look at for elanco is one, most of that debt we've locked into fixed rates. we've taken some of the volatility out. the other is jim, a lot of stand-up costs the last three to four years with elanco. we not only stood ourselves up out of eli lilly but we had to integrate with bayer. they're behind us. less than 20 million this year. we'll convert a lot more ebidta into cash to convert that and pay debt down. and these major blockbusters are higher margins in big markets, faster growth rates, much higher mix. that's going to create a lot more ebidta. and we've changed the pay for all employees. more of a structure to where every employee nellnco is compensated by driving ebidta and using cash very carefully. it is a top priority. it's a durable industry. you know this, jim. >> yes, i do. >> debt is a priority but is not something that needs to be of a concern. >> sneakspeaking of car, these

cash pay situations often, right? >> yes. the market itself. >> yeah. people want value. unlike for humans, it's like, well, will i get value for my pet if i pay? >> yeah. and i think that's what's made this industry attractive. it rewards innovation like your daughter in your reference of this. i also think this. we have multiple species. we're in more than 20 species of animals in elanco. we're in more than 100 countries. and many therapeutic classes. that diversity creates a lot of durability against all this volatility that you're mentioning, which makes this industry, you know, resilient and durable. we've just guided to, you know, constant currency revenue growth going forward. in 2024. and a lot of that's because even in a volatile environment, you know, what we've got with bayer plus elanco is a diverse company that can handle the volatility in the marketplace. >> let's talk about covid and post-covid. there was a huge humanization of pets move, got to covid and then it really exploded because

people wanted pets at home because they were lonely. i'm getting the sense that there was a peak in humanization of pets. is that true or is it just because not many as many people are adopting as there were? >> how we look at this, jim, is we look at it globally. i would say the humanization of pets is still happening. in america we've got about 70% of homes with a pet. you know, and a lot of international countries it's 20%, 30%. so one, the humanization of pets is still growing globally. second is this next generation's expectancy of care and willingness to spend is high. if you bring innovation and you bring convenience to them then that actually is driving resilience to pay. and the last thing is what elanco's leading in right now, what we call the omni channel approach. and that is saying hey, in and outside the vet, from online to the pet store to in the vet clinic elanco is a global leader in pet retail. brands like advantage and saresto outside of that. a third of pet owners in america

don't go to the vet. >> that's just criminal i think. because they can't tell you they're sick for heaven's sakes. show some compassion. >> but having remedies for them is still essential. and then we're bringing all this innovation inside of the vet. so elanco the global omni channel leader. and that is also another way to keep the resiliency in this market and continues to grow. >> do you have anything for feline immunodeficiency virus? they had a vaccine in this country, took it off the market in 2017. would be a very big market. any chance? >> yeah, i can't speak specifically to that. what i would say is there's a lot of research going on in autoimmune, a lot in the bio space. >> do you guys do it or everybody's doing it? >> it's a target for a few of us as companies. what i will say, jim, is right now at elanco, back to the priority, six major blockbusters. we got a first entry into the auto, you know, immune kind of market. excuse me, the durham market.

>> zoetis has done a good job in durham. >> growing double digits. it only has a couple options. it's the number one reason pet owners take a dog to the vet is an itching dog. we're bringing an be alternative, a differentiated asset with a jack 1 inhibitor. next year we'll have a monoclonal antibody. this is a market that's looking for alternatives. and lastly we've got cornelio quatro. the largest market as you know is the parasite market. parasiteicide. cornelio quatro which is really the broadest spectrum market. it's flea, tick and a broad spectrum of heart worm. >> get that debt paid down, keep the earnings growth and spread the word around the world, and i know we didn't even get -- next time we'll get to what you're doing with the environment and carbon credit and cows because that's very important too. that's jeff simmons. he's president and ceo of elanco animal health. i think the stock's ready to take off. and the 90% gain is really off a very low level.

"mad money's" back after the break. coming up, a kinder, gentler energy outlook? cramer gases up his take on a pipeline player that could power you to prosperity. next.

rylee! from rylee's realty! hi! this listing sounds incredible. let's check it out. says here it gets plenty of light. and this must be the ocean view? of aruba? huh. this listing is misleading. well, when at&t says we give businesses get our best deal, on the iphone 15 pro made with titanium. we mean it. amazing. all my agents want it. says here...“inviting pool”. come on over! too inviting. only at&t gives businesses our best deals on any iphone. get iphone 15 pro on us. (♪♪) you know when you have those moments? that time to reflect. to be like wow! what did i do to get here? (tense music) right. work. you worked hard and it's time for a bank that'll work hard for you. everbank performance savings is built to put your money to work with some of the highest rates in the country . going, got you where you want to be. we're the partners for your next move. everbank. advantage, you.

near the end of november i recommended a whole series of stocks based on the premise that long-term interest rates had peaked. these groups had done very poorly through most of last year. i figured they could be huge winners in a world where the bond market's behaving itself. enbridge or one oak are up about 5 or 6%. by the way, the latter just announced a big buyback last night. it's been a gigantic winner for us over the years. but when you come up with a big thesis you've got to test that thesis. while there's no shame in being wrong about an idea there is a lot of shame in digging in your

heels when the evidence is against you. that's why i always tell you to buy and home homework, not buy and hold. i bring this up because last time we got what i consider to be an underwhelming quarter from kinder morgan one of the largest energy infrastructure plays in north america. although this wasn't one of the five pipeline plays i recommended in november it's a major player in the pipeline space. so when i say kinder morgan delivering disappointing numbers, and they were, at least the headlines, stock losing 1.4% today, it demands closer scrutiny. let's go over what happened. the company delivered a nasty revenue shortfall down 12%. year over year. the top line isn't as important for pipeline operators but obviously it's not great. at the same time kinder morgan post aid two-cent earnings miss off a 30% basis. earnings per share down year over year while distributive cash flow was down 14%. softer than expected. actually bad. so why did kinder morgan's headline numbers fall short? year over year declines in earnings and cash flow are, quote, largely related to increased interest expense which

was anticipated in the company's 2023 budget guidance, end quote. the company went on to say that, quote, it finished the year slightly behind its budget due to lower commodity prices. that makes you feel a tad better about the soft results. kinder morgan got hit with higher interest expenses when rates were rising rapidly as they did last year. but now long rates have already peaked and pulled back stushlly from the highs. at the same time they missed their internal targets largely because of lower commodity prices. but oil and gas were already headed higher again. if you believe carley garner, our resident commodities expert saying crude could go up to as much as 100 bucks i like this story. kinder morgan said its nachb gas pipeline segment -- by the way, that's its largest business unit, not oil. saw its financial performance down slightly across most of the network in the fourth quarter of 2023 primely as a result of milder winter weather in 2023. milder winter weather? after the weekend i just had in kansas city with subzero temperatures and a wind chill that made it feel like minus 20 degrees not to mention the 20

degree temperature we currently have in new york, let's just say i'm not worried about a milder winter weather anymore. now, kinder morgan had already given us a forecast for 2024 back in early december and the numbers the company gave them were all in line with wall street's expectations at the time. but that initial guidance didn't include the impact of kinder morgan's $1.8 billion acquisition of next year energy partner's assets in south texas. a nat gas pipeline system connecting the eagleford shale to mexico and the gulf coast. kinder morgan issued a new outlook for the year last night. and you know what? those numbers were good. higher ebidta, higher distributive cash flow per share, slightly higher earnings too. i think it's important to note that these numbers were raised even if kinder morgan's stock didn't get any credit for it today. that might be because the commodity price assumptions used for the forecast are above spot prices. $82 oil, some investors don't believe they're going to get there. kinder morgan made it clear they

still see nice year over year growth even if oil and gas flatline for the rest of the year. i like that too. wall street's lukewarm reaction to solid guidance might also be due to the fact that kinder morgan promised to give more detail on their full day forecast and investor day management has planned for next wednesday one of the reasons i want to do this piece is i think they'll tell a good story i bet many people wait forget that event before they can pull the trigger and i don't blame them. but beyond the numbers i was mainly looking for color on the pipeline industry and perhaps more importantly confidence from management about their business going guard. and i would argue we got that. for example, kinder morgan has a standing discretionary capital expenditures budget of 1 to 2 billion dollars every year. management said they expect that to come in at the high end of the range. why? because as the ceo explained she sees a ton of great opportunities ahead especially in natural gas infrastructure. i really like that. management want to provide bullish outlooks for all sorts of specific end markets including particular regions likehainesville shale in east texas, louisiana. the eagleford shale in south texas where they just did that

deal. and even the bocken shale in north dakota. they've got a lot of natural gas there too. it's separated into -- very difficult to be able to get that to a higher level. they're also optimistic on the growth of liquefied natural gas exports and new supply parkts v contracts for renewable natural gas facilities. the entire natural gas space looks like a huge opportunity for kinder morgan with its ceo saying, quote, we're projecting nice growth for 2024 in the natural gas business which is greater than 60% of kmi's ebidta jund pinnunderpinned by 20% net market. kinder morgan's got that bountiful 6.5% yield. that's again why i like this one. let me give you the bottom line here. kinder morgan's stock did take it on the chin today sliding around a little more than 1% after operatoring suboptimal headline numbers. but when you take a closer look at what happened here, don't forget the analyst meeting coming up i honestly didn't hear anything that made me less bullish on the pipeline plays. kinder morgan's commentary made me feel more sanguine on the group even if the particular

pipeline play isn't my favorite. in case you're wondering the whole pipeline cohort would be a huge beneficiary from a trump presidential with in. these companies need federal agency relief and you bet they're going to get it from the most pro pipeline president we've ever had. how about kenny in florida? kenny. >> caller: hey, jim. i've been listening to you for several years, and i've accumulated about 700 shares of pioneer stock. and i was wondering if it was worth holding on to till exxon took over or -- >> look, candidly, we did sell it about 30 points higher when the deal was announced. we thought it was the best chance to get out. it's come back all the way to 216. i would not sell it. i would hold on. it's down too low to sell. pioneer nat is down too low to sell. let's go to sam in pennsylvania. sam. >> caller: jim, how are you doing? >> better. i'm trying to get over the loss on monday night. and believe me, it hasn't been easy. frankly, it hasn't been easy.

i got too invested in the damn thing -- the darn thing. i just got too invested. what's happening? >> caller: i think we might need a new coach. what do you think? >> my ma always said if you don't have anything good to say don't say it. so there we are. >> caller: that's right. speaking of good things to say, perhaps we might have some good things to say about one of my favorite companies. that is enphase energy. i think stock might be particularly set up in a good place to benefit from the recent -- on the back of the federal reserve. >> but the rates have to keep coming down. that's the problem, sir. i mean, right now this thing is set up, it's not good enough that the rates are where they are. they actually have to go down because this is a financing play. and they're not low enough yet to intrigue me at 24 times earnings. i need to go to stewart in new york. stewart. >> caller: hey, mr. jim. how are you doing? even though your eagles flew the coop, you still are i guess supporting them. >> yeah. although i have to tell you candidly i did wear a kansas

city chiefs hat today and everyone was saying are you kidding me? and i say i'm an andy reid fan. i think it's all about personalities. what can i do for you? >> caller: wp, iell, i wanted t bring to your attention one of the greatest shortages that's existing now and it's called uranium. >> it sure is. you've got a really good point. >> caller: it's a problem that no -- >> i'll give you the one problem. because you know i've been supporting uec. that's been the way i want to play it. it's a legitimate company even though a lot of vancouver companies i've had trouble with over time. the problem is we've got to see some small modular reactors built soon and i just don't see them. and that is my worry. that said, i agree with you. uranium could be a great long-term thesis. kinder morgan might have gotten hit today but when you take a closer look under the hood there's really nothing managers said that made me less bullish about the pipeline plays. if anything i'm more sanguine on the play as a whole. ships in the red sea are under attack amid a conflict with the

houthis and i'm going to give you the details you need to know to help you understand the potential effect on your portfolio. then the -- how do i think you should play the group now that it's stabilized? i'll reveal some names i've got my eye on. of course all your calls rapid-fire in tonight's edition of the "lightning round." so stay with cramer.

shopify's point of sale system helps you sell at every stage of your business. need a fast and secure way to take payments? we've got you covered. how about card readers that you can rely

on? yep, that too. want one place to manage every sale from every channel? that's kind of our thing. whatever you sell, businesses that grow grow with shopify.

we don't talk much about the wars in the middle east. this is "mad money," not "mad geopolitics." last week a kohles of nations led by the united states start aid bombing campaign against the houthi rebels in yemen.

a militia group backed by iran that's been fighting the saudi-backed government for years. but our government never got involved until houthis started attacking shipping in the red sea. there have been 34 attacks including today. anything that can shut down shipping will have an impact on your portfolio. the houthis are going after a key shipping route that connects the indian soeths ocean to the suez canal which then leads to the mediterranean. because these attacks have been so indiscriminate some of the largest shipping companies in the world have halted red sea shipments entirely which means they need to detour to the cape of good hope at the southern tip of africa. according to estimates shipping could drop 40 to 50% thanks to these rebels turned pirates. rerouting ships around africa when you go down all the way takes a lot more money than it does to go through the suez canal. that's why they built the canal to begin with. it's a lot more expensive. the price to ship a 40-foot container from shanghai to new york is up 121% since late

october. most -- shanghai rotterdam is up 393% over the same period. while the red sea doesn't have as much impact on our west coast ports it's still going to hurt because day rates for all these vessels are going up. and we might even end up with a container shortage. so what should you do about all this? now, you might think it's a good idea to buy the shipping stocks. one of the great ironies, though, of the situation is the houthies' attacks in the red sea could put an end to theglobal sthipg recession we've been stuck in for most of the past year. but that's not bad. but as i tell you the shipping plays are only good for the occasional trade. they're too volatile to be good investments. i don't recommend them because of that, because they're. they are boom and bust. even if you wanted to buy them now the attacks have been happening for weeks, so you're late to the party. zim for example has jumped 115% from its lows less than two months ago. could it keep running? maybe. but in my view this industry's a total crap shoot. i'd rather make a bet on draft kings. what about the pin action from the red sea turmoil? with ocean freight rates rising and transit times getting longer many retailers may be forced to

use air freight instead. and that would be great for fedex. when fedex reported a disappointing quarter last month the big drag on their business was competition from much cheaper ocean freight. now that dynamic's reversing itself soo the international express business could rebound. there's lots of other businesses they have but i like that. and you know i like the stock of fedex. how about the rails? how about this one? earlier this week analysts at redburn atlantic recommended canadian pacific kansas city. this has basically created a land bridge from the west coast of mexico to the east coast of the united states. that's attractive at a time that the panama canal is suffering from a drought that's imposed severe traffic limits. more shipping gets diverted to the west coast. they're the go-to railroad for our west coast ports. but honestly when i see how this red sea turmoil's pushing up shipping costs my biggest fear is it's a huge setback for the fed in its fight against infl inflation. for weeks i've been warning you wall street got way too complacent with the fed fund futures reflecting six rate cuts this year.

they only floated the idea of three rate cuts. i'm with the fed. three rate cuts. but with shipping rates soaring even three might be on the high end of reasonable. that's rough on the stock market because investors have to adjust to reality where the fed's much less friendly than we expected. a flare-up in inflation i told you could be a wake-up call for the market. since then we've had a too hot december consumer price index reading, hotter than expected retail sales yesterday, and the yield on the tent-year treasury has gone from 3.91 to 4.14. so i'd argue the flare-up in inflation might already be happening. think about what a drastic increase in shipping costs will add to the equation. throw in what carley garner told us about oil prices last thursday night. she thinks west texas intermediate crude is likely to be headed back to $100 a barrel with oil up nearly 3% since then. i'm not going to doubt her. these two issues are actually related. given the red sea's proximity to so much of the middle east's energy production these shipping issues could push up the price of oil all by themselves. crude gets more expensive when

you just can't safely use the suez canal. just this week the ceo of shell told the "wall street journal" that his company has already suspended all shipments through the red sea leading to a 5% to 10% cost in delivery due to the extra tlafl time. bp made a similar decision last month. qatar's state-run oil company also announced plans to stay out of the red sea this week. every time you see one of these headlines it represents a small setback in the fed's fight against inflation. put them all together and all i can say is you're waiting for rate cuts? well, i say don't hold your breath. when you see a situation like the houthi attacks on merchant vessels and the corresponding increase in shipping rates, try to think about what that means both directly and indirectly. right now i don't think you should be chasing the shipping stocks. it's a bit late for that. i'd rather own some other transports like fedex or canadian pacific kansas city. both of them very good. the bottom line, if the last three years have taught us anything it's that supply disruptions are the bane of the fed's fight against inflation, and if ships in the red sea aren't safe that's a major

disruption. meaning you simply can't expect as many rate cuts this year because the cost of freight's suddenly gotteen expensive and the cost of freight flows through the cost of pretty much everything. "mad money" is back after the break. >> coming up, open those umbrellas and tee up your toughest questions. cramer takes on all comers in the "lightning round." next. hey you, with the small business... ...whoa... you've got all kinds of bright ideas, that your customers need to know about. constant contact makes it easy. with everything from managing your social posts, and events, to email and sms marketing. constant contact delivers all the tools you need to help your business grow. get started today at constantcontact.com

constant contact. helping the small stand tall.

it is time! it's time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad

money" -- play until this sound and then the "lightning round" is over. are you ready, skee-daddy? time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad money." let me start with gary in florida. gary! >> caller: hey, jim. first of all, condolences on the philadelphia eagles. you could be a jet fan i don't feel sorry for you. >> i'm a member of the chiefs kingdom. i don't know what you're talking about. chiefs kingdom right here. how can i help? chiefs. >> caller: can you give me your opinion of wab tech? >> this is an amazing company that has locomotive parts. the old westinghouse. air brake. i feel it's occurred. i don't want to come in now with the stock selling at 27 times earnings. let's go to steve in florida. steve. >> caller: hey, jim. boo-yah. steve in florida calling to get your take on marathon digital holdings. >> i've been looking at larry williams going over what the great legendary larry williams has been saying about bitcoin. he says we're really at kind of

the beginning of one of the most major collapses he's ever seen. so i don't think i want to go into mara as we call it on the trading desk. i think i want to stay away from bitcoin. by the way, those who are in bitcoin, nothing bad to say. let's go to rebecca in new york. rebecca! >> caller: hey, mr. cramer. thank you for being an excellent teacher. >> thank you. >> caller: you're welcome. i have barrick cold. do you think i should sell it or hold on to it? >> i missed that one. i'm sorry. oh. when rates go up people sell gold and that means you should buy gold. because we buy gold for insurance. if car insurance goes down in price would you say i don't want to own that? no, you'd buy more. i want you to buy some gold. let's go to elizabeth in florida. elizabeth. >> caller: boo-yah, jim. >> boo-yah, elizabeth! >> caller: so i wanted to know what are your thoughts on

caterpillar? >> some joker the other day had a sell recommendation. he cut his price target from 202 to 201 or something. it was lakmo. i think caterpillar is going to have a terrific year. and don't be dissuaded by china or oil prices or whatever. cap is about infra, and infrastructure's going to be big in 2024. the checks are in the mail. robert in florida. robert. >> caller: hey, jim. i just want to ask about ge's upcoming stock split. do you know when they're going to do that -- >> no, i don't cache. what i care about is larry culp is making money left and right as i predicted about a gazillion points ago. everyone doubted me except for larry -- no, larry may have doubted me at one point. but i knew he was money in the bank. he is a lock. and you hardly ever get locks. he's a lock of 2024. let's go to natalie in texas. natalie. >> caller: hey, jim, this is natalie from texas.

i recently invested in gme energy based on ten-year performance. now it looks like -- what do you think? >> i think it's just okay to tell you the truth. kind of a generic one in an industry where we have to have something better than generic. i wish i could be positive. i just can't. let's go to caroline in new york. caroline. >> caller: hi, jim. caroline, brooklyn, new york, first-time caller. a few months ago you recommended u-haul. >> yeah. >> caller: it's been slowly going down. should i sell it or should i hold it? >> i like it. it's selling at eight times earnings. i think it's doing real well. the stock had a major, major run, down 8% for the year, so i can understand the trepidation, but i'm fine with it. let's go to charles in california. charles. >> caller: hey, jimmy. how are you doing? boo-yah, jim cramer. >> boo-yah, chill. boo-yah, chill liking what i'm hearing about today's market.

what's up? >> caller: hey, yeah, i have been in and out of this stock over the past year. i've followed it for a few years. and i sold it off about six months ago and i've been trading it. and now i'm wondering if it's a good time to get into it to hold. micron semiconductor. >> mark in california. mark. no, i'm taking one more. mark. i'm done with people telling me what to do. oh. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the "lightning round." >> announcer: the "lightning round" is sponsored by charles schwab. coming up, can semiconductor stability plug you into profits? don't miss the market trend that's right on your desktop. next.

trading at schwab is now powered by ameritrade, unlocking the power of thinkorswim, the award-winning trading platforms. bring your trades into focus on thinkorswim desktop with robust charting and analysis tools, including over 400 technical studies. tailor the platforms to your unique needs with nearly endless customization. and track market trends with up-to-the-minute news and insights. trade brilliantly with schwab. [♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's healing

formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond.

if you don't own anything personal computer or cell phone related i think you've got to do some digging here. why? because this morning taiwan semi the gigantic chip manufacturer called the bottom in exactly the

kind of chips that go into all sorts of devices. i've been adamant that we're on the cusp of a new electronics cycle especially for personal computers because we've finally gotten through the excess inventory from when everybody overbuilt to cater to the work from home craze and then the economy went back to normal. excess invoentry has drasd down the semiconductor complex and also by the way best buy for ages. but the glut i'm telling you right now is over. it's not like no one saw this coming. looking at the stock of mike ron, amd, you know we are not early. if taiwan sees it you can expect moves from these stocks and others. in particular i'd highlight kla, applied materials and lamb research. that's three semiconductor capital equipment makers that thrive when the chip makers need more capacity. taiwan semi's looking at its order book and saying we've got to get more machines in here. i want to emphasize that these stocks have already run

gigantically. but if history's any guide, they're not done. plus the new personal computers coming out in the fall, they should be chock full of generative ai functionality that can allow you to talk to your pc and have it do mundane tasks for you, freeing you to do other more important things. that's called productivity, people. and everybody wants it. the semis are a leadership group here and because they're lumped into so many etfs they tend to trade together much of the time. now, we own nvidia and broadcom for the charitable trust. both big winners. but there are a host of excellent semis that could benefit with stocks that really haven't moved that much. i'm taking a hard look at skyworks solution wiz has had its ups and downs because of its dependence on handset makers especially apple. i think hp inc., hewlett-packard, is too cheap selling at eight times earnings. but i think that's in part because ceo enrique lorre is adverse to making any positive predictions in public. hp is a natural beneficiary yet its stock has done nothing. dell shares have been straight up but it still sells for just

11 times next year's earnings estimates. michael dell does a very good job. or perhaps we don't need to overthink it. when you hear taiwan semi doing well you should be thinking that nvidia and apple, the big dogs, who are voracious in wanting new chips, are the place to go. the relationship between taiwan semi and nvidia is as tight as you can get. the apple story, as i said at the top, it just caught an upgrade based on longer-term demand for handsets. and i agree with that even though i think the shorter terminal's cloudy. we talk about these stocks every day at our morning meeting for the investing club at 10:20 a.m. i wish you were a member. this is where i talk directly about what these stocks are going to do. i've got a little bit of time then. ideally i wouldn't buy these stocks tomorrow unless they're exceptions that didn't work today, and i will tell you about it at the morning meeting. that's because we're not going to get more positive news from taiwan semi tomorrow. frankly there's no other company in the industry that's ready to report that will give us more of a data point. but this pc refresh story should be one of the biggest themes of 2024. and you should try to surf a

very big wave that will lift most semiconductor and all semiconductor capital equipment stocks along with the handset makers and, yes, the pc makers themselves. it's a great place to be. 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. right now on last call, coming to a halt. shipping traffic coming to a halt. we will ask congressman. trump 2.0. a top trategist findings signs the market may be prepping for his re-election. third vision. two more names joining netflix, snubbing apple's hot new product. it is just plain confusing. the government spiked with spirit and jetblue merger and now there are worries about their long-term future so why did taxpayers ba