Ford, Disney, Costco and more — Jim Cramer provides his updated views on each

Every weekday, CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer publishes Homestretch—an actionable afternoon update just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. (We are no longer recording audio so we can make this new written feature available to members as soon as possible.) As we prepare for the CNBC Investment Club annual meeting on Saturday, I asked Jim Cramer a few quick questions about idea. Portfolio mover of the day. “With the electric vehicle market slowing down, Ford seems to be really interesting,” Jim said. One of Ford’s key points in the fourth quarter will be increasing efforts to produce hybrid vehicles while reducing spending on electric vehicles. “To me, Disney’s strategy is too much like Warner Bros. Discovery Channel,” Jim said. “They need some kind of change agent,” he added, alluding to the agency battle between Disney and “Train’s” Nelson Peltz. “What’s overlooked in all the half-discussion is Costco’s continued strength. I think we can hold on,” Jim said. “But I think Stanley Black & Decker is too cheap compared to the rest of the industry.” “I don’t want to get too excited, but the way Starbucks and Estee Lauder are trading is like China has hit rock bottom,” Jim said. We’ll be reviewing more stocks in the club’s portfolio during Saturday’s meeting, which members can watch live on our website starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Conference call update: Coterra Energy reported earnings Thursday night but held a conference call Friday morning. The key takeaway from the call is that the oil and gas producer has enough flexibility to shift investments into areas that will generate the highest returns. By 2024, that means reducing gas production and focusing on oil. Although the near-term fundamentals for natural gas look bleak, management is optimistic about the outlook 12 to 18 months out. The main reason: Significant new LNG export capacity is expected to come online between the end of the year and early 2025. That, coupled with the possibility of colder weather, gives the team hope of a price recovery. Coterra plans to keep a close eye on commodity markets and be prepared to take action when natural gas fundamentals improve. But in the meantime, it plans to remain disciplined. After all, it’s difficult to predict how long the downturn in the commodity cycle will last. “We will be patient and wait for the recovery in the natural gas macroeconomics,” Chief Executive Tom Jordan explained. The company would rather wait a few months for a recovery than invest prematurely, he added. We appreciate this focus on returns rather than chasing production and activity. Club Earnings: Two companies in the portfolio are scheduled to report next week. Both went public on Wednesday: discount retailer TJX Companies before the bell and enterprise software giant Salesforce after the bell. Outside of the portfolio, some of the more interesting earnings reports will come from Elanco Animal Health, Unity, Zoom, Lowe’s, American Electric Power, Cava, Snowflake, Paramount Global, Best Buy, and Zscaler. ECONOMIC CALENDAR: The data point that may have the biggest impact on the bond market is the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge: the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index. (See here for a complete list of stocks in the Jim Cramer Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investing Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes his trades. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he would wait 72 hours after issuing a trade alert before executing the trade. The investment club information above is subject to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and our Disclaimer. No fiduciary duty or obligation shall exist or arise upon your receipt of any information relating to the Investment Club. No specific results or profits are guaranteed.

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