As e-commerce grows increasingly competitive, CNBC’s Jim Cramer revisited Wayfair, one of the space’s most hotly contested stocks, to see how it was faring on Wall Street.
“It seems like every time some analyst comes out with a positive piece of research on Wayfair, someone else comes back with a bearish retort,” the “Mad Money” host said.
The online furniture retailer also has one of the most heavily shorted stocks in the market, with roughly 28 percent of its outstanding shares in the hands of short-sellers.
Since Wayfair went public in 2014, the stock has been fairly volatile, getting taken down after a big move up in 2015 and trading narrowly for the following 18 months. But in 2017, shares have taken off, gaining 80 percent since the end of March.
The bears are still hot on Wayfair’s tail, though. “I wouldn’t go short or long this thing,” Cramer concluded.
Wall Street is grappling with the latest news on the GOP’s sweeping tax system overhaul, but Cramer isn’t convinced that reform will be a boon for the stock market.
“Now the Republicans are in charge, and I think part of the confusion here about us and Washington is that some investors believe the people running things really care about the market as a tremendous wealth creator and a barometer of how they’re doing,” Cramer said. “It’s not true.”
After the Republican-led push to repeal and replace Obamacare failed a third time, Cramer found it hard to believe that tax reform would be much easier to pass.
But to use Washington’s back-and-forth as an investing lesson, Cramer brought up the stock of Centene, the government-sponsored health care giant that was most sensitive to the “repeal and replace” mission.
The war over who will create the framework for next-generation artificial intelligence will likely be the biggest corporate battle in the near future, Applied Materials President and CEO Gary Dickerson told CNBC on Thursday.
In an interview with Cramer, Dickerson said that waiting for operating system upgrades and new mobile phone iterations may define the tech cycles of today, but the main focus will soon turn to the race for competitive AI.
“In the future, you’ve got transportation, health care, entertainment. All of these will change in amazing ways and create trillions of dollars of economic value. So you also have this war for AI architecture leadership that probably will be the biggest battle of our lifetime,” the CEO said.
Shelling out on experiences is growing among young spenders, and few are seeing such concentrated waves of millennial buyers than RV maker Thor Industries, according to its CEO.
“It’s kind of the front edge of the millennial, but it’s Gen X, Gen Y. Boomers still are in the meat of our market, but the younger buyer is the real story,” Bob Martin, the president and CEO of Thor, told Cramer on Thursday. “It’s smaller units, it’s more affordable units, trailers, motor homes. These youngers buyers are just finding ways to use an RV that really resonates with them. They like to explore.”
Martin said that research from the RV Industry Association shows the average age of buyers dropping. Younger families and couples are coming to RV shows, which are seeing record attendance, the CEO said.
“This is a demographic that, as they really enjoy travel, going outdoors, but also tailgating, concerts, they’re finding so many different ways to use an RV that we think the opportunities are endless,” Martin said.
As Cramer tries to keep up with the latest, hottest trends, he often finds that the best place to look for advice is in his own family.
“From now on, when it comes to spotting new trends, I’m just going to totally take my cue from my wife and my kids because, let’s get real, sometimes I’m just too busy or too old to see the things the way they do,” the “Mad Money” host said.
From the “community” feel at Lululemon’s stores to the strength in cruise stocks, Cramer’s wife and daughters have always kept his eyes open to market trends, he said.
“You just need to follow the money, the money being spent by my wife and my kids. I try to tell myself these are business expenses — makes it easier to swallow,” Cramer said. “It’s a changed world, and unless you’re in touch with those around you, you’re probably just too darned busy working to see it.”
In Cramer’s lightning round, he flew through his take on some callers’ favorite stocks:
Anthem: “It’s a political story. It went down on politics. Centene went down at the same time, so did UnitedHealth. They are all buys. I like that group very much.”
Continental Resources, Inc.: “It’s OK. Look, the long term, which has been wrong so far in the short term, but the long term, as I tell ActionAlertsPlus club members, it’s Apache, APA, because I still believe in Alpine High and [CEO John] Christmann.”
Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Apache.
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Source: Tech CNBC
Cramer Remix: This e-commerce name is too risky for my taste