4 takeaways from the Investing Club’s ‘Morning Meeting’ on Monday
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Monday’s key moments. Cramer sees ‘inventory glut recession ‘ Halliburton rallies off Schlumberger earnings Big Tech earnings this week Fed meeting and second quarter GDP 1. Cramer sees ‘inventory glut recession’ Weber (WEBR) on Monday announced a quarterly earnings miss, along with the departure of its CEO. The stock fell as much as 20% on the news. Weber’s downbeat results shed light on a broader industry issue that Jim Cramer called an “inventory glut recession.” How did this happen? Consumers bought a lot of home supplies last year as everyone stayed home due to the Covid pandemic — and today, retailers have too much stuff that they’re forced to price down. “Too much demand was pulled forward during the pandemic,” said Jeff Marks, the Investing Club’s director of portfolio analysis. Consequently, “growth simply isn’t there.” “It’s not the consumer that is in trouble, it’s the retailers who are stuck with inventory,” Cramer added. The consumer shift to spending more on services also doesn’t help this scenario, as evidenced by last week’s strong second quarter results at American Express (AXP). 2. Halliburton rallies off Schlumberger earnings Club name Halliburton (HAL) rose 3% on Monday, rallying off rival Schlumberger ‘s (SLB) strong second quarter, which was reported on Friday. Oilfield services company Halliburton also delivered stronger-than-expected second quarter profits last week. When compared to its peers — Schlumberger and Baker Hughes (BKR) — Halliburton delivered the highest increase in quarterly revenue while Schlumberger continued to deliver the highest operating margins, according to Stifel analysis. Cramer spoke with Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller on “Mad Money” last week . They discussed the company’s proprietary technology that, according to Miller, is “changing the game in oilfield services.” The Investing Club bought of 150 more shares of Halliburton at about $27.65 each on Monday. 3. Big Tech earnings this week Microsoft (MSFT) will be reporting after the closing bell on Tuesday. Shares of the Club holding hit an all-time of nearly $350 each back in November. They’ve lost about a quarter of their value since. “It’s very rare that you get Microsoft at a discount of 80 points from its high,” Cramer said. While it has some PC exposure, Microsoft is a high-quality growth name that the Club has owned for a while, and we continue to feel good about it. We’re not anxious to sell. On Meta Platforms (META), we think the Facebook parent may have an good quarter but the prospects for the next quarter could be weaker because the metaverse hasn’t taken off yet. Half of the S & P 500 companies are reporting earnings this week, which also include second-quarter report cards from Club holdings Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN). 4. Fed meeting and second quarter GDP It’s also a critical week for the U.S. economy. At the conclusion of its two-day meeting Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is expected to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points to reign in inflation. We’ll also be watching Thursday morning’s gross domestic product reading for a first look at whether the economy contracted in the second quarter, following the first quarter’s negative reading. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long META, GOOGL, MSFT, HAL, AMZN and AAPL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) “As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade” THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.”
