Oil prices may have slid from their near-$70 highs after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, but CNBC's Jim Cramer found an under-the-radar beneficiary of higher crude costs.
General Electric, the ailing industrial giant, could see its Baker Hughes oil business get a boost from crude at $69, the "Mad Money" host said.
"Look, I understand the bear thesis," Cramer said. "But the bears need to wrap their heads around the fact that GE made a big bet on oil right near the top, and while that was certainly a bad decision, it looks a whole lot less terrible as the price of crude makes a comeback."
And with a new CEO, John Flannery, at the helm engineering a turnaround at the conglomerate, Cramer said the rise in oil prices could pay off even better than most investors expect.
"Geopolitics is now giving Flannery a huge break. If he takes it, I think GE will not have to cut its dividend again and not have to guide down, and the stock may have bottomed," Cramer said on Tuesday. "If he doesn't? Frankly, that's inconceivable to me, but then again, inconceivable was the province of Flannery's predecessor, not Flannery himself."
Newfound market stupidity?
The stock market's reaction to news that President Donald Trump would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal showed just how irrational this market is, Cramer said Tuesday.
"There are some markets where it pays to be smart, to really think things through," he said. "This market is not one of them. This is a straightforward market that's as dumb as a bag of hammers, and if you want to beat the averages here, the trick is you can't overthink anything."
On Tuesday morning, investors bought shares of defense stocks in anticipation of the announcement, which many figured would heighten volatility in the Middle East — a boon for U.S.-based defense contractors.
But Cramer argued that those investments were simply too obvious. Defense stocks had already been rallying for most of 2018 on tensions between North and South Korea coupled with worries about the Middle East, he noted.
But with North Korea intent on denuclearization, which would indicate progress in peace talks and thus negatively affect defense stocks, Cramer wasn't so sure Tuesday's buyers were making a smart move.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals CEO talks earnings
As shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals rallied nearly 9 percent after the company's earnings report, Chairman and CEO Joseph Papa joined Cramer to explain the move.
In a "Mad Money" interview, Papa said Valeant's Salix unit, which makes gastrointestinal treatments, and its Bausch & Lomb arm, which makes optical products, were the company's "growth drivers."
Together, the two account for 76 percent of Valeant's business. And while the company reported a first-quarter loss, Salix and Bausch & Lomb, combined, grew by 10 percent.
It was the first time since 2015 that Valeant delivered organic growth, Papa told Cramer.
Off the charts: Caterpillar, Boeing and United Technologies
This earnings season has been peppered with stock declines that Cramer chalks up to small blips in companies' reports that make investors feel like they've lost momentum.
"That's why Caterpillar got clobbered — [management] described the past quarter as the high-water mark, even as the company raised its full-year earnings guidance by a couple of bucks," the "Mad Money" host said on Tuesday.
"Boeing did great but it got hit with a correction, too," Cramer continued. "Or how about United Technologies? In many ways, this was the best one, but the stock rolled over."
In each case, investors and analysts panicked that the industrial giants had delivered their "last good quarter[s]," Cramer said.
So, to see if the pullbacks in shares of Caterpillar, Boeing and United Technologies were justified, Cramer called on technician Bob Lang, the founder of ExplosiveOptions.net and one of the brains behind TheStreet.com's Trifecta Stocks newsletter.
Broadridge Financial Solutions CEO on proxy battles
Broadridge Financial Solutions CEO Richard Daly also joined Cramer to discuss how his under-the-radar fintech company has seen its stock run 320 percent over the last five years.
"First of all, we're in a great space. We're a trusted – emphasis on trust – trusted fintech leader," Daly told Cramer. "We do a little over $4 billion in revenue right now. The market, the addressable market, today is $40 billion, so the best is yet to come."
Daly's company is made up of a governance communications business and a capital markets solutions business. The capital markets solutions processes an astounding six trillion trades a day.
Broadridge is also involved in a number of high-profile proxy fights, offering its technology services to help streamline the processes.
"The first message I have to your listeners is they matter. They decided the outcome in P&G. They decided the outcome in DuPont," Daly said, referencing several recent proxy battles. "Retail investors make up one-third of the ownership of the ... North American markets. One-third. That matters. They're only voting at about 30 percent, slightly less. Their voice needs to be heard."
Lightning round: Is MZOR losing steam?
In Cramer's lightning round, he flew through his take on callers' favorite stocks:
Mazor Robotics: "I now feel like we're going to overstay our welcome if I stay on that one, so I'm going to say Intuitive Surgical is the one I want to be in."
The AES Corporation: "I was looking at the charts this weekend and I said, 'Holy cow, that kind of bizarre agglomeration of power plants and stuff is doing well.' I say you buy it."
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