Raphael Stevens

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

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Cano Health Inc: “I think very well of it. … But let’s just do CVS. That’s much better.”

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Cameco Corp: “Everybody wants uranium. You know what, I’m going to bless it.”

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Samsara Inc: “When you do these tracking companies, you’re up against just … It’s too competitive.”

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday offered a list of five agriculture and three fertilizer stocks he believes investors should consider purchasing.
The Russia-Ukraine war has caused wheat to rally significantly, and “given that Russia and Ukraine account for roughly a third of the world’s wheat production, there’s a real possibility that we could be looking at a global food shortage as this drags on,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday offered a list of five agriculture stocks he believes investors should consider purchasing.
The Russia-Ukraine war has caused agriculture to rally significantly, and “given that Russia and Ukraine account for roughly a third of the world’s wheat production, there’s a real possibility that we could be looking at a global food shortage as this drags on,” the “Mad Money” host said.

“I think the best approach to the bull market in agriculture is by betting on a basket of ag-related stocks, because when farmers make a lot of money, they pour it into seeds, equipment and fertilizer,” he added.
Cramer said that while investors don’t have to own the full basket of agriculture stock picks, these five are great options:

Archer-Daniels-Midland
Corteva
AGCO
Deere
Tractor

“I think they’re winners, and if they go down, buy even more,” Cramer said.
He also offered a short list of fertilizer companies that could be investable, though he said they are riskier to own than the agriculture stocks he listed.
Here is the list of fertilizer companies:

CF Industries
Mosaic
Nutrien

“If you want to bet on the fertilizers, recognize that this is a short-term trade, not an investment, so be ready to ring the register quickly on the way up and prepare to cut your losses,” Cramer said.
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Disclaimer

Questions for Cramer?Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
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Questions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected]

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday warned investors against buying unprofitable stocks due to unwarranted optimism about the stock market.
“Right now, we need to bow down to the Fed and the forces of inflation,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday warned investors against buying unprofitable stocks due to unwarranted optimism about the stock market.
“While I appreciate hope as a mindset, I’m not as confident as a lot of the buyers who are paying up. … We are seeing a level of enthusiasm here that to me feels unjustified. We shouldn’t be going back to a mentality where we like all stocks because so many of them will miss their numbers and still others will hit us with negative forecasts,” the “Mad Money” host said.

“Right now, we need to bow down to the Fed and the forces of inflation. Anything that brings down inflation, including tough statements from [Fed Chair] Jay Powell, will make big institutional money managers more likely to buy stocks rather than sell them. For the moment, that’s what controls the stock market,” added Cramer, who defended Powell against critics on Monday.
Cramer’s comments come a day after the Fed Chair Jerome Powell vowed to take aggressive action against inflation, including possibly implementing half-basis point interest increases, a week after instituting the first rate hike in over three years.
A company that has high stock prices won’t necessarily stay that way in a volatile market, even if it is performing well, Cramer said.
“There are periods, extreme periods, where the economy gets so out of whack that the stock market itself becomes a pariah asset class, a source of funds for other asset classes, so an individual company’s merits simply won’t be reflected in its share price,” Cramer said.
Cramer, who has touted a strategy of investing in profitable companies for months, also advised investors to refrain from picking up uninvestable stocks like floundering IPOs and SPACs.

“Tons of those stocks just aren’t worth much, regardless of whether Powell steers us into a soft landing or a hard landing,” he said.

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SpaceX has sent “thousands” of Starlink satellite internet kits to Ukraine, company President Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC.
“I’m proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine. It’s been enormously helpful, I think, to ensure people are still communicating,” Shotwell said.
She added that most of the funding for the Starlink kits came from sources, but added that “France helped” and “I think Poland is helping.”

A shipment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite antennas, also known as terminals, arriving in Ukraine.
Fedorov Mykhailo on Twitter

WASHINGTON – SpaceX has sent “thousands” of Starlink satellite internet kits to Ukraine, company President Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC on Tuesday.
Elon Musk’s space company began sending Ukraine shipments of Starlink satellite kits — which come with an antenna, a mounting tripod and a Wi-Fi router — shortly after Russia invaded. Ukrainians can use the Starlink kits to connect directly to SpaceX’s network in orbit, with the company having launched about 2,000 satellites to date.

“I’m proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine. It’s been enormously helpful, I think, to ensure people are still communicating,” Shotwell said during a panel at the Satellite 2022 conference in Washington, D.C.
Musk had Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine after Ukrainian official Mykhailo Fedorov asked the CEO for help while Russia’s attacks were disrupting internet service in the country.
Shotwell, who spoke to CNBC after the panel, did not have a more specific total on the number of dishes the company has shipped to Ukraine. She added that most of the funding for the Starlink kits has come from private sources, but added that “France helped” and “I think Poland is helping.”
“I don’t think the U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine,” Shotwell said.
The French and Polish embassies in the U.S. did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment.

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Formula 1’s 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix lured more than 1 million U.S. viewers for Sunday’s season-opener, which makes it the most viewed F1 race on cable since 1995.
The Bahrain Grand Prix attracted an average of 1.3 million viewers in the U.S. and peaked at 1.5 million viewers around 12:30 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET, as the race entered its final and most dramatic laps.
F1 popularity and viewership have shot up in the U.S. since the behind-the-scenes Netflix series “Drive to Survive” debuted in March 2019.

Formula One F1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain – March 20, 2022 General view during the race.
Thaier Al-sudani | Reuters

Formula 1’s 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix lured more than 1 million U.S. viewers for Sunday’s season-opener —making it the most-viewed F1 race on ESPN since 1995.
ESPN said the Bahrain Grand Prix attracted an average of 1.3 million viewers in the U.S. and peaked at 1.5 million viewers around 12:30 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET, as the race entered its final and most dramatic laps. Viewership for the race is up compared with same race on the 2021 schedule, which saw an average 927,000 viewers, according to ESPN.

The network used metrics from measurement and analytics company Nielsen to report F1 viewership in the U.S. Sky Sports owns the rights to air F1 races in the U.K.
Scuderia Ferrari and Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc won the Grand Prix, which earned Leclerc 26 points to start the season. Leclerc beat Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished second and earned 18 points for a team total of 44 points in the first weekend. Mercedes driver and Britain native Lewis Hamilton finished third and claimed 15 points.
This season, Hamilton seeks a record eighth F1 World Championship after falling in the last race of the 2021 season to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands.
The 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix drew more cable viewers to ESPN than any other since the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix, which averaged 1.74 million viewers, according to the network. It’s the most viewed race on any Disney-owned network since F1 returned to ESPN in 2018.
F1 popularity and viewership have shot up in the U.S. since the behind-the-scenes Netflix series “Drive to Survive” debuted in March 2019. The series’ fourth season, recapping the 2021 season, became available to stream on Netflix on March 11.

The racing company set a new viewership record last season when it averaged 934,000 viewers per event on ESPN channels and the ABC network — up 54% compared with F1’s 2020 races. F1’s 2021 viewership included an average 1.2 million viewers for the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, which aired on both ESPN and ABC.
The previous viewership record came in 1995 when F1 averaged 748,000 viewers per race.
In 2019, before the pandemic paused global sports and pushed more American viewers to F1, the sport averaged 672,000 viewers on ESPN channels. In 2018, after ESPN returned the races to its lineup, F1 races averaged 554,000 viewers on the network.

Formula One F1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain – March 20, 2022 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in action during the race
Thaier Al-sudani | Reuters

F1 adding more U.S. races

Liberty Media purchased F1 in 2016 for $4.4 billion, gaining access to a global fan base of over 400 million. It trades F1 as a tracking stock under the ticker “FWONA” on the Nasdaq. Tracking stocks are used by companies to gauge the success of a particular division in its portfolio.
Last month, Liberty reported the racing league generated $2.1 billion in 2021 revenue, up from $1.1 billion in 2020. And F1 should be in a position to increase revenue with a new race added to the North American slate.
In April 2021, F1 struck a 10-year deal to introduce a Miami Grand Prix, its second U.S. race on the schedule. The inaugural race in Miami is scheduled for May 10. Financials of that deal weren’t released, but CNBC reported motorsport insiders estimate the auto racing league netted between $17 million and $20 million per year under the pact.
F1 didn’t race in the U.S. from 2008 to 2011 but returned with the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin in 2012. The Miami Grand Prix brings four total races to North America as F1 also races in Canada and Mexico.
And F1 could expand in the U.S. again.
The racing company is reportedly seeking to return to Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That could happen as soon as the 2023 season and would be the first time since 1982 that Las Vegas would host an F1 race.
F1 didn’t immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on the possibility of a Las Vegas Grand Prix.
This season, F1 is scheduled to run 23 races, but longtime sports executive Chris Lencheski predicted that tally could expand to 25 or more with the addition of a Las Vegas race, another event in China and a potential return to India and Africa.
Lencheski, the chair of private equity consulting company Phoenicia, served as CEO of sports and entertainment marketing firm SKI & Company before selling the agency in 2008. The company formulated F1 sponsorships.
Lencheski said the Netflix series has boosted support for F1 races and said two potential manufacturers — Audi and Porsche — are also stirring buzz.
“Both of them have global footprints across automotive performance. So if they come [to F1], that’s a tremendous amount of corporate investment that would allow Formula 1 to expand teams,” he said.
F1 has also expanded its partnership revenue in 2021, including a deal worth more than $100 million with blockchain platform Crypto.com.
F1’s next race — the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix —  is slated for Sunday, followed by the Australian Grand Prix on April 10.

Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC’s parent NBCUniversal and Sky.

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Starbucks baristas at a Seattle location unanimously voted to unionize, a first in the company’s hometown.
The growing union push is among the challenges that incoming interim CEO Howard Schultz will have to tackle once he returns to the helm of the company.
The Seattle location is the seventh company-owned Starbucks cafe to vote in favor of unionizing under Workers United.

Starbucks Barista Gianna Reeve, part of the organizing committee in Buffalo, New York, speaks in support of workers at Seattle Starbucks locations that announced plans to unionize, during a rally at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle, Washington on January 25, 2022.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images

Starbucks baristas at a Seattle location on Tuesday unanimously voted to unionize, a first in the company’s hometown.
The Seattle location on Broadway and Denny Way joins six other company-owned Starbucks cafes in Buffalo, New York, and Mesa, Arizona, in deciding to form a union under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Only one location, in the Buffalo area, has voted against unionizing, giving Starbucks Workers United a win rate of 88%.

The growing union push is among the challenges that incoming interim CEO Howard Schultz will face once he returns to the helm of the company he helped grow into a global coffee giant. Starting April 4, Schultz will take over so outgoing CEO Kevin Johnson can retire and the board can search for a long-term replacement.
Under Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks gained a reputation as a generous and progressive employer, a position that is now in jeopardy as the union gains momentum and workers share their grievances.
Nine workers at the Broadway and Denny Way location voted to unionize, with no votes against. One ballot was challenged and was therefore not counted. Six other Seattle Starbucks locations have filed for union elections, including the company’s flagship Reserve Roastery, a flashy cafe designed to compete with more upscale coffee shops.
The initial Buffalo victories for the union have galvanized other locations nationwide to organize. More than 150 company-owned Starbucks cafes have filed for union elections with the National Labor Relations Board, all within the last six months.
Still, only a small fraction of the company’s overall footprint has been swept up in the union push. Starbucks operates nearly 9,000 locations in the U.S.

The National Labor Relations Board’s regional director will now have to certify the Seattle ballots, a process that could take up to a week. Then the union faces its next challenge: negotiating a contract with Starbucks. Labor laws don’t require that the employer and union reach a collective bargaining agreement, and contract discussions can drag on for years.
At Starbucks’ annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, Chair Mellody Hobson said the company understands and recognizes its workers’ right to organize.
“We are also negotiating in good faith, and we want a constructive relationship with the union,” she said.
She said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier that day that Starbucks “made some mistakes” when asked about the union push.
“When you think about, again, why we’re leaning on Howard in this moment, it’s that connection with our people where we think he’s singularly capable of engaging with our people in a way that will make a difference,” she said.
Schultz appeared in Buffalo ahead of union elections there to try to dissuade workers from voting to unionize, a move that may have signaled his return to the company and his approach to the organizing push.

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Several large shareholders have urged BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti to shut down the company’s news organization.
BuzzFeed News has won awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, but is now shrinking through voluntary buyouts.
BuzzFeed News has about 100 employees and loses roughly $10 million a year, according to people familiar with the matter.

BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti
Manuel Blondeau | AOP.Press/Corbis | Getty Images

BuzzFeed is shrinking its money-losing news organization, the company announced Tuesday, amid what people familiar with the matter describe as broader investor concern that the division is weighing down the company.
Several large shareholders have urged BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti to shut down the entire news operation, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. BuzzFeed declined to comment.

BuzzFeed’s stock closed over 6% higher at $5.27 on Tuesday.
BuzzFeed News, which is part of its content division, has about 100 employees and loses roughly $10 million a year, two of the people said. The company, which also has advertising and commerce divisions, said Tuesday its full-year content revenue grew 9% in 2021 to $130 million.
One shareholder told CNBC shutting down the newsroom could add up to $300 million of market capitalization to the struggling stock. The digital media company went public via a special purpose acquisition vehicle in December. The shares immediately fell nearly 40% in their first week of trading and haven’t recovered.
Peretti has been a vocal champion of the importance of BuzzFeed News for years, calling it “good for the world, good for business, and good for our company culture.” The organization’s newsroom has won several awards, including a Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Award.
“This morning we announced plans to accelerate profitability for BuzzFeed News, including leadership changes, the addition of a dedicated business development group, and a planned reduction in force,” Peretti said Tuesday. “We will prioritize investments around coverage of the biggest news of the day, culture and entertainment, celebrity, and life on the Internet.”

Read more: BuzzFeed says people are spending less time on Facebook
The company has offered voluntary buyouts to fewer than 30 employees, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the decision is private. The buyout is only available to reporters and editors who cover investigations, inequality, politics or science and have worked for the company for more than a year. BuzzFeed plans to make the buyout proposal to the NewsGuild of New York regarding its U.S. staffers.
Rather than shut down BuzzFeed News, Peretti is attempting to make the division profitable. He has a ready-made template: He made the decision to lay off 70 HuffPost staffers last year after acquiring the company from Verizon Media.
“Though BuzzFeed is a profitable company, we don’t have the resources to support another two years of losses,” Peretti said at the time. “The most responsible thing we can do is to manage our costs and ensure BuzzFeed — and HuffPost — are set up to prosper long-term. That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure HuffPost to reach profitability more quickly. Our goal is for HuffPost to break even this year.”
HuffPost is now profitable, according to a person familiar with the organization.

Editor-in-chief departs

Ahead of the job cuts, Mark Schoofs, BuzzFeed News’ editor-in-chief, told staff Tuesday he’s leaving the company. Samantha Henig, BuzzFeed News’ executive editor of strategy, will run the newsroom on an interim basis.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Tom Namako and Ariel Kaminer, executive editor of investigations, are also resigning. Namako is joining NBC News’ digital operation as executive editor.
In its fourth-quarter earnings release, Buzzfeed said quarterly revenue grew 18% year over year to $146 million. Profit rose to $41.6 million, up 29% from the same period the year before.
Full-year revenue grew 24% year over year to $398 million. Net income more than doubled from last year to $25.9 million.
WATCH: Why there’s so much volatility in BuzzFeed after it went public via SPAC

Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.

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