the title.This Retail Stock Is Among the Greatest Performers Ever

Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club hosts a live “Morning Meeting” at 10:20 a.m. ET, where market strategist Jim Cramer offers a quick‑fire rundown of the day’s most compelling developments. Below is a concise recap of Thursday’s highlights, enriched with additional market and technology insight.

1. A Quiet Market Amid Mixed Labor Data

U.S. equities ended Thursday largely unchanged as investors filtered mixed labor‑market signals. Layoff announcements for November pushed total job cuts for the year past 1.1 million—the highest tally since 2020, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. At the same time, initial jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 29 came in below expectations, hinting that the underlying employment engine remains resilient.

Cramer noted that despite the relative calm, the broader market still appears overbought, suggesting a preference for waiting rather than deploying fresh capital. The overbought characterization derives from elevated forward‑price‑to‑earnings ratios and a modest decline in the S&P 500’s relative strength index (RSI) over the past two weeks.

Meta Platforms (META) stood out as the portfolio’s top performer, leaping roughly 4% after Bloomberg reported an aggressive restructuring of its metaverse unit. The cut‑back signals that Meta is reallocating capital toward its core advertising and AI initiatives—especially the rollout of its LLaMA‑2 family of large language models. Analysts see the move as an effort to shore up margins while the broader metaverse vision remains a long‑term play.

2. Costco’s Sales Slip and Valuation Concerns

Costco Wholesale (COST) disclosed that U.S. comparable sales for November were marginally lower than October’s figures, nudging the stock down about 3% in after‑hours trading. However, the company’s total same‑store sales accelerated to a 6.9% year‑over‑year increase, up from a 6.6% gain in October, underscoring the retailer’s ability to sustain traffic even amid a softening consumer‑spending environment.

Cramer cautioned that the current price multiple remains elevated relative to historical averages, limiting the immediate upside of a dip. While Costco’s long‑term performance rank places it among the “greatest performers of all time,” the short‑term valuation gap means investors may need to wait for a more compelling entry point.

3. Salesforce Beats Earnings but Faces AI‑Driven Headwinds

Salesforce (CRM) rallied after reporting a blockbuster earnings quarter that comfortably beat profit expectations and prompted an upward revision of its fiscal guidance. Revenue growth, however, fell slightly short of forecasts, reflecting the ongoing transition to an AI‑enhanced product suite.

The company highlighted strong uptake of Agentforce, its AI‑powered platform that automates sales‑force processes and generates incremental subscription revenue. Yet, the rapid diffusion of generative AI tools poses a structural risk to Salesforce’s traditional seat‑based licensing model. As customers explore more flexible, usage‑based AI solutions, Salesforce may need to accelerate its shift toward a consumption‑based pricing framework to protect long‑term cash flow.

CEO Marc Benioff is slated to appear on “Mad Money” Thursday, where he is expected to elaborate on the firm’s AI roadmap and how it plans to integrate foundation models across its Customer‑Success Cloud.

4. Rapid‑Fire Spotlight on Five Additional Names

In the closing segment, Cramer turned his attention to a handful of stocks that could see heightened activity in the coming weeks:

• Snowflake (SNOW) – The cloud‑data warehousing firm continues to benefit from rising demand for multi‑cloud analytics, though its valuation remains stretched.
• Five Below (FIVE) – The discount retailer shows strong same‑store sales growth, driven by a youth‑focused merchandise mix and an expanding e‑commerce footprint.
• Hormel Foods (HRL) – The protein producer posted solid earnings, with its strategic acquisitions in plant‑based foods positioning it for long‑term growth.
• PayPal (PYPL) – While transaction volumes plateaued, the firm’s rollout of AI‑driven fraud detection tools could restore investor confidence.
• Kroger (KR) – The grocery giant’s digital transformation, highlighted by its partnership with Microsoft Azure, is expected to improve margin visibility.

Jim Cramer’s charitable trust remains long on META, CRM, and COST, reflecting his conviction that these companies offer the most compelling risk‑adjusted returns in the current environment.

Investors’ Takeaway

For subscribers to the CNBC Investing Club, trade alerts are issued prior to any execution by Cramer’s charitable trust. A mandatory 45‑minute delay follows each alert, and if a stock has been discussed on CNBC television, a 72‑hour waiting period applies before the trade is carried out. As always, investors should conduct independent due diligence and consider that past performance does not guarantee future results.