The stay-at-home plays led the stock market higher Thursday as lawmakers continued to bicker over what to include in a new coronavirus response package, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said after the market closed.
The market managed to climb higher, despite no significant developments coming out of Washington, D.C. nor on the Covid-19 vaccine front, the “Mad Money” host said. The major averages made gains the day prior on hopes that Congress would soon strike a deal on additional recovery spending.
“No vaccine news whatsoever and no federal assistance whatsoever — you might think that sounds like a bear [trigger], but as we saw today, the Cramer Covid-19 stocks can still lead us higher,” Cramer said.
Tech stocks led the way as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged above the 11,000 level for the first time and closed at another record high. The index gained 1% during the session to close at 11,108.07. The Dow Jones advanced more than 185 points, or 0.7%, to settle at 27,386.98 while the broad S&P 500 index moved 0.6% to 3,349.16.
Cramer highlighted six tech stocks and offered comments on the companies:
Shares of Facebook rose 6.5% to close at $265.28.
“Facebook’s become a lifeline for small businesses trying to transcend their brick and mortar prisons. When your city’s locked down or you have rigorously enforced social distancing,” Cramer said, “these retailers have to find another way to ply their wares.”
Etsy reported a top- and bottom-line beat in its second-quarter report before the market opened. The stock rose to a new high, but ultimately fell 3.6% during the trading day to $130.66.
“You could argue it’s because no stimulus means people won’t have enough money to buy stuff on their platform,” he said. “Honestly, I think Etsy got slammed because it ran up way too much” going into the quarter.”
Shares of Salesforce rallied more than 2.5% by the session close to finish at $207.79.
“It’s the king of the cloud. It makes large enterprises more efficient, especially when it comes to landing and retaining new clients,” Cramer said. “Their customers don’t need a bailout. They’ll be fine.”
Apple stock climbed 3.5% to reach $455.761 per share, inching close to a $2 trillion market valuation.
“Apple’s finally getting the valuation it deserves because Wall Street’s starting to realize the stock’s going up based on the lifetime value of its incredibly loyal customers, like a consumer packaged goods play. For years, I’ve said this stock should have a much higher price-to-earnings multiple,” the host said. “No wonder the stock keeps surging. It’s a wholesale re-rating.”
Microsoft’s stock price moved 1.6% higher to $216.35 per share.
“I hear [President Donald Trump] wants the government to get a cut” out of the TikTok deal,” Cramer noted. “That may sound completely ridiculous to you, but honestly, companies that get sweetheart deals from Uncle Sam really should kick something back to the Treasury. Otherwise, Microsoft’s getting a huge handout for free.”
Shares of Disney rallied 2.5% to settle at $130.82.
“You’d think this would be a vaccine play. We’ve learned that Disney’s a growth stock with a fabulous streaming business and a huge balance sheet that will allow them to wait out the pandemic,” the host said. “They’re making a mint from Disney+, while the parks, the movie business and ESPN can all afford to wait until next year for a vaccine.”
Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Facebook, Apple, Disney, Microsoft and Salesforce.
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