Jim Cramer is no stranger to August sell-offs.
“Welcome, August. Where you been?” the “Mad Money” host exclaimed on Thursday. “For as long as I’ve been in this business, August has been a month where we have unexplained or inexplicable, sudden sell-offs, including nasty ones like today.”
As the Dow Jones Industrial average fell more than 250 points intraday, experts blamed the decline on everything from President Donald Trump’s tiff with the CEOs on his now-disbanded strategic councils to the earnings report from Dow component Cisco.
But Cramer’s reason for Thursday’s sell-off was simpler than what he saw on his Twitter feed.
“It’s August. It’s slow. It’s thin. It’s time for vacation. Stocks have had a big move. Why not sell some?” the “Mad Money” host said. “I bet this sell-off isn’t done. It could get uglier. We’re due. I also believe we’ll get a bunch of sell-offs like this one over the next six weeks because that’s what happens every year at this time. I’ve been telling you this. So, if you haven’t done so already, please sell your least favorite stocks tomorrow to raise some cash so that you’ll be ready to pick up your most favorites as they come down and become bargains.”
Despite the fact that his cloud company works with the federal government, Box co-founder, Chairman and CEO Aaron Levie could not keep mum about President Donald Trump’s controversial reaction to the violence at a Charlottesville, Virginia protest.
“In this case, I think the principles override that,” Levie told Cramer on Thursday, referring to his company’s government contracts. “We really need to ensure that our country can be much more unified, that we actually collectively appreciate our culture of diversity, and we need a president that can stand up for that and stand up for what’s right. So in this case, I think that you’ve seen that from other CEOs in the country and CEOs of companies much larger than Box.”
Levie took to Twitter over the past several days to congratulate Merck CEO Ken Frazier for being the first to resign from Trump’s manufacturing council over the statements, express his dismay about the disbanding of the councils and speak out against the groups altogether.
Calling Trump’s statements about the fatal violence at the protest “troubling,” Levie told Cramer that he was unnerved by them and how they were reflecting on the whole administration.
Retail competition is at the forefront of Wall Street yet again as retailers release their earnings reports, and Cramer is seeing a divide form around the industry’s most powerful disruptor.
“When the book is closed on retail this quarter, we’re going to have two different narratives: there are the companies that Amazon can crush and the companies that Amazon should admire or perhaps even fear,” Cramer said.
As of Thursday, one company stood out to Cramer as the competitor Amazon should worry most about: Wal-Mart.
Finally, Cramer spoke with Shantanu Gaur, the founder and chief scientific officer of privately-held biotechnology company Allurion Technologies.
Gaur said Allurion is currently working on getting its flagship treatment, the Elipse Balloon, approved by the United States Federal Drug Administration. The treatment functions as a non-invasive way to stem habits that can cause obesity.
“Consumers these days are demanding products that not only are safe, but also more effective than the traditional diet-and-exercise plans that are out there, and they want stuff that’s a great consumer experience. Frictionless is a word that comes to mind,” the CEO told Cramer on Thursday. “Easy, convenient, but not invasive and something that’s affordable, something that they can put on a credit card.”
The treatment is approved in the European Union, and is currently the market-leading “balloon” in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Gaur said.
What attracts customers most to the treatment is its efficiency, Gaur added. Patients can swallow the capsule and have it filled with water over the course of a 15-minute visit to their doctor’s office, he said.
“We think that if you create a product like we have that is safe and effective enough, that has a low threshold for people to at least give it a shot, that the market potential is massive,” Gaur said. “There’s a clarion call from patients and physicians for less invasive procedures for weight loss, and we’re delivering a product that will help the overweight, the moderately obese, the severely obese, the whole spectrum is really in our market.”
In Cramer’s lightning round, he shared his take on some callers’ favorite stocks:
Juno Therapeutics: “Look, that’s one of the high-risk immunotherapy stocks. They’re high-risk and they’re high-reward. If you can handle that in some of your Mad Money portfolio, I bless it.”
Merit Medical Systems: “This is a medical device company that I like. You know I like that group. I do think we should be a little more conservative. There’s some more traditional ones like a Medtronic, but that’s OK. I like Mazor [Robotics] and I also like Intuitive [Surgical]. There’s a three-fer.”
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Source: Investment Cnbc
Cramer Remix: This sell-off isn’t done, things could get uglier