Lower Interest Rates Ahead? Jim Cramer on the Macro Setup, Alphabet, and 27 More Stocks

7. McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC)

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) was among the stocks Jim Cramer discussed as he said that the Iran peace negotiations could trigger an oil glut, cool inflation, and pull interest rates down. Cramer expects to hear a Unilever deal justification from the management, as he remarked:

Also, on Thursday, we hear from McCormick. This is the spices and seasoning stock. It is still reeling from their deal to buy Unilever’s food business, which Wall Street thinks was a colossal overpay. Let’s see what management says to justify it. The stock’s been crushed.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) produces and sells spices, seasonings, condiments, and flavor products for consumers and food manufacturers. Cramer discussed the company’s food brand acquisition from Unilever during the April 10 episode, as he said:

I want to contrast that with how I handled myself the previous day with Brendan Foley, the CEO of McCormick, the spice company. Brendan’s just done a gigantic deal with Unilever to buy Hellmann’s mayonnaise from them, among other brands. Wall Street clearly thought he paid too much because the stock cratered. Now, I disagreed. I thought it looked like a good deal, but looking back, I think I gave Brendan a free pass because I didn’t press him on the cost, which was pretty high.

Some would say outrageously high during an era where the packaged food space is under siege. I could hear Mark (the late Mark Haines, CNBC anchor) in my brain saying, how could you run those brands better than Unilever? Why did you give away so much of the company? I mean, these are the questions he would’ve asked with immediate follow-up if the questions weren’t satisfactory. He wasn’t there to make friends. He was there to see if the CEO knew what he was doing.