CNBC's Jim Cramer thinks Macy's new CEO Jeff Gennette has more than a fighting chance to bring his retailer back in style.
"In the end, we need Macy's to raise its earnings forecast and pay down even more debt if its stock's going to have a sustainable run back to $30," the "Mad Money" host said. "That may be too much to ask of a single executive like Mr. Gennette, but I wouldn't be surprised if he can pull off something like it."
With Gennette already making seemingly positive changes company-wide, from cleaning up the department stores for the holidays to picking winning styles, Cramer's opinion has on Macy's certainly improved.
"While Macy's omni-channel strategy will always be hobbled by the company's mall-based stores — where it's too difficult for them to do 'buy online, pick up in person' in that much of a voluminous manner because of the parking concerns — the merchandising and the stores themselves remain a heck of a lot more attractive than most retailers, with always reasonable prices," Cramer said. "So should you buy the stock of Macy's? I know it sounds crazy, but yeah, I think it's worth a shot."
Oh, how the mighty haven't fallen
Cramer was amazed that President Donald Trump's tweet suggesting an imminent government shutdown and North Korea's missile launch weren't enough to send stocks down on Tuesday.
"Oh, how the mighty haven't fallen," he said. "The market refuses to be brought down by news that would've crushed us at almost any other time in history."
Cramer started with Trump's Tuesday morning tweet balking at a potential deal with Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to prevent a government shutdown.
There were times that the threat of a government shutdown would have sent markets into a nosedive, the "Mad Money" host said. Resolving government shutdowns can take weeks, which typically means weeks of turmoil for stocks as well.
Instead, stocks rallied on the news. Cramer said the rally could have been attributed to advances in the GOP tax bill, but he wasn't entirely convinced.
"All I can tell you is that the stock market no longer seems to care about something that was incredibly important as a recently as a couple of years ago," Cramer said.
Square: Squandered or still solid?
With discounts and deals top-of-mind for consumers this holiday shopping season, Cramer zeroed in on another type of discount happening in the stock market.
"Let's talk about Square, SQ, the payment technology company with a very popular mobile credit card reader and a stock that got put on sale big-time yesterday, losing 16 percent of its value thanks to a downgrade from research firm BTIG," the "Mad Money" host said on Tuesday.
Before the most recent decline, shares of Square had tripled since the start of 2017. Its latest run came after management announced it would launch a program that let Square customers trade bitcoin, the wildly popular digital cryptocurrency.
But after the stock's plunge on Monday, Cramer brought in his RealMoney.com colleague, technician Tim Collins, to help the "Mad Money" host get a better picture of Square's trajectory.
Thor Industries CEO thanks younger buyers for gains
After shares of Thor Industries surged over 13 percent on Tuesday off a strong earnings report, President and CEO Bob Martin broke down the recreational vehicle maker's forward drivers for CNBC.
"It's the change of lifestyle, it's a younger demographic, it's an industry that's really reaching this younger buyer," Martin told Cramer. "We're probably still ahead of the millennials, but Gen X, Gen Y, and we're starting to talk to the millennials."
Consumers are increasingly gravitating towards RVs — many of which now boast amenities like large refrigerators, televisions and Wi-Fi — as ways to live life, not just camp, Martin said.
"It's this change of lifestyle that you can use an RV to not just go to a campground, but go to a kid's game for baseball, soccer, lacrosse, concerts," the CEO said. "It's a lifestyle piece."
Palo Alto Networks CEO on federal business
Palo Alto Networks Chairman and CEO Mark McLaughlin told Cramer on Tuesday that worries about federal government spending on cybersecurity, his company's chief business, are finally abiding.
"The federal sector's been a really good customer base for us, not surprisingly given their mission and how we can help them fulfill that mission," McLaughlin said. "We have seen in the fed space, for a while, some anxiety because there's been a lot of open seats in the administration, so spending decisions have been taking a while, but we've seen a return to normalcy there, which is great for us and all the other companies."
As cybersecurity concerns grow louder amid many industries' migrations to digital platforms, McLaughlin also shared some advice for those plagued with ransomware, or cyber-attacks demanding ransom in exchange for data held hostage.
"It depends on who you are. If it's you, Jim Cramer, you probably need to pay them, unfortunately," the CEO said. "For companies, ... first thing is, let's try to make sure that doesn't happen again by taking a very strong prevention methodology. Secondly, have a backup plan for all your data, so make sure that your data doesn't just exist on one device. Put it in the cloud, back it up, because that's ultimately what the economic trade-off is, is access back to the data."
Lightning Round: Don't toil with oil
In Cramer's lightning round, he flew through his take on some callers' favorite stocks:
California Resources Corp.: "No, that is way too risky. That's a spin-off of Occident[al Petroleum]. I really don't want you to be in that one at all. I think it's up a lot and you can take advantage of it and blow out of it."
Southwestern Energy Co.: "Southwestern's just not a high-quality company anymore. They spent too much money. I don't really care for the natural gas companies. I'm going to say no to Southwest. Maybe you get a point, but that's not my style."
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