Jim Cramer sees opportunities in Friday’s ugly market. Here’s where he is looking
Every weekday, CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer hosts a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Friday’s highlights. 1. Stocks fell on Friday as war in the Middle East escalated. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost nearly 1 percent after President Donald Trump said Friday there would be no deal to end the U.S. war against Iran without Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” Despite the ongoing uncertainty, Jim Cramer believes the “end of the world view” has gone too far and sees buying opportunities in this “ugly market.” Jim singled out Goldman Sachs, Cardinal Health, and Boeing as stocks to rally during Friday’s pessimistic session. We accomplished this with our fourth Cardinal Health purchase of the week after starting a position on Monday. While limited to Goldman, we upgraded the stock to a buy-equivalent rating of 1. We don’t trade Boeing, but Jim said he likes it because its ties to the travel economy have weighed on shares this week even as it makes progress in its turnaround. Jim also said he liked that Nvidia dropped 1% on Friday ahead of its annual GTC conference, which begins March 16. Oil prices rose to their highest levels since April 2024 on Friday as war 2 fueled supply disruption concerns. Gas prices in the US are already reflecting the rise, which benefits Costco thanks to its reputation for offering the lowest gas prices on the market. “When gas is skyrocketing, people go to Costco,” Jim said. People who drive extra miles to Costco to get gas may be tempted to pop into the tank and make other purchases. Shares of the membership-only retailer rose 1% on Friday, a day after the company reported solid quarterly earnings. We liked to see momentum in comparable sales, showing that the company is clearly taking market share from other retailers. However, we expect membership renewal rates in the US and Canada to stabilize. Following press, we maintained our hold-equivalent 2 rating on the stock but raised our price target to $1,100 from $1,050. 3. While the recent increase in private loan payments continues to suppress sentiment, the pain in financial stocks continues on Friday. Questions about oil and the health of the economy also have negative implications for this group. Goldman and fellow club names Capital One and Wells Fargo are absent Friday. At least we’re avoiding the trouble experienced at BlackRock on Friday, as the asset manager’s shares tumbled nearly 6% after it decided to limit withdrawals from one of its private credit funds. We exited the position earlier this week due to pressure on the private market sector. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” Jim said. “I just didn’t like the way you acted.” 4. At the end of the video, the stocks covered in Friday’s rapid fire were: Marvell Technology, Palantir, Gap, CoreWeave and Dow Inc. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long GS, BA, CAH, COST, BLK. See here for a full list of stocks.) When you subscribe to the CNBC Investment 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 would wait 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.
