Cramer's Morning Take: Starbucks 8/13/24

Jim Cramer (0:02)

Hey, it's Cramer, and this is my morning take on the market from today's CNBC Investing Club Morning Meeting. There's so much to talk about, I hesitate to just spend a second at least on the fact that the backdrop today is very good, because the PPI shows you once again that we're back at a level that is totally sustainable in terms of if you didn't want inflation, and the oscillator is still minus 2.2, so it's kind of perfect.

Jeff Marks (0:27)

Yeah, we'll see CPI tomorrow, of course. We need the inflation data to be held in check, so that the Fed is able to lower rates, as they're also mindful of the jobs market as well. So, yeah, you're seeing yields fall, 10-year yield back under 3.9. Maybe that's supporting some of the housing-related stocks. From Depot, we'll talk about too. But I think we have to get to the story of the day, that being Starbucks, CEO change, Lussman, Harrison, Vinal, Brian Nicol in from Chipotle.

Jim Cramer (0:57)

This is a demonstration of our decision to say it's not the franchise, it's the leader. And I came about that, obviously. I had an interview that was very difficult on CNBC. That had a lot to do with a quarter that was the worst versus expectations I have ever seen. And believe me, I'm not the only one who saw it. I think the board saw it. And the board recognized, maybe through Howard, maybe not. Howard still has a number of friends. Howard is very unhappy with it. But what I want to say is, everyone must. You don't ask the guy and just say, hey, goodbye, if you just made him CEO recently. But someone called Brian Nicol, who is the best, and Brian Nicol from Chipotle. And Brian Nicol said, I'll take it. And Brian Nicol loves Chipotle.

This is such a big deal. Brian Nicol is one of the most impressive CEOs. I happen to love the guy. I'll put it in my eye. I love him. And this was amazing.

Jeff Marks (1:57)

Stocks up about almost before today, 800 percent since Nicol took over years ago.

Jim Cramer (2:03)

When there was a big, remember the big airborne problem, the illness problem.

Jeff Marks (2:07)

Yeah, the virus. He solved that.

Jim Cramer (2:09)

He solved so much.

Jeff Marks (2:11)

Well, he's got Howard Schultz's stamp of approval. He was quoted in the press release saying he's the leader.

The company needs right now. And interestingly enough, so there's two activists involved right now at Starbucks, and Elliott's involvement was one of the reasons why we recently added to our position, upgraded the stock back to a one. But what's interesting here is that this decision to hire Nicol came without the direction of the activists.

Jim Cramer (2:39)

Not yet. My understanding is the activists played very little role. I think that when I look at the board, there are some people obviously who are very busy, who are good people. Mike Siebert is a great guy at T-Mobile, but he's working at T-Mobile for a reason. He's got his handful. Melody Hobson obviously this morning very much wanted to do it. Howard Militating did matter because they know he's good. Now you have a guy like Rich Allison, the Domino's guy who was let go. He took her little time at Domino's. You don't have the bimbo guy from Mexico, who's a very important executive, maybe played a role, bimbo being a huge bread company. But there was no one that I looked at on the board where it jumped out at me and said, this person is going to push Al Luksman. But therefore it makes me feel like it wasn't real combined effort.

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SPEAKER_3 (3:39)

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