>> you know what bond market moved today, banks look good, regional banks look excellent. >> tesla, stay with it >> god awful >> if you're feeling bad >> no, i feel great. that will get you done >> see you back you back tomorr. "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 is 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 the make friends. i'm just trying to make you some money. my job is not necessarily to entertain, but to educate and teach you. so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc, or tweet me @jimcramer. the dow inching 13.8 points, the

nasdaq gaining .28%. but as we head into the heart of earnings season, this quarter has been very tough on the skeptics because there has been so much good and so little bad yep, and it comes to the fundamentals, the bears keep getting stampeded by the bulls that's why this market has been extremely resilient in the face of endlessly negative stories about how we're about to fall off a cliff. so let's start with the elephant in the room, economic policy while there are both winners and losers from president trump's aggressive moves on tariffs and trade, and at least for the near term, probably more winners than losers, the truth is we've struggled to pin the tail on the bears here good companies keep addressing the trade issue head-on and very few have been knocked for a loop, even as the dominant news narrative is that the whole economy is going to be ko'd. surely from my perspective it sure seems like far more ceos want to talk about the positives from tax cuts than the negatives

from the newer tariffs look, tnt, that's tariffs and trade, not dynamite or tank ray and tonic, can still blow us out of the water when the president tweets almost daily how our trading partners aren't partners at all and how our partners are foes who rip us off all the time, it's not exactly a stable situation, even though most stocks tend to bows back after trump's tweets, the pronouncements are very different from say when he blasted amazon for u.s. postal services this morning. amazon has really nothing to worry about, though. tariffs are different. we know the president is willing to pull the trigger -- [ gunshot -- because someone always gets hurt when you change trade policy don't get me wrong as a citizen, i think he is absolutely right the stand up to china. but as an investor these traensions are not not positive for the market. often at odds with some of his staff, i say we have to be on

guard. for example, i think the president's chief economic adviser, my old friend larry kudlow was spot on when he told me at alpha last week that talks with europe might produce a positive result. but then again, that was last wednesday, which might as well be ancient history as far as this white house is concerned. i sure hope we make a deal with the eu automobiles are the crux of global commerce. and he gets started seeing higher tariffs on cars, that's bad for the whole market on the other hand, if larry is right and the europeans come bearing gifts, maybe we make a deal to drop all auto tariffs on both sides i think this market could go much higher. >> buy, buy, buy >> for now, though, all we can really do is wait for resolution fortunately, trade is not the only thing that matters to this market, and we now have enough earnings reports to start making judgments about what else is in important. let's start with technology. which is really kind of when i look at the numbers, technology is divided between the cloud and everything else, especially

telco. microsoft versus skyworks is the most withering example here. in many ways microsoft delivered the perfect quarter because it offered sharply better than expected azure numbers, that's the cloud and gaming and classic software linked. in but cloud hit it out of the park how about china? hardly a focus for microsoft or other cloud plays. but it's extremely important for hardwares like semiconductor and skyworks why they report and excellent quarter, skyworks was deemed too china orient and its stock got crushed last friday. the lesson here, stick with the cloud. now tonight, alphabet just blew away the numbers ♪ hallelujah with a monster quarter and again, the cloud figured positively big wins from giant cloud users like dominos we tell you it's a technology company that sells food and the vast target change the latter not wanting to

subsidize its put to amazon. havi plus it looks like alphabet's business is so strong we don't have to fret about the $5,000 fine recently hand down by the eu europe business was incredibly strong i think they may be the big winner because of gdpr, the privacy standard that played out in google's favor. there is just a ton to like about this company's future which managed to stop a trend sliding down the day after reports. all moved up in sympathy with alphabet what else? you got the banks, and this bank seems to be totally controlled by long-term interest rates which determined how much money they can make from lending so when the yield on the ten-year treasury jumped, and that's what happened recently, the bank stocks come with just kind of one for one, so to speak. look at jpmorgan and citigroup today. with long-term interest rates headed higher, the financials will make more money, but they are already making a fortune anyway still, you can't quibble with

these gains, and i think the bank stocks remain cheap here. i think that's going to be a continual theme as we go deeper and deeper into earnings season, that the banks turned out much too low a price earnings multiple given that rates are headed higher. how about consumer package goods? people sure like what they've seen so far. i thought they didn't i think the group did get too low. any higher, they start back sliding. look at pepsico today. it quoted a downgrade saying it had run too much after it reported i disagree i think the stock is regrouping. mccormick, the spice company, that's one other real standout here i don't think it's going to give up any of those gains. if any, it's going the add to them and we're going to have more from mccormick later. health care a big sector, right? when i look over the health care stocks so far, we have an interesting panoply. i see tremendous pin action, but then limited follow-through. i think j & j deserve morse of a boost than it's gotten it went up nicely at first there were some real good

quarters united health, wow, standout but the stock got weaker why? because the company beat itself up unnecessarily on the call dana hearst the winner so far. the industrial versus tough. aside from general electric, we've been seeing some robust action, but it's all been in aerospace. if it weren't for the power division, g.e., which has a huge aerospace division, it would have been fine, although wondering how ge would have done without power is kind of like asking but other than play, mrs. lincoln, how was the play? you know, it's really unfortunate. i went over that quarter multiple times, and rather than panning ge, i'm calling it a work in progress of course, steve tusso over at jpmorgan had a new negative thread the accounts receivable off-loaded on to ge capital. their accounting sure was squirrely, something we never would have known as long as

business stayed strong this came out when things started declining. i think ceo john flannery is doing his level best to turn things around, but rome wasn't built in a quarter, and this one won't be fixed in one either speaking of industrials, you believe how much honeywell is making and how much dave cote's successor has been telling the story of the breakup at all, a tour de force. illinois tool works has become maddingly inconsistent that's quote for just plain for two quarters bad, and that the declines are pretty daunting as i told club members, i request whether itw should still be on the other hand here. so let's say industrials right now are a question mark on a case-by-case basis retail is also hard to puzzle over however, that question could be resolved by the positive commentary and forecast boost that we just got last friday from vf corp with strength coming from jeans,

van sneakers and north face that i think it is fair to extrapolate right now positively to many of the brick and mortar stores that carry the stuff. i'm particularly interested in seeing target. i think that acts well i think kohl's is having a super quarter. here is the bottom line. don't let all the fretting about tariffs and trade freak you out. [ buzzer ] you might miss the trees for the forest so far we've gotten a ton of positive earnings reports. wand the possible exception of the industrials, i think the course is well, now blazed, and i bet these bullish numbers will serve as template for things to come as we get through earnings season chris in my home state new jersey, chris? >> caller: hey, jim. boo-yah from new jersey! it's chris i wanted to ask you howe you feel -- i couldn't resist that 20% drop what do you think about the merger >> well, the stock is coming back, and one of the reasons it's coming back is they're going to be able to get this deal done because they do not need chinese approval to buy ca.

the main flame cycle which ca is levered to is very strong. we heard that last week when we listened, when we talked to ibm and martin schroeter i thought he did a good job. ultimately avago, now broadcom, is fine. not great, not bad certainly better than some of the others, though james in north dakota. james? >> caller: hey, jim. just wondering how you feel about the earnings report that just came out from cleveland cliffs and if you think that the tariffs are actually helping this company out i know they've got a firm footing now. what do you think? >> they absolutely are helping it out there was an upgrade this very morning from jpmorgan. it read very well. obviously the iron business is strong and the steel business is strong now, we know that new corps also uses scrap but he told an amazing story last week. the stock was down incorrectly that steel and iron sector is in bull market mode all right. in your face, haters we continue to see resulteds

that defy the skeptic, and i think the course is well blazed. the only exception being the split in the industrials on "mad money" tonight, is it game on for hasbro the company is up over 10% after earnings i'm talk welcome the ceo to see if they move the ticker. one company just put on a clinic of a conference call. i'll tell you the name and why it was the best one i've heard in ages. and spice, spice baby. i'm sitting down with the ceo of mccormick to find out about the arby food acquisition. that's franks from the man himself. stick with cramer. >> don't miss a second of "mad money. follow @jimcramer on twitter have a question? tweet cramer, #madtweets 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. alerts -- wouldn't you like one from the market

when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today. fidelity. the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. and now there's a new way to smooth. introducing new venus platinum. a premium metal handle boosts control... to reveal up to 100% smooth skin. venus it's pretty amazing out there. the world is full of more possibilities than ever before.

and american express has your back every step of the way- whether it's the comfort of knowing help is just a call away with global assist. or getting financing to fund your business. no one has your back like american express. so where ever you go. we're right there with you. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. don't live life without it. you need a higher standardigher standard of craftsman.hip, see for yourself at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2018 es 350 for $329 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

we all want to know you know, the new, new thing. with xfinity's retail stores, you can now see the latest. want to test drive the latest devices? be our guest. want to save on mobile? just ask. want to demo the latest innovations and technology? do it here. come see how we're making things simple, easy and awesome. plus, come in today and ask about xfinity mobile. a new kind of wireless network designed to save you money. visit your local xfinity store today. ♪ i love to say i told you so two weeks ago i told you to buy some hasbro, the big toymaker because i thought its stock was being excessively

penalized in the wake of the collapse of toys r us. it's not like they don't have other vendors, and i expect to see a comeback but even i have to admit i didn't expect it to turn around so quickly this morning hasbro reported a much better than anticipated quarter and the stock took off a, vaulting 12.9%. the company delivered 19 cent earnings beat, a 29 cent basis while it's still strength by 7% year-over-year, that number was much higher than what wall street was looking for even better management made it clear the problems caused by the closure of toys r us are now in the rear view mirror they have a path forward coupled with rising demand from consumers. let's take a closer look with brian goldner, the chairman and ceo of hasbro to hear more about the quarter and where his company is headed. mr. goldner, welcome back to "mad money." >> hi, jim. >> congratulations you came on last quarter and you said you could navigate this tell us how you were able to put the toys r us collapse behind you so quickly >> well, we've continued to

focus on building great, innovative products on entertainment and storytelling, and then modernizing our organization all around the world. >> our u.s. team did a fantastic job of continuing to manage through the liquidation at toys r us which is now complete, and now we're lining up for share recapture plans with the remainder of our retailers building bigger programs for the holidays, working with the retailers we worked with for years, adding some new retailers and new exciting categories around gaming and fans and some sporting goods and then of course bespoke online program and omni channel programs so we'll do content to commerce online and these shopable social media opportunities. >> now it was also amazing is you made it clear to people, look, it wasn't like toys r us we made much more money in that particular group versus others and you're talking about proprietary partner brands that are very exciting. exclusives with walmart, with target, with amazon prime, singles day in china these are all probably excellent channels for hasbro.

>> you know, they really are and then obviously as we go around the world, we're working through the european situation, and there has been disintermediation between online retail and the brick and mortar retailers, and we'll work through that as well we believe all these issues disappear by the end of 2018 and we move on we've said we believe we believe we can grow in 2019 and beyond we'll expand our operation margins as a return and get back to a 62% gross margin. >> okay. you did talk about the idea that there is still substantial amount of manufacturing that you have a in china. it can shift this something we should be concerned about in the second half >> not really. we've really focused over time strategically in moving production out of china. so this has been going on for a number of years for risk mitigation and cost mitigation we've moved product out of china, about 30% of our manufacturing is outside of china. in the united states, we make 25% of the product for the united states in the united

states, and we're continuing to add production this fall we'll add the play-doh protection in the united states, and we'll continue to move product around the world the make a high quality product. we found great vendors in india and vietnam and other countries as well as the united states we're also moving product production to places where there are tariffs like brazil so that we can mitigate those incoming tariffs with brazilian government and, again, continue to build a more robust global footprint for our manufacturing. >> you made a bold acquisition, power rangers. i want you to tell our viewers what happens when you get something like power ranger, how you make it so it's more experiential what storytelling message can you tell us right now about what you're going to do with power rangers. >> well, it's very exciting. in 2019 we'll launch the product line in the second quarter, and then by 2020, it's the full blueprint. so new entertainment we'll move to not only annual television, but we're working again on another movie, and we'll execute it across the

blueprint. so that's consumer progress, mobile gaming and immersive experience games in addition to our toys and games business. we would expect to it look like a my little pony or transformers over time. and obviously, it will enjoy that high operating margin that we enjoy with our franchise brands >> all the time there is one brand that stands out that i thought was kind of not a dead brand, but just a so-so brand. you called outdone johns & dragons this time. that's been around forever how does that re-ignite? >> well, people are more into dungeons and dragons than ever before in fact, it's enjoying its best year ever. it's been the last couple of years where it's grown people are reengauged with the game because it's face-to-face, it's immersive people really enjoy playing with each other double digits new user growth, and we're very excited about what's coming up when in fact we just announced this afternoon that there will be crossover between dungeons and dragons and

gather the magic in the fall i think our fans and gamers are going to be very excited for what's coming for d & d. we're also building a suite of digital games around dungeons & dragons. we've had more than a million people sign up, and we're very excited about launching that later this year. so you will be able to play magic the gathering or dungeons & dragons on a mobile device, online as well as face-to-face. >> how did you gate million so quickly. what this makes me think is now you've got a lot of people to sell into. you've got a lot of different extensions that you can do that could just make so that it comes alive for multiple years >> well, once you build this mobile game, we're also seeing that just with the analog game, people are watching us on e-sports we have about a million viewers a month watching a magic: the gathering game and people are watching done johns & dragons and twitch it's a very immersive game, and it's perfect and right for

global e-sports competition. >> one last point. you said that you thought your stock was too low. i saw how many shares you bought is this a standout quarter you took advantage of the dip, didn't you >> well, we'll continue to look at buying back shares. we said that we could buy in the amount of shares that we had issued to purchase the power rangers, which would be about 3 million shares and our goal is with strong cash flow to keep buying in shares opportunist in cie niist incall. >> you succeeded brian goldner, chairman of hasbro, thank you so much, sir not done going higher. it took a lot of people by surprise, including the analyst community after many upgrades and target bumps tomorrow, "mad money" is back after the break.

i'm constantly telling you to listen to the quarterly conference calls they are your single best source of information about how a company's actually doing but how do you know if the call you're listening to is any good? how do you judge a call's quality? this is important. so let me give you an example. last wednesday we heard from abbott laboratories, a cramer favorite health care conglomerate abbott is all about diagnostics, medical devices, nutrition and generic drugs. they're the global leader in blood screen screen, diagnostics, a point of care testing, heart pumps, adult nutrition. now i've been a fan of this company and its amazing ceo miles white for ages last september we ran a whole segment about his ability to create value since then about doubling the performance of the s&p over the same period. when abbott reported again last week, wow, the company showed you exactly why i've been such a

relentless backer of its stock it's not because abbott labs delivered a monster blowout. the company posted modest top and bottom line beat with a special boost to its full-year guidance good, but not earth shattering. the reason why abbott stocks shot to an all-time high last wednesday before pulling back a couple of points is the conference call, what miles white had to say this. is the best one we've heard in ages miles white, literally, he put on a clinic in how to orchestrate a conference call. i think it's actually worth going over because you need to see what this actually looks like if you're going to be able to spot a phenomenal conference call in the wild let's go through it point by point. first, miles white briefly goes over the numbers that's what all the ceos do. then he immediately goes into abbott's corporate strategy. he talks about how they spent years deliberately shaping the company's portfolio, pruning businesses that didn't fit, like the drug business they spun off and making acquisitions to double down on other industries

like the $25 billion purchase of one of our absolute favorite companies, st. jude med in january of last year to bulk up their medical device exposure. he explains this is how abbott can keep putting up 7% organic sales number this is not a small company. white then breaks down all four of the company's business segments, gives you a reason to be excited about frankly each one. and diagnostic, they're rolling out a whole new system that is selling like hotcakes because it helps laboratories run more efficiently. in generic drugs, their sales are growing at a 12% clip thanks to exposure to fast growing markets. they're also seeing real strength in pediatric nutrition and the medical device segment, my favorite. there was so much i couldn't even do it justice, including a phenomenal diabetes care division they were up 22% and 30% respectively at this point he takes a break and turns it over to ceo who takes a deep dive.

he breaks it down giving a forecast for each of abbott's divisions in the next quarter. given they had just raised growth, think of this as the cfo explaining how they're going to get there, a road map. and now we get to the fun part the q&a session with the analyst community. by the way, all of whom are in awe of mr. white listen to some of the stuff. wells fargo wants the know how the company feels confident of its growth trajectly given they're coming up against tough comparisons. white's response not worried. abbott markets are pretty strong even though the dollar has been on the rise and a lot of companies have complained about that, a bad thing for an american company that gets its bilk of sales from overseas, he is feeling confident let me read you this part verbatim we'd probably be raising guidance even further here but for the currency headwinds we see for the remainder of the year end quote. wow. he explains that while there

could be some noise in abbott's generic drug business which is a lot of emerging market exposure, the general direction is going to be higher, even if it might oscillate between being merely good and being great then he hits on what's working -- nutrition, diagnostics and medical devices, saying while they may go up and down a couple of percentage points here and there, the underlying overall growth rate is pretty strong and like i said earlier will probably raise further except for the concern of exchange rate that's sensational in short, he is incredibly bullish on the fundamentals and the only thing that stopping him from raising the guidance is the strong dollar. that's really only piece of peril in the quarter and white's says they got a handle it. the numbers keep coming up, coming in well ahead of planned. he wants to know at what point they're going to stabilize or stall. rather than trying to deflect the question, white's incredibly transparent. another thing i just love about

this man, telling us that, i quote, we want to grow at a double-digit rate. otherwise difficult to call yourself a growth company. white explains how they'll get there, the right geographic markets, the right innovative space, margin improvements and even though he won't commit to a specific target, he let us know that, and i quote, we're in a really great new products cycle of launches. every piece of this has a nice sustainable long-term head of it here and the businesses, you can see the evidence of it growing, end quote. a masterful performance. while white refused to take the bait and pin himself to a specific number, he makes you understand exactly why he is so confident about abbott's ability to grow its earnings over the long haul. that confidence is exuded in this call and it makes you want to pay a higher stock price. that's what does it. my favorite part was when rick wise, the acknowledged analyst asked if they're planning to make any major changes in the portfolio going forward, maybe

doing more acquisitions. most ceos will hedge a question when asked like that because they get this question in some form or another every call, white just lays out his whole philosophy abbott labs as it currently exists, he says, is the result and i quote, very deliberate shaping, end quote, since the spin-off nearly six years ago. white wasn't trying to be reactive or opportunistic. now that they have this finely tuned money machine -- money making machine, white tells us, quote, our first baseline is we've got to operate and execute well organically as a company, end quote. a this point, the intentional repositioning is done, as is most of the merger integration is abbott way ahead of the schedule in paying down the debt from recent deals. height goes on and explains that abbott can make some opportunistic acquisitions if they want to, but they don't have to.

the single biggest opportunities we've got are all in our own pipelines. what more can you ask for? here is the bottom line. abbott labs put on a clinic of a conference call with pro miles white exuding a quiet confidence as he laid out all the reasons why he believes in the company's growth targets if you don't own abbott already, i'd be a buyer right here. buy, buy, buy! >> dennis in california. dennis >> caller: hey, how you do, jim? >> i'm good. how about you? >> caller: i am wonderful. except for this. my question is about pharma company abvie. sadly i bought shares and they're down 10% the analysts sound like it's a bargain at this price. and because the company has new drugs in the pipeline and it's getting into the production and sale of legal marijuana. i'd love to get your long-term where you think this stock is headed >> well, i like the marijuana business

now, i personally feel strongly that the -- an analyst who put a sell on it and really talked it down is going to prove to be off base, even though i like him and i think abbvie is a buy and i would add more to my position right here to get a better basis. let's go to ken in california. ken? >> caller: hiia, boo-yah, jim. >> boo-yah >> caller: boo-yah i'm looking at tandem diabetes it's up 300% this last year, and i'd like a fundamental and a technical opinion on it. >> well, you know, to have a stock up a thousand percent, this thing has really ban rocket ship i can't recommend it up here i think that the diabetes unfortunately and sadly, diabetes is an epidemic. everyone involved with it is doing quite well you know for specific diabetes play so to speak, i like dexcom. they've been on the show a number of times.

they've been able to withstand the competition from abbott. that's my favorite, and it's not as speculative as tandem let's go to allen in pennsylvania allen? >> caller: thanks, jim thanks for taking my call. >> of course >> caller: of course i'm talking about intuitive surgical they -- i'm just a little intro. i know you know it >> right. >> caller: they make and sell surgical robots for minimally invasive surgery. >> right >> caller: and they're called da vinci systems. it's a razor blade business, the systems being the raise scores and disposable instruments they sell 4400 of these in hospitals worldwide, and they continue to ship a good deal >> right alan, i know it well i actually gave a presentation that involved their product years ago and realized how great it was when i got -- spent a lot of prime minister helping new

jersey all i can say about this is i think there is far more runway here i think isrg has always looked expensive, but i would still be a buyer, even up here. and by the way, that last quarter was magnificent. all right. abbott labs' earnings call was a thing of beauty. kudos to ceo miles white i would be a buyer right here if you don't own it much more "mad money" ahead, including my exclusive with a company that can add a little morespice to your portfolio. don't miss my sit-down with the ceo of mccormick all your calls rapid-fire tonight's edition of the "lightning round." so stick with cramer i think that she's a very nice girl... you never got the brakes looked at? oh yeah. no.

at cognizant, we're helping today's leading manufacturers make things that think and do automatically. imagine that, a world of new digital products and services all working together for you. can i borrow the car when it's back? get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital. whoooo. you rely on tripadvisor so you don't miss out on the perfect hotel... but did you know you can also use tripadvisor so you don't miss out on the best price? tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want for the lowest price. saving you up to 30%! so you can spend less time missing out... and more time paddling out! tripadvisor. visit tripadvisor.com or download the app! - anncr: as you grow older, -your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall.

- learning from him is great... when i can keep up! - anncr: thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. - dad's got all the answers. - anncr: prevagen is now the number-one-selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. - she outsmarts me every single time. - checkmate! you wanna play again? - anncr: prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

with a great ceo with a terrific long-term track record goes out on a limb and does something a stock market doesn't like, you might want the give him the benefit of the doubt take mccormick, mkc, the world's number one maker of spices and seasons. almost exactly a year ago the company announced it would be paying $4.2 for benckiser's food division, that includes french's mustard. the stock got slammed in the news people thought they were paying

too much but when we had the ceo lawrence kurzius on the show here, he calmly explained these were worth every penny. especially since millennials put hot sauce on everything. late last month mccormick reported a blowout quarter, driven by much better than expected performance than from the benckiser business fireballing 8.4% in a single session before tacking on a few more points for analysts who were late to the party i think it has a lot more to run. but don't take it from me. let's check in with lawrence kurzius to get a better since of where his business is headed mr. kurzius, welcome back to "mad money." great to see you, sir. >> hey, jim, it's great to be here. >> have a seat thank you so much for coming in. a triumphant year where you really did it so right. >> well, jim, it's been almost a year to the day since i was on your show, and you were no pushover you asked a lot of hard questions. >> thank you. >> and this was a deal that wasn't universally popular but at the end of the show, you

told your viewers that you thought it was going to be a hit. and you were exactly right we have had tremendous success with these brands, and the viewers who listened to you and took your advice actually would have beaten the s&p by 10 points if they had bought our stock. >> thank you it was you you told me why you thought it was good and i agree with you. >> i've actually got something special for you here. >> oh, get out of town my wife is going to -- which we do put it on everything. my wife is going to love this a little close-up there it never looked better well, thank you so much. and, yeah, i am a huge believer. i was at a restaurant this week weekend. they had three different kinds you've already got new distribution venues. that's incredible credits, the pull of mccormick. >> one of the things we said when we bought these brands is these were fantastic food brands that were trapped in a nonfood company. you put them into our business, we're in experts in flavor

we've gotten tremendous placement in restaurants we've been able to expand up the shelf. it's really been good for us. >> i think we're just getting started because on the call, you talked about major national tv campaigns that are about to come out. and these brands haven't been supported like this. >> that's absolutely true. frank's hot sauce actually hasn't been on television in over seven years we haven't even gotten to the tv campaign that's coming this fall, but we'll bring franks back to tv. of course, we're out there on digital and social media already. >> social media, this thing is incredibly popular i looked up -- before you came on, i had no idea that this as someone told me this weekend, it's something we do he said we do this that's not what people say typically about food >> franks is something of a lifestyle brand. it's especially a lifestyle brand for millennials. i know we've got a room for of millennials here today a who can afest to that. but millennials are more interested in flavor than the general population they are more adventurous in the foods that they eat. they like to cook more from

scratch than the general population and franksis a millennial brand. literally, the younger you are, the more likely you are to be a consumer this is one of the things that really appealed to us about franks >> what's incredible credit to you, lawrence, it wasn't just that you tied into the millennials, this is a brand that was my era. and you have reinvented this in less than a year's time. shelf space, you're taking away from the other guys and you're growing this. >> french's was a brand that really got pushed around at the shelf. the french's food company didn't have category management capabilities that were very good this is something that we're quite good at. we've taken the case to the retailers on this one. in many case, secondary brands that had a fraction of the sales had as much sales space as french's did this. has been a place where we've been able to grow. >> now, you didn't even have the benefit of a good grilling season, but now we're in the summer

you started that -- i know that you were talking about a june kickoff for a campaign, but how are things going now it got hot? >> well, things are going great. you know, we got a slow start to the grilling season just because it was cold and wet over a lot of the east and the south. we even had a tropical storm over memorial day weekend. but a normal weather pattern has set in so our business does best when the weather does what consumers expect it to do, and normal consumption patterns can set in. so we're really excited about how the grilling season is going for us right now, and we're really looking forward to fall mccormick's business is heavily skewed to the end of the year around holidays and back to school and football season these are brands that are going to play well then too. >> you -- i forgot how powerful this is among the wings community, and wings are incredibly popular just little things like king of wings. you've decided to augment that >> well, buffalo wings were actually created using frank's hot sauce originally at the anchor bar in buffalo, new york.

and that's where the name comes from so this is a real tradition. and we're embracing wings. the record benckiser had a promotion they ran in the springtime, we've more than doubled participation in king of wings under our ownership and we're bringing it back in the fall as well >> okay. speak to me. people didn't get to address that it police chief on the conference call. they talked about china and tariffs. obviously, canada's put some tariffs on the category. where are you in the trade wars? >> we believe in free and fair trade. we'd like to see our leaders work things out for nafta. but so far so good for us. there is no tariffs on mustard interestingly, french's mustard is made with 100% canadian mustard seed so the canadians did not want to put a tariff on that and our ketchup, french's ketchup for the canadian market, we actually make it in canada

with canadian tomatoes now in the u.s., we make it in the u.s. as well that goes to our philosophy of producing there the markets where we sell the product which i think is going to help us out as we go through this whole uncertainty around tariffs generally. >> there has been great boost in margins, but i'd be remiss not to ask you, the core business really doing incredibly strong. >> the core business is doing well what's really differentiated mccormick is we've been sitting on all cylinders we've had great growth through new products we've had great growth on our core business, and we've had an acquisition there that has been very successful for us we have doubled down on flavor and doubled down on growth we see flavor as a growth category and ourselves as a growth company we're investing behind these brands to continue to drive forward. >> i want to congratulate you you're a man of your convictions. this one is probably going to be your number one seller that is lawrence kurzius, the ceo of mccormick. this one is going higher it is just now getting the

support of the analyst community. "mad money" is back after the break. halftime report, weekdays noon eastern on cnbc is this at&t innovations? yeah, wow..this must be for one of our new unlimited wireless plans. it comes with a ton of entertainment options. great, can you sign for this? yeah. hey, uh.. what's in that one? that's a shark. new and only with at&t, you can get unlimited data, 30+ channels of live tv, and your choice of things like hbo or amazon music. more for your thing. that's our thing. visit att dot com.

s. it is time it's time for "lightning round." cramer's say buy, buy, buy, sell, sell, sell, and play the sound [ buzzer ] and then the "lightning round" is over. are you ready, skee-daddy? time for the "lightning round. start with mike until new york michael? >> caller: how you doing, jim? my stock is estee lauder, symbol el. >> the stock has been marking time since the last quarter because there were very small things that were of concern to people. >> buy, buy, buy >> i think it is a buy i think they're doing a remarkable job pick some up as part of the selfie generation. mark in georgia, mark? >> caller: yes, i want to address you as dr. jim cramer because of your expertise in the field that you're so enlightened about. and i'd like to get your opinion on prim rest ka? >> priamerica is doing incredibly well. it's really for the middle

income person. it's one of the doing incredibly well and i think it's going to continue. >> buy, buy, buy >> let's go to betty in new jersey betty? >> caller: hi, cramer. how are you? great to talk to you love the show. >> thank you. >> caller: and keep it going i'm calling about boston beer company, ticker sam. >> yeah, this is -- amazingly, these are -- sam's doing incredibly well. i think it was heavily shorted it's making a comeback but i do not like the beer category i think it's saturated and there is too much competition. and i would be a seller if i owned it lets go to todd in north carolina todd >> caller: hey, boo-yah, jim this is todd from winston-salem. >> great to have you on the show, todd what's going on? >> caller: i got a question for you about axom enterprises looks like a great stock, great potential to move but the p/e is high at 297. do you think this is a great time to buy the stock? >> we liked flit the 20s and the 30s and the 40s and the 50s. look, i'm afraid to say continue

to buy it up here because it's at 75. we've been such stalwart supporters of it i think now you got to wait for a pullback i can't come in with guns blazing saying time to buy when i've been saying it's time to buy for 50 straight points david in oregon. david? >> caller: hello [ buzzer ] >> david, what's up? >> caller: this is david of portland, oregon i own hp inc. and it seems like hp and hpe has obsolete business models and components. i'm wondering if i should hold on. >> i disagree when it comes to pure hpq hp inc. i think is doing incredibly well, and i would be a buyer of that stock right here hpe is hard for me don't feel that way. mark in maryland, mark >> caller: boo-yah, jim. >> boo-yah, mark. >> caller: love your show. >> thank you. >> caller: my stock have ail

resort. >> oh, they are incredibly well run are. that's an experimential place where it's just fantastic and i think it's still a buy and that, ladies and gentlemen, the conclusion of the "lightning round. [ buzzer ] >> the "lightning round" is sponsored by td ameritrade >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him? >>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better. yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. one estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade.

with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california. pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future.

did the performances of individual ceos matter again is stock picking making a comeback i've been investing for 36

years. and for the vast majority of that time we accepted that the market worked a certain way. for example we knew that about half a stock's performance could be traced to the sector it happened to be part of and the other half came from the fortunes of the company itself, with most of that hinging on the decisions made by management but with the centers of index funds, sector based etfs and recent years, that no longer the case it seems that only a handful of executives were skilled enough to buck the trends that control their sectors. you can think of these winners as fang and friends. aside from them, i've seen figures that subject up to 75% of trading is automate order related to etfs, not related to individual stocks. think s&p funds. however, something has happened really in just this quarter. that makes me think that stock picking may be coming back into vogue. i'm talking about the widely disparate performances i saw it a little last quarter, but since this quarter began, i'm really seeing it a lot case in poise, world service

last quarter schlumberger predicted positive momentum for the second half and all of next year schlumberger has been buying back stock and preparing for the upturn in international drilling, which is just starting to happen. halliburton, on the other hand, turned out to be way too levered to the permean basin, the oil rich region in texas where it's severely limited by a lack of pipeline infrastructure. nobody is going the boost their drilling budget if there is not enough pipe to get the oil to market schlumberger saw this market coming which is why they didn't fall over themselves trying to build up business to the basin schlumberger's stock hang in there even as halliburton gets slaughtered, down 8% because of the permean problem. we heard about hasbro tonight. while they didn't see the fall of toys r us are coming, hasbro's reaction to the loss of its chief outlet was swift and decisive mattel, on the other hand, equally blindsided but has yet

to lay out a plan of how to move past the price reaction is stark and stock which is why hasbro is doing much better than the stock of mattel, double a percentage gain for the year. same goes for the industrials. last week general electric had a widely panned quarter where analysts weren't able to get their arms around the continuing weakness in power which seemed like a widespread degradation no one ever promise you'd a roz garden illinois tool works? i'm done with the company's inability to path a different from the company's previous fiasco meanwhile, honeywell, a company that has a lot of overlap totally shined when it reported last friday with rising margins and pending restructuring will that will unlock more value. it soared and kept rallying today. we've seen variance among the biotechs the only group still trading in lockstep is the banks. when long-term interest rates go higher as they did today, the

whole financial cohort moves up too. when rates are calm or declining, they'll go down there has been almost no differentiation in that group whatsoever but in a way, the banks are the exception that proves the rule stock picking is back in style it's such a pleasure to see stocks trading like stocks and not baskets of corn or soy beans. i say enjoy it while it lasts, and stick with cramer. ♪

you shouldn't be rushed into booking a hotel. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia. so much good stuff from this alphabet call. you have to like the machine learning issues. you got to like what they're doing artificial intelligence. but you know what really stands out, aside from the home assistant? it's the -- it's their autonomous driving it's really doing incredibly well i like to say there is always a bull market somewhere. i promise to try to find it for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer, and i'll see you tomorrow

>> welcome to the shark tank, where entrepreneurs seeking an investment will face these sharks. if they hear a great idea, they'll invest their own money or fight each other for a deal. this is "shark tank." ♪ shoot it, shoot it, shoot it! i live with my two kids, avi and leah. my kids are awesome. they mean everything to me. growing up, i watched my father start and run a handbag company. he put every penny he had into it, and he took a very big risk. and he did it. he broke open all of the major department stores, and his business took off very quickly after that. eventually, my father and his partner sold their company