Cramer's week ahead: Inflation takes center stage with retail earnings, Powell testimony

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday previewed next week’s earnings slate and other pivotal market events, including congressional testimony from Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.

Given the calendar, the “Mad Money” host said he believes Wall Street’s primary focus will shift from Ukraine to the economy, specifically price pressures.

“Fortunately, even after today’s run, the averages remain somewhat oversold, but unfortunately inflation is sky-high right now,” Cramer said.

All earnings and revenue estimates are courtesy of FactSet.

Workday

• Q4 2022 earnings release after the close; conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET Monday
• Projected EPS: 71 cents
• Projected revenue: $1.36 billion

Cramer said Workday’s “problem” is its stock is expensive based on earnings, so it may get hit even if its quarter is solid.

HP Inc.

• Q1 2022 earnings release after the bell; conference call at 5 p.m. ET Monday
• Projected EPS: $1.02
• Projected sales: $16.52 billion

Cramer said investors need to be careful with HP ahead of the print because its rival in the PC industry, Dell Technologies, reported Thursday night and was hurt by supply chain issues.

Zoom Video

• Q4 2022 earnings after the close; conference call at 5 p.m. ET Monday
• Projected EPS: $1.11
• Projected revenue: $1.25 billion

“You have to be concerned about their business and whether it holds up as the pandemic recedes,” Cramer said.

Target

• Q4 2021 earnings before the bell; conference call at 9 a.m. ET Tuesday
• Projected EPS: $2.85
• Projected revenue: $31.34 billion

While Target shares jumped 4% Friday, Cramer said it’s hard to know which type of retail story the company will tell when it reports. It’s unclear whether it will say that business is going great, or if it will speak largely about supply chain and inflation challenges, Cramer said.

Kohl’s

• Q4 2021 earnings before the open; conference call at 9 a.m. ET Tuesday
• Projected EPS: $2.11
• Projected sales: $6.59 billion

Predicting Kohl’s quarter is even more difficult than it is for Target, Cramer said, noting the department store chain has been the target of takeover talks.

Domino’s Pizza

• Q4 2021 earnings before the bell; conference call at 10 a.m. ET Tuesday
• Projected EPS: $4.28
• Projected sales: $1.38 billion

Domino’s shares have been hit hard in recent weeks, Cramer said, simply because its performance is seen as consistent, not spectacular. “If Domino’s doesn’t blow the numbers away this time I think investors will decide that it was merely a Covid winner, not a post-Covid winner, even though it has many years of going higher. I disagree. I don’t make the rules, though,” he said.

Salesforce

• Q4 2022 earnings after the close; conference call at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday
• Projected EPS: 75 cents
• Projected sales: $7.25 billion

Cramer said he thinks the “relentless, ruthless selling pressure” on Salesforce’s stock may have finally ended Thursday. “I think the dumping is overdone. I bet it makes the numbers,” said Cramer, whose Charitable Trust owns the enterprise software giant.

Dollar Tree

• Q4 2021 earnings before the bell; conference call at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday
• Projected EPS: $1.78
• Projected revenue: $7.12 billion

Cramer said he’s not sure why Dollar Tree often is targeted by activist investors. Rather, he said he thinks the stock “is a winner,” particularly because the end of pandemic aid programs means some consumers need to shop at more discount-oriented retailers.

House Committee on Financial Services hearing

• Full committee meets at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday for a hearing on “Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy”

Cramer said he’s not expecting Powell to make any major policy announcements during the hearing. The top U.S. central banker also will address the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Okta

• Q4 2022 earnings after the close; conference call at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday
• Projected loss: Loss of 9 cents per share
• Projected revenue: $489 million

Okta is one of the highest-valued stocks in the market, Cramer said, but he explained he’s not sure what to expect from the quarter given there’s been some recent turnover in management roles.

Snowflake

• Q4 2022 earnings after the bell; conference call at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday
• Projected EPS: 4 cents
• Projected revenue: $591 million

Cramer said Snowflake is the high-multiple stock people have remained committed to as the market rotated away from growth-oriented tech. Cramer complimented the data-analytics software firm’s CEO, Frank Slootman, calling him the “newfound king of the cloud.”

Kroger

• Q4 2021 earnings before the open; conference call at 10 a.m. ET Thursday
• Projected EPS: 73 cents
• Projected sales: $32.64 billion

The grocery giant will offer a window into the latest on inflation and how U.S. consumers are responding, Cramer said. He said he’s thinking Kroger’s margins may be a little squeezed because its desire to “keep customers happy” could mean the company ate some of the cost increases it’s experiencing.

Best Buy

• Q4 2022 earnings before the bell; conference call at 8 a.m. ET Thursday
• Projected EPS: $2.77
• Projected sales: $16.72 billion

Cramer said he thinks Best Buy’s quarter may be better than its previous report. However, he said he believes there are “better stocks out there” as people spend less time at home than during peak Covid and therefore may no longer want to upgrade their TV to the latest model.

Costco

• Q2 2022 earnings after the close; conference call at 5 p.m. ET Thursday
• Projected EPS: $2.75
• Projected revenue: $51.36 billion

One of his longtime favorite stocks and a part of his Trust portfolio, Cramer said he’s closely watching whether Costco raises the price of its membership and/or issues a special dividend.

“If we don’t get one or both then I think my love could momentarily go unrequited. What an opportunity no matter [what],” he said. “If that one goes down, buy.”

February nonfarm payrolls

• Labor Department releases the latest jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday

Cramer said he’s looking to see the pace at which average wages are increasing. “If it’s red hot, then Jay Powell will look too dovish if he didn’t take a hard line earlier in the week when he had the chance,” Cramer said.