go. >> at the top of the show exchange. now it's cme. if the bond markets are going nuts here. they win. stocks put on fire. >> i'm melissa lee, thanks for watching my mission is simple to take 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. i'm jim cramer. i'm just trying to save you a little money. my job is not to teach, but to coach and entertain you so call me. tweet me at jim cramer. did everyone wake up this morning and say enough with the positives? now let's scrutinize the negatives with a magnifying glass? did you hear the command to remove the rose-colored glasses

and take a jaundiced idea to things that were going so right just yesterday? that's what happened today a day with the dow dropped 75 points and the nasdaq lost .56%. i have to admit i found it more than a little daunting. we take the rose-colored glasses off and we see some chinks in this market. retail and restaurants, we know retail has been leading this market because a combination of healthy job growth and the change back from those 220s when you fill up at the pump. what if people stop shopping even though they didn't want to? this is all hypothetical but do not laugh. i was staring out the window

last night at a small mexican restaurant. mesmerized i was at that front top table. mez mer mesmerized at the fact that nobody was walking by. no one was out. no one was strolling. no one. it was like some sort of sci-fi movie where all human life had been obliterated. not even walking dead. by 10:00, if a walker staggered in i would have bought the guy a corona. i should have said i can't be alone in the moment. the whole country is frozen over. maybe netflix and amazon are the only real winners here. again, trying to you know shelf the -- i'm trying to be a little more jaundiced. where's my magnifying glass? well you get the picture.

i'm trying to shelf these a little bit or at least give you the combo. let me give you the first negative. the first negative -- it is just too darn cold. people aren't venturing to the mall or the local strip to do any dying or buying. what i'm now calling the bar sam miguel effect. did you see those car sales this morning? cars aren't like toys or cans of soup. they have to be moved. they're expensive. they have to be sold. these cars will be moved, but maybe they'll be moved at a discount. now that wells fargo has pulled back from the subprime market -- you can tell it bothered people because even gm didn't go up much and they were the lone winner. if you think it is too cold out to buy a car, how about a house?

it is not like homes are selling like hot cakes, especially on a day like today which happens to be national pancake day, which we'll celebrate later in the show with the ceo of dineequity dineequity.com. i think they're selling more like quinoa. there's a day for the millennials. really? i've been watching these stocks trickle down after some pretty good quarters and i think they were anticipating that february would be an awful month. the housing market seemed to be getting just ahead of steam. fourth negative remember how we fell in love with the semiconductors that go into cars and cell phones and the number one chip supplier to the auto industry? guess what we left out?

the selling of computers. best buy lowered the boom on tablets, which are suffering from what they call material declines. ouch! that's plain terrible. it becomes clear something is very wrong in the pc tablet world which is going to impact a lot of stocks. don't you have to wonder if microsoft and intel can make their numbers? will they beat the estimates? i don't know. both stocks performed poorly after the last quarters. things have only gotten worse in that segment since they reported. the action to suppliers and personal computers, western digital, micron all of which were hammered perhaps some mercilessly seems to signal the

pc market is going in the wrong direction. i respect that we can't be complacent about such a large component of tech. i'm not saying it's going down. i'm just saying i don't like what we have heard from the key customers from these major industries. fifth negative, while i am heartened by the actual plants over in europe stronger retail sales reports -- i'm aghast at what's happening in china. i have to tell you the chinese communist government has really cracked down on gambling. have you seen the hideous action of alibaba? timing is everything, like comedy. there seems to be some real regulatory issues here too. maybe it's because the nominally

communist party is actually going communist. they seem to have it in for con consumption consumption. the bad news, no upturn yet. my sixth worry, unlike many of the come menmentators who think social security important for oil to stabilize, i think it needs to keep falling. we do want to see gasoline go down to 2 bucks and below. maybe that makes us nervous about what the fed will do, but i want real growth not fed induced growth. it just doesn't fit my thesis.

not one day does a bear make. after initial downdraft, which i found very quizzical when i was interviewing the ceo on squawk on the street, autozone delivered a fine performance. best buy did a better than expected quarter. we know that we have had a huge rose-colored glass rally going on. without the glasses do you know what we see? we see pimples, whiteheads blackheads crow's feet. we need to see some fear in the market. we need for people to realize the nasdaq high isn't has high as it was a day ago. once that fear and loathing comes back to the market we'll be able to take out the ohio highs. you must be vigilant after a gigantic run that we have just enjoyed. i'm going to dylan in delaware.

hey, dylan? >> caller: hey, i was wondering what do you think about kraft foods in the long term? >> i think kraft is an inexpensive stock with a good yield. i don't want to own a stock that makes stuff i don't want to eat. that's my new view. let's go to john in texas. >> caller: hi, jim. greetings from stephenville deep in the heart of texas. >> i'm looking that immediately because the optimism down there is like is surge of spring. >> caller: recently one of my stocks stocks spun off some assets. >> you want to keep the oa. oa is part of a general move -- lockheed martin came down. they're one of my favorite

stocks. vista outdoor not my favorite stock. can we go to john in new jersey? john? >> caller: yes. how are you? >> i'm real good. how about you, john? >> caller: i'm looking for the truth. akron loan financing. >> ewww. >> caller: ewww? >> no ewww. i'm not booing i'm ewwwing. >> caller: what does that mean? >> wells fargo didn't do anything wrong. we like wells. we we're not booing. we're ewwwing wells fargo. we're going more with the mag magnifying than we are the

rose-colored. can the stock behind ihop and apple keep serving up the sweet stuff? reports of toxic flooring put lumber lick lick wi dade -- liquidators into the house of pain. >> don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on twitter. give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoneycnbc.com.

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you know the restaurant stocks have been on fire lately. the benefits of cheaper gasoline prices and putting more money in the pockets of all americans. i can think of one that's given you a terrific entry point right here and right now and that's dineequity the parent company of applebee's and ihop. jpmorgan downgraded them based on valuation concerns but you're getting a deal on this company that has 2,017 locations. applebee's and ihop are the number one brands in their respective categories. higher than expected store

sales. top of that stock got a great yield. i think there's more room to run. in celebration of national pancake day, let's check in with julia stewart, the chairman and ceo of dineequity. welcome back to "mad money." >> thank you. >> i want you to talk about that. >> we have raised $16.5 million in the last ten years. today we're hopeful to raise $3.5 million. if we do so, in the last ten years we would have raised $20 million for children's miracle network and local charities. people watching this show should still go to an ihop. >> why are you celebrating? it's more than that.

it's bigger than that. speaking of bigger than that, you have a presence on social media that people may not understand. it's remarkable how much mine share you have. >> unbelievable. if you think about it the average tv commercial is 15 seconds. our website 3:30 minutes and they're tweeting every eight seconds. our twitter account is up 66% over last year. >> i've been selling people. when people ask me who has the best social media, i say it is you guys. how do they know how to do it? >> well we hire really young smart people. >> okay all right. >> we have had some consultants. we have brought in some wonderful agency help but in general it's from the heart. listen, let's just go out and be part of the conversation. it's not about advertising. it's about being part of the

conversation, right? engaging with people as they're talking. >> let's talk about that quarter. it was amazing. when i go through your presentations, i think as good as it gets mean good dividends coming and good buybacks. >> this notion of we did the refinancing fourth quarter 2014 and obviously that's $34 million interest and of course what the notion is now let's focus on the capital allocation strategy which is a 17% increase in the dividend and let's focus. potentially if there's an acquisition in our future, great. it's really all about the capital allocation strategy and delivering what we say we'll deliver. >> i said the same thing at dominos.

you're getting too much for this small market cap. it feels like that with ihop. >> there's an opportunity. when you look at dineequity and great brands we have an opportunity, i think, to take the company to a whole new level. i think that's what you do with two great number one brands. if you think about it we're in the business of long-term brand building building. that's what we do. >> news travels. it hasn't traveled yet. you don't have to. >> we have got to this notion of seeing how we can extend the brand just outside of international and what we do in the u.s. and the growth. i think there's a tremendous more upside in terms of not just development, but how do we take these brands to places where they aren't today. work where can the consumer advance the brand? >> this is what we want. first ihop was in philadelphia.

when i got to college, i had one right down next to sammy's lanes. we used to go there constantly. there could be three in every college campus in america. >> that's the whole point. we have just started that business. we have just started getting into that business. if you add up what we're doing domestically and you add up international and you add up licensing and brand extension, i think there's a whole bunch of upside. >> when i look at the number that you have in individual states there's not that many in california. big state. >> ihop that's the most penetrated market in the u.s. >> applebee's. >> huge opportunity for applebee's. >> it's kind of extraordinary. there's a lot of fast casual dining in l.a. >> right. >> but not a lot of family dining. >> right. >> so that can happen right? >> so we've got a wonderful franchisee in california who is taking a hard look at l.a. and

how do we grow it. >> they could choose to franchise mcdonald's or wendy's, by they're choosing you. why are they choosing you? >> a lot of our franchisees have been around with us a long time. if i put it in order, i think they like our brands. they like the way we work with them. we've been doing this for a pretty long time. we don't manage by the contract every day. we manage by the relationship right? >> right. >> we're all about how do we help you make more money, how do with you help you grow whether that's consumer insights, advertising, social and digital. >> you have done a remarkable job. i want to turn people to the last presentation. page 12. meaningful dividend. how much does meanfulingful

dividend mean to us? don't believe that the best has already happened here. i think you're going to miss a great opportunity. "mad money" is back after the break. >> nontoxic shock? reports of dangerous flooring have put lumber lick wi dadequidateors through the woodwork. is it helping others move higher? cramer is giving his take. ♪ at mfs, we believe in the power of active management. every day, our teams collaborate around the world

to actively uncover, discuss and debate investment opportunities. which leads to better decisions for our clients. it's a uniquely collaborative approach you won't find anywhere else. put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without collaboration.

why did the make off store brand -- rally more than 3 bucks yesterday? there was no news yesterday that obviously spurred the stock higher. there were no releases about new medicines going generic. i got an idea an idea about what might have been on the minds of people who were buying this stock. chinese vitamin supplements, that's what. the company missed its number for a variety of reasons, including a weak cold and flu season and the timing of certain product launches, but it was also wounded by vicious price competitions in the vitamin

supplement markets. the company has proven its to be a trusty supplier. when it does miss the quarter, it doesn't complain. it doesn't squawk. not this time. the pricing pressure is not letting up and it is coming from vitamins in china. we do not believe it is properly labeled made in china and it's being sold in the u.s. that is something we do think will get resolved, but i don't want to put a specific time on it because things like that take a long time end quote. i pressed him about these chinese products but he demurred take a look. >> i don't give my dogs chinese dog food. chinese vitamin supplements, what are they doing in our country? >> that's an interesting

question. >> do people know they're buying it? >> it is not always labeled made in china. we make all the company's products right in south carolina. >> don't always know it's made in china. in the wake of this lumber liquidators story about the flooring maybe it won't take such a long time after all for people to discover they're eating chinese vitamins. the "60 minutes" report on chinese goods might not have been up to snuff. lumber liquidate irors source america and chinese. now i'm wondering if anyone from a major drugstore or vitamin chain is thinking they could be next if people find out they've been selling chinese product and

pretending or obscureing its or origin. the laws are murky about what has to be posted. you don't see a lot of chinese flags on what you eat or drink or what your pets eat. the fda's investigation of jerky imported from china that caused the death of 1,000 dogs is still ongoing. i think petco has horse sense. given the scandal of chinese dry wall, the mattel recall of a million toys because of lead-based paint, and now the lumber liquidators flooring taint, i am wondering if somebody is going to blow the whistle on these chinese vitamin supplements that we think are made in america. the company's plants and vitamin vitamins all come from the u.s.

and fully compliant. after the downfall of lumber liquidators, good luck to anyone who is trying to obscure the origins of vitamins made in china. people would turn against that store on a dime. that is unless they switch to the company so fast. then maybe nobody noticed. chuck in michigan. chuck? >> caller: booyah, jim. >> booyah. >> caller: since then the stock has been up more than 65%, but it has stalled. it has tried to push through that 840 market multiple times and just can't get through it. the acquisition of a pharmaceutical services company going to push us through the price point or is it time to take profits and get out?

>> i think it was a transformative acquisition. i think they'll be able to convert those customers to be regular rite aid customers. i think the stock is resting and maybe it goes seven, eight, seven, eight, seven eight and will be double digits. do not sell the stock. buy it. i think the lumber liquidator scare is trickling over to the vitamin world. buyers are american proud. much more "mad money" ahead. did you prepare your portfolio for any potential fed action? truecar claims it can help you get a better deal on a new set of wheels. i'll see if this company can get its foot back on the gas in my discussion with the ceo. tomorrow alibaba under pressure. shares at an all-time low.

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on the day where the market got slammed in the wake of a pretty historic run, i think it's time to ask whether we have allowed ourselves to become a little too complacent. don't get me wrong. i'm not saying we're too

complacent. because the tremendous rally in the averages last month actually makes plenty of sense to me. but in all honesty, today's pull back is the kind of garden variety selloff we have gotten used to throughout the boom market, but it also pays to be careful. which brings me back to this complacency issue. you can argument this went either way. i can spent this entire show laying out arguments for and against the proposition that we have been complacent. when you're dealing with this kind of question, it makes more sense to take a more quantitative rigorous approach. the fear gauge is viewed as a good proxy for overall fear levels in the market. how does sebastian feel about this moment? the vix has been humming along

at relatively low levels until today. even though the vix is often called the fear index, sebastian prefers to think of it as the insurance index. just like let's say your car insurance, the vix price is always highest after the accident. that was on the minds of a lot of people. after all, vix is supposed to go up when the s&p goes down. take a look at these charts. you can see for more than a month the s&p has been climbing. but this is very typical behavior. for sebastian, the action is normal. what worries him is the fact that this is not a normal time. sebastian believes the next two weeks at the very least could be full of turmoil as we head into

the two-day federal reserve meeting march 17. we know the fed's interest rate policy may be up to the point that fate watchers on waiting on baited breath. they're interested to learn the chief's approach to federal rates. sebastian has noticed something going into these fed meetings. i did not know this pattern before i spoke with him, especially the quarterly meetings. check out this chart. i thought this was amazing frankly. this chart of the volatility index over the last three years. the circled areas show what happens with each press conference. some have been associated with not just fed meetings but these press conferences in particularity. sebastian points out the

volatility index has rallied and rallied hard in the week or two ahead of the meetings. kind of remarkable, isn't it? in other words, ironically the federal reserve's attempt at transparency is increasing fear. take a gandser at this s&p chart. when the federal reserve is going to have a question and answer session with the media, the markets had a rough few weeks going into it. that's what i want you to keep in mind. a rough few weeks going into it. we have watched people freak out ahead of these giant confabs. sebastian also points out these fed press conferences coincide with the largest correlated piece in t these are the times when the vix

spikes higher. even when the s&p doesn't get hammered, we still see a runup in the volatility index. that said it is clear that these fed meeting induced fear tends to be short lived. this will be very different. in other words in the past everybody is feekreaked out going to press conferences and then yellen calms us down. when that happens, we could get the same freakout going into the meeting but afterwards things might not go back to normal. how can we get some insight? in addition to the volatility index index, there are also a number of other volatileity indexesices.

take a look at these two charts with the regular volatility index on top and the ten-year treasury volatility index on the bottom. the one on the bottom has steadily worked its way higher. the levels since the beginning of 2015 are much higher than what we saw last year. remember these are bonds we're dealing with and bond prices are inherently much less volatile than stock prices. when the ten-year ticks up from four to six, that is actually a very substantial move there. okay? sebastian notes that historically pops in the vix and the vxtyn tend to mirror each

other. the vxtyn has stayed above six. sebastian thinks that's because investors are expecting a rate hike in the near future. these charts show it is time to take off our artificial silly rose-colored glasses. or at least take off this part and while he is still bullish about the stock market's property prospects in the long term he's still optimistic. he's making a good case to be more cautious. the charts do say we're complacency. i think a few more days like today the complacency will disappear into a cloud of skepticism. "mad money" is back after the break.

howdy, jim. i just want to say i've been watching your show ever since i was in high school. now that i'm out in the real

world, i have to confidence to invest on my own because of all the advice i've taken from "mad money." congrats on ten years. here's to another ten more. big buckeye booyah to you. >> right back at you. can you believe it's been ten years? ten years? thanks to all of you at cramerica for being the best and most interactive audience in television. the celebration is all week. we want you to be in on the action. how have you been watching "mad money"? how has it impacted your life? i want you to share it on video. go to madmoney dot cnbc.com. how do you put it on private -- tune in all next week and we'll have many surprises for you. now it is time for the

"lightning round". are you ready? it is time for the "lightning round." let's start with frank in maine. frank? >> caller: hi jim. >> hi frank. >> caller: first time caller from central maine where it is maple syrup season. >> it is. i was thinking the same. what's up? >> caller: my question is a maine company. i owned it before and sold it for profit. it is time-- is it time to get back in? >> you have a winner there. i like that. we ought to go to palmer in michigan. palmer? >> caller: hey, jim. big booyah. >> i like michigan state. i have to tell you something.

i'm what's going on? >> caller: not much. first, what do you think about diplomat pharmacy? they just reported some good numbers. second question is if you were 19 years old today and had some money to invest for the long term, what would you invest it in? >> i do not know diplomat pharmacy. you know more than i do. at 19, i would go with something biotech. you want to take a high-risk investment. nobody else is going to tell you that but me, but that's what you should do. go to mary ann in connecticut. >> caller: thanks for taking my call. i want to get your thoughts on wwe. >> wwe is making a comeback. it is not generating the kind of cash i would like. i'm not there. i'm going to be in the don't buy, don't buy camp.

joseph? >> caller: booyah jim. >> don't make me feel bad. i'm about to try to go outside in the snow and dunk kyle's head in it. he's my stage director. >> caller: i want to know about fire eye. >> fire eye, i like fire eye. i like palo alto network. what a blowout quarter by mmc mcloughlin last night. i need to go to jeff in virginia. >> caller: thanks for taking my call, jim. my stock is discovery communications. >> short-term i'm not a fan. long-term, i am a fan. you can run those programs over and over again. that's my kind of business mods model. i want to go to mark in new

jersey. >> caller: i'm glad you took my call. the stock is kkr. it seems like a nice company. it pays nice dividends. >> you know what? i'm sticking with it because there is a lot of value there. i like the yield. i think those guys are good business people. i have liked them for a long time even though i like black stone more. that is the conclusion of a selfie derived "lightning round." >> the "lightning round" is sponsored by td ameritrade.

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tonight i want to take a closer look at smaller stock that is down 8%. i'm talking about truecar, symbol true. the idea is to create a negotiation-free car buying experience where pricing is transparent. we all want that. truecar has partnered up with 10,000 dlipealerships across the country to make this concept a reality. truecar has been a real wild trader since it became public at $9 per share. since then it has pulled back to 17 and change as of today. many people were disappointed

when truecar reported its earnings for last quarter. there's a lockup expiration to consider. some 33.4 million shares will no longer be locked up by next week. that's a pretty large number. even if you like the story, maybe you want to wait to see what happens. was this last quarter merely a blip? is there more punishment to come? i am concerned. i have to figure this out myself. let's take a closer look with scott painter and learn more about his company. welcome to "mad money." good to see you, sir. >> good to see you too. >> the alpha article is talking about how there was a sequential decline.

perhaps that doesn't indicate how well the company is doing. >> we're an interesting company in that we're a hypergrowth tech stock. traditionally a tech stock is a quarter over quarter growth whereas auto stock is year over year growth. >> he was saying that today that the last month not so good. does that kind of impact a different kind of seasonality for you? >> we look at seasonality in autos. we were down in terms of overall units, but we were up in terms of monetization. >> i know some people question that it has stalled. is that something we need to be

concerned about with truecar? >> i wouldn't say we're declining in anyway. we're also not focused on the unique visitor count. we think about unit volume. we're transactional. we get paid when somebody buys a car. it is about focusing on selling cars and helping people have a better experience. >> tell me about the opportunity and is trying to choose among car stores? >> on the app side we have over 2 million downloads. really growing very rapidly. we're very much a proxy for the millennial buyer. if you look at overall the benefit of using truecar to consumer, it is about price

confidence. we're publishing what everyone else paid for the first time ever. the ability to answer what is a fair price relies on what knowing what everybody else paid. the second thing we offer the consumer is price discovery. we have a network of 10,000 dealers participating in the program. they believe transparency is a better way to build trust. they put upfront negotiation-free prices on the website. >> why would a dealer want that consumer to be so liberated? >> we learned this firsthand. truecar's history, we're a ten-year-old company. we were boycotted in 2012. it was because of the emotional reaction. if we were dealers and we were thinking everybody is going to find out what everybody else paid it's going to be worse off for us. at the end of the day, a lack of trust equals friction. friction is measurable.

the price of selling a car for a car dealer is very real. it's about $3,000 on the hood of every car. truecar is about attacking the cost structure and eliminating that friction by introducing trust and objective data so the car dealer can sell it for less than retail and make more margin. >> we know there's this expiration. that's not really up to you. indeed there is one? >> capital markets reward performance and they reward potential. those are long-term issues. that's what we focus on every day at truecar. the external factor is we transition our shareholder base. that's very real. >> the mill less than-- millennials

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>> male narrator: tonight on restaurant startup... it's an all-out cockfight between two teams claiming the best chicken ever. a local legend looking to spread her wings... >> i'm gonna be the queen of fried chicken. >> oh. >> narrator: a pair of teachers ready to leave school behind... >> are you guys a little old for this? >> no. our kids are older. we're gonna get back in the game. we're gonna create a chicken empire. >> narrator: with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, will one of them earn an investment from joe or tim? joe bastianich owns a portfolio of 30 restaurants, along with eataly, a high-end italian market. tim love is a celebrity chef with six award-winning restaurants and a retail empire. they're both looking for the next food visionary, and they're