Thats precisely where i want to start my game plan for next week, with a potential deal, namely at t buying time warner, something that david faber said could happen as soon as monday morning. Judging by the huge leap in time warner stock, its entirely possible this monumental possibly 80 billion deal could be announced 48 hours from now. That might be followed by another expected deal, qualcomm potentially buying nxp for 110. If these deals occur it will be a wild monday that might distract us from the biggest earnings week of the year. They could send ve cbs as well as all the Semiconductor Stocks that are small enough to get a bid, and im talking about everybody from skyworks to micron. Consolidation is a way of getting the bullish juices flowing. But lets not ice earnings. Monday morning we hear from kimberlyclark and vf corp. The market wasnt crazy about their quarters last time around. I think were looking at these companies way too shortterm because over time theyve given and dividends. But the market is in a what have you done for me lately mode right now, and the answer is not enough. Maybe the narrative will change, especially with vf corp as longtime ceo eric wiseman passes the baton to steve rendle. Speaking of passing the baton, sad to see Charlie Scharf depart from visa, but maybe well get a sense of what new ceo has to stay about the next steps for is titan. Not to make too much of this new ceo old ceo stuff, but caterpillar kicks things off on Tuesday Morning with outgoing ceo Doug Oberhelman presenting the numbers. Ive got to tell you i think doug has done a terrific, heroic job of managing the downturn that wiped out many other infrastructure and commodity related companies. I actually expect a pretty decent quarter. The industrials have fallen out of favor with investors because may be a little more immune to a slowdown, and its 3m. That reports before the open. The ceo has been able to reinvent the company through ingenuity. I think the pace of new product launches will drive earnings, but its still cyclical. It could still be under pressure. Tuesday, few companies are more venerable than procter gamble. Its done a lot of shuffling, but is it enough . I dont think the stock will power higher unless we hear more organic growth. We also hear from under armour. This stock has spent an awful power plays. I wonder if this isnt the quarter that can break the spell in a positive way. After the close tuesday, we get results from the Largest Company on earth, apple. And you know i expect a good number, and i always tell you dont trade it, own it. Aided by an increase in the Service Revenue stream that comes from so many different offerings that they now make available to iphone users, last quarter apple talked about people switching from competitors, even talked about samsung. I can only imagine it will give 7s spontaneous combustion issue. Apple overshadows everything. We know that. But well also hear from chipotle. I think many people are jumping the gun on the recovery here. While ive said the stock is putting in a bottom in part because of an aggressive buyback, we know from the history of past Health Scares that you may have to wait longer for a comeback. The work we have done shows it takes 18 months for a restaurant to get back on track after the kind of incidents that marred chipotle, which means the stock most likely wont begin to run until the middle of next year. I do think, though, that patience will be rewarded. Oh, and id be remiss not to mention at t itself because its supposed to report after the clos the company itself is doing well or if they need to buy time warner because of a potential slowdown in signups. Losing some business to sprint and tmobile. Wednesday starts with boeing and i urge you to wait for the Conference Call before you trade it. Theres a widespread perception that the aerospace cycle has run its course. Peaked, namely the wide bodies where theres a growing glut of planes. Narrow bodies, though, they cant make enough of them. Now, we dont know how boeing is faring in terms of its makeup of that order book. Thats why i say wait to hear the granularity of the Conference Call because if you get a good headline number but then they talk down bodies on the call, the wide ones, the stock could be opened up and then go down. I know comparisons erroneous, but they always seem to be made when we get results from cocacola as its former doppelganger pepsico blew away the numbers when it reported. Co pepsico is up nearly 6 . I think the comparison no longer relevant because pepsicos Snack Division now overshadows the beverage business, not so with cocacola. What could change cokes trajectory . Were going to have to wait and see. I dont see anything on the horizon now, though. We also hear from Norfolk Southern on wednesday. I find the rails fascinating. Csx delivered a superb number account. Either way, nobody gives you a better read on the u. S. Economy than the rails. Well listen in. Thursday has got a gazillion Companies Reporting, but i bet only three will capture the attention of all participants. Three that report after the close. Alphabet, amazon and twitter. I think alphabet, formerly known as google, has started to rekindle the mutual affection between itself and wall street, starting with reignition of the revenue stream from youtube. If you get that thing humming, it takes a lot of pressure off the mechanics of search pricing. Like everyone else, i amazon. Heaven forbid if it doesnt give us one. And also like everyone else, im expecting a worse one from twitter even as the stock ran up again today in expectation of still one more takeover bid. Hey, listen, if theyre buying time warner, im sure someone is going to craft a rumor story about twitter. It could be a real shocker if twitter sees a reacceleration of user growth or some good numbers off of that nfl happened in what seems like an aborted auction. Will they discuss it . Will salesforces name come up, or will they give us the heisman when it comes to the takeover talk . If i were on the Conference Call, ive got two things i would ask. What are you doing to control the troll problem, which i believe has severely limited the worth of the company, and two, how many of your 300plus million users are actually individuals with multiple accounts . I know i have trolls who have reappeared over and over and over and over again under new names. Does twitter count them each separately . Pretty interesting question, isnt it . Friday is oil day, exxon and chevron. Both companies have weathered the low price of crude with aplomb, but neither has done any big acquisitions. Do they believe in the opec deal come november . Do they see a continued price recovery . Are they increasing their capital budgets . Thats something that would make you want to buy schlumberger, quarter. Stay tuned, but that may be the trade for next week. Heres the bottom line. We only get four weeks of the year where this Many Companies report, and because the bandwidth of wall street is so stretched, lots of mistakes get made. Dont get taken in. Before you act, listen to the Conference Calls. Look at some notes, and be sure you know what the heck youre doing. Believe me, there are plenty of people who will take action on the first bite of all these companies, and very often, theyll turn out to be just plain wrong. Mark in massachusetts. Mark. Caller hi, jim. A big boston baked bean booyah to ya. Thats nice. Whats shakin . Caller im currently in 8point energy, and being that sunpower and first solar have a partnership with them, im wondering how the Class Action Lawsuit could impact 8point energy. Geez, i dont know. Look, i got to tell you. The best thing you can do here is stay away from all of them. Its just not the right place to really take that one off the table. How about ellis in arkansas, please. Ellis. Caller yes, jim. My stock is ppg, and i just wanted to know why the warning came out two weeks early before the Financial Report and it dropped 8. 3 . Why didnt they wait till the Financial Report come out to try to do this . Ellis, ill tell you they didnt because theyre an honest company, and the estimates were mu Company Reported. It was the right thing to do. They felt they had to preannounce. Bruce kamich from realmoney. Com wrote a pretty negative piece about the chart. I will say this. It is highly unusual for this company to miss. It hasnt missed in many years. Its been a solid straight shooter, but its not at the right level. I think its got to go down a little more before i can get excited about it. Ray in south carolina. Ray. Caller yes. Hey, thanks for taking my call, jim. Of course. Caller i bought allergan about a year ago for 293, at i kept it, and i just watched it drop. When it dropped to 230 back in, i think, march of this year, i bought again. Same thing. Now, in your crystal ball, should i keep it . Should i dump it . My Charitable Trust owns it. You can follow along. We always do a roundup at actionalertsplus. Com. In it, we are saying we dont expect anything near term to happen. Because of the election, this is just a very tough time to own the drug stocks. We think Brent Saunders is putting together a powerhouse. What happened before was allergan got caught up in a pfizer merger that the government nixed. I dont think the government should have nixed it, but thats neither here nor there. Allergan, i think, treads water. You cant really have a big position in a drug stock going into this election. All right. Weve got the busiest week of earnings season ahead of us, but dont get overwhelmed. Listen to the calls. Do your homework, and think carefully before doing any buying or selling you might regret later. On mad money tonight, two companies, two comparable quarters, two totally different im dissecting the response. Then is the action in Boston Beer Company driving you to drink . With analysts split on the companys prospects, ill help take the edge off. And ill tell you if you can still pour some gains into your portfolio. And can autozone kick into high gear . This stock has been in the red zone lately, but it outperforms the s p. Is it still a buy . Im putting you in the drivers seat. So stick with cramer. Second of mad money. Follow jimcramer on twitter. Have a question . Tweet cramer, madtweets. Send jim an email to madmoney cnbc. Com or give us a call at 1800743cnbc. Miss something . Head to madmoney. Cnbc. Com. Why are you checking your credit score . I wanna see if it changed. Credit scores dont change that much, do they . Really . Ill take it. Sir, your credit. Is great right . When was the last time you checked . Yeah, id better check my credit score. Here, try credit karma. Its free. All right. No more surprises. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. What are these . What is it . Duck lips. Quack quack. Plastic surgery duck uh huh you are a backwards duck. Instead of quack, he says no, kcauq. Kcauq. Kcauqqq. Kcauuuu. Pampers. Unlike ordinary diapers with two layers, pampers have three absorbent layers to stay up to three times drier, so babies can sleep soundly all night. Can be simple and straightforward but other times it can be down right confusing. The banks for example are all pretty straightforward. They all reported strong numbers. However, other groups have been decidedly more mixed. Especially the rails and the industrials, where were getting incredibly divergent performances from companies most puzzling of all is when two Companies Report very similar numbers, but then their stocks do wildly different things. We got to talk about this. I want to talk about one of these situations so you understand better how the stock market works. Specifically im referring to danaher and Illinois Tool Works. Two excellent industrialfocused companies that reported fairly comparable quarters yesterday even as their stocks reacted by moving in radically opposite directions. While many industrials are reporting, these two are terrific reallife examples so i can school you on this, teach you, help you understand the process of stock valuation and evaluation. How do you explain the markets response to these two companies and can it tell us anything about the way earnings are being graded this reporting period . First a little background. The danaher of today is vastly different from the one of a year ago, thanks to the companys recent breakup. The old danaher was a diversified Industrial Operating a host of industries from dental products to Life Sciences to environmental identification, automation technologies. Over the summer, the company spun off almost all of its industrialfacing businesses as the new danaher kept the life science, dental, environmental, and product id businesses. Its still a conglomerate but a more focused one. How about the great Illinois Tool Works . This is more of a smokestack stock as the Company Makes specialized manufacturing equipment. Illinois tool works serves a variety of end markets from deep sea oil rigs to aerospace, infrastructure, health care, construction, autos, and even Wind Turbines and electronic devices. I should mention that ive been a fan of both these companies their stocks had behaved during this earnings season. Thats why i had to dig deeper. It didnt make sense. When you look at the numbers theyre very similar. Danaher reported a modest fivecent cent earnings beat off an 82cent basis with in line revenue, slightly stronger than expected fullyear guidance. Illinois tool works reported a modest onecent earnings beat off a 1. 49 basis with, again, inline revenue and slightly raised fullyear forecast. It could have been the same. Now, granted danahers numbers were a little bit better than itws, but in Broad Strokes these quarters were incredibly alike. Yet danaher rallied 3. 9 on the so how do we make sense of this action . Why did the market like the results from danaher even as it spurned the seemingly almost identical results from Illinois Tool Works . These are the things that always consume people that i get asked about all the time because theyre confused. Were solving that. With most things in life, there are obvious reasons and the real reasons. First off, its important to note that the stocks had performed very differently going into their quarters. Danaher was up more than 9 for the yeef nicely outpacing the s p 500. The fact is that Illinois Tool Works was up an astounding nearly 25 for the year, and thats a tremendous run. So all else equal, if the expectations are higher, than the stocks postquarter performance is likely to be weaker. Illinois tool works definitely had Higher Expectations by judging from that almost 25 run up. At the same time danahers numbers were somewhat better. One more obvious explanation. Unlike danaher, Illinois Tool Works provided organic revenue guidance and their forecast of flat to 2 growth for the next for Illinois Tool Works. It would have been great for a lot of other industrials we talked to. They were punished for providing more transparency in a way. Everything i said is true, but theres another deeper reason for the disparity between danahers Stock Performance yesterday and itws. At the end of the day, investors are starting to sour on this industrial cohort as a whole. Thats becoming a theme of this earnings period. Think about it. Weve seen this performance from united technologies, honeywell, generaec softening and the Federal Reserve looking like its going to tighten in december, the industrials become less attractive because they need at least a better economy to produce decent numbers. Illinois tool works is about as industrial as it gets. But danaher because of that recent spinoff has successfully distanced itself from the group. When danaher spun off fortive over the summer, the idea was to make the remaining business less cyclical, less industrial, more of a consistent growth play. Fortive got nearly all their industrial divisions. The danaher of today is really than anything else. And when the Company Reported yesterday, all of its businesses, every one, delivered slow and steady numbers. Core revenues grew by 3 , dental division up 3. 5 . Diagnostics was up 3 . Thats some real growth, and now danahers stock is finally getting credit for it. As president and ceo tom joyce put it in the Conference Call, so to wrap up, were pleased with our performance in the current macroeconomic environment. We taken to reshape our portfolio positions us well for stronger growth and value creation, end quote. I think hes absolutely right. Danaher has made itself less cyclical, and that puts them in a very good position right now. Illinois tools, its a quintessential industrial. They have seven segments and while the company saw marginal expansion at most of them, the three out of these seven businesses. Another one was flat. Three more saw revenue contractions like the welding division. Really when you draw down, these two quarters had less in common than it might seem at first glance. Fabulous company but one with super expectations that in the end is still an industrial. So heres the bottom line. Just because two companies in roughly the same category report seemingly similar numbers, that doesnt necessarily mean the situations are analogous. With danaher and Illinois Tool Works, you need to understand the context. The industrials are falling out of favor on the wall street fashion show. I think well see that next week off its industrial businesses while Illinois Tool Works was punished for being a pure industrial, for being itself. Now, look, i like both of these companies and their stocks long term, but for the moment, you got to stick with danaher because its become more of a life science play, something much more to the markets liking than a plain old industrial, even one as great as Illinois Tool Works. Weve got much more mad money ahead. Im poring through Boston Beer Companys latest earnings to see if you should be doubling down on your drinks, sam. Then got car troubles . So does autozone. After being a market darling for years and a huge favorite of cramerica, the stocks been stalling. Maybe its time to cut bait. And what do we do with microsoft and mcdonalds . What do they have in common . The ultimate surprise. For your eyes. New olay eyes ultimate eye cream. For instant results of the number one prestige eye cream, without paying twice the price. Today you can do everything in just one click, even keep your toilet clean and fresh. Introducing lysol click gel. Click it in to enjoy clean freshness with every flush. Lysol. Start healthing. . Yeah, click . war drums beating fight heartburn fast. With tums chewy delights. The mouthwatering soft chew that goes to work in seconds to conquer heartburn fast. Chewy delights. Okay. What the heck just happened to boston beer, the brewer best known for making sam adams, hence the ticker sam. Last night the Company Reported a flat out disappointing quarter, i mean just plain ugly. I promise you there was nothing to like here. Yet after opening down more than 6 this morning, boston beers stock pirouetted. Executed a sg its gains, the darn thing ultimately closed up 6. 70, a 4. 92 . Its one of the bigger winners of the market. It was astonishing. Look, when you see a stock roaring higher in spite of an awful quarter, its always worth digging deeper. In the case of boston beer, the numbers theyre miserable. The Company Earned 2. 48 per share. Wall street was looking for 2. 60. Their sales were much weaker than anticipated. Shipment volumes declined by 12 . The gross margin shrank by 90 oh, and they cut their fullyear earnings guidance. Really the only positive was that management has essentially discontinued their Marketing Budget for the rest of the year. Basically theyre sacrificing the companys near term results in order to reset, hopefully reinvigorate the business somewhere down the line. Thats not much of a positive. The stock was looking down big. But after it got hammered in the morning, buyers nevertheless swooped in, and their bullishness allowed boston beer to close up pretty substantially. What drew them in . In part i think the move has elements of what we call a short squeeze, right . Going into the quarter a lot of Money Managers had bet against the stock of boston beer. In fact, the shortage was a very high 19 . When the quarter turned out to be bad, some of the short sellers decided kaching, kaching, lets ring the register and cover our short positions. That means take a profit in in this case, though, there werent enough natural sellers, people who panicked or didnt like the quarter, to offset the short covering. So those short covers had to go take the stock higher to find the supply they need to cover their short and close out the position. On top of that, boston beer got a boost from a bloomberg piece that suggested it might be an attractive takeover target given the stock has come down so dramal months. We know theres been a lot of consolidation in the beer industry. However, if you really want to understand todays crazy reversal, and i know i did, you need to know where the bulls and the bears are coming from. And it just so happens that last month we got a compelling look at both sides of the equation, both arguments from a pair of dueling analysts. First credit squeeze came out and initiated a coverage of boston beer with an underperform rating. Thats wall street speak for sell. Less than a week later, William Blair fired back a response initiating coverage on the stock with an outperform, wall street battle royal that i found very educational. I hope you do at home, especially since the argument over boston beer played out pretty dramatically just today with the bears on the verge of victory this morning before the bulls turned things around and stole the prize, at least for this one session. First some context. For those of you who dont know boston beer, this is the largest craft beer brewer in the united states. And while they get the majority of their sales from sam adams, okay, the company also makes hard ciders and flavored malt beverages under Angry Orchard and twisted t an before i started this piece. On top of that, they have a craft beer incubator where the Company Invests in smaller brands. Now, for many years boston beer was a beloved stock holding. From the generational bottom in 2009 through january 2015, the darn thing seemed unstoppable, roaring higher year after year. But around 18 months ago, investors realized the growth seemed to be slowing. Since then the stock has lost an astounding nearly 50 of its value, and that is exactly what happens to Growth Stocks that lose their momentum. Im always trying to teach you drill down into the bull bear thesis. William blair laid out the case when they initiated coverage on the stock with an outperform. To these analysts boston beer is still pioneering. They think the company is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity here. Basically boston beer is larger than any other craft brewer, but its still small enough to be focused on this one particular nearby. What about the problems the company has run into over the past 18 months . The Company Acknowledges that boston beer sales are shrinking, but they believe boston beer has a chance to start growing its new Distribution Channels like convenience and drugstores, coming out with better markets, releasing new products, all pretty positive. What about the fact that smaller, trendier craft beer brands seem to be eating sam adams alive . I mean you make a good beer, but its hardly the epitome of cool anymore. Nevertheless, the bulls at William Blair think that boston beer can ultimately use its scale and Distribution Network to fight off many of its smaller competitors. Personally, i put a lot more credence in the bear thesis as outlined by Credit Suisse when they initiated coverage on boston beer with an underperform sam has been losing market share pretty dramatically in the craft beer segment. The analysts here view boston beer as a victim of its own success. They were an early mover in the craft beer space with sam adams, and lately that space has gotten so hot that the number of producers have exploded with more than 4,000 independent craft brewers in the united states. The influx of new brands has really hurt them and perhaps more important, all these independent brewers have called bostonr i mean lets be honest. Unlike the days before the craft beer proliferation, nobodys going to be impressed if you go tiny a bar and say, id like a sam adams. In this kind of business, that does matter. Trendier, the cooler you are. This isnt trendy. Now, the bulls clearly won today since the stock rallied in the wake of an ugly quarter. When i look at both sides of the argument, i worry boston beer could go lower. A little cheaper than bud and more expensive than molson coors which sells for 20 times earnings. Boston beers numbers are in decline, whereas constellation has terrific growth, including amazing numbers from ballas point. Even though boston beer managed to rocket higher today after lousy earnings and a big decline in premarket trading, i am siding with the bears and Credit Suisse on this one, not with the bulls at William Blair. Why pay up for boston beer when you can get the far superior Constellation Brands for the same valuation . Just so you know, that is modelo and corona plus thas as for the argument it could be a takeover target. You know i never recommend stocks sew solely on a takeover basis if the fundamentals are in decline. And that is definitely the case with sam. Ron. Caller hey, jim. Happy friday to you. Oh, man, im glad its friday. How about you . Caller im doing great. Thank you. Hey, i got kind of a twopart question for you. How would you feel a donald trump or Hillary Clinton presidency would influence grocery stocks like kroger, whole foods, et cetera, and what impact do you feel a regime change will have on food prices . None. These are very separate. We got to draw the line right here. Stocks, they do not trade off elections. The domestic markets, they are entirely about competition with each other and the fact that theres food deflation. Neither candidate could be able to control that. So the answer is there are many reasons to buy or sell those stocks, but politics, thank heavens, it isnt one of them. All right. Looking to give your portfolio a nice buzz . Even after todays move higher, id steer clear of Boston Beer Company. Pour yourself some Constellation Brands instead, modelo, corona. Much more mad money ahead. With the average american car now over 11 years old, is it time to hop in for investment in the zone . Buckle your seat belts. Ill tell you if the company is still on track. Then best week ever. Well, it seems like its been ages since so much good news hit the tape on a given day. Im taking you through all the action and telling you whats and a thank god its friday edition of the lightning round. So stick with cramer is that icet . Nope, its lemonade. Is that icet . Lemonade. Icet . Whats with these people, man . Lemonade, read the sign. Lemonade. Read it. Ok. Delicious. Icet at a Lemonade Stand . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money marin saved by switching to geico. D save you fifteen percent or more. The roses are blooming in herbal essences hair is delightfully fragranced with notes of moroccan rose and the freshness of springtime unforgettable, wherever you go the scents you cant forget. From herbal essences, blooming now coughs cough doesnt sound so good. Take mucinex dm. Ill text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. One pill lasts 12 hours, so. Looks like im good all night some cough medicines only last 4 hours. Lasts 12 hours. Lets end this. What are these . What is it . Duck lips. Quack quack. Plastic surgery duck uh huh you are a backwards duck. Instead of quack, he says no, kcauq. Kcauq. Kcauqqq. Kcauuuu. . . I love that my shop is part of the morning ritual around here. People rely on that first cup and i wouldnt want to mess with that. But when my back pain got bad, i couldnt sleep. I had trouble getting there on time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last into the morning. . Look up at a new day. . What do you do with a stock with a long term track record that seems to have lost its mojo . And thats the question we need to answer tonight when it comes to autozone, the nations leading auto parts retailer. With more than 5 s this one has long been one of my favorites. Its been a fabulous story, in part because of the average car on the road is now 11 years old and thus needs a lot of maintenance. And in part because the company has had a voracious buy back. If you bought autozone three years ago, youd be up a terrific 73 versus a 23 gain for the s p 500. If you bought it two years ago, youd be up 45 versus just 12 for the s p. However, over the last 12 months, its starting to feel like autozone has hit a wall and hit. The stocks up just 1 for 2016, lagging the 5 gain in the s p. So we have to wonder has the autozone rally run out of gas . Or is this a high quality stock thats simply pausing to refuel before it resumes its march higher. Before we can understand why it appears to be languishing, we got to know what made the stock such an incredible outperformer for so many years. As ceo and hes the one who masterminded the companys renaissance. He focused on improving the do it yourself business, selling parts to people who do maintenance on their own cars and kick started the companys commercial business, selling parts to actual mechanics. He continued the habit of buying back massive quantities of stock, retiring the float. For years autozone had one of the best buy backs in the whole stock market. The combination of those repurchases and the companys share price moved steadily higher year after year after year. However, in addition to being good, rhodes has also been lucky. Now, you know i always say its better to be lucky than good. But really its best to be both. Autozone has benefited enormously in the monster recovery in auto sales since the great recession. There are more and more vehicles on the road that need to be serviced. At the same time, Many Americans are hanging on to thd a lot either dont want to or cant afford to shell out the money for a new one. So for the past five years, the average car on the road in this country has been more than 11 years old, and they keep getting older. Old cars need more maintenance, more spare parts, and you buy those spare parts at autozone. Plus ever since the price of oil collapsed in 2014, consumers have been operating at a low gasoline price environment, which translates into people doing more driving. We got statistics to back that up. Again, the more miles you put on thats why autozones stock was such a juggernaut. So what the heck has happened . Has this former market darling lost its luster . Okay. After putting up some solid numbers for ages, autozones last two quarters have been, i have to tell you, somewhat disappointing. In late may they reported out a flat out earnings and revenue miss with 2 samestore sales. Now, some of that was because oil prices had gone from a tail wind to a head wind, with the rebound in crude from the february lows. And its not like they were alone. Oreilly automotive, theyre pretty regular. Advanced auto parts has been a good one. Of course one suboptimal quarter is the kind of thing you can dismiss as a onetime occurrence. But a month ago autozone reported some more suboptimal results while the Company Managed to deliver a small earnings beat, the revenue came in a bit light and the samestore sales, flat out disappointing. Up only 1 . Increase. The problem . Over the past five years autozone got a big boost as it start the serving commercial customers at more and more of its stores. But now that rollout is almost over. 83 of their locations are now set up to serve commercial auto mechanic customers, so the samestore sales growth has slowed. However, it wasnt all bad. Management said trends had accelerated near the end of the quarter and into the next one. They also pointed out that part of the slowdown here was simply weather related. Cars dont need as much mild. What else is weighing on the stock . A number of analysts are worried that autozones focus on the do it yourself business could hurt them Going Forward as cars become increasingly complicated with more and more electronic content, making do it yourself maintenance a lot more difficult. How often do we talk about the connected car . But autozone remains confident that some hobbyists will continue to fix their own cars even if theres a slowdown in do it yourself. The company has aggressively business as the do it yourself thing fizzles. Thats part of the reason why autozone has been laser focused on rolling out two key initiatives to bolter its commercial samestore sales. The company is doing more to ensure that key items remain in stock so that professional auto mechanic customers dont walk away from the stores empty hands. 1,900 of autozones 5,300 locations are receiving deliveries at least three times a week and they plan to roll out this program at another 1,000 stores. The sec initiative is the mega hub concept, super size stories that carry twice the number of products. The point of these mega hubs is they can serve as distribution locations and 3,000 stores have access to mega hub inventory with more coming. Yes, autozone has challenges, but theyre also taking steps to meet those challenges. In the end, i default to the numbers. In the most recent quarter, autozone posted 3 revenue growth, which is admittedly down from 6 to 8 range from last year, but their earnings per share still increased by 12 . While thats down from 13 growth the quarter before, its still pretty darn good. Kind of Earnings Growth when business is slow and their samestore sales rose by 1 , can you imagine how well theyd do when business improves . Plus a big part of the recent slowdown is simply because the Company Finished lapping some very easy comparisons in terms of gas prices, something that affected the whole industry and based on managements comments in the last Conference Call, it sounds like things are already picking up. So, yes, i still like autozone, the company. And autozone, the stock, its inexpensive, selling at just 16. 4 times earnings. Auto parts retailers even though this one has the best growth. Plus it still has got that voracious buyback. Look at this. From 2011 through 2015, this company retired 17 million shares for 6. 7 billion. That is huge. Considering they have just 29 million shares outstanding now. Thats why i say its probably even though its reported a couple of shake quarters, remain a believer in autozone. This is one of the few parts of retail that cant beat amazon, and sooner or later, i bet autozone resumes its long march higher. Mad money is back after the break. Get fast sinus relief with vicks sinex and get back in the game. Sinex, the congestion, pressure, pain to clear your head. Medicine. Today you can do everything in just one click, even keep your toilet clean and fresh. Introducing lysol click gel. Click it in to enjoy clean freshness with every flush. Lysol. Announcer lightning round is sponsored by td ameritrade. It is time its time for the lightning round thats where i take your calls sell, sell, sell. Well play this sound [ buzzer ] and then the lightning round is over. Are you ready, skeedaddy . Its time for the lightning round on cramers mad money. Well start with don in california. Don. Caller hey, jim cramer. Thank you for all that you do for us smaller investors. Excellent. Thats what the show is about. Its about you. What can i do . Caller as i lay around rehabbing from my broken leg, i have plenty of time to watch my stocks. I am a long time action alerts member, and on my own ive accumulated a good size poon its no secret that the biotechs are under pressure. I dont think celgene price gouges their customers. So before next weeks earnings, what do you think . First of all, thank you for subscribing to action alerts where we address all the stocks my Charitable Trust owns and then some. Second, celgene reports next week, and you are absolutely right. I dont think they do any gouging bob hugin or under the theyve been very straightforward. However, it is an election year, and i have not been pounding the table on any of the pharmaceuticals until after its over. But i suggest taking no action. Its too low. How about kenneth in florida . Kenneth. Caller how are you . I am good. How about you, kenneth . Caller oh, im great. Im so happy to speak to you. You ought to be running for president. Well, thank you. Im running for president of cramerica. Whats up . Caller not great hotel chain, not going to recommend it. If you want to be in the hotel, business, its going to be marriott after that merger. But i dont like the business in particular because i think a lot of people believe airbnb is coming after them. May i suggest you buy expedia, which owns home away and is very good. How about don in florida . Don. Caller jim, im calling you from vero beach, florida. I watch you every day. Thank you. Caller my question is frontier, ftr. Going down. Verizon quarter not that good, but i still think its okay. I think that as it gets to 5 is a better deal than frontier. Im not done. I am taking jerome from my home state of new jersey. Jerome. Caller jim, my stock is lg homes. Yes. I know lg. Its okay. I think the Home Builders frankly are too hard to own right here, right now until we find out more clarity about Interest Rates between here and year end. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the lightning round [ buzzer ] announcer the lightning round is sponsored by td ameritrade. Booyah, jim cramer. Im from south beach, florida where the women are as hot as jim cramer. I dont know whether to thank you or not there with the hot as a pistol there or whatever. Booyah, jim, double booyah. Hi, jim, the oracle of cnbc. Oh, no. I love you for coining new phrases like people are kooky. Caller you and i share a birthday. I am one day, 24 hours your senior. Excellent. Youre 48. And of course slap it on the meanest place on earth. Oh, im sorry. Slap it on twitter. Ill tell you why talk of possible democratic [ buzzer ] id like to finish the show, and then you can go do whatever you want, which is obviously not the show. Red 97 set red 97 did you say 97 . Yes. You know, that reminds me of geicos helped by geicos fast and friendly claims service. Huh. Oh yeah, baby. Geicos as fast and friendly as it gets. Woo geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. New tide purclean is the first ecofriendly product in your cupboard that wont wait to be discovered. Some may claim some labels are green but only one has the powerful tide clean new tide purclean, 65 biobased, 100 cleaning power of tide coughs cough doesnt sound so good. Take mucinex dm. Ill text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. One pill lasts 12 hours, so. Looks like im good all night some cough medicines lets end this. Ve been on im bushed my feel alyea me too. Excuse me. Coming through ride the gel wave of comfort with dr. Scholls massaging gel insoles. Theyre proven to give you comfort. Which helps you feel more energized. All day long. I want what he has. Its been ages since weve gotten in this much news in a single session. Theres so much information to process that we need to group it by category if were going to get a handle on what really happened today. In order of importance, first theres m a. British american tobaccos bid for Reynolds American shows you that tobacco remains one of the most lucrative businesses around. Reynolds is worth chasing up here. Id say i missed it. Move one. My squawk on the street colleague, david faber, always breaking new ground, made it clear that qualcomm and Nxp Semiconductors have come to a 110 deal. To me, that was a little disappointing for nxp shareholders, including my Charitable Trust, which you can follow along at actionalertsplus. Com. But remember this stock was indeed at 80 not that long ago. Huge win. Then incredibly the consolidation continued. As david indicated, where time warner story, there could be fire, maybe as soon as this weekend. Just think with reynolds, nxp, time warner, the mergerrelated bid underneath makes the market a lot more easy to bet with than against. Then theres the upside and downside of earnings. One that announced today was microsoft, mr. Softy, which delivered a quarter that showed incredible cloud growth. Might have a real competitor, maybe even a superior one to its Amazon Web Services business. Hence why the stock rallied 4 , alltime high. I remember when Ceo Satya Nadella came in and talked to me about doing 18 billion in cloud revenues in a couple years time. I thought he was being aggressive. Yet microsofts Cloud Business is now on track to hit 20 billion not 18 billion but 20 billion by 2018. I think hes going to pull it off. The man is continually underestimated, but not by me. Speaking of underestimated, did you see mcdonalds roaring up today 3 . That move makes perfect sense as steve easterbrook, the ceo, delivered 3. 5 samestore sales growth, an astounding number compared to the 1. 5 figure that the naysayers, who dont hes accomplished, were looking for. Easterbrook has reenergized the most important constituency, which is the franchisees. While people keep thinking the breakfast allday menu is all hes got up his sleeve, i can safely say you aint seen nothing yet. Much more technology and innovation to come. Do not ring the register. You know what else is worth hanging onto . Alkermese. Last night the drug Company Announced some very positive data on its breakthrough antidepressant that works when other medications have failed and, even better, doesnt produce weight gain. Markets out there. Major props to richard pops, the ceo, for pressing forward relentlessly on this drug when others had given up on it. Even up 12 or 28 , you know, i dont think the stock is done going higher although profit takers will no doubt swarm in eventually. But it wasnt all fair weather. My Charitable Trust may own nxp semi and feeling good, but it also owns general electric. At g. E. , the orders were down 6 while the revenue disappointed. Not disastrous, but certainly nothing to cheer about. I remain committed to it, but if the stock didnt have a decent yield, i bet it would go lower. Three he verizon, union pacific, and travelers. For verizon, blame more aggressive competitors like sprint and tmobile. You know i like those two. Theyve won the hearts and minds and more importantly the pocketbooks of the millennials with their radical advertisements and low prices. Union pacific, people got too excited about a turn. Too early. Travelers, wow. This stocks been shelled mercilessly because of whats for years automobile fatalities were on the decline. That is until texting came along. Its the scourge of the highways, and insurers including travelers simply werent ready for it. They still arent. What a couple of days. I bet this counts as calm versus next week, when the earnings season kicks into even higher gear. Stick with cramer. How do you become americas 1 . Start by taking care of families for 70 years. Earn the trust of 32 nfl teams. Be there for americas toughest and help, when help is needed americas 1 isnt a status earned overnight. Why are you checking your credit score . You dont want to live with mom and dad forever, do you . Im making smoothies how do i check my credit score . Credit karma. Dont worry, its free. Okay. Look, if this time warner deal doesnt happen, this markets going to be in a little bit of trouble. Thats how much hype there is. Time warner is indeed, i think, worth 110. The stock is up 10, and everybody is presuming a done deal. Nxpi qualcomm, that 110 price, id tell you its not that disappointing because the stock bull market somewhere. I promise to try and find it just for you right here on mad money. Im jim cramer, and i will see you monday you next time ashley its date night. And although less frightening than picking up the tab today is free, lucky enough. Oh, thank god. Ashley coming up with fresh ideas on what to do can be a bit daunting. Do you think you could survive here in the wilderness . Yeah, i think so. I think we got this. Ashley so tonight were hooking up with some of tvs hottest bachelors. H, you just smacked it. You like that, right . Ashley when date night gets unconventional. Whats going on in there . And were in ashley next on 1st look. [music playing]