Mad Money 01/06/26 | Audio Only
Speakers
Jim Cramer
— Host, Mad Money
John Holmes
— Chairman, President and CEO, AAR Corp.
Summary
Jim Cramer opened 2026 by reviewing early-year market momentum, the storage/memory shortage, bank strength, turnaround and mistaken-identity stocks, and the Magnificent Seven. He favored Alphabet, Nvidia, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nike, Starbucks, and several aftermarket or industrial names, while warning investors to trim overextended storage winners. The episode also included calls on energy, restaurants, Oracle, Taiwan Semiconductor, Teradyne, Fifth Third, SI Bone, and Home Depot, plus an interview with AAR Corp CEO John Holmes. Cramer closed by arguing packaged-food companies need breakups or M&A to unlock value.
- Cramer says early-year trading is emotional, with momentum, turnaround, and mistaken-identity cohorts.
- AI data growth has created a storage/memory shortage, but he advises ringing the register on part of storage winners.
- Banks are rallying on deregulation and M&A/equity issuance, and he sees room for multiple expansion.
- He reviews the Magnificent Seven, favoring Alphabet and Nvidia and owning six of seven for the trust.
- AAR CEO John Holmes describes strong aviation aftermarket demand, Tracks software growth, and balanced defense exposure.
- Lightning-round calls include ONEOK and Enterprise over Cheniere, Texas Roadhouse over Sweetgreen, FITB, SI Bone, Teradyne, and Home Depot over Fortune Brands.
- Cramer says packaged-food companies must break up or sell parts to escape RFK Jr. and GLP-1 pressure.
Ideas
Banks have room to re-rate.
Banks are rallying with help from loosening regulation and a pickup in M&A and equity issuance. Financials were punished for nearly two decades after the Great Recession, so their P/E multiples had collapsed; now those multiples are expanding and still have room before banks become fully valued. He highlights Goldman Sachs, Capital One, and Citigroup.
Nike insider buying signals turnaround.
Nike has been crushed by poor performance of previous CEOs, but Cramer sees green shoots and believes the recent strength reflects a real rebound. Three insider buyers, including the CEO, a board member who formerly ran Intel, and Tim Cook, signal the business is turning, and insiders buy only when they expect the stock to go higher.
Starbucks turnaround year under Niccol.
Cramer thinks 2026 is the year Starbucks comes back. CEO Brian Niccol has found a company more broken than expected but is closing poorly performing stores, fixing execution issues, and already improving throughput; Cramer says everything is changing for the better.
Honeywell breakup drives industrial rebound.
Underperforming industrial stocks without data-center or AI exposure were uninvestable in 2025, but Cramer is seeing rebounds. Honeywell, a conglomerate currently undergoing a breakup, has been a hapless performer, but he has a positive attitude for the charitable trust and hopes it gets the breakup right.
Amazon was mistaken, playing catch-up.
Amazon is a mistaken-identity stock: it lagged the market even though AWS is reaccelerating, retail is strong, and advertising is exceptional. Cramer found nothing wrong in the last quarter beyond misplaced fears about weak retail sales, so he expects Amazon to keep catching up and prefers mistaken-identity names for 2026.
Storage rally overextended; ring register.
AI-driven data growth has created a severe storage/memory shortage, with Western Digital, Seagate, SanDisk, and Micron unable to meet demand and short sellers forced to cover. But the move has become emotional momentum, capital equipment will eventually catch up, and Cramer says investors should not be greedy and should ring the register on part of positions, particularly in storage.
Prefer ONEOK, Enterprise over Cheniere.
Cheniere Energy is not his favorite right now; he prefers higher-yielding midstream names with better growth. He specifically says ONEOK is better and he really likes Enterprise Products Partners here because they offer more growth and better yield.
Prefer ONEOK, Enterprise over Cheniere.
Cheniere Energy is not his favorite right now; he prefers higher-yielding midstream names with better growth. He specifically says ONEOK is better and he really likes Enterprise Products Partners here because they offer more growth and better yield.
Sweetgreen needs profits or falls.
Sweetgreen has decent revenue growth but cannot turn it into profit. If the company does not start making money, Cramer thinks the stock will go even lower.
Texas Roadhouse could reach $200.
Although restaurants are a hard group, Cramer likes Texas Roadhouse, which has been coming back big. If cattle costs break lower, the stock could go to $200 from around $177, and he likes it much more than Sweetgreen.
Alphabet keeps winning on Gemini.
Alphabet's antitrust fears proved overblown: it can keep paying Apple for default search, did not have to sell Chrome, and Gemini 3 is recognized as a leading AI platform. Search cannibalization worries were wrong, TPU chips with Broadcom, YouTube, Waymo, quantum, and Google Cloud add optionality, and the stock is reasonable at 28x earnings. Cramer bought it back for the trust, intends to make it a big position, and expects it to keep climbing in 2026.
Broadcom pullback is a buy.
Broadcom co-developed Google's in-house TPU chips, and other companies now want to buy those chips. The stock is down big after an excellent quarter, and Cramer thinks it should be bought right here.
Nvidia cheap; own, don't trade.
Nvidia remains underappreciated despite being the largest company. It is at the center of the AI ecosystem with the best chips and a software moat, all four 2025 earnings reports were excellent, and Jensen Huang's CES keynote said demand is extraordinarily high and next-generation Vera Rubin chips are ahead of schedule. Physical AI, robots, and self-driving add optionality, and at less than 25x earnings with nearly 40% growth it is cheap. Own it, do not trade it.
Microsoft Azure acceleration could lift stock.
Microsoft is a long-standing CNBC Investing Club holding and Cramer remains a believer. Azure guidance came in light, possibly on supply constraints, and the capex-growth reversal was a negative, but OpenAI payment worries are easing because Microsoft owns 27% of the for-profit business and OpenAI has committed $250 billion to Azure. If Azure growth can approach 39-40% rather than 35%, the stock could roar.
Meta ad dominance offsets AI spending.
Meta sold off on a higher capex forecast and lacks a clear AI platform or cloud business, but it remains dominant in digital advertising with a massive Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp user base. Cramer has confidence in Zuckerberg, thinks power-gating will keep spending constrained, and still owns it as a big position for the trust; he expects it to be positive for shareholders.
Tesla is robotaxi/humanoid robot bet.
Tesla remains an enigma: the core EV business is awful, with sales down two straight years and earnings down about 60% from peak, but investors are focused on future robotaxi and humanoid robot opportunities. Musk needs to show progress on both fronts to keep shareholders happy, while stabilizing autos would help.
Apple strong cycle, own don't trade.
Apple is an own-it, don't-trade-it stock. It addressed tariff concerns with a domestic investment agenda, posted strong quarters, and the iPhone 17 launch was a huge hit despite Wall Street doubts. Cramer thinks the strong iPhone cycle can continue and that Apple could sign a multibillion-dollar AI default deal, so the premium multiple is deserved.
Oracle buy if it dips.
Cramer is taking Oracle's debt and OpenAI payment concerns off the table, but he is not sure enough about the business model to buy now. At 26x earnings, if the stock gets down a little bit more, he would tell investors to buy it.
Aerospace aftermarket demand remains strong.
Aerospace has become one of the hottest themes in the market. Because Boeing and Airbus cannot make new planes fast enough, airlines must spend heavily to maintain existing fleets, which supports aftermarket parts and services demand.
AAR aftermarket demand and software grow.
AAR operates in the aviation aftermarket selling new and used parts, maintenance services, and Tracks software. Demand is strong because many aircraft are flying and require parts and maintenance; Tracks is the highest-margin business and has grown with Delta, Singapore Airlines, Cathay, Thai Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. Government sales rose 23%, and the commercial/government balance hedges cycles. Boeing and Airbus supply constraints should keep the current fleet flying longer, supporting decades of aftermarket demand.
Boeing liked and owned by Cramer.
Cramer says he likes Boeing and owns it for the charitable trust, though he notes it can be up and down, contrasting it with AAR's consistency.
Teradyne pullback would be bought.
The stock has captured too much enthusiasm after a huge run, but Teradyne is one hell of a company. Cramer would not step away from it, would buy on a pullback, and says he is still a buyer.
USA Rare Earth can't be blessed.
The caller noted its strategic focus on a domestic rare earth supply chain, but Cramer says it was one of the year-of-magical-investing stocks and that year has ended. He cannot bless it because it is losing too much money.
Fifth Third merger is buy.
Fifth Third's approved merger is a good combination that Cramer has wanted. He believes it will bring discipline to Comerica and says the stock is a buy.
SI Bone is a speculation.
Cramer calls SI Bone a great speculation and is glad the caller brought it to viewers' attention. He has been hearing the name repeatedly and plans to huddle with his research director to get to the bottom of it.
Home Depot better than Fortune Brands.
No matter how well run Fortune Brands is, it remains a housing play. Cramer prefers Home Depot as a better way to own housing, especially because Home Depot has historically risen ahead of Fed rate cuts.
Home Depot better than Fortune Brands.
No matter how well run Fortune Brands is, it remains a housing play. Cramer prefers Home Depot as a better way to own housing, especially because Home Depot has historically risen ahead of Fed rate cuts.
Packaged food needs breakups to recover.
Packaged-food companies like PepsiCo, General Mills, and J.M. Smucker have good market share, steady management, and dividend yields above 4%, but they are hurt by RFK Jr.'s anti-junk-food stance and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Cramer says the only way to change their trajectory is to break up and sell parts, and with a permissive antitrust environment private buyers may emerge.
Kraft Heinz split could unlock value.
Steve Cahillane, who created value by splitting Kellogg, became CEO of Kraft Heinz on January 1. The company is supposed to split into two in the second half; Cramer has doubts but says Cahillane is the right person to orchestrate it and may prove him wrong again.
Up Next
This CNBC video, published January 07, 2026, features Jim Cramer, John Holmes discussing GS, COF, C, NKE, SBUX, HON, AMZN, WDC, STX, SNDK, MU, OKE, EPD, CHENIERE, SG, TXRH, GOOG, AVGO, NVDA, MSFT, META, TSLA, AAPL, ORCL, Aerospace aftermarket, AIR, BA, TER, USA Rare Earth, FITB, SIBN, HD, FBIN, PEP, GIS, SJM, KHC. 29 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Jim Cramer, John Holmes · Tickers: GS, COF, C, NKE, SBUX, HON, AMZN, WDC, STX, SNDK, MU, OKE, EPD, CHENIERE, SG, TXRH, GOOG, AVGO, NVDA, MSFT, META, TSLA, AAPL, ORCL, Aerospace aftermarket, AIR, BA, TER, USA Rare Earth, FITB, SIBN, HD, FBIN, PEP, GIS, SJM, KHC