Apr 28, 2026 · 44 min
Cramer weighs a market reset against Iran-driven risk
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 4/28/26
The episode tests whether a broad pullback can refresh the bull market just as concentrated tech earnings and geopolitical danger raise the stakes.
- 1Cramer frames the sell-off as a potentially healthy reset rather than evidence that the bull market has ended.
- 2Mega-cap earnings from Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple could become a turning point for the broader market.
- 3Cramer argues the Iran war presents market risk that investors should not dismiss as minor or easily discounted.
Don't miss
Cramer shifts from stock calls to a warning that the Iran war cannot be treated as a minor or easily discounted conflict.
The brief
Jim Cramer casts the market decline as a rainy-day sell-off that may refresh a bull market, contrasting periodic pullbacks with the late-1990s dot-com bubble.
Viewer questions lead to bullish calls on Bank of America and Marvell, while Nucor CEO Leon Topalian discusses steel demand from infrastructure, energy, data centers, manufacturing, and autos.
Cramer previews a concentrated earnings week for Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple, then examines Honeywell’s breakup and Ventas’s senior-housing growth case with Debra Cafaro.
The Lightning Round favors distinctive technology, real growth, and strong fundamentals before Cramer turns to Iran, warning that the war could create significant market risk.
The episode’s central tension is whether investors should treat weakness as a healthy reset or prepare for earnings and geopolitics to unsettle the market further.
What was said on this episode
64 statements · 41 positive · 18 negative · 3 mixed · 2 neutral
Investors should expect and welcome periodic stock-market sell-offs.
“rain is to gardening as sell-offs are to the stock market. You should expect them. Maybe even hope for them.”
Listen at 1:09
The current AI-led market period differs fundamentally from the dot-com bubble.
“this period is nothing like that one”
Listen at 3:44
Leading current AI-related companies have real sales, earnings, and strong prospects.
“the companies that are moving up strongly are real. Meaning they have sales and earnings and their prospects are extraordinary.”
Listen at 3:51
OpenAI disclosures could bring down the broader AI market structure.
“It may bring the entire edifice down when the company, well, let's just say, tells us the truth.”
Listen at 4:22
Betting against OpenAI has not been profitable so far.
“it has not paid to bet against it so far in practice or in theory.”
Listen at 6:02
The market needs a shakeout and short positions to remain sustainable.
“We need a shakeout of the fairweather soldiers and the fairweather shareholders. And we actually need to have some shorts built in.”
Listen at 6:37
Corning needed its sell-off after a parabolic stock rise.
“Corning needed that too”
Listen at 7:26
Investors should gradually sell portions of rapidly rising positions.
“The pros do what we call schnitzeling. taking a little bit out of the stock on each day of the parabolic move.”
Listen at 7:40
Investors can gradually repurchase after a 5%–7% decline from their initial sale.
“Then if the stock drops 5% to 7% from where you first sold, then you can begin to buy it back slowly”
Listen at 7:53
Compute, storage, and power shortages are driving related technology-stock moves.
“The three shortages that are driving the moves”
Listen at 8:23
The current sell-off can cool the market and enable further gains.
“We've got the sell-off that we start to need in order to be able to cool things off so that we can refresh and go higher again.”
Listen at 9:16
Bank of America is a buy.
“B of A is just a plain out buy.”
Listen at 9:32
Bank of America is undervalued and should be purchased.
“Bank of America is way too cheap. It should be bought.”
Listen at 9:45
The investor should continue holding the remaining Marvell shares.
“You let it run.”
Listen at 10:21
Marvell Technology is a strong winning investment.
“I think that you've got a total winner in Marvell.”
Listen at 10:23
The investor could sell some Marvell shares if the price reaches $200.
“If it gets to 200, maybe take a little off.”
Listen at 10:33
UBS’s Nucor downgrade is wrong because data-center construction supports steel demand.
“I think that's wrong, given that we're building data centers all over the country”
Listen at 12:29
Nucor has unprecedented backlogs and order-entry rates.
“we have backlogs, order entry rates that are unparalleled. that we've never seen before.”
Listen at 13:48
Nucor’s prior investments have not yet delivered their full earnings potential.
“we are just getting warmed up. We are yet to see the full demand in pent-up earnings. cycle from the investments we made have yet to hit our balance sheet.”
Listen at 15:16
Nucor remains undervalued at a discounted valuation multiple.
“we are still undervalued and we still traded a discounted multiple.”
Listen at 15:31
Nucor’s performance is not primarily caused by tariffs.
“We are not up because of tariffs.”
Listen at 16:32
Nucor will continue rising because of its investments.
“And you're going to continue to see us rise because of those investments.”
Listen at 16:47
Nucor is a growth company with further growth ahead.
“we are a growth company. And again, we are just getting warmed up.”
Listen at 17:41
Nucor will return at least 40% of net earnings through repurchases or dividends.
“you're going to see Nucor continue to reward our shareholders by providing at least 40 percent of our net earnings back to them”
Listen at 17:44
Border-wall construction will continue generating significant steel volume through 2027.
“the border wall has been a significant volume over the last few months and will continue well throughout this year into 2027.”
Listen at 18:59
Owning Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft has been a good investment strategy.
“it's been a great idea to do that.”
Listen at 22:24
Mega-cap tech stocks may fall sharply if data-center spending lacks matching revenue.
“unless they see big revenues match with that spend, well, those stocks are going to get crushed, too.”
Listen at 22:38
Technology companies cannot sustain spending without corresponding revenue growth.
“You can't keep spending without a matching revenue at this point.”
Listen at 22:44
Most reporting S&P 500 companies are beating revenue and earnings expectations.
“the vast majority of them are beating expectations on both the top and bottom lines while posting impressive year-over-year growth.”
Listen at 23:04
Seventy percent of reporting S&P 500 companies beat revenue expectations.
“70% of them have posted revenue beats.”
Listen at 23:16
Seventy-eight percent of reporting companies beat earnings expectations.
“78% of these companies have beaten bottom line expectations thus far.”
Listen at 23:47
Reporting S&P 500 companies have 9% sales growth and 24% EPS growth year over year.
“sales are up roughly 9% year-over-year for the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, while their earnings per share up a stunning 24% year-over-year”
Listen at 24:06
The S&P 500 trades at just under 22 times current-year earnings estimates.
“the S&P 500 currently trades just under 22 times this year's earnings estimates”
Listen at 25:11
Honeywell’s aircraft business will become an excellent business.
“this aircraft business is going to be a fantastic business.”
Listen at 28:10
Honeywell will improve its aircraft business.
“They're going to fix it.”
Listen at 28:19
Investors are making a major mistake by failing to respect Honeywell.
“they're making a very big mistake.”
Listen at 28:28
Ventas’s growth is driven by a large and growing aging population.
“it's really built on demographics. really serve a large and growing aging population”
Listen at 30:16
Senior-housing demand growth could continue for ten years.
“I think you could have 10 years of this.”
Listen at 30:45
Senior-housing demand growth will remain very high for another decade.
“the growth really for another decade. continues at very, very high levels.”
Listen at 31:09
Ventas has multi-year growth potential from higher rates and occupancy.
“We're about 87 percent occupied. So there's a multi-year growth and value creation that just comes from rate and occupancy growth in the existing portfolio”
Listen at 31:50
Beam Therapeutics is a speculative investment.
“Beam is a speculative situation.”
Listen at 36:08
Beam should be bought only if its treatment can save many lives.
“I would buy this if you thought that they've got something that can save a lot of lives. That's it. Otherwise, move on.”
Listen at 36:17
Ondas is an unoriginal company losing substantial money.
“Ondas is a me-too company. It's a company that is losing a lot of money”
Listen at 36:35
Ondas lacks a distinctive competitive offering.
“I don't see anything distinct about Ondas.”
Listen at 36:48
Halliburton is attractive as an investment.
“I like Halliburton very much.”
Listen at 36:58
Halliburton remains undervalued.
“I continue to think it's very inexpensive.”
Listen at 37:09
Snapchat lacks growth, causing poor stock performance.
“this company does not have growth, and that's why the stock has been so awful.”
Listen at 37:38
Nokia is a winning investment.
“I think it's a winner.”
Listen at 38:00
Nokia has substantial good technology.
“I think it's got a lot of good technology.”
Listen at 38:07
Cameco is a genuine uranium company and attractive investment.
“I like CCJ because it's a real uranium company.”
Listen at 38:19
Cameco is a winning investment.
“You've got a winner in CCJ”
Listen at 38:26
Organon has received a takeover bid from an Indian company.
“Organin's done. Organin's got a takeover bid. Congratulations to them. They got bought by an Indian company.”
Listen at 38:41
Novo Nordisk is performing poorly in its business.
“I think that they are not good at what they do.”
Listen at 38:50
Investors should buy Johnson & Johnson because it is discounted and financially strong.
“I would go buy some J&J. I think J&J is well down from its high, and it's got a great balance sheet”
Listen at 38:57
Harley-Davidson has excellent technology but mediocre earnings.
“the technology is absolutely terrific, but the actual earnings, they're just blah.”
Listen at 39:11
Cramer will not recommend Harley-Davidson because it lacks growth.
“I can't recommend a non-growth stock on this show.”
Listen at 39:17
Iran has proven more difficult to defeat or manage than the administration expected.
“Iran is a country that turned out to be a lot harder to reckon with than the administration thought going into this.”
Listen at 41:05
A blockade of Iran could produce prolonged economic effects.
“there's nothing temporary about a blockade.”
Listen at 41:52
The Iran war is beginning to raise business input costs and affect earnings.
“We're beginning to see the impact on earnings, though, whether it be the price of fuel or plastic or transit.”
Listen at 42:01
War-related price increases resemble the inflation experienced during COVID.
“The price increases feel disturbingly like what we went through during COVID.”
Listen at 42:05
The Iran war is reducing global travel.
“The war is starting to cut into world travel”
Listen at 42:15
The war will eventually reduce consumer spending across multiple sectors.
“At a certain point, we're going to see the reticence of the consumer, not just at the pump, but at restaurants and retailers.”
Listen at 42:32
The war’s costs will increasingly affect corporate earnings reports.
“Going forward, I think earnings season will be increasingly colored by the cost of the war.”
Listen at 43:11
If the Iran war persists, earnings estimates will decline across many businesses.
“If it doesn't end soon, then we have to expect numbers to come down for a huge swath of businesses.”
Listen at 43:18
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
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