Club meeting recap: Jim Cramer says Wells Fargo is a buy following a first-quarter earnings beat

Published Fri, Apr 14 202311:41 AM EDT

Christopher Alessi @/in/christopher-alessi-78b9b09/@ChrisAAlessi

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Friday's key moments. Equities fall Buy Wells Fargo Watch Estee Lauder 1. Equities fall on profit taking Stocks edged lower in midmorning trading Friday but remained on track for weekly gains after a stellar rally Thursday. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 0.47% and 0.77%, respectively. Jim Cramer called Friday's declines "classic profit taking after a real day yesterday." Meanwhile, first-quarter earnings season kicked off, with a slate of big banks reporting solid results that sent most financial stocks higher. That pushed up Treasury yields, as investors questioned whether strong bank results could give the Federal Reserve cover to keep raising interest rates. Oil prices rose slightly, with West Texas Intermediate crude hovering around $82 a barrel. 2. Buy Wells Fargo Club holding Wells Fargo (WFC) on Friday delivered a beat on first-quarter revenue and earnings, while reiterating its full-year guidance for net interest income and expenses. The stock initially rose more than 2% Friday morning before giving up most of those gains. But "when you see a stock is down it does not mean it's bad," Jim cautioned. "This is a very good number and you're getting an opportunity to buy," he said of Wells Fargo's current share price. Shares edged up around 0.18% midmorning, to roughly $39.70 apiece. Stay tuned for a full Wells Fargo earnings analysis from the Club later Friday. 3. Watch Estee Lauder French luxury goods maker LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton's stellar first-quarter results this week were bolstered by Chinese shoppers – and that bodes well for Club holding Estee Lauder (EL). The prestige cosmetics firm does roughly a third of its sales in China and has been poised for a rebound since Beijing lifted its zero-Covid policy late last year. Fresh data Friday bears that out, with China's cosmetics imports having grown in March for the first time in over a year, according to Wells Fargo. "With our data tracking in China improving, and following constructive results from LVMH, we think it's reasonable to assume a turn in China is underway," Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a note. Shares of Estee Lauder were trading up 1.65% Friday morning, at $255.66 apiece. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long WFC, EL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.