Mad Money 04/29/26 | Audio Only

追加: 2026-04-30

[00:00:01]My mission is simple, to make you money.

[00:00:04]I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere, and I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now.

[00:00:17]Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money.

[00:00:19]Welcome to Cray America. Other people friends, I'm just trying to make you some money. My job is not just to entertain, but to teach about this crazy market. So call me at 1800743 CNBC or tweet me at Jim Kramer. When it comes to tech companies, you know what? It's become not enough just to beat and raise anymore. You need to have something else going on, something that's not in your control. You need a shortage or else your stock's not going to get much love.

[00:00:44]Even if you're one of those big dogs, yeah, the hyperscalers we talk about, the ones that reported after the close this very evening. Now, there are a lot of crossurrens today. We should mention a day when the Fed met, a day when the president proclaimed for a second time that he's no longer going to be a nice guy toward the enemy, Iran. But this time he added a rifle for some Rambo like emphasis when he uh posted the story there. Uh that blizzard post plus a weak bond market where rates crept up once again gave us today's action. Dow falling 280 points that should be dipping. 04%. NASDAQ actually edging up.

[00:01:17]04% but I felt the market was uglier underneath. See those higher interest rates are now banging a lot of companies especially the banks which were quite worrisome in their activity. We're going to talk to the relatively new bank SoFi later in the show and it got hurt badly but the funky nature of trading in this keynote group makes me anxious. I always like to see the group do better or at least do nothing. The Fed meeting today it brought me no real solace. It's the last Fed meeting hosted by J Pal. It was uneventful at the same time that oil went up big again. It's an unavoidable fact of life that oil soared 7% to $160 today, near the highest it's been since the war started. That in itself, I'm calling it worrisome. I've told you over and over again, though, that it isn't a rally in oil per se that matters. No, it's the ripple oil causes to the bond market. If interest rates ignore oil, we're fine. But now though, we aren't fine. They're not ignoring oil up here.

[00:02:14]Rates are going higher. A huge part of our economy could use a rate cut, particularly housing. But at this pace of inflation, there won't be any. Even under the incoming Fed chief Kevin Walsh. Hey, me and Chief Walsh, will you can the press conferences, please? Maybe do a Netflix and have a journalist.

[00:02:30]Maybe have them write down the questions. Okay. Answer the best ones on our website. Then go do some work. What else didn't go right? Well, how about the bounce in the dormant defense stocks? Boy, I don't want to see them move up. That's always a terrible sign.

[00:02:41]Sign of some military surprise that we didn't count on. That's a sign that you might need to do some selling to a lot of traders. That's the way they did it.

[00:02:47]And we saw that across the board midday, especially with tech until a closing rally. War inflation. What are they good for? Absolutely nothing. So what's working here? The shares of companies where they can't make enough product in technology. No, not Amazon, not Alphabet, not Microsoft, not Meta.

[00:03:08]Seagate. Seagate, the maker of disc drives that storage data that store data, including data spewed from machines in the data center. Oh, Seagate's been a horse for ages now, and it rallied 11% today on the conference call. They talked about how they can't make their product fast enough. I don't know when that will change because there aren't enough machines available for Seagate to expand its disc drive production. Boy, that's exactly what you want to see. That's what the market wants. We're seeing the same thing at Intel. Yeah, Intel once again climbed 12% as it doesn't have enough CPUs to help alleviate the shortages cripping the growth of AI agents in this new fourth industrial revolution. That's the hottest part of the fourth industrial.

[00:03:52]Then there's Gener. We had him on recently. I don't know. Do you remember they were going to have some Bing orders from the hyperscalers for backup energy?

[00:03:58]They said the same thing today. I I don't like when a stock rallies the second time on news we already know, but this market wants shortages. They'll take them wherever it can get them. And there is a shortage of energy that goes into data centers. Same thing with Bloom Energy, one of our absolute favorites, which jumped 27% today because it's fuel cells for the data center are in short supply and they don't burn dirty. Or how about NXP Semi, which rocketed 25% on a shortage of chips for autos. That's a surprise because NXP's auto business has long been an albatross around the company's neck. But now that the cars are filled with softwaredefined product, NXP is a must. But I don't want to bury the agony and XT of this very evening where we didn't have a lot of shortages and instead we just had four gigantic companies that all had to go off at once possibly because they're just trying to give me a heart attack. I mean, maybe that's the story.

[00:04:53]Four of the magnificent SE reported this evening. And remember when I told you that you would need something good from two of them, at least two of them to power us higher? Well, that is pretty much what we got, but we didn't get any shortages. See, Alphabet crushed it, okay, in every line, including Google Cloud, which was extraordinary. That's been a hot just a really hot item for a long time now. Those guys just get YouTube strong again. Search incredibly strong, which is very important because it's funny. The whole buildout, especially their own gez, their own semiconductors. Well, maybe those are in short supply. That could make sense.

[00:05:28]I'll I'll go with that. Amazon, look, I like the earnings. so much. Even as I know that there were sellers initially all over the place, I liked it because one of its key divisions, the one that Andy Jasse, the CEO, came from, Amazon Web Services, HAD INCREDIBLE GROWTH, 28%. That is just absolutely insane.

[00:05:49]>> House pleasure.

[00:05:50]>> I I remember not that long ago having a some let's say hotter hot words with the CFO about whether that Amazon Web Services would even grow in the double digits. is now scoring at 28%. Now they should spend the money. Maybe that's a bit of a shortage. They may need more power, more compute just for their data center work. I was worried that it would grow at high single digits. Nice move.

[00:06:15]The their cloud business is fantastic.

[00:06:18]Now, call me confused when it comes to Meta. I've been mulling it over before I came out here. I know they announced they upped their capital expenditures by $10 billion. And you know what? When you do that, all I have to say is >> don't buy. Don't buy. Don't buy.

[00:06:31]>> But then again, they did have the fastest revenue growth in five years. So maybe they should spend. But then again, I'd like to see more justification of that spin. But then again, I absolutely like that the revenues were up 33%. You see what I mean? Boom, boom, boom. I didn't want that though. I just wanted to be boom, right? I got this and I got this. And finally, there is Microsoft.

[00:06:54]And I don't know what to say.

[00:06:57]Uh, I thought they would have something more to say than they did. Maybe you can consider it cheap, but it's software.

[00:07:03]Hey, by the way, if I really want cheap, throw a dividend yield in there and I'll buy Ford Motor. It's odd. There was a time when all four of these companies would have unstoppable growth. Now, the growth belongs to those uh who sell into constrained areas. And there's nothing constrained about artificial intelligence. In fact, IT'S ALL OVER THE PLACE. The bottom line is simple. The best tech these days is ironically old tech because we stopped building old tech. It and it came back into vogue because it turns out that artificial intelligence needs some old tech too.

[00:07:34]Now the big guys can't build enough. And with the exception of Google and Amazon, there's not much else to say. Let's take some calls. Let's go to Evan in New Jersey. Evan, >> hi Jim. How are you? Thank you for taking my call.

[00:07:49]>> Oh, I'm glad you called me Evan. How can I help?

[00:07:52]I wanted to ask about how you feel about Domino's Pizza after the recent >> she's I got to tell you I happen to love Russell Weiner. I think it's terrific but boy they missed the quarter. And when I read over the conference call I just didn't find anything that made me feel that this is the level. I couldn't say this is the level because I got other restaurant tours doing incredibly well. I got Starbucks doing well and I've got Kevin Hawkman at Brinker doing incredibly well and I have Domino's by the way. Yum was good and but they're they're getting out of pizza but no no it wasn't good and I don't want it for the yield. Let's go to Jury in California. Jerry >> Jim big ocean wave booyah to you from California.

[00:08:35]>> Fantastic and I'm glad to have you on the show. What can I tell what can I say to you? What do you got?

[00:08:39]>> Hey, great piece uh recently on Viking Cruises.

[00:08:43]>> Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[00:08:45]>> You uh you captured that to a tea. So, uh, so Jim, we got into this early.

[00:08:52]So, are we trading this or staying invested in the leaders of the sea?

[00:08:59]>> We do not trade Viking Holdings. We think that folking Viking Holdings with Torston Hagen is about as good as it gets. We spent a lot of time with Tour on the on the that last time when he was in New York. And let me just say this, that one, if $78 stock, it feels a lot like a hundred. All right, the best tech days. Well, ironically, is the best ones are old tech. Aside from Amazon and Google, I just don't have that much to say about the others. One of them I like Ford Motor.

[00:09:32]Okay. On man today, Brinker, the company behind Chili's and the aforementioned Brinker, I should say, Chili and and Majana soared today after earnings.

[00:09:40]What's working for this restaurant chain particularly when others aren't? I'm going to check in with the CEO then.

[00:09:45]With the averages roaring back this month, the IPO market has started to pick up some steam. I'm sharing if newly public company X Energy could energize your portfolio and SoFi fell over 14% today on an inline earnings and unchanged guidance. I got to figure out what the heck is going on. Let's bring in the CEO and stay with CR.

[00:10:13]Don't miss a second of MadMoney. Follow Jim Kramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Kramer #madmentions.

[00:10:21]Send Jim an email to [email protected] or give us a call at 1800743cnbc.

[00:10:29]Miss something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com.

[00:10:40]This morning we got one of those better than few quarters from Breaker International pairing of Chilis and Majanos and that was enough to send the stock up double digits. I love that.

[00:10:48]While it's still down from its early 2025 highs, investors were braced for a disaster somehow and instead they got just a real good number. All January was soft because of bad weather. Then February and March were much stronger. I love that what's known as cadence. Uh plus management raised the low end of their fullear earnings forecast. Stock had sold off of hard going into the quarter and worries about rising costs instead of the consumer. So these numbers were enough to send it flying.

[00:11:12]Management also said April's off to a strong start. So I bet we're going to get some analysts saying good things tomorrow. So let's take a closer look with Kevin Hawk. He's the president CEO of Brinker International more. Hey Kevin, welcome back to Bad Money.

[00:11:24]>> Hey Jim, thanks for having me on the show again.

[00:11:26]>> All right, 20 quarters 20 consecutive quarters of same store sales growth. uh 31% comp from last year for Chili's.

[00:11:34]How's that possible?

[00:11:36]>> Yeah, we just keep rolling with the food service and atmosphere, the fundamentals of casual dining. 20 consecutive quarters of same store sales growth. You know, we're now the number two casual dining brand in the US on sales. We're retained our number one stance as the number one traffic brand. Uh we are now the number one alcohol restaurant brand in America. So we are firing on all cylinders and it starts with our team members taking care of our guests and that's exactly what's happening and our extreme value that's uh working in the marketplace combined with that experience is unbeatable.

[00:12:08]>> Okay. So let me ask you how is it possible little bit of magician on your part. Uh you've got beef inflation, you got high repair maintenance costs, you got general inflation areas like utilities and rent to go supplies, delivery fees, beverage and food cost unfavorable by 60 basis points. How are you able to make even more money when every one of those is unfavorable?

[00:12:29]>> Yeah, you know, structurally what we've been doing is just growing our business.

[00:12:32]So, we make sure that the consumer gets incredible value that they can't get anywhere else. We know if they're going to pull back on trips because of the economy, at least they know they can get a great deal at Chili's. And so, as we grow our AUVs or sales per restaurant, we're able to cover those costs and then continue to grow margins. So, you know, I'm really proud of the team. We keep costs really tight. Uh the second thing I would tell you is we have some structural economic uh benefits that some of the other channels don't have.

[00:12:58]We have all walks of life that come into our restaurant. You know, whether they're low-inccome or high income, and they all want different things. And so, we're able to make sure we meet the consumer where they are. If it's a 1099 amazing value meal from our three for me menu or if it's something that's more premium, you're always going to get a great value at Chili's. And that's why we're capturing market share right now.

[00:13:16]>> Now, a new sandwich always gonna get people excited. I loved in the conference call. People should listen, read the conference call before you buy the stock. So you know, you like giving people too much food.

[00:13:28]>> Yeah. You know, there was an insight. So a year ago, we saw the insight that people were really frustrated with fast food prices and they were posting their receipts online. This year we saw a new thing. We called it shrinkflation. So it's when the customer notices that their portion size has gotten smaller because folks are trying to offset higher input costs. And so instead of shrinkflation, we said, let's go do the opposite thing. Let's make a chicken sandwich that's 80% bigger uh than the leading fast foods premium chicken sandwich and we've confirmed that here in the Dallas area testing hundreds of sandwiches. We have a much bigger sandwich. Let's go ahead and sell it in our three forme menu at $1099 with a limited chips and salsa bottomless drink and fries. And let's see how we do. And so far that product or that I should say that dish is off to a great start. And uh we're selling 161% more sandwiches today than we were uh pre uh pre the new platform. So, we couldn't be more excited about fighting shrimp inflation with chilies and it's working so far.

[00:14:21]>> I may have to pivot and go away for three for me for the first time in a long time and go for that chicken sandwich. It sounds very good. You know, I love to eat at your place. Now, one of the reasons I love to eat your place and you said wealthy people not so well.

[00:14:33]Everybody goes, "Is that you give me name brand liquor? Are you still giving people name brand liquor in those Margies?"

[00:14:42]>> Well, of course we're doing that. And so, you know, we have this margar of the month. And so, this month, actually, it starts tomorrow because tomorrow is National Boba Day. And so, we're going to start it a day early. This is our popping boba mark. It's for $6. And it's got Lunazul uh tequila. It's got deep Betty lemon vodka. It's got house sour.

[00:15:00]It's got watermelon. And of course, it's got popping boba. And you know, it's interesting. We were tasting this in the test kitchen. And the boba's cost a little bit of money. And folks are like, "How are we going to pay for this?" I'm like, "I know you guys will figure it out because we got to keep this thing $6." And that's that's exactly what they did. So hango is coming up. I mean I gotta get a reservation. I mean CO deo you're gonna crush it.

[00:15:21]>> Well, you know the cool thing about Cinco de Mayo is you don't need to have a special deal or a special day to get a great value of chili. You're always going to be able to get a $6 mark. No matter what time of day you come in, whether it's happy hour or not, we're always going to have that value.

[00:15:33]>> Okay. One last thing I think people need to know that the check really is cheaper. Three $4 versus every but everybody else. now is you don't necessarily brag about that. You talk about value. Do you think the people just recognize the difference somehow that they're smart enough to know? I mean, even though you look, you have cattle, it goes up every day. There's very few companies other than you and Texas Roadhouse been able to hold the price. Do they say, "Wait a second, this seems to be cheaper."

[00:16:01]>> Well, that's obviously what's happening because, you know, a lot of folks are complaining that the consumer is not showing up. The reality is the consumer is showing up when there's great value.

[00:16:08]And so they know when they go to Chili's, even if they don't shop the three for menu, three me or the $6, you know, mark of the month, they're going to get an amazing value anywhere they shop the menu. Whether it's our burgers, our chicken crispers, our chicken sandwiches, our fajitas, our ribs, they're all incredible value, and that's why we're winning. So, you know, the numbers would say we're three to $4 less than our casual dining uh competition, but the reality is the consumer knows when they come in, they're going to get an amazing deal at Chili.

[00:16:33]>> Well, next question. Am I going to see a tick tock explosion of people eating the chicken sandwich?

[00:16:40]>> Well, absolutely. You know, when you have value that's this good and well, here's what we're seeing the influenc are doing. They're going to uh fast food joints are getting their chicken sandwich and they're comparing it to our chicken sandwich and there's no comparison. I mean, it's literally it's way better than any TV ad I could make because it's a before your eyes demo that this chicken sandwich is gigantic.

[00:16:58]It's the exact opposite of shrinkflation. And so, yeah, you're going to see that all over your feed because people love great value and they share it and they like it and so that's why you're going to see it on your feed.

[00:17:07]>> Well, that's called Cinema Verete. I want to thank Kevin Hawkman, president CEO of Break International for an excellent quarter. Kevin, I'm glad to have you back on the show.

[00:17:17]>> Hey, thanks so much, Jim. Appreciate it.

[00:17:18]>> Of course, Bad Money's back after the break.

[00:17:22]>> Coming up, a new player in the nuclear energy space just entered the market.

[00:17:27]So, should you be buying in? Kramer is taking a closer look at X Energy next.

[00:17:42]The averages actually not today but this month have been roaring and that's allowed the IPO market to pick up with real steam. That includes a new way to play the nuclear power space, X Energy, that came public with a bang last week.

[00:17:58]Even if the nuclear stocks aren't as hot as they were last fall, and boy were they smoking before >> the house of pain.

[00:18:06]>> There's still a ton of interest in this business because it's the cleanest way to pay uh to power all these new data centers that we're putting up. Nuclear is the cleanest way. Some would say the safest way. So, let's take a closer look with X Energy, which is a designer of advanced nuclear reactor technology and a manufacturer to advanced nuclear fuels. They've been working on a small modular reactor design for more than a decade. In theory, these are the lower cost, much lower cost than traditional nuclear reactors, and they take much less time to deploy. At the same time, X Energy has designed a specific type of fuel that allows these reactors to operate safely, even a very high temperature, which presents advantages for certain industrial use cases. Now, X Energy will be producing this fuel at its own facility in Oakidge, Tennessee, near the Oakidge National Laboratory.

[00:18:52]The first fuel facility should be completed within the next 2 years or so.

[00:18:55]I bring this up because X Energy doesn't really plan to build its own reactors, let alone own and operate them. They're going for more of a what we call razor razor blade business model. The company wants to license this technology to customers and then let them build their own small modular reactors and then sell them the fuel they need to operate at peak efficiency. I really like that because historically building nuclear power plants has been a very tough business where a lot of money has been lost. Selling designs and fuel for nuclear plants sounds a lot more enticing, safer, and more lucrative. Of course, X Energy is still in its early stages, but they have three big initial customers already lined up. Amazon, Dow, and Centrica. Okay, centric. Well, listen, it's the ladder is one of the largest gas and electric utilities in the UK and Ireland. According to X Energy, quote, advanced development efforts are already underway on the first DAO project at its seed drift operation site in Texas and the first Amazon project uh in connection with Energy Northwest. End quote. Hey, by the way, when Amazon signed on as a major customer in the fall of 2024, it also took a big stake in X Energy and still owns more than 20% of the company. I like that. They're believers. Hey, same goes for Aries Management. That's a private equity firm we know very well.

[00:20:08]As well as Ken Griffin of Citadel, Steve Cohen's 72, Jane Street, Kathy Woods Arc Invest, and even the University of Michigan, Go Blue.

[00:20:19]That's mighty impressive list. But if we're talking about backers, I need to mention that X Energy has a very good relationship with the Department of Energy dating back to December of 2020.

[00:20:29]That's when the company was awarded $1.2 2 billion dollars as part of an advanced reactor demonstration program. One of the last things the first Trump administration did uh was to set up this business this set up this division. So far $438 million of cost reimbursements have gone through. So the company's got $762 million worth of potential reimbursements for Uncle Sam still in the pipe with its IPO X energy falls into a group of publicly traded next generation nuclear energy companies focused on small modular reactor designs. Think Alo which a lot of you love. Think new scale but X energy has very different business model than these guys and they also went through the normal IPO process rather than sneaking in via a spa which you know I don't like. I like the rigor of the IPO process. So how about the numbers? While the company's still very unprofitable.

[00:21:17]There are some positives here. First unlike Olo and New Scale X Energy actually has a decent amount of revenue with $109 million in sales last year in comparison. AO's had razor had zero revenue to date while New Scale has been bringing in 30 to $40 million a year. X Energy is making this money from service payments coming from its initial customers as well as grant payments from the Department of Energy. Of course, the company's still burning money in terms of profitability. We're talking about $213 million loss last year.

[00:21:48]But I honestly wouldn't sweat that too much because X Energy is spending big in order to expand, which is what you want to see at this point in its trajectory.

[00:21:56]Plus, the company's got a pristine balance sheet and after the IPO, they now have roughly 1.4 billion in cash and equivalents along with nearly $600 million in digital investments. Hey, that's a big cushion for a company that's likely to keep losing money for at least a few more years. Finally, let's talk valuation, which is very difficult to do the extent that means uh that means anything for a money- losing company like this one. As I mentioned earlier, X Energy came public with a bang. They were originally looking to sell 42.886 million shares at a price between 1619, but the deal was upsized to 44.25 million shares and eventually priced at 23 bucks. That's well above the range.

[00:22:35]That is one of those things I typically say >> don't buy. Don't buy. Don't buy.

[00:22:39]>> But I like the company. Last Friday, it then opened for trading at $3011 and it got as high as as $37 and changed at its intraday highs yesterday. Though it since cooled off and come back down to $31 today, basically flat with where it opened. But that's a 35% gain if you got in on a deal. At this price, X Energy is being valued at around $12 billion. It's hard to say whether that whether that's a good or bad price given that we're at least a year away from substantial revenues and maybe years away from profits. Understand this is obviously very speculative position I'm talking about. You can only buy a stock like this with money that you can afford to lose. It's high risk. But if X energy does pan out and become a major player in America's nuclear energy renaissance that it is going to be a high reward stock. It's kind of stock I recommend in how to make money in any market because you know I'm pro smart speculation. I think everyone should own one speculative stock. Maybe this is for you. For comparison's sake though, X Energy's market cap now puts it above Olo's 11.3 billion and makes it much larger than New Scale at 3.9 billion.

[00:23:40]Then again, with more revenue than those two companies and some great initial customers, you could argue it deserves to trade at a substantial premium to both of them. So here's the bottom line.

[00:23:49]If you feel compelled to speculate on something connected to nuclear power, then I think X Energy is the way to go.

[00:23:55]Just remember that it's still insanely speculative. And if certain things happen, say interest rates spike or AI data center construction boom slows down or there's some sort of kind of like a regulation setback about nukes, then this stock will be crushed.

[00:24:13]But barring those terrible outcomes, I like X energy as long as you're comfortable with the risk. Again, though, buy it with the money that you're prepared to lose, but by all means, buy it if you're really hung up on nuclear power. All right, let's go to some questions. Let's go to Ian in Florida. Ian, >> Jim, how you doing?

[00:24:31]>> I am doing well, Ian. Booyah to you.

[00:24:33]What's up?

[00:24:35]>> Oh, all good. Jim, Jim, I wanted to ask you um about an aerospace stock.

[00:24:41]Certainly.

[00:24:41]>> Uh it's um GE. What do you think about it here? Is it >> I think you should buy it right here.

[00:24:46]Enough is enough. It's been going down because people are worried about air travel. I think this is a maintenance stock now. there's not as much uh travel, so there's not as much maintenance as needed off the planes.

[00:24:57]That's when you buy GE Aerospace because otherwise it doesn't come down. This is a good moment to buy GE. Actually, really good quarter by the way. John in New York. John, >> hey Jim, how you doing?

[00:25:10]>> I am doing well. John, >> I'm sorry.

[00:25:13]>> Good, good, good. I've held AT&T for quite some time now. I'm thinking about selling it. What do you think of this particular stock? Look, I like I like growth and I like income. It gives you the income, but the growth side is not there. Uh, you know, honestly, I mean, if you wanted to own a stock with that has growth and income, I would prefer you own a master limited partnership.

[00:25:33]Uh, some of those ones that have done really well during the war that did really well before the war. I'm thinking about enterprise product. Why not go by 10? Swap out of that and go to Wano because I'll feel a lot better about it.

[00:25:44]Now, if you want to speculate on something connected to nuclear power, then I actually think that this X energy that just came public may be the way to go. Just remember, it's insanely speculative. Much more bad money ahead, including my exclusive was SoFi, seeking today what spooked investors in the digital bank's quarterly report. Let's get the details from the CEO. And restaurants are tough to run, but we're seeing a remarkable turnaround in a charable trust company that needs to be studied. I'll reveal it and break down the story. And of course, all your calls rapid fire tonight's edition of the lightning round. the stereo cramp.

[00:26:23]What the heck just happened to the stock of SoFi Technologies, the preferred digital bank of the younger generation?

[00:26:29]Here's a stocks had an incredible run, going from $8 and change at its post liberation day lows a year ago to $32 and change last November. As a longtime SoFi bull, and everybody knows that, I felt the move was vindication. But then the stock started rolling over again. Uh selling off part of the broader AI displacement meltdown. I think that's crazy. This is a bank for heaven's sake.

[00:26:51]You can't have Claude Vibe code you a bank. As of yesterday though, SoFi had pulled back to 18 when it reported this morning the results were mostly in line, but the guidance for the current quarter was disappointing. In response, the stock plunged more than 15% today.

[00:27:05]Perhaps that's excessive. Don't take it from me though. Let's check in with Anthony Notto, the CEO of SoFi Technology to get a better read on the quarter. Mr. Welcome back to Med Money.

[00:27:15]>> Thank you, Jim. Thanks for having me.

[00:27:16]>> Okay, Samantha, I I I look for your bank for great growth. And from the looks of things, I got plenty of growth, just maybe even better than usual, wouldn't you say?

[00:27:27]>> Yes. It's quite remarkable. We had 41% revenue growth and we had 31% margins.

[00:27:32]And so for the 18th consecutive quarter, we exceeded the golden rule of 40 at 72.

[00:27:38]We had record new member growth at 35%, record product growth at 37%. And our cross buy was also strong at 43%. So really operating hitting on all cylinders.

[00:27:49]>> All right. So when I hear that, I think, all right, uh, beaten raised, but you did not raise. So I've got to try to understand because as someone who felt just at $18 not that long ago that there could be an exceptional year for earnings, I'm concerned.

[00:28:05]You know, we did not raise the fullear guidance because when we originally gave the fullear guidance, we were anticipating at least two Federal Reserve rate cuts. And now we're assuming that there will be no rate cuts because that's what the forward curve is indicating. And so that's a tougher environment to operate in and we didn't think this was an environment for us to be overly aggressive. We're still growing revenue over 30% for the full year and we're still driving 40% earnings growth over the next three years, which are pretty significant growth expectations. So to raise the bar in an environment that is uncertain on the interest rate front and what's going on with the Middle East. We just didn't see it as a prudent thing to do. We feel great about the trends of the underlying business, but we did not take the the outlook up as many other companies also did the same.

[00:28:47]>> Well, if that's the case, and you don't want to be overly aggressive, your words, then it is disconcerting to me that you're keeping so many loans on your balance sheet. You and I have seen when bankers get too aggressive and they keep back loans on the balance sheet.

[00:29:02]It's often a sign that they can't sell the loans or maybe they want to take on a little more risk than I know I would have thought if I bought the stock of SoFi.

[00:29:12]>> You know, we're still leveraging the ability to sell loans. Our loan platform business uh generated over two billion dollars of originations for partners. Uh we have a lot of capital on our balance sheet. Our capital ratios are quite high. We raised money last year which gives us the flexibility. We did provide a new metric for investors to give them comfort with the quality of our performance in our loans. Um we announced that we did over $1 billion of cash revenue. $690 million of that cash revenue is revenue that's generated from net interest income, i.e. our members paying us for their loans and the interest on their loans. That's quite significant and it's performed pretty well and willi continue to perform consistently because their credit performance has been consistent. So in some ways we're creating a recurring revenue stream by keeping some of those loans on our balance sheet. We are still selling loans and we're still doing loan platform business. Um but we have the ability to grow the lending business via both channels.

[00:30:08]>> Okay. So I I like many other people have to deal with periodically with with people who want a stock lower. Now, I know a lot of people who may not understand there are people who literally are betting against companies and hoping the stock will go down.

[00:30:21]There's a particular firm that seems to be thinking that you have a much higher default rate than you than I think you do have. How do you shadow shadow box against someone who genuinely is able to say what they want about it because it's a free country?

[00:30:37]>> Yeah, you just have to compare it versus our actual results. Um, that comparison is inaccurate. um our actual results so that our loss rate is in line with expectations and significantly different than what's been reported by others that think it's higher. So it's just the facts. We point people towards the disclosures which we're comfortable with and our team's comfortable with and the performance of the loans have been pretty consistent. Okay. So there are many uh pages in your deck which is an excellent deck which show you're taking a long-term approach and I love that and you know you've got technology platform segment. These are the things that I'm so excited about. Am I I I don't want you to become another bank because I can own Capital One. I I I don't want to do that. I want have members I have some capital one on my chest, but I want to have members growth a long-term approach using a technology platform and I don't want you to have as much heavy banking.

[00:31:28]Do you think I'm wrong in thinking that I want say noto light so to speak?

[00:31:34]>> No, I I we agree with you Jim. And the other metric that we released that's on the non- lending side is that we generated $390 million of cash revenue from non-interest income. And this is revenue that's being generated from our technology platform. It's being generated from our brokerage business which increase 2x year-over-year. It's from origination fees, debit and credit card interchange revenue in addition to our loan platform fees. And so we have a good mix of both lending revenue that's generated that was uh called it $690 million and then non- lending revenue i.e. non-interest cash revenue of $390 million. Now the great thing about the $390 million is that a couple years ago that was very small and it couldn't contribute to our profitability and growth the way it can today. And so the $390 million was virtually non-existent 5 years ago. And that's all the non- lending benefits that we're generating.

[00:32:28]>> Okay. So, >> not to mention the fact that we're launching big business banking, SoFi USD, and cryptocurrency, which are all new and will contribute to that as well.

[00:32:36]>> See, I hear these things and I think I interviewed Vlad Tanv today that Robin Hood not that great a quarter kindly.

[00:32:42]And I was hoping that you would do the Trump accounts that you would get some of that business. It's a natural to have it go to SoFi.

[00:32:50]>> Yes, we will likely benefit from um the Trump accounts as well. Um the the way the government is um using this is doing one trustee to start but then those individuals and those parents can move the funds where they want to uh appropriately you know potentially coming to SoFi. So the government's likely to announce three to four other partners for the Trump accounts and once the money is dispersed initially to the Bank of New York accounts then people can transfer it to three or four of these other trusted uh entities one of which we are um bidding to be part of.

[00:33:22]Now Vlad's putting aside a h 100red million to set this up. I mean that that's a lot of capital. Do you think that you're ready to do it without that much work?

[00:33:30]>> We've already built the account and it didn't cost us anything close to $100 million.

[00:33:34]>> Really?

[00:33:35]>> Yes. We uh we already have our invest accounts. We build on, you know, we build on our technology platform. So, we built these accounts uh well before um this time period to make sure we're ready um come July when ultimately cons individuals will be given those initial awards into their accounts and hopefully be able to switch to other accounts like SoFi. We think we do a much better job >> we think we do a much better job of educating uh people to how to invest in the future. spend less than they make and invest the rest. And we do it in a more responsible way, giving people opportunities in SoFi ETFs as well as SoFi um auto investing in our robo accounts.

[00:34:12]>> Excellent. Okay. I didn't know that and I'm glad to hear it. I thought you would be a natural. I was saying, "Wow, I don't know why I didn't go for that business." Well, I was wrong. You went for it and you've got it. That's terrific. Anthony Noto is the CEO of SoFi Technologies, Sofi. Thank you, Anthony.

[00:34:28]>> Thank you, Jim.

[00:34:29]>> Money is back after the break.

[00:34:32]Coming up, you've got questions, Kramer's got the answers. Get charged up for a fast fire lightning round next.

[00:34:49]It is time. It's time for the light.

[00:34:53]Bye. Bye bye. S don't know the clock ahead of time. My stamp plan.

[00:34:58]And then the lightning round is over.

[00:34:59]Are you ready? Ke on Christmas. Let's start with Todd in California. Todd, >> hi Kramer. How you doing, buddy?

[00:35:06]>> I am doing well, Todd. How about you?

[00:35:08]>> I'm doing great, thank you. My family's been vacationing in Reno, Nevada for years. It's close to Lake Tahoe and the ski resorts.

[00:35:16]>> Okay.

[00:35:16]>> Reno seems to be having a resurgence lately. And the best resort hotel casino in Reno is the familyowned Atlantis. Uh we love their rewards program. They also own March Resort Casino in Black Rock Hawk, Colorado. The company ticker is MCR.

[00:35:36]Do you know something, Todd? I do not know that casino. I have called on many of the casino stocks. I think I should check out Monarch. I am going to go to Ben Sto after this research director and we're going to figure out why this stock has had just such an amazing run because boy, I need a new name after win. Really not working out anymore. Let's go to Dave in Illinois. Dave, >> Dr. Kramer, or should I call you Mr. Pink? It's Mr. White here. Oh my. Okay.

[00:36:06]Reservoir. What's happening, >> Jim? This $73 billion technology company provides hardware, software, and service solutions for networks worldwide. You mentioned them last week in your segment, 16 stocks that got away. This stock's performance since the middle of last year has been nothing short of spectacular up 500%. So Jim, can you along with Jeff Marks take a deeper dive into Sienna Corp?

[00:36:35]>> No, don't need to. G, that one like Dave, that one got us got away. That was Gary. He did an incredible job. If it came back down, I mean look, you know, in fairness, it went up to 527, come down to 475. But Dave, it's up 100%. And I do People talk about this rule of 40 they love.

[00:36:53]I think up 100% is a little bit too hot for me. So, I'm going to have to hold off. Boy, I remember when I bought that thing at the end in 1999. I crushed it.

[00:37:00]Let's go to Bob in Florida. Bob, >> hey Jim, thanks for taking my call.

[00:37:07]Appreciate it.

[00:37:08]>> Hey, real quick. I ran into you in New York about 15 years ago on the street and you were kind enough to take a selfie with me and I appreciate that.

[00:37:15]>> Well, my son and I love your show.

[00:37:17]>> It's easy to be nice as it is to be mean. Thank you very much. What's going on?

[00:37:23]>> Well, I'm uh kneede in uh applied material or applied digital right now and they just signed that big $7.5 million billion dollar contract with a >> Yeah, but the problem there is that you've got a stock that is making no money in a market where many people are making money and people are switching from the losers to the winners. I'm going to say no to apply digital, but I do want to go to Lewis in Pennsylvania.

[00:37:52]Lewis, >> hey Jim, thanks for taking my call. I like to get a buy, seller hold on Flagstar Bank.

[00:37:59]>> I know Flagstar Bank. Uh I I'm going to give you I'm going to give you a hold.

[00:38:03]And I'll tell you what, I'm just going to give you a hold.

[00:38:05]>> Don't buy. Don't buy. Don't buy.

[00:38:07]>> There's nothing special. It's not making all that much money. Doesn't have that big a dividend. It's just like eh I don't like air. No reason to buy it.

[00:38:13]Let's take another Let's go to Kimo in California. Kimmo.

[00:38:18]Kimmo.

[00:38:18]>> Hello, Jim. It's Kimmo from California.

[00:38:21]>> Okay. Ko, great to have you on the show.

[00:38:23]>> Thank you. My fiance, Michelle, gifted me your book in December.

[00:38:29]>> Oh, >> I joined the club two days ago and we can't thank you enough for teaching us.

[00:38:35]>> Oh, thank you. I mean, it's a it's a service book. I try to explain to people the stuff I do to um every night because I think they need more help. And same thing with club members. How can I help you?

[00:38:45]Oh, your teaching is tremendous. Your your whole style and your strategies and so forth. Anyway, we've done quite well between December and now.

[00:38:56]>> Excellent.

[00:38:56]>> And due to your book.

[00:38:58]>> Oh, thank you.

[00:39:00]>> That was the point.

[00:39:01]>> I have I was wondering what do you think about MP Materials?

[00:39:05]>> Oh, I like it very much. It's the only one in that whole area I really blessed because they've got the government's back. Uh they got the government's backing and they have really good solid management and they're doing a just a huge number of good things. So I say yes to that one. Let's go to Doug in Pennsylvania. Doug >> Jim, how are you? Thanks for having me.

[00:39:24]It's a pleasure. Unfortunately, I had to call you. Thank you.

[00:39:28]>> No problem.

[00:39:28]>> Could you talk to me about Fermy?

[00:39:31]>> Now that is one that I can't bless at all. That seems not even like a science project. It's more like a kind of science driveby. I don't want you in that stock. But you saw that one tomorrow and I think you'll feel good.

[00:39:42]And that, ladies and gentlemen, the conclusion of the LIGHTNING ROUND.

[00:39:48]>> THE lightning round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

[00:39:52]Coming up, Kramer's steaming over analysts response to Starbucks Quarter.

[00:39:58]He's ordering a recount next.

[00:40:10]At the end of every conference call, most companies hold a question answer session with the analysts. And after listening to a host of restaurant conference calls this quarter, I got to tell you, often these restaurant analysts, they should try running a restaurant themselves because they seem to be absolutely clueless about how this business works. Last night, the once bedraggled Starbucks reported and beat the numbers and raised the forecast. The quarter was a home run.

[00:40:35]But the analysts were surprisingly muted talking about disappointing margins and guidance boost that seemed too small given the dramatic increase in same store sales. I think they got it all wrong and the market clearly agrees with me which is why Starbucks shut up more than 8% today. That's a massive gain. As someone who ran a restaurant for a decade, I can tell you that the key component of earnings is satisfying the customer with the basics. how quickly their food comes, how cordial the servers are, how strong the culture of hospitality is. It's not the taste or the price of what you're serving, as much as you might wish it were. Brian Nickel, the unbelievably good CEO, orchestrated the turnarounds at Yum Brands, Taco Bell, as well as Chipotle, and now Starbucks, knows this all too well. You fix all the service issues, and then the customer want to splurge for a Starbucks. The customer who's hard to win over will become a repeat customer. She'll join the loyalty program, which has been pretty stagnant for many years. She'll try the special.

[00:41:31]She might sign up to have her coffee ready every morning at 8:00 a.m. That comes this quarter, by the way. And if she's well off, she'll regard her triple vented cappuccino with skim wet as an affordable luxury. If she isn't, it can be a nice size splurge. Nicholls investing in those customers now to see how they come. That way, he knows they can become regulars later. Brian knows that in order to pull off this kind of turn, you're going to have to initially hurt your gross margins. He took them down to 10%. But they should bounce back to 13% soon. He told me when I this morning when I spoke to him on squawk on the street and when they do, the naysayers will be forced to upgrade.

[00:42:08]They'll have to as there are only a handful of companies in this business with better margins. Once Brian gets these margins in the right place, which he will, this stock will become cheap, cheap, cheap. Right now, the whole group seems to have some pep. You heard from Breaker earlier. Terrific numbers there.

[00:42:22]Yum brands Adam Nazing quarter. The Yum quarter is befitting the disciples of Brian. Relies heavily on all of the technical executions I just mentioned earlier for its 8% sims for sales growth, including superior speed, improved customer experience, and a superior loyalty program. Hey, by the way, Brinker Sword 18, Yum Jump 3.

[00:42:40]Sometimes I wish success in the restaurant business seemed to be all about the mechanics. It does. I don't like it. It's about the mechanics behind the scenes. See, here's what happened to me. When we opened Bar San Miguel, I thought that our lowpric beer and our delicious food would be what brought the seats filled. Okay, that's what I thought would do it for us. It I it turned out it was the service. People loved our waiters and our bartenders.

[00:43:05]They got talked about. They put the people in the seats. Without them and the precision in the back, which is the kitchen, we would have gone out of business years ago. That's just how it works. It ain't the taste. That and endless attention to detail. That's no fun at all. Has Starbucks gone the stock gone up too far too fast? Oh, maybe for today. But nickel is a long may she run character. And that's exactly what I think will happen with the stock of Starbucks. I like to say there's always bull market. I promise try to find it just for you right here on Money. I'm Jim Kramer. See you tomorrow.

[00:43:40]All opinions expressed by Jim Kramer on this podcast are solely Kramer'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. Kramer'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 MadMoney disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com/madmoney disclaimer.