Cramer “On Track” at Ford, a Busy Market Week, Disney's Pixar Problem 6/20/23

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Jim Cramer (0:30)

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 Tuesday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla at the New York Stock Exchange. Cramer is live from the Performance Review Center at Ford Test Track in Dearborn, Michigan. A lot more from Jim in just a moment. In the meantime, futures are red as investors absorb some of these recent gains. Busy week on tap, although shortened with Powell on the Hill tomorrow and Thursday. Our roadmap begins with a rally pause. Futures do point to a softer opening for stocks today.

China cutting some key interest rates again and Goldman trimming its growth outlook there. The latest warning signs for the world's second largest economy and some disappointment at Disney. Pixar's Elemental notching a record worst three day weekend box office start in its history.

We'll begin though with Jim at Ford. Jim, you kind of teased this last week. Give us a sense of what you're doing there.

Jim Cramer (1:26)

All right, well, this is really about the change going from internal combustion engine to EV and how Ford's managing it. Of course, Ford versus Tesla comes up very many times when I spoke with Jim Farley this morning before he gave me a ride that I have to admit I was completely nauseated on and was very grateful that I had not eaten breakfast. But I have to tell you here, they're very motivated. They are about, let's say, the new, not the old, even though I've got an unbelievable Mustang E and I've got a 150 EV behind me. Carl, this place is so ready and Farley's so competitive that I think it's not necessarily a Tesla lookout, it's world lookout, both in terms of profitability. Oh yeah, that was really ill-advisor.

Yeah, I was not at the wheel.

That was where I tried to figure out whether the muffin should come up or just keep it down. It's a touch and go situation. But we had a great time. Yeah, right there was also the burning rubber was something that I typically haven't done since I was 16 But why not go there?

Carl Quintanilla (2:32)

Donuts first thing in the morning, Jim, normally has a different connotation. That's a heck of a way to wake up. I mean, I'm curious if you can frame it, if you can frame the whole conversation in light of what Farley has said recently, namely about what it takes to compete with Chinese makers and also what it means to design your products with some frequency. He's given some shots across the bow to Musk about that kind of thing.

Jim Cramer (2:58)

Yeah, well, China, they have to admit that they are not ready right now, but they hope to be.

We question whether they should even be allowed to sell here after all the different geopolitical tussle. But I think that a lot of it is just the idea, look, we've got cars that people want. Tesla's got machines in factories that people are in love. We spent a lot of time on Faber and whether, on the Faber interview, not Princess Bride. We did not go into Princess Bride one bit, but it was pretty amazing to see how competitive he is and that not necessarily Trojan horse to have his charging stations, but to make it so the small, mini-sized businessman or business person knows that there's a charge place everywhere. He's about winning and he's about proving Wall Street wrong, Carl. Wall Street right now is so, let's say, jaded about what Ford can make. He's talking about big costs, cuts, but he's also talking about the union.

The union is declared war. And I don't know, there may be a strike in the often.

Carl Quintanilla (3:58)

Yeah, well, we got the writers, obviously.

We're watching the actors. I see UPS, Jim, did vote to authorize at least, and we'll see what that may or may not mean maybe later in the year. They're talking about potential disruptions to back to school, if that happens.

Jim Cramer (4:15)

Yeah, and here it's a question of the union. They have a new union leader who is very antagonistic to what I regard as capitalism, but you could argue is just the fat cats. And there's kind of fat cat like talking. I mean, he's talking about how the capitalists are about being greedy.