Mad Money 01/05/26 | Audio Only
Speakers
Jim Cramer
— Host, Mad Money
Summary
Jim Cramer opens 2026 with a Mad Money game plan focused on owning high-quality stocks at reasonable valuations rather than chasing news-driven trades. He argues the Venezuela oil-related rally is already over for late buyers, while bank, drug, and select tech/hardware names remain attractive. Cramer reviews 2025's best and worst S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 performers, then uses technical work to back a Costco buy and takes listener questions in the lightning round.
- Cramer says 2026 should be about buying quality companies at discounts, not trading headlines.
- He warns most Venezuela oil-complex gains are already made and late buyers risk losses.
- He favors cheap banks like Goldman, Citi, and Capital One, plus J&J over Lilly.
- He reviews 2025 winners: memory/storage, Robinhood, Palantir, AppLovin, Intel, KLA/Lam.
- He reviews 2025 losers: Trade Desk, Fiserv, Alexandria, Gartner, Charter, Atlassian, Copart.
- He says avoid Strategy for Bitcoin exposure and buy Bitcoin directly.
- He backs Costco using Larry Williams's cycle and valuation work.
- Lightning round: positive on Apple and Dentsply, cautious on Nokia.
Ideas
Oil complex rally already over.
Cramer thinks most of the gains in the oil complex from Venezuela turmoil are already made. The related stocks opened too high, Venezuela's oil infrastructure would take years and money to rebuild, oil prices are falling, and late buyers risk losses; only refiners and Chevron are possible exceptions, but even those are uncertain.
Bank stocks cheap; buy dips.
Cramer says bank stocks remain outrageously cheap versus the rest of the market, and if they fall investors can buy more. The new FTC's friendlier stance on mergers and expected rate cuts should support a multi-year M&A and capital-markets cycle, with specific cheap names including JPMorgan and Citigroup.
Goldman cheap; M&A boom benefits.
Goldman Sachs should benefit from Cramer's expected 2026 boom in mergers, acquisitions, and gigantic equity offerings/IPOs. It trades at just 17x earnings, below the average S&P 500 stock, despite being a much better business and a huge M&A/issuance player, and the stock opened almost unchanged so it still has room to run.
Citigroup cheap; resurrection continues.
Citigroup is up huge over the past year but still sells for only 12x forward earnings. Cramer thinks it will exceed estimates and continue its resurrection, and the stock's modest opening gave buyers a decent entry for a multi-year move.
Capital One cheap; Discover synergies.
Capital One acquired Discover to become a credit-card heavyweight, trades at just 12x earnings, and is the cheapest bank Cramer cites. It should benefit if rate cuts come, can extend its business through the Discover network, and is buying back a lot of stock, so it is not too late to buy.
J&J spin-off lifts valuation.
Drug stocks were on sale, and Cramer prefers Johnson & Johnson over Eli Lilly, which has already moved a lot. JNJ's planned spin-off of its slower-growth orthopedic business DePuy Synthes should immediately raise its valuation, similar to the Kenvue spin-off, making the selloff a terrific entry point.
Still likes Eli Lilly.
Cramer says he still likes Eli Lilly, although it has already moved a great deal; he simply prefers Johnson & Johnson as the better drug-stock opportunity on that day's selloff.
ServiceNow too expensive; software pressured.
Cramer says ServiceNow is one of the better software companies, but software is being disrupted by hardware and AI, and the stock still trades at 42x earnings, a little too high for him. He was surprised it did not bounce back.
Affirm headed to $100.
After a caller described Affirm's strong merchant growth, underwriting, 40 million U.S. users, and U.K. expansion, Cramer said to buy more and predicted the stock can reach $100 par, calling CEO Max Levchin a genius.
Memory stocks can keep running.
SanDisk, Western Digital, Micron, and Seagate are top performers because data centers have insatiable demand for memory chips and hard drives needed for AI models. Cramer says the industry has historically been boom/bust, but capacity discipline and Micron's history of multi-year rallies mean these memory stocks can keep running; he advises holders to take a little off the table.
Robinhood long-term generational wealth story.
Cramer likes Robinhood as a long-term story because a generation is learning to invest on it and will inherit more than $100 trillion from baby boomers over the coming decades. Short term, it may keep trading with crypto and speculative assets.
$34 bid could win WBD.
Warner Bros Discovery is in a bidding war after Netflix's $83 billion preempt and a higher but caveated Paramount Skydance offer. Cramer thinks if someone comes in with a $34 bid, they get the company, making it a deal-driven situation to watch.
Prefer Agnico in gold miners.
Cramer prefers Agnico Eagle Mines over Newmont in the gold-miner space, saying you can't really go wrong there after gold's terrific year and Agnico's strong performance.
Semicap benefits from memory demand.
Lam Research and KLA should keep benefiting from data centers' voracious memory-chip demand because there is not enough production capacity and memory companies must keep ordering equipment. Cramer likes Lam Research and expects KLA to keep racking up big orders in this cycle.
Trade Desk disrupted by AI.
Trade Desk was the S&P 500's worst performer, down 68%, because advertising has been turned upside down by AI, competition from deep-pocketed Amazon is rising, and its own AI rollout was bad. Cramer says it still needs to figure out where it fits.
Fiserv quagmire; avoid.
Fiserv was down 67% after a disastrous quarter, slashed full-year forecast, and management shakeup. New CEO Mike Lyons blamed previous management for prioritizing short-term targets over long-term investments, and Cramer calls it a quagmire and says no thank you.
Alexandria high yield signals trouble.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities focuses on life-sciences office/lab space and has been hurt by muted tenant demand and a weak biotech IPO market. It cut its dividend 45%, and Cramer warns its high yield was a sign of real problems, not opportunity.
Deckers pain mostly baked in.
Deckers fell 49% on tariff worries and a Hoka slowdown, and a Nike turnaround would be bad news for the sneaker competitor. However, Cramer thinks most of the pain is baked in at about 16x earnings, though he feels very alone on the call.
Gartner disintermediated by AI.
Gartner was down almost 48% because AI makes it easier for businesses to access the kind of technology research it sells, reducing the need for a research middleman. Cramer does not feel compelled to stick his neck out on it.
Insmed worth watching after pullback.
Insmed, a rare-disease biopharma, got FDA approval for a non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis drug that appears to be a powerful anti-inflammatory, and orphan-drug protection is valuable. The stock pulled back on a disappointing chronic sinusitis trial, but Cramer says it is worth keeping an eye on.
Palantir high growth; stay long.
Palantir trades at an extremely high 175x earnings, but Cramer says the bulls do not care because it is one of the fastest-growing large-cap stocks he has seen. It may need a fresh earnings catalyst, but he is a big believer and sees no reason to back away.
AppLovin dominates; growth accelerates.
AppLovin is expensive at 43x earnings, but Cramer is more comfortable recommending it because the business is not speculative: it dominates mobile advertising, has no competitor he can name, revenue tripled in four years, EPS is expected to more than double, and growth may accelerate.
Intel turnaround underway; confident.
Intel is showing signs of life under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan after years of underperformance. Trump administration and Nvidia investments helped clean up the balance sheet, and while the turnaround will take time, Cramer is confident it is headed in the right direction.
Buy Bitcoin, avoid Strategy.
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is now essentially a leveraged bet on Bitcoin. Cramer says the leverage worked when Bitcoin rose but not during its pullback, and investors who want Bitcoin exposure should avoid Strategy and buy Bitcoin directly instead.
Buy Bitcoin, avoid Strategy.
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is now essentially a leveraged bet on Bitcoin. Cramer says the leverage worked when Bitcoin rose but not during its pullback, and investors who want Bitcoin exposure should avoid Strategy and buy Bitcoin directly instead.
Charter secularly challenged cable.
Charter, known as Spectrum, is a secularly challenged cable business that has been sinking for three years and fell 39% last year. Cramer says it is tough to be a cable company these days.
Avoid Atlassian; prefer Salesforce.
Atlassian is a proxy for enterprise software, a sector shaken up by AI because AI writes code well, making companies more willing to develop software in-house, while per-user software models face pressure if AI makes users more efficient. Atlassian is in the crosshairs; if betting on enterprise software, Cramer says go to Salesforce instead.
Avoid Atlassian; prefer Salesforce.
Atlassian is a proxy for enterprise software, a sector shaken up by AI because AI writes code well, making companies more willing to develop software in-house, while per-user software models face pressure if AI makes users more efficient. Atlassian is in the crosshairs; if betting on enterprise software, Cramer says go to Salesforce instead.
Copart losing share; no bargain.
Copart fell about 32% because it is losing market share in salvaged-vehicle processing. With the stock trading over 23x earnings, Cramer says it is no bargain and it is too soon to stick your neck out.
PayPal cheap; watch 2026.
PayPal's classic payment offerings are commoditized and it has been late to buy-now-pay-later and stablecoins, but it keeps growing and is very cheap at 10x earnings. Cramer says maybe 2026 is the year it becomes too cheap to ignore, though he is flabbergasted by its poor stock action under two CEOs.
Snowflake is a buy.
Cramer thought Snowflake's quarter was not bad and was surprised by the negative reaction. It is highly valued, but he calls CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy terrific and says the stock is quite frankly a buy.
Costco buy signal from Williams.
Although Costco tested Cramer's resolve with a 20% drop, CFO retirement, and slightly below-plan membership renewals, Larry Williams says the stock is undervalued, under professional accumulation, and in a cycle that has rallied 85% of the time; he forecasts rallies into late February and June. Cramer is taking that bet because Williams' track record is that good and Costco remains the greatest retail club.
Space and national security speculation.
Cramer calls this a very good speculation because it sits in two of his favorite themes, space and national security.
Nokia faces tough competition.
Cramer says Nokia is tough because it is up against Apple and many other great companies.
Buy Apple on weakness.
With Apple down sharply, Cramer says this is a pretty good level to buy some. He would buy a little Apple now and buy more if it comes down further.
Dentsply cheap; buy and hold.
Dentsply Sirona used to be an expensive growth company but is now worth very little, and Cramer thinks it represents value. He suggests buying some and putting it away.
Nvidia buy; bears wrong.
Cramer says the bears keep telling lies about Nvidia, and investors who sold may regret it and want to buy. He cites Nvidia as a key reason CNBC Investing Club created so many millionaires last year.
Up Next
This CNBC video, published January 06, 2026, features Jim Cramer discussing USO, BANK, JPM, GS, C, COF, JNJ, LLY, NOW, AFRM, SNDK, WDC, MU, STX, HOOD, WBD, AEM, LRCX, KLAC, TTD, FISV, ARE, DECK, IT, INSM, PLTR, APP, INTC, STRATEGY, BTC, CHTR, TEAM, CRM, CPRT, PYPL, SNOW, COST, Voyager Technologies, NOK, AAPL, XRAY, NVDA. 37 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Jim Cramer · Tickers: USO, BANK, JPM, GS, C, COF, JNJ, LLY, NOW, AFRM, SNDK, WDC, MU, STX, HOOD, WBD, AEM, LRCX, KLAC, TTD, FISV, ARE, DECK, IT, INSM, PLTR, APP, INTC, STRATEGY, BTC, CHTR, TEAM, CRM, CPRT, PYPL, SNOW, COST, Voyager Technologies, NOK, AAPL, XRAY, NVDA