Jim Cramer - Mad Money Albertsons Companies ACI-N WATCH Jan 03, 2025

It exhausts him. They delivered a great quarter and he interviewed the CEO. Yet the stock doesn't rise. Maybe the supermarket business is not that prosperous.

They report Monday. He doesn't like supermarket companies, because of their low margins, but Albertsons has been expanding theirs. He's liked this since it went public.

He recommended this when it languished last year. Sure enough, it rose after two good good quarters. It's doubled, though has pull back from highs. This has room to run. Buy it ahead of its Tuesday report.

Large US grocer. Checkered past. Public, then private, then public. Balance sheet makes him nervous. Skinny margins, so management is key, especially with inflation. In the space, look at KR instead, with a healthier balance sheet and better growth prospects.

proposed merger Kroger is buying Albertsons, but the White House won't allow it, he thinks. The deal is worth $24.6 billion. Now, he's changing his mind. If the deal goes through, then Albertsons will gain huge. Both stocks have been lagging before this deal. Together, they would have a lot of heft with suppliers, boosting free cash flow and lower admin costs (among other benefits), reaching $1 billion in synergies in four years (say the companies). They would be the second-largest grocer in the U.S. But the merger of Albertsons and Safeway was a disaster, and the FTC definitely remembers that. It will be a long slog (the chances don't look good).

He's concerned that the government has been anti-merger, but these shares should be higher. The stock has come down where it's okay to step in.

The Kroger and Albertson deal He thinks Washington will reject this deal, even though he respects and likes Kroger's powerful CEO. Washington won't listen to her.

Still worth holding despite the legal dispute with Kroeger?

Still okay, but he prefers Kroeger.