Buffett Shrugs Off Fitch Downgrade, Qualcomm Shares Sink, Live: Shopify President 8/3/23

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Jim Cramer (0:31)

It's Jim Cramer here. You're listening to the opening bell of CNBC's Squawk on the Street. Don't miss a minute of the action.

Carl Quintanilla (0:38)

Good Thursday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla, Jim Cramer, at Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. David Faber has the morning off. We do have some persistent weakness in the pre-market after the worst day for the Nasdaq since February. Bond yields still elevated even after some reassuring productivity and labor cost data. Our road map is going to begin with Warren Buffett, though, weighing in on that Fitch downgrade, telling CNBC he's not worried about it. We've got all the details. Apple and Amazon, of course, the two mega cap tech giants set to report after the bell tonight. And speaking of earnings, we're going to talk to Shopify's president this hour on the company's latest quarter after topping some estimates.

But let's begin with tech as we look ahead to Apple and Amazon tonight. The Nasdaq, as we said, worst daily performance since February, Jim.

Are we going to use Qualcomm as a read for tonight?

Jim Cramer (1:26)

No, Qualcomm is just pathetic. I mean, I was just disgusted with that quarter. I'm so tired of their hype.

I'm sorry. I'm keeping a negative attitude about them. I'm positive with some other things.

No, I mean, like to start, I mean, once again, they do the same. Christian Arman's does the same thing. It's great, it's great, it's great, it's great, it's great. And then you get to actually, but you know what, it's bad and it's weak. It's great, it's great, it's great. Well, it's bad, it's weak. And this is both auto and handset, inventory buildup and no, I'm making this Samsung story. This allusions to Apple, but no, it is not a tell. Now, you could say, well, look, maybe Apple is coming in too hot. I think the 14 is doing well. And I think there's three pieces today that say the service revenue is gonna be very good. So I like that, but Qualcomm is a tell for Qualcomm.

And I'm getting annoyed at Qualcomm because you can't constantly say things are good and then drop bombs. That doesn't work, okay? And I'm not saying it was how was the play Mrs. Lincoln. It's not that, that's the next time if you go to that. But I just think that it's time to have a real sense that this is a company that is one step forward, two steps back, and I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of it being an important company for us because you can not do what they're doing, which is having no accountability other than right here, right now, saying enough. Stop saying things are great when they're not.

Carl Quintanilla (2:50)

A lot of calls today, DB does cut to hold. They go to 120, shave about 10 bucks off. Amman's commentary, though, last night was more about, oh, we want to go in this with a conservative attitude, no big promises.

Jim Cramer (3:03)

But my problem is that when you have, look at what Lisa did, Sue did yesterday, and the stock was up seven and finished down horribly. But Lisa said, listen, we're getting near the end of the inventory problem. There's been an inventory problem, the inventory problem.

With Qualcomm, when it was at 130, people were saying it's okay. Auto, he talks about how there's every auto company he's looking at at their product. And then auto's slow. And look, I mean to be critical. I am saying that the buck stops here. We cannot, and I'm glad there was a downgrade. You gotta, when things aren't good, you have to say, listen, we're not there yet.

You don't say it's good and then have your CFO drop a bomb. This is not Amy Hood, by the way, with Sidon Adela. I mean, Adela tells a good story, and then Hood will tell a good story, but Hood will say, listen, we gotta be sure. Amy, Amy's creative, known Amy for 30 years.

They have total credibility. But I, Qualcomm's a tougher Qualcomm, and it's really a cautionary lesson for all CEOs out there. Because when you have, when you tell people that you're gonna make it up with auto, because auto's so good, you better really come in like a rock star. So I just say, I don't want to spend any more time on Qualcomm other than I was very disappointed.