Jim Cramer Passes on AppLovin: 'In the Crosshairs of Alphabet'

On CNBC’s “Mad Money Lightning Round,” Jim Cramer said no to AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP). “It’s come down a lot, but in the end AppLovin is in the crosshairs of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and I don’t want to be there,” he added.

Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet maintained AppLovin with a Buy and lowered the price target from $600 to $500.

Cramer said he likes Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE). “I think that’s a good idea. Nice hedge against inflation too,” he added.

Lending support to his choice, Scotiabank analyst Alfonso Salazar, on Monday, upgraded Vale from Sector Perform to Sector Outperform and maintained the price target of $16.

When asked about MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA), he said, “These residential mortgage-backed stocks have just been absolutely horrendous, and I’m going to just say unequivocally: do not own that stock. I don’t care how low the price to earnings multiple is.”

Citizens analyst Trevor Cranston, on Oct. 15, maintained MFA Financial with a Market Outperform and lowered the price target from $11 to $8.

Cramer said he doesn’t want to touch defense stocks when asked about Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS).

Citizens analyst Trevor Walsh, on Monday, maintained Kratos Defense & Security with a Market Outperform and lowered the price target from $105 to $70.

Twilio Inc. (NYSE:TWLO) is “valued correctly. That’s the problem. Therefore, I don’t see any upside or downside that I can pin anything on,” Cramer said.

BTIG analyst Nick Altmann, on Oct. 16, maintained Twilio with a Buy and raised the price target from $285 to $315.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) is a “terrific” company, Cramer said. “We want to own Cintas, but it just had a really, really big run.”

On earnings, Cintas reported upbeat first-quarter results on Sept. 23 and raised its FY2027 guidance. The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.39 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.35 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $3.014 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.984 billion.

Price Action:

• AppLovin shares gained 1.1% to settle at $269.12 on Monday.
• Vale shares gained 0.4% to close at $13.11 during the session.
• MFA Financial fell 2.7% to settle at $6.41 on Monday.
• Kratos Defense shares dipped 3.1% to close at $39.17 during the session.
• Twilio shares gained 5.3% to settle at $257.29.
• Cintas shares fell 0.7% to close at $212.30 on Monday.

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