"Waste Management just announced the acquisition of a competitor. Business is good, getting better. That's the one to buy," CNBC's Jim Cramer says.
"If you want to get an honest read on the economy, forget the government data from the Commerce Department," the "Mad Money" host says.
"You got an incredible snapshot of the economy from CSX, the best railroad around with a stock that caught fire today," he says.
CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that business in the construction industry seems to be picking up and it could make an interesting play for Waste Management WM .
"Jim Fish, CEO of Waste Management who comes on all the time on the show, often commented that his best source of revenue is construction," the "Mad Money" host said. "Waste Management just announced the acquisition of a competitor. Business is good, getting better. That's the one to buy."
The company announced on Monday it purchased Advanced Disposal for about $3 billion. The stock is up more than 18% in 2019.
All aboard
CSX Transportation CSX 's Tuesday earnings call gave some insight into what stocks could be worth playing, Cramer said.
"If you want to get an honest read on the economy, forget the government data from the Commerce Department," he said. "You got an incredible snapshot of the economy from CSX, the best railroad around with a stock that caught fire today."
The stock rose 4% during the trading day. The major U.S. indexes all dipped.
CSX was the first of the railroad stocks to report its most recent quarterly results, and its revenue break down gave a good look at the domestic economy, Cramer said.
"I was amazed at how strong their business is ... Sure, CSX is an east-southeast railroad for the most part and its business doesn't of course stretch overseas," he said. "But that's why it's such a terrific tell for what's happening in the U.S. economy, and it's also fabulous source of inspiration if you're on the hunt for new stock picks."
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Streaming wars
Netflix NFLX can peacefully coexist in the streaming industry even as the market braces for more competition from Walt Disney DIS , Google's YouTube, and Apple AAPL , Cramer said.
As the video giant continues to add popular content, such as "Triple Frontier," "Bird Box," and "FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened," to its platform, customers will fear missing out, he said.
"It's all about peer pressure. That's why [CEO] Reed Hastings is right when he says: 'the real metric is can we keep members happy,'" the host said.
Get Cramer's full thoughts here
Heating up the soup
Campbell Soup CPB appears to have emerged out of the wilderness after a series of acquisitions of brands that nobody truly wanted, Cramer said. The stock is down about 8% from a year ago, but it's rallied more than 18% in 2019.
"With the stock now trading at 15.7-times next year's earnings estimates, I'm not sure how much upside it has left if [activist investors] can't find some way to engineer a sale," Cramer said. "The deck seems a little stacked against that outcome to begin with. However, if things go south, I think that could make a sale a genuine possibility."
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Rate cut?
Coming off the bank's latest earnings report, Cramer asked First Horizon National Corp. FHN CEO Bryan Jordan his thoughts on the state of interest rates.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it's flat for a while and then down," he told the "Mad Money" host.
Catch the full interview here
Permian plays
Cramer said investors could expect to see more mergers and acquisitions in the energy and oil space in 2019.
"Anadarko APC was the first big oil deal this year, but I bet it won't be the last," he said. "That's why I like Apache APA , I like Concho CXO , Parsley PE , and especially Pioneer Nat PXD , because this industry still needs much more consolidation."
Chevron CVX made a move on Friday to purchase the oil and gas driller in a cash-and-stock deal worth $33 billion . Cramer had anticipated a merger in the energy and oil sector because the market is crowded. There could be more to come, especially since Occidental OXY had made a competing bid for Anadarko, he said.
"Three weeks ago, I did make a called shot. I came out here and explained that this market was in dire need of mergers and acquisitions ," he said. "We've simply got too many publicly traded companies, something that's only going to get worse as more and more privately held unicorns, like Pinterest tonight , keep coming public."
Go deeper here
Cramer's lightning round: Buy this stock in two days
In Cramer's lightning round, he shared his thoughts on callers' stock questions:
Arista Networks Inc. ANET : "I happen to think [CEO] Jayshree Ullal's fantastic … This stock is gonna come down. I would buy it in two days. I would not buy it right now."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Walt Disney and Apple.
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