Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 9/18/26

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer discusses Apple's latest product launches, including the iPhone 18 and the revolutionary foldable Duo, while also previewing upco

Key takeaways

• Apple's new Duo foldable phone features a seamless, crease-free design with superior resolution and page-turning functionality.
• Cramer emphasizes that high smartphone prices are offset by carrier subsidies, making them accessible despite premium pricing.

Main topics

• Apple product launches
• AI security and identity verification

Notable quotes

"The Duo is revolutionary. And it could become indispensable for all of you who are watching."

Conclusion

Cramer ends with a call to focus on innovation, trust in engineering,

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. What made you confident that you could do something that hadn't been done before? I have no fear of failure. Trailblazing women changing the game. One of my favorite pieces of advice, think about what your boss's boss needs. Leadership can look in many, many different forms. It really does come down to just trusting yourself. Life is short and you just gotta think big to accomplish big things. Julia Boorstin hosts... CNBC Changemakers and Power Players. New episodes every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (1:01) My mission is simple. To make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bone working somewhere. And I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now. Speaker 4 (1:18) I'm Kramer. Welcome to Bad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. Other people make friends. I'm just trying to make you a little bit of some money here. My job is not just to entertain, but to teach you. So call me at 1-800-743-CBC or tweet me at Jim Kramer. At last, a quiet week. Even if we didn't gain any ground, I'll take it. Some called it a waste of cab fare and five clean shirts. I love that line. I couldn't agree more. And the volatile closeout with the Dow ultimately dipping 95 points, S &P advancing 0.17%, and the Nasdaq rising 0.39%. Left us thinking, good, only 12 more days of the hardest month of the year. Then again, next week may be more of the same, only a few big companies important. There's one incredibly important and I think positive analyst meeting that I'm going to cover in a moment. Me? I use the tranquility as an opportunity to go see the exciting new phone launch at the Apple Store in the basement of the old GM building today, Midtown. And I was wowed by the iPhone 18. Mostly because the bane of my existence dimming battery life. Get this. This new phone gets something like 36 hours per charge before it runs out of juice. Speaker 4 (2:32) The pictures are incredible. To me, at least, they look like they're professional grade. But I had to chat-sheet me, Tina, that stupid word aperture that I see all the time, because it's one of those terms like misaligned. I mean, what does it really mean? If I were a photographer, if I was an aficionado, I'd be dying for this phone. I bought it for the battery life, admittedly, because I'm tired of living in fear that my phone's about to die just when the Eagles score a touchdown and I can't post E-A-G-L-E-S on X. I live for small things. While I was at the store, I pulled up with Apple CEO John Ternes and CFO Kevin Parrott to take the temperature of the event. They were confident and excited. But what's basically a double launch, first this phone, and then a month from now, the Duo comes out. And that's the big foldable phone. That's huge. I think the 18 is incremental, but the Duo is revolutionary. And it could become indispensable for all of you who are watching. I got to play with the duo yesterday. It was kind of astounding. I mean, first, it may be foldable, but there's no crease. I mean, none. I mean, you can't tell. You can't tell. It is in one part. That matters because I think if you looked like it was two pieces, it would not be as graceful, Elliot, and it would certainly be distracting. The screen, gorgeous. The resolution, better than anything I've ever seen. Oh, and those of us who don't like our Kindles because we like turning pages, it's got a page-length screen that lets you do it like a hardback. It's so impressive. I told both Parekh and Ternus that I intend to buy the duo as a second phone. That's right. Two phones. I can't imagine it ever being off when I'm working or when I'm traveling. I don't want to hop off to take a phone call. In fact, when we get Starlink on an airplane, I say, I bet you'll be able to watch anything perfectly on this pocket screen that unfolds into a very exciting mini television. I've missed so many Super Bowls, so many game sevens. that this device may be the end of the tyranny of Wi-Fi. It was odd. When I mentioned buying a second phone, neither of them seemed surprised at all, probably because the reviews for the Duo are said to be among the best in Apple's history. Of course, they couldn't assure availability, so I duly noted that I should preorder the Duo on October 16th. I don't want to wait until October 23rd, the availability date, because who knows if they even have availability at the time. High-quality problem, though. I know the cost is high, but I have a 17 Pro Max and I have a chance to sell when I priced it out. It might go for 800 bucks. That's not so bad. If I switch to T-Mobile, which is my orientation, I can get an even better deal. It drives me crazy when I hear all these Wall Street analysts talking about how Apple's new phones are too expensive because of rising DRAM, 7-gigit compressors. Sure, they're too expensive if you're paying full price, bozo. But who pays full price? Do some work. These things are heavily subsidized by the wireless carriers because they're all commodities anyway. CEO Ternus is continuing the Apple tradition of having the products speak for themselves, which I think is a pretty good idea. I mean, after all, when you turn the cards over, you don't have to explain that a king beats a queen, right? I mean, plus I'm a kid in a candy store, a Hershey plant, or even an M &M bag when I go to these events. For those of us who live 24-7 on Apple's device, there's nothing more fun than discussing the new designs with Apple exec Greg Joswiak, whom we all know as Joss. I always talk to him. He's always there. He's fantastic. He's got so many great ideas. I talk to him about Wunderman per share, and that's my evergreen joke. He always laughs. These products engender. I don't think I've ever seen Jaws more excited about an Apple product than the Duo, though. I don't blame him. I haven't been this excited about an Apple Watch since maybe the original iPhone reveal. Speaker 4 (6:02) And that's what I have to say about Apple. Now let's take a look at the game plan for next week. Like I mentioned before, there's not much on the horizon. It looks boring, but we got an action pack. You ever hear like they say it's a jam packed day, like right around like 12 minutes into the most shows. It's jam packed day. I don't say that because sometimes it's jam packed and sometimes it isn't. Let's start with the most consequential. On Wednesday, we have an Okta analyst. OK, this is it. Of all the CEOs I had on the show this past week in Silicon Valley. Octa's Todd McKinnon may have been the most enlightening in his own soft. Sweet way, actually. He calmly explained that his company's specialty, identity verification, extends to AI agents, those little gremlins, the ants, the buzz, whatever you want to call them. He was quite confident he could stop any of these attacks we've been hearing about because he knew the identity of each agent. They do have identities. And once you have the identity, he knows their whereabouts. It wouldn't matter if it was a swarm or a handful. The agents, they'd be stopped. It got me thinking, how is it possible we have all these real smart people, these AI companies, and they got us all worried about a practical cyber solution? Why don't they, like, talk to the cybersecurity guys? I bet we hear a lot about that on Wednesday. I would do that if I were them. We've got some earnings of consequence, too. On Tuesday, KB Homes reports, I think it's going to be one more lousy number from a home builder, because how are they supposed to do it well when, like, the Fed's raising rates? I mean, bane of their existence. Mine's battery life. Theirs is like, I don't know, not selling homes. OK, basically the same thing we heard from Lenore or this week, we're going to probably hear from KB. Wednesday, besides the Okta meeting, we have reports from two companies that are very important to small, medium sized businesses. Speaker 4 (7:43) They do uniforms and paychecks. Now, actually, I shouldn't say do more than uniforms at Cintas. They've got a lot of other things, but it's a pretty good business. Paychecks handles payroll processing and human resources. Both are coming in earnings with a full head of steam. Makes sense. That segment of the economy remains the hottest and historically won't be hurt by that first rate hike. General Mills reports, too. One thing I never thought I'd see was a 6.72 percent. dividend yield for this very consistent company. But input costs, GOP-1s, processed foods are all taking their toll on the stock, which is how a deal gets so high. What a red flag. I can't recommend it. Thursday, we get results from Darden. Okay, what's that about? That's Olive Garden. Anyway, Darden's the parent of Olive Garden, and Olive Garden's a gold mine. That said, call me a Brinker guy, because it's three for me. I like them. They have a stronger game plan. By the way, they have that $11 special. Very good. Finally, here's Costco. Reports after the bell on Thursday, stocks acting poorly. And it's a club name, and it has not been a good club name. They're having problems getting younger people to re-sign up for membership. The issue, younger people are more likely to shop online at home. They don't really have big houses. And it's this in-store experience that makes Costco so apart from others. And what great samples. Don't eat before you go to Costco. Remember, September is the coolest month. It's been okay, not great, jam-packed so far. But the good news today is that we are finally oversold. Yes, officially. Minus 5.6. And we may be due for a bounce. But the bottom line, unless the president says something extreme out of pique with Iran, here's hoping we'll have a relatively sedate couple of weeks and get out of this month without it turning into the House of A's. Jason in Pennsylvania. Jason. Speaker 1 (9:23) Jim, good afternoon. I'm a first-time caller, long-time listener. I appreciate everything you do for the individual investor. Oh, thank you, Jason. I appreciate that. In 2014, I bought a position in Micron Technology. I haven't touched it since. Twelve years later, and with the AI boom, that value of my position has increased dramatically. I don't need the money right now, and I don't want to pay the tax man, but I know what you say about pigs getting slaughtered. Micron reports at the end of the month. The stock crossed $1,000 today, but it's still 25 % off its all-time high. Do you think that it's time to ring the register on Micron? No, Jason, I don't. Speaker 4 (9:57) I don't. You're not being—this one—the reason I'm saying this is it sells at 13 times earnings, maybe six times that year's earnings. I care about P.E. multiples, and this is one incredibly cheap stock, which is why we have a giant position for it for the charitable trust. All right, listen to me. September can be a rough— really rough for the market. So here's hoping we have a date couple weeks coming up. Wouldn't that be great? On Mad Money Tonight, Jam Pack, Robinhood has captured the young investor. But what is it doing to keep them engaged throughout their lives? I'm learning more from the CEO. Then is it time to get bearish on Capra? I'm coming. I'm going off the charts on this non-precious metal that's integral to the economy. And then Siemens is at the forefront of the of the industrial AI movement. I'm finding out more from the company's top brass. So stay with Kramer. Speaker 5 (10:51) Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow