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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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Boise Cascade Co: “It sells at four times earnings. I’m a buyer of a stock that sells at four times earnings.”

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Marten Transport Ltd: “Good company. Makes things, does stuff, rewards shareholders, valued reasonably. Buy.”

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Doximity Inc: “It makes very little money. And yet, I say buy it, because it’s going to make a lot of money.”

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AT&T Inc: “AT&T is okay now. They got rid of a lot of debt. That’s what I wanted.”

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Veru Inc: “It is very speculative, and therefore not for me to recommend.”

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday told investors they should buy stocks based on the company’s financial performance, not on whether they like its products.
“If you don’t know how the companies you own shares in will survive an economic hurricane, or even a [Federal Reserve] tightening or two, then just use the product,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday told investors they should buy stocks based on the company’s financial performance, rather than on whether they like its products.
Better yet, investors should also make sure the stocks they purchase can withstand the currently turbulent economy, he said.

“Doing the homework about the underlying company and knowing how the economy might impact it — that’s often more important than whether you like the product,” the “Mad Money” host said.
“If you don’t know how the companies you own shares in will survive an economic hurricane, or even a [Federal Reserve] tightening or two, then just use the product but don’t own [the company],” he added.
Cramer outlined these three main points to consider when determining whether a company is investable:

Check the company’s financial performance. “How the company’s doing: Is it losing gobs of money, does it have enough capital to last, does it have a path to profitability? If you don’t ask these questions, you’re asking for trouble,” he said.
How crowded is the industry landscape? Cramer noted that if a company operates in an industry that includes a plethora of competitors, it makes it hard to stand out and the stock may not be a great addition to a portfolio.
Can the company withstand a “hurricane” inflation fix from the Fed? “I want you to imagine a hurricane hitting a coastal area. What house do you want to be in? One that’s shielded by a big profit stream with a fortress balance sheet, not to mention a dividend or a buyback? Or one that’s just an idea, or an unprofitable product that happens to have a stock connected to it?” he said.

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday gave investors his blessing to buy shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure.
“It’s exactly what we like in this high inflation environment where the [Federal Reserve] is slamming the brakes on the economy,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday gave investors his blessing to buy shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure.
“Atlantica’s a real company that sells real stuff at a profit and returns those profits to shareholders, while still having a relatively cheap stock. It’s exactly what we like in this high inflation environment where the [Federal Reserve] is slamming the brakes on the economy,” the “Mad Money” host said.

Skyrocketing inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have put pressure on the global supply of commodities, including oil, which is driving up prices of barrels and gas at the pumps. Cramer noted that high-quality alternative energy companies benefit from the skyrocketing prices.
Shares of the sustainable infrastructure company closed at $32.15 on Wednesday, well off of its 52-week high of $41.32.
“The fact that you can buy Atlantica at down nearly ten bucks from its peak is a gift. This is a good, solid business with solid production growth for renewable energy over the past three years, including a big jump in 2021,” Cramer said.
He added that Atlantica had solid results for its most recent quarter, reporting 7% comparable revenue growth, and has a 5.5% dividend yield. “They distribute a massive chunk of change to their shareholders,” Cramer said.
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Reckitt has become the dominant infant formula manufacturer in the U.S. with a 54% market share since the closing of Abbott’s Michigan plant, said Robert Cleveland, the head of Reckitt’s infant formula operations in North America.
Reckitt has the capacity to produce 700 metric tons of baby formula, or 21 million 8-ounce bottles, at its Singapore and Mexico plants for delivery to the U.S. market, Cleveland said.
The FDA still has to give the green light for Reckitt to bring in product to the U.S.

Robert Cleveland, senior vice president of nutrition for North America and Europe at Reckitt, speaks via video conference during a House Commerce Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
Sarah Silbiger | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Baby formula manufacturer Reckitt has the capacity to produce at least 21 million 8-ounce bottles of infant formula at its plants in Asia and Latin America for the U.S. market if the Food and Drug Administration gives it the green light, a senior company executive said Wednesday.
Parents have struggled to find food for their infants after Abbott, previously the largest formula manufacturer in the U.S., was forced to close its plant in Sturgis, Michigan, and recall several batches of formula in February due to bacterial contamination at the facility.

Reckitt has become the dominant manufacturer in the U.S. with a 54% market share since the closing of the Abbott factory, according to Robert Cleveland, the head of Reckitt’s infant formula operations in North America and Europe. After a ramp-up in U.S. production, Reckitt has shipped 35% more formula to stores through April compared with the year-earlier period, the equivalent of feeding an additional 200,000 infants, Cleveland said.
Reckitt also has the materials in place and is ready to start production at its Singapore plant for the U.S. market on June 5, according to Cleveland. The company can initially produce 200 metric tons of formula, the equivalent of 6 million 8-ounce bottles, in Singapore and have the product on the shelves in the U.S. later this month. Reckitt can then ramp up to deliver 500 metric tons from Singapore to the U.S., Cleveland said.
If the FDA allows Reckitt’s plant in Mexico to ship to the U.S. as well, the company can move at least 700 metric tons of formula — or the equivalent of 21 million 8-ounce bottles — to the U.S. market from Singapore and Mexico combined, Cleveland said. An 8-ounce bottle amounts to one feeding for an infant.
“We’re literally waiting here by the hour for the FDA to tell us to go ahead, and if they do — we’re ready to run,” Cleveland told CNBC. “We think we can substantially fix this problem in the U.S. on our manufacturing alone.”
The FDA has eased baby formula import restrictions in response to the shortage, asking manufacturers to submit applications to ship formula produced for foreign markets to the U.S. The FDA declined to comment on the status of Reckitt’s request to bring product into the U.S. from Singapore and Mexico.

“We’re maximizing all of our production in the U.S.,” Cleveland said. “Then we’ll bring in everything we can from Singapore and Mexico and we’re just going to maximize those options until we start to see the shelves full and consumer fears abated.”

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President Joe Biden met virtually with executives from the infant formula industry, including Cleveland, Wednesday afternoon to discuss U.S. efforts to end the shortage. The Biden administration has flown in 1.5 million 8-ounce bottle of infant formula made by Nestle from Europe, with additional flights scheduled next week to pick up millions more bottles from the manufacturers Bubs Australia and Kendamil in the United Kingdom.
The Biden administration has also invoked the Defense Production Act to support increased production of infant formula in the U.S. Cleveland said supply chains in the industry have faced persistent problems with input shortages and delivery delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of Reckitt’s suppliers recently had trouble delivering enough oil used in formula products because they couldn’t get a part used in their production line. The administration used the DPA to help the supplier get that part, and the company was then able to deliver the oil to Reckitt, Cleveland said. The administration has also made calls to suppliers to facilitate more consistent trucking schedules, he said.
The U.S. formula shortage likely will not end until late summer, Cleveland said, though that timeline does depend on when Abbott’s Michigan plant starts production again and whether the FDA greenlights Reckitt’s foreign formula.
Abbott has said it aims to restart production in Michigan on June 4, though it will take six to eight weeks for its formula to reach store shelves. The Michigan facility shut down in February after four infants who consumed powdered formula made at the plant were hospitalized with Cronobacter bacterial infections; two of those infants died.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf told Congress last week that the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention couldn’t prove a link between the infant illnesses and Abbott’s baby formula products. However, inspectors found “egregiously unsanitary” conditions at the Michigan plant, Califf said.
Abbott is required to take hundreds of steps under a consent decree backed by a federal court to ensure the Michigan plant meets U.S. food safety standards before it can reopen.

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Disney has not released a theatrical Star Wars film since 2019.
The company has instead created series such as “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” to tell stories set in a galaxy far, far away over a longer period of time on its streaming service Disney+.
Fans say they are happy with the direction Disney is taking the franchise and are looking forward to future content.

Ewan McGregor reprises his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the new Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

ANAHEIM, California — By the time Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi’s untitled Star Wars film is set to hit theaters in late 2023, it will have been four years since a tale from a galaxy far, far way has been on the big screen — and that’s OK with fans.
“The movies as a whole have been really underwhelming, whereas the shows have been phenomenal,” said Alex, an assistant administrator at an architectural millwork manufacturer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He did not provide his last name. “[The shows are] better than the movies themselves, especially the sequel trilogy.”

Alex was among the thousands of die-hard fans who attended the Star Wars Celebration last weekend in Anaheim. It was the 14th incarnation of Celebration, an event that has occurred intermittently since 1999, before Disney bought George Lucas’ space opera franchise. The convention started as a way for fans to gather and celebrate their love for Star Wars, but has grown into a platform for Disney to announce new projects and stir up fervor for upcoming releases.
Star Wars television shows have helped bolster Disney’s fledgling streaming service by drawing in subscribers who are devoted to the franchise, which has rung up $6 billion in global box-office receipts. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” became Disney+’s most-watched premiere globally over the weekend, the company reported Tuesday, proving that fan fervor is strong for this 45-year-old franchise no matter what format it comes in.
Streaming growth is a key part of Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s business plan. He set a goal of 230 million to 260 million subscribers by the end of 2024. As of the end of the fiscal second quarter, Disney said it had nearly 138 million subscribers.
Between Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe series offerings on Disney+ this year, including “Moon Knight” and “Ms. Marvel,” the company is hoping customers have several compelling reasons to remain with the service until the end of the year rather than cut ties and re-up on a month-to-month basis. But while Disney has continued to release multiple Marvel movies a year, it has embraced a streaming-centric model for Star Wars, at least for the time being.
This year at Celebration, Disney touted its upcoming slate of television series, including “Andor” and “Ahsoka,” which are about popular supporting characters from previous stories. The first season of “Andor” will have 12 episodes and will premiere in August. Other live-action projects include the Jude Law-led “Skeleton Crew” and “The Acolyte,” a series set during the final days of the High Republic, roughly 100 years before the events of “Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.”

CNBC spoke with dozens of fans at the convention, and it was clear that they are happy with the direction Disney is taking the franchise. And they’re looking forward to more.
“I think it’s more bang for my buck,” said Corinthia Warner, 26, a delivery driver from Eugene, Oregon. “I get more content, but the same degree of story. Like if it were a movie, it would be condensed down into a two-hour format, but the fact that we get about an hour every week makes for a slower paced and more developed and thorough story that I really like.”

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in “The Mandalorian” on Disney+.

Warner was one of many fans at Celebration who gushed about “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” calling it “the perfect segue between the prequels and the original trilogy.” The series, which focuses on the titular Jedi (Ewan McGregor, reprising his role from Lucas’ prequel trilogy) and his mission to protect young Luke Skywalker, will run episodes throughout the month of June.
“It marries the best of the old and the new Star Wars,” Warner said.
Fans have been clamoring for live-action Star Wars television series since creator George Lucas first teased “Star Wars: Underworld” during 2005’s Celebration. Lucas said the show would take place between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope” but wouldn’t feature main characters from previous films.
Set primarily in the Coruscant Underworld, the show was expected to be action-heavy and focus on everyday people within the Star Wars universe. However, Lucas placed the series on hold in 2010 due to budget constraints, and the project was never fully realized.
Now, more than a decade later, Disney has shifted its focus from blockbuster films to carefully curated episodic storytelling via its Disney+ streaming service. The transition came in the wake of mixed reviews for 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and 2019’s saga finale, “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Star Wars fans have always had divisive opinions about their beloved franchise. New movies, in the views of fans, have been both too tied to past ones and strayed too far. New characters draw a similar amount of adoration and loathing from fans.
However, “The Mandalorian,” which premiered in 2019, is proof that Star Wars can strike a balance between nostalgia and innovation and that the franchise doesn’t need to be in theaters to thrive.
The show, which is slated to release its third season in 2023, harks back to Star Wars’ roots. It echoes themes and storytelling devices from serialized narratives about Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, heroic sci-fi characters from the first half of the 20th century who inspired Lucas to create the original 1977 film.
It also allowed Disney to introduce live-action versions of beloved characters from animated shows such as “The Clone Wars” and “Rebels.”
Disney has also continued telling new stories through animation with shows such as “The Bad Batch” and the anthology series “Star Wars: Visions.” Upcoming shows include “Tales of the Jedi” and “Young Jedi Adventures.”
“I think they are amazing,” Francisco, an occupational therapy assistant from Santa Ana, California, who did not provide his last name, said of Disney’s slate of Star Wars TV shows. “So far I’ve loved everything that’s come out. Them taking a step back from the movies to figure all that out, I think that’s a good thing. Now that they’ve got these shows as a model of how to treat Star Wars, I think they can go back to the features and do a better job.”

The Mandalorian and the Child on Disney+’s “The Mandalorian.”

It was a consensus among fans that the break from theatrical releases was a smart move for Disney. Many bemoaned the lack of a singular vision in the sequel trilogy, which includes “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker.” The three films were handled by different directors who had very different ideas of how characters and the plot should move forward.
“They retconned everything in the third movie,” Francisco said, referring to the literary device of retroactive continuity, in which facts established in a plot are changed or contradicted in later storylines.
Having seen what a consistent vision from “Mandalorian” showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, who previously oversaw animated Star Wars series, can produce, fans said they think the studio will be more careful about how future theatrical releases are handled during preproduction and production.
The film franchise has been incredibly lucrative for Disney since it purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas in 2012 in a deal worth around $4 billion. The five feature-length films produced by the company have generated nearly $6 billion at the global box office, inspired two theme park lands and an immersive hotel — not to mention merchandise sales.
“I feel like television is definitely a better format for people to experience Star Wars,” said Hayden Kirkeide, a 22-year-old student at the University of California, San Diego. But she is still eager to see Waititi’s film.
“I, of course, love the movies.”

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Sweeping restrictions on outdoor water use go into effect on Wednesday for more than 6 million residents in Southern California as officials work to conserve water amid a severe drought.
The new rules, set by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, limit outdoor watering to once a week in many jurisdictions.
The megadrought in the U.S. West has produced the region’s driest two decades in at least 1,200 years.

Paul Ramirez, 54, waters the front lawn at his home in Boyle Heights, California, May 11, 2022, as his dog Bandit, a 2 year old Yorkshire terrier, jumps for joy.
Mel Melcon | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Sweeping restrictions on outdoor water use go into effect on Wednesday for more than 6 million residents in Southern California as officials work to conserve water during a severe drought.
The conservation rules, among the strictest ever imposed in the state, were set by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the largest water distributors in the country.

Households are now forbidden from watering their lawns more than once a week in many jurisdictions. The goal is to slash water use by 35% as the state enters its third straight year of drought.
The rules come after California officials in March announced they were cutting State Water Project allocations from 15% to 5% of normal amid declining reservoir levels and reduced snowpack. California’s two largest reservoirs have already dropped to critically low levels, and the state this year experienced its driest January, February and March on record.

“The amount of water we have available to us right now is not going to be enough to carry us through the entire year unless we do something different,” MWD general manager Adel Hagekhalil said at a news conference in April. “This is a wake-up call.”
The megadrought in the U.S. West has produced the driest two decades in the region in at least 1,200 years. Conditions are likely to continue through 2022 and could persist for years. Researchers publishing in the journal Nature Climate Change have estimated that 42% of the drought’s severity is attributable to human-caused climate change.
As the summer months approach, curbing outdoor water usage is the most effective way to conserve water. Landscape watering represents about half of all urban water use in California.

During the state’s drought from 2012 to 2016, former Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a mandatory 25% cutback in water use, during which many residents responded by switching to drought-tolerant landscaping.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has not imposed such mandatory restrictions, but requested last year that residents curb household water consumption by 15%. Officials also have urged people to use recycled water for outside projects, take shorter showers and only run dishwashers and washing machines when full.

A nearly empty Lake Oroville is seen from above in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021.
Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

But the measures haven’t worked so far in getting residents to conserve water. In fact, the state’s average urban water use rose nearly 19% in March compared to the same month in 2020, according to State Water Resources Control Board data.
Officials have warned that if water use doesn’t decline significantly — or if drought conditions grow even more severe — they could impose a full outdoor watering ban as soon as September.
Newsom, during a meeting last week with leaders from the state’s largest urban water suppliers, warned California could be forced to impose mandatory cutbacks.
“Californians made significant changes since the last drought, but we have seen an uptick in water use, especially as we enter the summer months,” Newsom said in a statement. “We all have to be more thoughtful about how to make every drop count.”

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General Motors on Wednesday slashed the price of its 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV, likely making it the least expensive electric vehicle on sale in the U.S.
The Detroit automaker cut the price of the Bolt EV by $5,900 and of the larger Bolt EUV by $6,300.
The reductions come as automakers, especially pure EV companies, hike prices on their electric vehicles amid changing market conditions and rising commodity costs.

2022 BOLT EUV
Source: Chevrolet

DETROIT – Despite rising commodity costs, General Motors on Wednesday slashed the price of its 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV, likely making it the least expensive electric vehicle on sale in the U.S.
The Detroit automaker cut the cost of the Bolt EV to a starting price of $26,595, down $5,900 from the 2022 model year. GM also reduced the price of its larger Bolt EUV by $6,300 to start at $28,195. All pricing includes a mandatory $995 destination charge.

The cuts come as automakers, especially pure EV companies, hike prices on their electric vehicles amid changing market conditions and rising commodity costs, specifically for key materials needed for EV batteries.
Automakers such as Tesla and GM’s Cadillac brand, as well as EV start-ups Rivian and Lucid, have increased prices on EVs. GM warned during its first-quarter earnings call in April that it expects overall commodity costs in 2022 to come in at $5 billion, double what the automaker previously forecast.
A Chevrolet spokesman declined to discuss the profitability or build costs of the Bolt models, but they’re likely lower than newer vehicles. The Bolt EV has been in production since 2016 and features older battery technology than the company’s new EVs such as the GMC Hummer pickup and Cadillac Lyriq, which feature its “Ultium” technologies.
The price adjustment is an effort to stay competitive in the EV marketplace and “better aligns” the manufacturer’s suggested retail price with the average sale price for the customer, Chevrolet spokesman Shad Balch said in an email.

The Bolt EV is expected to be the least expensive EV on sale in the U.S. However, not all automakers have released their pricing for the 2023 model year.

The lower prices should help bolster Bolt sales, which Steve Majoros, vice president of Chevrolet marketing, last month said is expected to reach a record in 2022.
GM electric vehicles don’t qualify for federal tax incentives, which can total up to $7,500 for other automakers, because the company has sold so many. However, Bolt owners could be eligible for state EV incentives, which would bring the price down further.
Production of the 2023 Bolts is expected to begin in the summer. GM is in the midst of refilling its dealership pipeline with the vehicles after a recall due to fire risks shut down sales and production for several months of the past year.
The Bolt EV has a range of up to 259 miles on a full charge. The larger Bolt EUV has a range of 247 miles on a full charge.

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The expansion will cost United about $100 million.
United and other carriers are racing to hire pilots as travel demand returns.
United expects to add more than 2,000 pilots this year.

A United Airlines passenger aircraft prepares to leave its gate and taxi to the runway at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California.
Robert Alexander | Getty Images

United Airlines plans to break ground Wednesday on an expansion of its training center in Denver, an initiative aimed at getting thousands of pilots ready to fly passengers as the carrier goes on a hiring spree.
The project will cost about $100 million. The new four-story building at its training campus will allow United to add six new flight simulators. The airline plans to add an additional six simulators later on. It currently has space for 40 simulators.

The new simulators will be to train pilots on the Boeing 737 Max and Airbus jetliners, after a massive order last year, as well as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Marc Champion, managing director of the flight training center, told CNBC.
The carrier expects the project to be completed before the end of next year. Champion said the training center expansion project has been in the works for about a year.
Like other carriers, United is facing intense competition for pilots as the industry recovers from the Covid pandemic. The airline is planning to hire about 10,000 pilots between now and the end of the decade, Champion said. The Chicago-based carrier expects to add about 2,000 pilots this year.
Last year, United started teaching the first students at its new flight school, the United Aviate Academy, in Goodyear, Arizona. It aims to train 5,000 pilots there by 2030.
Fleet changes and idled pilots during the pandemic created massive training backlogs across airlines as many aviators switched to new aircraft or waited for slots to complete federally mandated recurrent training.
American Airlines, for example, last year decided to keep a pilot training center in Charlotte, North Carolina, open to handle the volume. United, however, maintained much of its fleet, and reached an agreement with its pilots’ union early in the pandemic that helped it keep many of its pilots trained.

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