Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 10/2/26

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1:19Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramer. I'm just trying to make a little bit of money here. My job. Some teaching, some entertaining. Call me at 1-800-743-CBC or tweet me at Jim Cramer. Today, the Bulls got a nice reprieve with this softer-than-expected labor report. Just 29 ,000 new jobs in September. Whenever the Federal Reserve's tightening, we actually have to root for weaker economic data because it can prevent or at least postpone an interest rate hike. At the same time, our government and the rest of the G7 agreed to release 100 million barrels of emergency oil and diesel from the strategic reserves over the next four months.

1:56That led to a slight dip in oil, which made it possible for the stock market to rally. Dow gaining 250 points, S &P advancing 0.73%, NASDAQ jumping 1.19%. Although the market was much stronger earlier in the day when interest rates dropped dramatically off the weak employment data. They subsequently reversed and rates edged higher, blunting the rally. All right, with that in mind, what do we have for next week? Let's take a look at the gain plan. All right. First of all, when we come in on Monday, what are we always being looking at? We're looking to see about oil and a reset, perhaps, because of the European Union releases of both diesel and oil.

2:35The world's short diesel. It's really a very difficult situation for truckers. We need oil in the 80s to see a change in psychology here. Until then, rallies like the one earlier this morning are going to be met by selling. Keep that in mind. Tuesday starts with a 9.05 speech by John Williams, the head of the New York Fed, who will no doubt comment about the slowing growth and cooling wage inflation that we just got from this morning's number. This past Tuesday, Williams staunched a lot of stock and bond bleeding when he said that there was, quote, no need for urgency when it comes to the next rate hike.

3:05I'd like him to repeat that, but I'm a bull. Remember, rate hikes are the bane of the shareholders' existence, at least short term. So his comments ignited a brief rally. Will he do it again after the weaker than expected non-farm labor report? Wouldn't surprise me, as we've seen a dramatic drop in the percentage of investors who are now expecting a near-term rate hike. What else? Tuesday may be one of the most consequential days for semiconductors. Why? Because Matt Murphy, CEO of the red-hot Marvell Technology, holds an analyst meeting. These can be electric. I expect Murphy to lay out a long-term game plan while showing how integral his company has become to the great data center build-out.

3:43He has created a genuine powerhouse here at Marvell. And he's now, even though he's a young person, he's an elder statesman in the industry. I bet his presentation will be very strong with big reverberations throughout the hyperscaler world. After the closed Tuesday, we get results from Constellation Brands. Now, this is a totally different situation. STZ is the beer, wine, and liquor company, best known for Corona and Modela. But I have to stress that this group has been nothing short of horrendous. We're watching an amazing thing occur in this country. It's not talked about enough. a genuine contraction in certain liquors and steep slowdown in beer sales.

4:16Even Constellation is popular in Mexican imports. This stock is now down 19 % for the year. Worse, two years ago it was at$255, and now it's just under$113. What's behind the decline? GOP just won. Weight loss drugs are part of the equation, but so are the habits of the younger generation, who simply haven't been converted into heavy beer drinkers like their parents. I think it's a belief that any kind of alcohol is just bad for your health. I'm an everything in moderation kind of guy, but my generation simply drinks more than the younger folk. And you know what it is? I think that alcohol is truly aging out in this country.

4:53Wednesday night, we hear from Levi Strauss, a terrific denim company. The stock has fallen from$25 in July to less than$20 today. This decline is typical of what happens in this particular tough market. Because of higher gasoline and higher interest rates, people expect a big slowdown in discretionary spending. They're not going to buy any more jeans. I have no real answer for this kind of situation other than to say that Levi's has to continually, endlessly execute with a high bar. Speaking of burdens, on Thursday morning, we have one of the most problematic earnings reports imaginable, that of PepsiCo.

5:27For years, this company was running circles around our tribal Coca-Cola, thanks to the strength of its snack food business, not its soft drink. This year, things are upside down. Coca-Cola's stock is up 22.5%, leading the packaged food industry, while PepsiCo's stock is down 12%. What explains the disparity? Simple. Live by junk food, die by junk food. PepsiCo crushed Coca-Cola back in the days when Frito-Lay's snacks business was much stronger than carbonated water or soda. But now, Frito-Lay is uniquely in the crosshairs of the GOP Desk Ones and the health-conscious younger consumers. Now, of course, PepsiCo supports a 4.7 % yield, which is terrific.

6:04But when the 10-year Treasury yields 5.28%, you know that risk-free bond competition looks a lot better by comparison. I want so badly to say to you that this could be the quarter when PepsiCo turns things around, but even if I believe that, all you get is a short-term bounce, so the risk-reward is just simply not compelling. Is that too harsh? I don't think so. Campbell's recently had to cut its dividend. General Mills and ConAgra missed their quarters. And yesterday, we got a really problematic quarter from former growth gold standard McCormick, the spice company. I can't recommend something if it comes from a packaged food milieu and it's just going to bounce.

6:38I'm not we're not traitors on this show. Friday, we get numbers from one of the best run airlines, Delta. The CEO, Ed Bastian, has been in the news because he chose Amazon's in-flight Wi-Fi over Starlink. Elon Musk, who runs Starlink through SpaceX, has said that Bastian could end up losing his job for picking Amazon over Starlink. I wouldn't go that far. But I do know the Kramer-Face SpaceX has broken out to the upside. CNBC Investing Club members know that I really like SpaceX, even if I think it's maybe too speculative for the trust. It does have a huge amount of compute through its agglomeration of NVIDIA chips.

7:14Buy, buy, buy! And, by the way, it finally broke out, hit its all-time high, but then it came back, so the chart is probably going to hate it again. But anyway, NVIDIA could bring in lots of profits, given that there's a real shortage of computing power. So if you bought their chips, like Musk did, He's making a ton of money with SpaceX by leasing them out, by basically selling the compute power. Also on Friday, we have the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment. Now, I usually don't care about this one, but, you know, we're getting closer and closer to the election. Obviously, people have turned really negative about the economy because inflation doesn't bode well for the incumbent party.

7:50In fact, midterms are almost always bad news for the party in power. Then again, we're told that the market produces the best returns when there's gridlock in Washington. I say stay tuned. Bottom line. We're headed for a quiet week. Don't get used to it. We're on the verge of the earnings deluge, and this time I don't think we'll be getting the kind of strong numbers that we've become a cluss into. Thanks to rising rates from the Federal Reserve, it's determined to bring down inflation. We've got a much more difficult backdrop coming up for earnings season. I'm not saying it's impossible to make money on stocks in this environment, but it's certainly a lot harder than it used to be.

8:20How about we go to Roger in Florida to start. Roger. Hi, Jim. How are you doing? Love your show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you. Would like your opinion on applied materials, please, for the next 12 months or so. I'm very much in the money. I just want to know, should I hang on, take my profits or, you know. It's Gary Dickerson. The earnings look like the P.E. looks like it's expensive. That's because it's probably going to blow away the earnings. I want you to stay with applied materials. By the way, Micron was up big at one point today. You need, in order to be able to try to get out of the shortage situation that we're in, you need a lot of applied materials, machines at a place like Micron or anybody else, too.

9:06I want to go to Michael in West Virginia. Michael. Yes, Jim. I'm a first-time caller, but I remember seeing you on Kudlow and Kramer, then your first Mad Money show years ago. Well, I thought about that today. I saw Carl Banks. He was on that program. But go ahead. What's up? Okay. I've got a very small position that I've held for a long time. I've got 149 % gain in it. I've held it for so long. But it's pulled back, and I never did get to add shares to it. I'm thinking about adding shares to my Simon Property Group position. I would like to know your five. I think you're absolutely right, Roger.

9:40I want you to add to the Simon Property Group. You know, I was in Italy, and I went to this incredible outlet mall, and I said, this place is like the greatest place. I can't believe my wife and I were shopping there. It was a Simon Property outlet. I know that the late David Simon told me one day I should visit it. There it was. What a great man he was. And he built a fabulous company. And you should buy more of it. Let's go to Ann in Indiana. Ann. Hey, Jim. I'm a club member. So thanks for your help as we enter this rate tightening cycle. Thank you. Just kind of looking at my financial. Yeah, thanks.

10:11Just looking at my financial stocks. I just started adding to my Goldman Sachs position a little bit. What do you think? I think that's the right idea. It sells now at 13 times earnings. The premier franchise in the industry at only 13 times earnings. That's wrong. A lot of the charts look the same. People think that all these stocks are rolling over. You have to pick up these stocks on the way down. No one knows exactly where to go to bottom. I think you're doing the right thing. All right, look, next week is quiet, and it means you have to pay more attention and do your homework. You want to make some money, and this market's going to get much tougher.

10:40Now, on ManBunny today, how is SLB leveraging its energy knowledge to help with the data center build out? Who knew they were involved? Don't miss my sit-down with the company's top brands. Then you called in about an ag name that's in the midst of a breakup. I'm looking at the wheat being separated from the chaff and giving you my take, and it's pretty exciting. Of course, there's also a sentiment around AI and data centers shifting daily. How I'm getting a read on what America's really feeling about the AI movement, the consumer data firm 100x. So stay with Kramer.

11:17Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow at Jim Cramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Cramer. Hashtag Mad Mentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneyatcnbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC. Miss something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com. This message comes from Wise Business, the only account your business needs to scale globally. You're building a business with global ambitions, but hidden fees are eating into your margins. With Wise Business, you can pay overseas suppliers without exchange rate markups. Have customers worldwide get payment details in 22 currencies so you get more of each hard-earned payment without hidden conversion fees.

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13:15It's not just traditional tech that benefits from the AI data center boom. All sorts of classic cyclicals have worked their way into the food chain, like Caterpillar, Cummins for power generators, port for battery storage. But it goes beyond the industrials. Take SLB, the oil field services colossus formerly known as Schlumberger. A couple of years ago, they started making modular infrastructure solutions for the data center. I guess if you can build oil wells in the middle of nowhere, it's not that much of a stretch to help put up these warehouses full of servers. This business has been growing pretty fast and it's about to get bigger because last month, SLB announced a$4 billion acquisition.

13:48They're buying Kelvion. That's a heat management company. Don't worry, we'll explain that. It keeps data centers cool. Consider me intrigued. So let's take a closer look with Amy Chua. She's the Senior Vice President of Data Centers for SLB to learn more. Ms. Chua, welcome to Mad Money. Hello, James. How are you? Thank you for having me. Of course. I'm so glad you're on the show. First of all, maybe you can give us a little background of SLB's data center business. By the way, the fact that you started out with modular infrastructure, so people understand how you got into this at all. Sure. So this business is fairly new for us.

14:23We started in 2024. That's when we had our first delivery. And honestly, it wasn't that big of a shift. There was a lot of adjacency in terms of our capabilities, right? You know, we celebrated 100 years of innovation in our oil and gas space. But along with that, we also have a tremendous amount of capabilities around manufacturing, around supply chain. Design is a really big one, being able to take what we do for our customers in our core markets, you know, going into complex environments and helping to solve complex problems. We were able to take all that capability using our engineers, using our platform, and then really leaning in and supporting the data center bills.

15:11Okay, so Amy, you did just make an acquisition, this Kelvion, we mentioned this. This would make it so by 2028, I mean, you're a$37 billion revenue company, so by 2028, it could actually make it so that you could move the needle of your big company with this? yeah we believe so you know we've we are gaining a quite a lot of traction with our customers they like uh and i would like to share a story with you i think you know uh it's amazing i was with a hyperscale client just a couple of months ago and he told me that he doesn't need slb to be another data center infrastructure supplier he wants us to be leaning into our 100 years of oil and gas experience.

15:56Like, how do we bring the practices, the solutions into making it simpler, safer, quicker, you know, in our modular design and how we can compress timelines and really, you know, bring the efficiencies of the bill for their multi-gigawatt growth, right? Right. So Kelvin, for us, is an expansion of what we'll be able to provide From a total solution perspective, you know, GPUs deliver two things, right? Chips deliver two things. They deliver tokens, but they also deliver heat. And that's a tremendous amount of heat as AI workloads increases, right? That heat needs to go somewhere. This is where Calvion comes in.

16:44They have the ability with their solutions and their technologies to take that heat and reject it to outside the server hall where it doesn't belong, right? So we think we'll have a fantastic opportunity now to combine that capabilities with what we do in modular infrastructure in providing a system level design and really impacting the efficiency for the data centers. Okay, so we had a meta on this week. You're doing some work with the Meta data center in Alberta, Canada. Can you describe what that opportunity is? so it's a one gigawatt build it is the first time metar is building in canada and so we are so thrilled to be selected as a delivery partner this is the case where we will own the design the engineering of the designs that they have to building the off-site assemblies to the installation of it when it goes to the campus and then actually commissioning it right so it's a whole package and we own the full value chain, if you like.

17:52I think this is a tremendous amount of value for Meta because we are going to be focusing on every part of that value chain, making sure it connects, making sure the interfaces are right, and that the project execution and the project management of it is as smooth as possible. Now, I did not know you had a longstanding relationship with NVIDIA. We do. It goes back multi-decades actually from when we were first a client of NVIDIA. And my CEO Olivier talked about it previously, right? So maybe I'll expand what we are doing now in terms of our partnership expansion with NVIDIA. You know, we are a design partner for modular infrastructure for the DSX reference design.

18:41This means, you know, working with them on requirements, specifications, and really trying to set the standard for the industry so that other builders can go faster. It is all about the time to token and whatever is defined, you know, with clarity helps with that solution, getting to the solutions, right? The other things that we are working with NVIDIA on is just being a more participative and involved partner in their partner network. So NVIDIA does a good job in terms of building that partner network and building an ecosystem that is very supportive. We are a big part of that. And, you know, I'll give an example where in West Texas, there is a builder that has the land, that has the power, but not necessarily have all the pieces that goes into building a data center and generating tokens.

19:39Right. So it's about putting together that pieces of the of a value in that value chain and going faster together. All right. So, Amy, let me ask you, your CEO knows I am a huge believer in your company and have been. I mean, I applaud your company. I know I got rejected. It was four years ago. It's OK. But I do want to ask you, do these companies, customers like let's say you're in the Permian. I mean, everyone trusts SOB. Do they say, hey, listen, I've heard about this division you have and we're trying to put up a data center quickly and time to tokens, everything. Can you help us? Is that starting to happen?

20:15Yes, we get a lot of phone calls. We're having a lot of conversations with the customers. I do want to take a bit of time and explain what we do that is differentiated. You know, one of the biggest constraints in building, it's not AI demand, right? It's getting to the compute and the tokens. And in between the grid to the chip, you have everything from the power to, you know, the slap and shell to the substation to building that whole campus, right? So what we bring that is differentiated is the idea of modularity. modularity. And this is not stick building, which is traditional. When you build a data center, you stick build.

20:56Most people, or some people I would say, and this is still the practice in some cases where you will take what you stick build, maybe draw four boxes around it and say, I'm going to take it offsite. So there is a version of the understanding of modular. So you prefabricate it offsite. What we like to do with our customers is have this upfront conversation around the design principles for constructability for transportability for configurability right and what this allows us to do for our customers is just the velocity now this word velocity right it's a is a word that another hyperscale client uses with me right like how do you go faster um and and it's not just to go faster for the sake of that it's to do it with the reliability with quality and so that when these modules do end up at the site, we can install it faster, more seamlessly, and with higher reliability.

21:54So you're not spending time trying to troubleshoot the issues because things don't come together, right? Okay, well, that makes a ton of sense. And I'm glad, I mean, look, I think S &B alone is a terrific company. I love what you're doing. We've seen it happen with Cat. We did see it with Cummins. We see it with Eaton. These are just great American companies that have reinvented themselves. And you are right in that same zone. That's Amy Chua, Senior Vice President of Data Centers at SLB. Thank you, Amy. Glad you came on. Thanks for having me. Okay. Man Bunny's back after the break. Coming up, should you be looking to harvest shares of Vylor after its spinoff from Corteva?

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24:14On Monday, Ken in Texas called in to ask about Corteva and its new spinoff, Vylor, V-Y-L-O-R. I said I'd get back to him. Remember, Corteva was one of three companies created by that massive Dow DuPont merger breakup. They got the ag business. We know Corteva's done very well from the Dow DuPont breakup. It's more than triple since it was spun off. Transiting the other two components, I remember when it was the laggard of the three, the new ones are Dow, New DuPont, and of course Corteva. Now they're trying to repeat the magic, spinning off their seed business as Vylor. It came out yesterday, it was weird because Corteva's stocks seem to lose a whole bunch of points.

24:51It was because of this. The remaining Corteva is all about crop protection. Vylor's genetically modified seeds and their patents. They have many of the same customers, but the economics are very, very different. Specifically, genetically modified seeds are a high-tech, high-margin business. Crop protection is more of a commodity. That's why Frank Mitch, who is my favorite chemicals analyst, he's at Fermium, says Vylor is the cream of the crop. And Corteva has become a show-me story, even if it has great management. Now, that's a good reason to work straight at a breakup, right? Because Vylor should be able to get a much higher valuation as a standalone asset.

25:26Morgan Stanley made some interesting points in its initiation report, which assigned Vylor an$85 price target. Keep in mind, this is$67 stock. There's nothing particularly rare about a chemical company like Corteva that makes pesticides and herbicides. But a pure-play genetically modified seed company? We haven't had one of those since Monsanto sold itself to Bayer eight years ago. Now it's buried within a broader conglomerate. In other words, Vylor has scarcity value. Buy, buy, buy! Naturally, it's the one that I'm more excited about. Vylor makes incredibly resilient seeds with high prices. Even during difficult periods for farmers, like 2015 through 2020, those prices held up.

26:04These guys get 71 % of their sales from corn, 18 % from soybeans, the vast majority of their business being done in the Western Hemisphere. And in terms of the best seeds, corn and soybeans, this is a duopoly. The market's dominated by Vila and Bayer. You need an insane amount of genetic research and regulatory approvals to ever be able to break into this industry, which is why I'm not worried about competition using AI to vibe code new crops. And because these companies never stop innovating, they don't have worry too much about patent expirations. By the time old varieties go generic, the new ones are so much better that farmers have no choice but to keep paying up.

26:43Now, Viola also has this big research business where they develop seed traits and then license out the genes to other producers in exchange for royalties. According to Mitch and Fermium, their licensing business is growing like a weed. It should hit$500 million in revenue next year and reach$750 million by 2030. At the same time, Biola's got a great pipeline. Management plans to launch 12 technology platforms over the next decade, seven in corn, four in soy, and one in wheat. They're using gene editing to improve disease resistance. Hybrid wheat could eventually become a third major crop franchise with initial launches beginning next year.

27:22I like that. Over the long haul, management is very optimistic about this business. They're also thinking about a roughly$1 billion annual share repurchase from 2027 through 2029, excluding major acquisitions, alongside a modest dividend. Men's expects Vila to roll out a repurchase authorization covering three years, sometimes in the fourth quarter. Regular viewers know that I like buybacks and I cannot lie. Now, what are we paying for this thing? Frank Mitch initiated VILOR with a buy rating and a$75 target, using an earnings for interest, taxes, depreciation, and an amortization multiple of around$17.

27:59Morgan Stanley's Vincent Andrews is more bullish, with an$85 target based on the stock deserving to trade at 18 times EBITDA. That's the earnings that I just mentioned. Same metric. That implies about 26 % upside from here. I think that sounds really good. If you go purely on an earnings basis, though, the stock ain't cheap. Selling for more than 30 times this year's earnings estimates, more than 25 times next year's numbers. I love the business, but it's not a super fast grower. So I'd argue it's already priced at a relative premium. I think it deserves that premium. However, that means they have less margin for error.

28:32OK, so how about this remaining Corteva for crop protection? Trades at 21 times this year's earnings estimates, 19 times next year's earnings estimates. But there's a reason for that. Corteva is the stagnant part of the business. Management's talking about 3 % annual sales growth from this year through 2029, 6 % EBITDA growth over the same period. The challenge is hitting these numbers while Corteva gets hit with lots of generic competition, especially from China. Now, the company's been working very hard to shift towards differentiated products with less competition. That's now 65 % of their sales mix, and they've been jettisoning lower margin products for years.

29:08But even with all that, Corteva's on track for low single-digit revenue growth because the rest of their business is under so much pressure. Older products face lower prices, lost registrations, and replacement by newer offerings. Management says it can meet its plan without a favorable pricing cycle. I'd like to see some evidence for that in the numbers. This is why Mitch calls Corteva a show-me story, and I think he's right. Corteva needs innovation and efficiency to overcome the competitive environment versus older chemicals. Now, for Vylor, they need to keep innovating to fend off the competition from Bayer, but that's a much easier situation because they have an effective duopoly.

29:41In the end, Viola is a business with defensible technology, valuable customer relationships, and an attractive route to improving profitability through licensing and better seeds. I'd be comfortable building a position in this one. I'd do it gradually, but this thing, I'm confident Wall Street's going to continue to pay up for Viola's scarcity value. Just remember, it's not that cheap. Remaining for Corteva, I'd stay on the sidelines for now. Management is a reasonable plan, but I want evidence that new products and cost savings can overcome the tide of the generic. Here's the bottom line. I really want to thank our viewer for bringing the Corteva spin-off Vilar to our attention.

30:13This is exactly my kind of breakup. In this case, I think Vilar is the one to own. Corteva needs to prove itself before I'm willing to get on board a crop protection play. I like this Vilar right now. Let's speak to Dean in Ohio. Dean. Hi, Jim. Charter member of the Investment Club, and thanks for all you do. Oh, thank you. And I know, remember, you can get a book if you sign up. All right, go roll. What's up? Yep. Texas Pacific Land Corporation had a solid 25, 2025, and is doing well this year. Is it a buy, sell, or hold? You know, when it comes to oil, I'm being very limited. I say you have to do Chevron because Chevron's got Venezuela.

30:51Chevron's got the Gulf of Mexico. He calls it Gulf of America, he being Mike Worth. And it's got really great Asian properties and it's terrific in the Permian. So we're going to stick with that one. I don't want to have too many going. Let's go to Stafford in California. Stafford. Hey, Jim, how you doing? I'm doing great, Stafford. How are you doing? I'm doing okay. Hey, I want to hear your thoughts on John Deere. I know the price of corn is up about 20%, but I know corn's had a couple of bad years for the price of it. So I want to know if you think commodities are bottoming or what your thoughts are.

31:23Thank you. I think Deere is sensational. Not just good. I think it's sensational. They're not promotional. They don't come on TV. But it has been an unbelievable company. I first started buying it in the 1987 crash, and it's been just one of the best performers. And also, of course, anyone who has a John Deere, I've got two of them. Unbelievable machines. Let's go to Bill in Massachusetts. Bill. Hi, Jim. Thanks for taking my call. Of course, Bill. What's going on? Listen, I was looking around a little bit with this blockade of the Hormuz. Do you think there could be any play in NTR for some fertilizer?

32:02The fertilizer trade. You know what? I think that trade has come and gone. I think people got real excited about it. They made some money and then they've left. It's not expensive stock, but I don't like that kind of cat. That's too hard a catalyst driven for me to be able to get behind it. But thanks, Bill. Appreciate it. And the Corteva spinoff. I like Bylor, B-Y-L-O-R. I actually think that the spun-off company is the one to own here. I'm much more mad by the head. How should companies react to America's waning opinion of AI? I'm crunching the numbers with 100X. And Nike's at a 14-year low after yet another abysmal quarter.

32:37Can anything be salvaged from this shoe company? I'm focusing on one bright spot. And of course, all your calls rapid fire in tonight's edition of The Lighting Round. So stay with Kramer.

32:53Every now and then, I like to check in with 100X. That's a privately held consumer insights company that collects data based on purchase intent. Not past behavior. Turns out just asking people what they want to buy can be a very effective way to spot big trends before they take off. And that's what we need to have in the stock market, right? 100x donates money to nonprofits and other causes in exchange for users' participation. It recently crossed$40 million in cumulative donations. Congratulations. All right. Tonight, I want to devote a full segment to what 100x is seeing on the AI front, both in terms of individual platforms and broader feelings about the industry.

33:29So let's think deep with Rob Pace, the founder and CEO of 100X. Mr. Pace, welcome back to Bad Money. Thank you. All right. Now, this is fascinating because I don't know anybody who has this kind of data except for you. And I'm going to ask a question that I think we all are kind of figuring out. Do people think that AI is even useful at this point? Oh, it's incredibly useful. But the caveat would be that our feedback on AI combines some of the best feedback we've ever seen with some of the worst feedback we've ever seen, all in the same product. Extremes. This is extremes. Okay, so are there people who intend to use AI?

34:04Oh, yeah. I mean, a couple statistics. First of all, people saying they're going to use AI more. It's the number one industry out of 101 that we track. Okay. And Claude is the number one out of 6 ,000 brands. And what they say is it helps them with their research, with their questions, with their productivity, managing tasks, automating. It's awesome technology with massive use cases and tremendous value. All right. But our friend Sarah Fryer, ChatGPT, is not going to like the looks of the fact that Copilot is up here. Well, Copilot has had a run, Jim. But I will say these are all great scores.

34:41Okay. So the average for like 100 models is about 4%. So these are all leaders in the field. Oh, that's good to know because what I don't want to – I'm very excited about Microsoft stock because I see this. But I should be aware that that's actually very close. Yeah, very good. OK, now let's take a look. This is Claude Leeds performance. I saw this and I said, does this mean that Claude is losing its lead or is that just still, you know, a very, very big disparity? That's a big disparity, but it's plateaued is the way I would describe it. Really? Yeah. In terms of current users saying they're going to use it even more, it's kind of reached a steady state.

35:21OK, now there's another aspect of of A.I. that worries me, which is I don't use. I will look this, this and that before I ever would anything on the show because of reliability. I'm not alone. Right. No, it's it's the Achilles heel of this industry that has massive implications. So right now, one in five users and these are the same people are very positive, are calling out reliability as an issue. That's actually up, Jim, from one in six. And think about the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in this space. And for reliability to actually be increasing the concern is indeed concerning. OK, and the industry should be very worried about that chart.

35:58They really together. That's what they should be worried about. Now, when we see that somebody is using it, just a traditional they throw in and the A.I., A.I. this, A.I. that. I think people are sick of it. Your data says I'm not a lot, right? No, it is not impacting what's called the application layer. So does it change your banking experience? Does it change your restaurant experience? No, almost nine times out of 10, people just skip it when we ask them about it. And when it's called out, you can see it's actually more likely to be called out as a negative factor in their experience currently than a positive.

36:32And this application layer is huge because what it means is the total addressable market until they get this solved is going to be here and not here. But can I just ask you a question? Individuals, I think, don't want to become that. So I want to be more productive. But a small business person has to use AI and thinks that AI might be good for their customers. Oh, it's great. What it isn't, in fact, almost all small businesses are going to be using it more. What it isn't good yet as is an end-to-end solution that you would just turn out in the wild. We don't want it. Basically, we want a human, don't we?

37:07Well, it turns out, I mean, this is a chart on how people feel about you, AI drive-through. And you can see they're much more likely to call it out, at least with current model capabilities, as a negative versus a positive. And here's why. AI does not do nuance well. It does not do change orders well. So it is great in the lab. But when you put it out in the real world, there's still work to do to make it. And so I think the conclusion of this, which is quite important, is it's not going to disrupt software overnight. It's not going to disrupt consulting. It's not going to. We have habits, right, Rob?

37:40We have habits. That's right. All right. Now, let's look at some things that are very, very troubling to me. The AI industry, I think, has lost the narrative in this country. I wrote this several times this week. These are bad numbers. Yeah, these are really bad numbers. So to give you some context. Just a second. 101, 101? It is the single. Wait, where's nuclear waste? Is it above that? Well, we don't track nuclear waste. If we did, it might be a tie. Come on. This is horrible. These are horrible. And they've been plummeting. As you said, they've lost the narrative on brand values, trust, social stances and sustainability.

38:20And that's going to be a big gate in terms of their ability to really have the maximum impact. But this is this looks like the midterm elections right here. Yeah. Now. But let me ask you, has anyone broken through and have a higher rating than some of the other hyperscalers? Yeah, and it's pretty recent. So Meta, which historically, Meta AI was not good in our data for the longest time. But they have, with Dina Powell-McCormick and others and showing the community impact, showing what they're doing around sustainability, their scores are now 30 % higher than the others. So it shows it is possible to change the narrative, but you've got to put it in human terms.

39:03Right. What it does to the average person, the impact, et cetera, as opposed to, you know, theoretical terms. Well, I've got to tell you, listen to this segment, that if I were in this industry and just listen to you, first of all, I would call you and say, I need your help. But a second, I would say, you know what? Let's be better. Let's listen to what Dina Powell McCormick, who comes to our show, Dina Powell McCormick. She's got a code of conduct she wants everybody to adopt. What's so hard about it? These companies make billions of dollars. They should listen to you. It could be huge for the industry.

39:31Well, what we see happening is you have leaders who start with the product and work out. You need to start with the customer's outcome and work backwards. And those are going to be the winners. All right. Well, look, I'm going to thank Rob Pace, founder and CEO of 100X. Man, he's back here. Thank you as always, Bob. Thank you. Coming up, you've got questions. Kramer's got the answers. Get charged up for a fast-fire lightning round next.

40:13And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Let's go to Dave in Illinois. Dave. Hello, Dr. Kramer. Dave, what's your name? Jim, this$100 billion stock company provides infrastructure solutions for generating power. Six months ago, you said this stock is worth owning. Qantas Services is down 15 % from its 52-week high. Is PWR a buy? I still think it is, Dave. I think that there is still a build-out right now. It's because of the election. It looks like things aren't going to go well. I think when that's over, you're going to see more building going on. I like PWR. Let's go to Mike. We're back to New Jersey.

40:57Mike. Hey, Jim. First time caller from your home city, New Jersey. Excellent. What's going on? I'm calling about a stock that was started by scientists from NASA. They're using low orbital satellites to map the entire Earth in real time. They have a billion-dollar backlog, no profit, but no real competition. They've been stories calling for their next volunteer. Alphabet has over 10 % of the float at a value of approximately$600 million. My stock is Planet Labs. Planet Labs. Well, that's Will Marshall. I like Will. I met him through Marpeña. Look, I think it's terrific company. Stock all the way up in a speculative bubble and then come all the way back down.

41:34Good day today. I think you should buy it. I think it's done going down. Wow, I'm just right out there. Sorry, Will, that you're talking to him. But I didn't have enough to do it. Let's go to Ned in Ohio. Ned. Hey, Professor Kramer. It's good to talk to you again, sir. How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. How about you? I'm doing really well, sir. Just a sec. My cameraman just sneezed. God bless you. Go ahead. But I have my mom said, always say, God bless you. It's just it's all happy. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I got sidetracked. No problem. Well, I thank you for that. I wanted to ask you about the utility today.

42:10And I read your book, which I found very instructive. You talk a little bit about utility type investments. And today I wanted to ask you about a utility that's one of the largest energy holding companies in the nation. It pays it. It's paid good dividends for years. It's currently paying about three point eight percent. Its stock price from early this year has dropped from one hundred and thirty five down to one hundred and fourteen. OK, what's your opinion about Duke Energy? I think it's down enough that you can buy it. I'd like to get it at a four percent handle. I'm four percent yield right now.

42:50It's a little bit lower than that because I do think that the the best piece of paper out there right now is the five year treasury, which gives 5%. That's going to give Duke a run for the money, which is why the stock's been going down. Now we're going to talk to no one because that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the, God bless you, Lightning Round. The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up, is there any hope for a comeback at Nike? Kramer's giving the company the eye test. Next.

43:32Sometimes you just root for a good person to win in this business. I root for Elliot Hill, the president and CEO of Nike. Elliot started as an intern and worked his way up to be president, consumer, and marketplace, an incredibly important position. He retired in 2020 after 32 years, but he was brought back in as CEO about two years ago after his predecessor did a truly disastrous job. Last night, Nike reported it was disappointing. And more important, the company gave you this wild one. They have an annual speed in November, which I thought might represent a reset in a good way. But the problems in the world seem so deep and so myriad that it's hard to believe anything could reverse the stock's awful trajectory in such a short period of time.

44:12Now, Hill's totally stand up. Right at the top of his conference call, he noted that Nike has three severe problems. One, Greater China, where revenue was down astounding 26%. Two, sportswear, which gave you revenue down low double digits. And three, the Jordan brand, which now seems like it's in trouble. Here's how he'll explain it on the conference call. Quote, simply put, we've been oversupplying our iconic retro product, asking them to do too much. End quote. I hope the world isn't sick of Jordan's or simply have no awareness of who he is anymore. These seem like intractable problems. And for Elliott's sake, I hope they aren't.

44:46But in truth, only the third one seems to be Elliott's mistake. And it's hard to blame him when times are tough for relying too much on Nike's most storied franchise. I know that it's easy to dump on Elliott today. Heard it all day with a stock at a 13-year low. But it's not like he just fell off a sneaker truck. He was an incredibly successful exec at Nike before he left in 2020, which brings me to a different, tougher conclusion, though. I think Nike changed and changed for the worse during Hill's four years absence. Previous management had switched to a technology-based model away from Nike's previous sports-based model.

45:19The company bent over backward to be direct to consumer, even though shoes are the kinds of things people prefer to buy in stores. They like Foot Locker, which is now part of Dick's Sporting Goods. Previous management alienated those kinds of retailers, and that gave other brands like New Balance, On, Hoka, and Adidas a chance to catch up to the king. Decidely not Elliott's fault at all, and he's trying to make up for it. But you can't just flick a switch after your predecessor damaged classic relationships. China's a disaster, too. But is that really Hill's fault? Of course not. China used to favor Nike.

45:49Now it seems to favor homegrown companies. The era of Nike being special in China seems over. This is not unique to them. Most American brands are getting killed over there. Sportswear. If you ask me what the toughest single category on Earth right now is, I'd say it's sportswear. You think Nike's in any different shape from Lululemon, another stock that's been slaughtered? He'll say there's, quote, a lack of energy in the lifestyle space. I just say it's a no-growth area where excellent companies are duking it out. Not for dollars, but for pennies. It's not outright losses. too much competition, too many new companies.

46:19So, of course, even as Elliott's making progress across a bunch of different areas, from women's basketball to running, global football, they always can't offset the declines in these key categories. And Elliott didn't sugarcoat that. Good for him. The conference call got so suboptimal that Dave Denton, the new CFO, had to defend the dividend, trying to take any possibility of a cut or an elimination off the table. I say, sadly, once it is on the table, it never leaves the table until you start growing it regularly again. Now, you know all the reasons why I don't want to buy this stuff. Been there, did that, lost a lot of money for the Chapel Trust.

46:50But when I bought it, I didn't know how troubled Nike really was. Sometimes I wonder if Elliott did either. He sure puts on a good face in the call. I don't know how he does it, especially after he runs down the parade of mistakes and miscues. Many, again, have had their seeds in the previous regime. All that said, he's from the world of sports where a good coach doesn't have decades or even years to turn a franchise around. He knows that. I'm simply reminding people that Elliot Hill got dealt a very tough hand, maybe too tough for him to take Nike back to its glory days, in a world that's changed mightily since he was last toiling in Beaverson.

47:22He's going to keep trying, but the battle's uphill, and he remains a definitive underdog. I like to say this always with Will Marcus Homebird. I promise I'll find it just for you right here on Mad Money. I'm Jim Cramer. I'll see you Monday. All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Cramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC or its parent company or affiliates and may have been previously disseminated by Kramer on television, radio, internet, or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Kramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion.

47:54Kramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money Disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com forward slash madmoneydisclaimer. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills First Hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage, because hiring managers who start with skills are 60 % more likely to find a successful hire.

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