Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' high-profile run-in with the publisher of the National Enquirer over a series of salacious photos seems to have rattled investors, CNBC's Jim Cramer included.
"It's the last thing I want linger on," the "Mad Money" host said on Friday. "But I've got to say I was surprised that the CEO of Amazon landed himself in such an awkward situation. Look, it doesn't matter what Bezos does in his personal life. I do not care. But we own Amazon for the charitable trust, ... and while I still like the stock, this kind of episode makes me worry a little bit about the guy's judgment."
And while some Wall Streeters are still standing by Amazon, telling CNBC that Bezos' accusations against the National Enquirer shouldn't have long-term impact on the stock, Cramer didn't think the stock reflected that optimism on Friday.
The situation "must spook others, too, because the stock failed to rally like so many other tech names that did in the close. It's finished off $26 bucks," he said. "Trust me when I say that this stock would have moved up sharply if not for these startling revelations."
Cramer also took investors through his game plan for the week ahead, when he expects U.S.-China trade talks to color daily trading as earnings season winds down.
Click here to read the full game plan.
Wake up and listen to where Spotify is going: Cramer
Cramer said Wall Street has misread Spotify's latest earnings report and guidance, and that misunderstood stocks like these give investors an opportunity to make some money.
he called out stock analysts like Everscore ISI's Anthony DiClemente who have downgraded the equity over concerns about subscriber growth.
"I think this is lunacy," said Cramer, who has been bullish on the music streaming platform since it went public last April. "It's like the market just doesn't know how to read this company or its quarterly guidance. In my view, Spotify is very much on the right track."
The stock was rocked after a seemingly mixed quarterly earnings released Wednesday, Cramer said. After Spotify reported lower-than-expected sales, tight cash flow and conservative guidance across the board including subscriber growth, shares sold below $129 at one point in Thursday's session.
But Cramer noted that the company beat expectations on operating profit and gross margin, which was 120 basis points higher than was asked for.
"I think the sellers were missing a lot of context here and the context is something I like to talk about a lot and it's called UPOD. They under promise ... and then they over deliver," he argued. "At this point, CEO Daniel Ek and his team have established a track record of giving cautious guidance—under promise—and then beating it—over delivering."
Spotify's guidance includes planned investment costs and the company could "become the premier platform for podcasts," a hot market for hard-to-reach millennials, Cramer said.
Click here to read Cramer's full take.
What Wall Street's missing about the SunTrust-BB&T deal
The biggest banking deal since the financial crisis has more to do with technology than any traditional bank metric, Craner said of BB&T's pivotal $66 billion commitment to buy rival SunTrust Banks.
"To me, this BB&T merger of equals with SunTrust is about keeping up with the Joneses — in this case, keeping up with the Wells Fargos, the J.P. Morgans and especially the Bank of Americas," he told investors. "These financial titans can spend fortunes to build out terrific cloud-based customer relations platforms that have done a phenomenal job of adding new clients. On their own, neither SunTrust nor BB&T can really compete with the big boys when it comes to technology."
But the analysts covering BB&T don't seem to understand that, the "Mad Money" host said after listening to management's conference call about the deal.
On the call, they mostly asked about "the old nuts and bolts of banking" — topics like capital ratios, regulation, loan growth, the two banks' cultural fit — rather than focusing on what's next in banking technology, he said.
"I think technology — specifically, the need for customer relations management software — is a crucial part of what drove this deal," Cramer argued.
Click here to read his full take on why this merger's so important.
Columbia Sportswear on serving customers in the US and abroad
Cramer talked with Columbia Sportswear CEO Timothy Boyle and praised the company for a "great" quarter that they couldn't have seen coming.
"We spent a lot of time pinching ourselves for the last 90 days," Boyle said. "This has been terrific."
The outdoors apparel manufacturer had a number of areas in which it underperformed, but Columbia took the time to invest in those weak points to improve and reinvigorate the company, the CEO said.
Columbia Sportswear also sees itself as somewhat of an international ambassador for the United States in the wake of the recent government shutdown. Boyle said the company tries to use its voice in many ways that it can.
"Our business is about 40 percent outside the U.S. So not only the U.S. citizens enjoy our products, especially in national parks, but when we appear in stores around the world, people think of America," he said. "And what is more iconic about America than the national park systems and the fact that people can go outside?"
Click here to watch his full interview.
CNH Industrial CEO talks self-driving farms
As the country excitedly or reluctantly anticipates self-driving cars to hit public roads, the CEO of British machinery manufacturer CNH Industrial told Cramer that its already a reality on American farms.
"We started automating our machines years ago ... so we have completely self-driving farms right now," Hubertus Mühlhäuser said. "That's reality. That's today. That's here already."
While most CEOs have been concerned about global growth slowing down in the future, Mühlhäuser said there is opportunity the agriculture sector because farmers had a tough 2018. Farmers are still worried about trade relations between the U.S. and China, but he hopes it will be all over by the end of the year.
"They need equipment and we got replacement demand right now," Mühlhäuser said. "It's all driven by the digital revolution, which has arrived at farming right now ... [such as] precision ag [and] self-driving tractors."
Click here to watch his full interview.
Lightning round: Careful with USCR
In Cramer's lightning round, he sprinted through his takes on callers' stock questions:
U.S. Concrete Inc.: "[CEO] Bill Sandbrook is a good guy. We keep thinking there's going to be some infrastructure bill. I don't know. I watched that State of the Union address. Nobody seems to like anybody anymore anyway, so I don't know how it's going to get done. But I wouldn't sell it down here at $36 — too cheap. I bet you the real estate that they have their different trucks under is worth more than the current price of this stock, and I'm not kidding because I know some of their lots."
Constellation Brands Inc.: "Here's the problem, OK? You're buying Constellation, [which is] still primarily a beer company. Beer did not blow it out this year. Beer is a slowing category. This is the fastest grower in the slowing category, and one of the things we have learned on 'Mad Money' is if a category's slowing, nobody cares. They don't want it. Yes, they have their investment in Canopy [Growth]. Yes, it's a good way to play cannabis. But the beer category, as you will hear this week from Molson Coors, is not working."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Amazon.
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