Cramer handicaps the collision of 2 more Big Tech earnings and the jobs report

At least until Friday's employment data, we're getting a hit or two that should define the week - Alphabet on Wednesday evening and Amazon on Thursday evening. These companies, both nation states with seemingly unlimited capital, are run by top executives who are attuned to both the stock market's reaction and the image they create. This is a far cry from last week's gains. Apple is keeping up with the market. Meta Platforms barely tolerate Wall Street. Tesla doesn't care at all beyond his desire to commit fraud. Unfortunately, Microsoft got a little spiritual, and I found myself confused on the week's post-earnings conference call. Judging by the stock price, I wasn't alone. Alphabet from A to Z has become a magnet for money, and it does everything, and I mean everything - from seeking funding for autonomous driving service Waymo at a reasonable $110 billion valuation. I know Waymo is a small potato compared to most of Alphabet, but it's a big potato for a public starved of everything the consumer can admire, hence the love for Elon Musk. Waymo rides are a lot of fun. They're even better as a template for future generations of non-drivers. Of course, a Jaguar robotaxi is expensive, but there may be versions that we do not know about. Suffice it to say: buy, buy, buy. The bulk and nuts of the alphabet are controlled by Ruth Porat, who is probably, if not the, most savvy executive in the country. I don't know how he can be both humble and kind. The title of president and chief investment officer confuses Alphabet's amorphous style; After all, Sundar Pichai is the CEO and in charge. But when it comes to how the company behaves and looks, we're all so accustomed to Ruth's former role as CFO running the toughest post-earnings conference call in the industry that we attribute mythical powers to her when it comes to interacting with Wall Street. Three words came to mind: The Best. A year and a half ago, Alphabet was an underdog. Many of us were worried about Google and its relationship with a questionable bot that appeared to be last in the race for productive artificial intelligence. We were also surprised by the bluster of the Justice Department's antitrust campaign against the company. At that time, Justice Amit Mehta had ruled that Google (have you noticed that we have all almost stopped using the clumsy alphabet) was a monopolist. Having won this victory, the Justice Department stirred up stories that, unlike Microsoft more than two decades ago, this time they would actually punish the technology, namely Google, by depriving it of its most profitable parts. It's like they were going to resurrect the Bing search engine. This conversation absolutely terrified me, and we dumped the shares even after Google's amazing advisor assured me they would win. The lawyer was right. In September 2025, the judge reversed his decision, leaving Google stronger than ever, I think, as the king of the internet. There are no monopolists anymore. And with the twisted tone of someone who actually messes up, the judge blessed Apple with a $20 billion payment to be its primary search partner, using the twisted logic that Apple would be a stronger rival to reign in Google. Ah. This decision was designed to propel Google into the stratosphere, and it did. Once it reached the stratosphere, we realized just how good Gemini was when Gemini 3 was released back in November. All our fears about what Google might do to thwart its own initiative have been dispelled. Instead, we learned that this powerful combination has jumped to the top of the consumer list. Of course, Anthropic is the winner in the business-to-business (B2B) code disabling/writing world. Musk's Grok and Meta AI have a purpose in their own eclectic worlds, and OpenAI's ChatGPT has a first-mover advantage that can never be displaced. But like all great consumer products, once you try Gemini you'll never go back. It is not foolproof and the information needs to be verified. But still very good. I love it. There is more. Alphabet's two real stars are YouTube and Google Cloud. YouTube has become the video center of the world. Much cheaper than a cable bundle; At its peak, before YouTube cut the cord, it was costing me $150 a month. It's almost funny to hear about customers lost to Comcast video, knowing that it's ultimately similar to America Online. It's brutal, but I'm among friends. The spectacular playback of the NFL through its incredible football package has reinforced that YouTube is a better presentation than the heretofore unconsidered, linear presentation. I have no idea what YouTube is worth; Maybe as much as Alphabet stock? But the engine behind the company's success may be the cloud and its authoritarian boss, Thomas Kurian; In eight short years, he has positioned Alphabet as the best partner for just about anyone who doesn't want to use the biggest cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft's No. 2 Azure, or who wants to ditch it for a similar product. I met Kurian when he was first starting out and he lashed out at me saying he would be No. 1 one day. Unfortunately for him, there are giants behind the other guys. Unfortunately, at times they were reluctant to accept that there was a third person in the race. The funniest thing about this whole juggernaut is that Google is still winning, even though it won years ago. No one abandoned him because he was magnificent; Oh, I forgot to add that everything they do is amazing. Google's search relationship with Apple has solidified its world dominance. Google Gemini allowed things to turn against Apple. Now Apple is paying Alphabet to use Gemini. Moreover, Gemini eliminated the need for Apple to spend money to perfect Siri. Apple's failure to make Siri good, allowing it to work with Gemini instead, has proven beyond doubt that it's better to be lucky than good. Can you imagine how hated Apple would be by analysts if it made its own AI spear instead of leveraging Alphabet? This giant reports after the closing bell on Wednesday and I call it magnificent before listening to his call. Surprisingly, it's not even dangerous to do this. Going after them would be a Double Jeopardy for Justice, and it would be like winning Double Jeopardy on the show. It could be that good. That alone could make Thursday's session great. The big Amazon question mark The big question is: What will Amazon's Thursday evening earnings do in Friday's session? Apple is unpopular and analysts long for Steve Jobs. Amazon is disliked and analysts long for Jeff Bezos. The cards are face up: I think Amazon is great and Andy Jassy is a great CEO. We all seem to have forgotten about the Covid pandemic and how Amazon triumphed over bricks and mortar in a matter of months. We now think Amazon is a bloated monster. We love Prime as much as we love our iPhones, but that means nothing for their shares. This is because these are known as B2C - business to consumer - and we prefer to pay everything for B2B and almost nothing for B2C because it is considered unstable and therefore has low multiples. Not only that, but who would have thought that Walmart would sneak up on Amazon to challenge it in e-commerce, except for those who go to Walmart, that is, no one on Wall Street? Amazon has B2B, and in keeping with Wall Street's dislike of the "consumer," it's that division that matters. Unfortunately, Wall Street's criticism of AWS is that it is outdated and not a viable platform for starting a business. As its growth rate slowed, Amazon was easily overlooked. Now that its growth rate has accelerated, Amazon can easily be ignored. Remember, Wall Street is volatile and two-faced, so it's possible to be poorly evaluated both on the ups and downs. Meanwhile, Amazon has destroyed the drugstore chains, emasculated the department stores, and is now quite methodically moving into grocery stores — and don't say otherwise unless you're prepared for a lecture/training on the brilliance of its strategy. I'd rather they say mistakes, they made a few but that's not their style, at least not from the "press" perspective. We have a large position on Amazon, we hope they will somehow be restored to their former glory. The company is defending against this decision; just like I would be if I ran the best retailer in the world, with a relatively fast growth rate considering its size and a great advertising department, with the best web service still in existence. Am I impressed? Sometimes I'm afraid to say yes, but when it came to Alphabet, I wasn't impressed enough and became addicted to Microsoft. But I learned my lesson from hyperscalers. They tend to be given the benefit of the doubt. How else can Tesla, a large but declining-revenue auto company, become a robot and driverless taxi company in a quarter without jumping the price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple? Business report wildcard Here's next week's challenge. Amazon is such an enigmatic company that it lost the benefit of the doubt years ago. The reaction to Friday's earnings report contrasts with the government's nonfarm payrolls report, which could be combustible. If the jobs report due next Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET is weak, I can see President Donald Trump calling for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to resign and calling him funny names. If job numbers are strong, then we'll have to hear how Trump's decision to replace Powell as Fed chair Kevin Warsh will be split between fighting inflation by keeping interest rates high and pleasing the president by lowering rates. Unenviable. Powell's term as Fed chairman ends in May. It is a miasma, a weak intersection and does not affect itself positively. The only real hope is that Amazon's shares will decline heading into the quarter; Which may be difficult given that Alphabet rebounded from its pristine quarter the previous night. But if that happens and the report is good and Jassy is tactful, passionate and doesn't get defensive during the conversation, we can actually make money on Amazon stock. Thank God. I'm not unaware of all the other crosscurrents: a consumer packaged goods group that's advanced a good quarter from the moribund Colgate; An oil industry supported by a possible and existential attack on Iran; A metal band that, fortunately enough, seemed unstoppable until Warsh's appointment. Who knows how long memory-deficient chips will last? Wouldn't it be great if Apple said to Intel: "We'll buy everything you make from this new foundry." Any clarification from Intel on how 18a could help solve the shortage would be welcomed. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long GOOGL, AMZN, AAPL, MSFT. See here for a full list of stocks.) When you subscribe 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 trading alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable foundation's portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trading alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH THE DISCLAIMERS. NO CIVIL OBLIGATIONS OR DUTIES EXIST OR SHALL BE RESULTING FROM YOUR RECEIVING ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT CAN BE GUARANTEED.