Why are people so worried . So many like to grab a mike and tell us how great things are now. These conversations should be combined to sound like this. You mean to tell me we are going to have a recession and the fed will raise rates or just an out and out declaration. Well have a recession because of the fed. Like this morning there was a piece of research from Morgan Stanley telling you to sell General Motors. General motors why . Because the profits are more at risk than people reallize in a recession. I guess we are going into a recession. Maybe were in a recession or the Research Analysts wouldnt have spent most of the piece talking about how General Motors will get hurt in a recession. I started thinking about the conversation with fords ceo in San Francisco where he basically said he felt we could talk ourselves into a recession. Thats his big fear. Five times earnings, yields 6 with the special dividend. Pretty obvious they are not the only ones who fear a recession. The people who sell ford err day think so. If oil is peaking thats a major drive in the economy. It could be a reason we might have a recession. Then there is housing. The new housing purchases for january announced this morning, i thought it was an aberration. It was downright shocking, awful. Welle below expectations, especially out west. Home sales felle to 494,000. 525,000 is a big delta. Home building stocks have been horrendous since the december rate hike. Some of them lost 25, 35 of the value. Those are the good ones. Like the auto stocks. What are they saying . Theyre screaming recession. Not the time i would say to raise Mortgage Rates more than i would say raise auto rates but thats what happens in march. We know oil has been in a bear market for ages. August 14. Slightly. But the companies that labor in the oil service and Exploration Production companies cant make money unless crude is over 35 a barrel. Thats more than 2. 50 from here and thats the best of the operators. There arent many people who work in the oil business. It really only impacts nine states negatively. Recessions are about confidence. When you read storieses about the woes of the Oil Companies and those that lend to them you dont feel much confidence being inspired. Today until oil went up we were talking about how bad the bank stocks are doing. Lets not forget the political landscape. Republicans are trying to outdo each other about how poorly we are doing as a nation. You have to. They are running against a democrat and the democrat is in the white house. You hear them talk because there is a racehorse, even for second place. Watch donald trump and its like listening to reagan talk about how bad is t country is under carter. Half the people believe unless into recession and the others think if he wins the world might be coming to an end. They just buried Bernie Sanders last week and hes still raising money. If you are wealthy you could be nervous because of studies showing what some call the robin hood effect. So many people love him but they are not typically the people who own stocks. I get it. When i was in college i would have loved to have voted for a socialist. While i look like lenin it is harder to believe in communism as you get older and start paying taxes. Also lets make one thing clear. I am not the great grandson or great, great grandson or great, great nephew of vladimir lenin. Had to make it clear. Now, layer that on top of the fed speaker this is week who seem anxious to raise rates in march because things are good. We have a little bit of an like when the dow was down 250. Wed feel better if something positive was happening over seas. Maybe japan, europe, china, korea, canada, brazil, argentina. But there isnt. We know its only getting worse the more the fed hiked rates because it sends the dollar higher causing companies with u. S. Dollar debt. None of this is happen helping in the european union. The decline in Interest Rates we have witnessed lately is also signalling a recession. How can the tenyear treasury be down at 1. 7 . Against all this i mean all of it is the chatter from fed governor who is are so chipper. Obviously oblivious to all the discussions i know i hear people have. I almost wonder if we live in a vacuum. Who are they talking to . Maybe each other. Dont they have some pals concerned about a recession . Maybe they live in a positive bubble where all they can think is it is a good sign when they raise rates because it shows the economy must be better off. No one not one seems to be articulating the obvious which is wow with so many people thinking of recession maybe the fedle should say we are tone talking rate hikes. Is that so hard . Honestly. As long as the fed governors remain this upbeat about the fabulous notion of being able to be in a position to raise rates, we are going to have a lot more days where the market goes down, not up. Particularly if oil peaks and we go back to 25, 26. Now that there is no saudrussian deal. I dont want to blame the fed. There is more to it. Maybe cars arent selling because we all have one. Maybe homes arent selling because we dont need them. Maybe we are back in 1939 where a number of smart people thought the problems overseas had nothing to do with us or maybe, just maybe, those who are bullish on this economy who just plain wrong. My bottom line i think the fed is making a mistake and the fed officials so pumped up about how the fed economy is ripe for a rate hike ought to take a hike. If you want to get undiplomatic about it. Unless their friends decided not to use the word recession they arent in touch with what seems to be on everybody elses mind that i talk to. Rob in california. Rob. Go ahead, rob. Rob . Caller yes youre up, rob. Caller sunny san diego booyah to you, jimmy cramer. Consumer reports came out with the best and worst list and fiat was number 30 at the bottom. Fiat shareholders were supposed to benefit from the splitting of ferrari and giving the shares. I thought that sale was the top of the market. [ sell, sell, sell ] im not a fan of fiat. I like gm because of the yield. The Morgan Stanley piece. Lets go to ed in florida. Booyah from tampa, florida. Nice thanks for the great advice over the years. You have been great. Thank you. Caller my question is with all the market turmoil over the last few months whats your take on utility stocks. In particular duke energy. I like them. Duke isnt my favorite. Im not crazy about the growth. The one my Charitable Trust owns is nick aikens. I recommend the stock here. The only thing that was rallying today was indeed the american powers of the world. That needs to get out more. Maybe have a beer with me or something. They have to get more in touch with what everybody else is talking about underneath which is a recession. On mad money tonight, popeyes louisiana kitchen could be hitting earnings. Should we snack on this name at and whats cooking at Williams Sonoma . And youre going to want to stick around for this. Mark bentioc talks earnings and competition. I will ask him what we should be focused on between apple and the fbi. Why dont you stick with cramer . Announcer dont miss a second of mad money. Follow jimcramer on twitter. Have a question . Tweet cramer, madtweets. Send jim an email to madmoney cnbc. Com or give us a call at 1800743cnbc. Miss something . Someones hacked all our technology. Technology. Say, have you seen all the Amazing Technology in geicos mobile app . Mobile app . Look. Electronic id cards, emergency roadside service, i can even submit a claim. Wow. Yep, geicos mobile app works like a charm. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Working on my feet all day gave me pain here. In my lower back but now, i step on this machine and get my number which matches my dr. Scholls custom fit orthotic inserts. Now i get immediate relief from my foot pain. My lower back pain. Find a machine at drscholls. Com enough pressure in here for ya . Im gonna take mucinex sinusmax. Too late, were about to take off. Theyre new liquid gels. And youre coming with me. You realize i have gold status . Mucinex sinusmax liquid gels. Dissolves fast to unleash max strength medicine. Lets end this. Degree motionsense is the worlds first deodorant activated by movement. As you move, fragrance capsules burst to release extra freshness all day. Motionsense. Protection to keep you moving. Degreeit wont let you down. Happy anniversary dinner, darlin can this much love be cleaned by a little bit of dawn ultra . Oh yeah. One bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this bargain brand. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Ugh heartburn no one burns on my watch try alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. They work fast and dont taste chalky. Mmm. Amazing. I have heartburn. Alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. What on earth just happened to popeyes louisiana kitchen . Heres a well run Fried Chicken chain with 2500 locations mostly in the u. S. But with a growing overseas presence. They have been one of the biggest stories in the space. They renovated stores for new customers. We love the stock and the company. Popeyes reported after the close yesterday on one cent earnings bead slightly weaker than expected revenues. 2. 8 increase in same store sales. The real issue was the guidance. Imagine what giving weaker than expected earnings forecast for 2016. 2 to 3 same store sales growth. The stock tumbled and couldnt keep up with the rally. Stock market over react ing . Popeyes potentially lost its way . Lets check in with the ceo of popeyes louisiana kitchen to find out more about the quarter and the companys prospects. Welcome back to mad money. Good to see you. Thanks, jim. First congratulations on your contract. Thank you. You have done an amazing job. We looked at the market kaptzation. Its been all up. You did strike a more conservative tone on this Conference Call and admitted the guidance had to be lower for spend and also competition. Not the Conference Call that im used to. View on the market, i think, than the people we talked to today. We announced new bold goals for popeyes for the next seven to ten years and a plan to step up the performance of the company. Thats really what i think we need to be focused on. We did see con temporary competitive pressures. When beef comes down the burger chains are active and thats where the customer shops as well. We have to be sharp and competitive. We saw a slow down in sales in the Fourth Quarter. Well get after innovation and sharp price points and be back. Steve easterbrook is a remarkable ceo from mcdonalds and has been back and forth with me. Candidly, hurt jack in the box sales. The premium buttermilk Crispy Chicken deluxe, 4. 39 you say the burger Chains Really did play a role. Is it that competition or the fact that they have lower prices . I think its pricing. We are seeing four for 4 and two for 2 and we are again back that now with uncertainty in the economic situation. I think we are just in a temporary value marketplace. Great innovation and sharp value pricing is how well compete in that environment. Beef prices have come down but chicken prices are coming down. You could get in that if you want to. We do expect stable to slightly better chicken prices which is better than a year ago. That will allow us to be competitive. We have the normal pipeline of exciting new products coming this rear. Lets talk about technology. This sounds like the technologys great idea and you will be offering it. Will the franchisees want to buy into it . They are very excited about the investment and what we call one technology. We have never had one Technology Platform for our restaurants. Today it is a real asset, as you have noted in dominos and other Companies Invest ing in technology. Yes. We have a chance to leapfrog to contemporary technologile for restaurant managers, guests and for our employees. We dont have any legacy systems so the franchisees are excited to move to a new system. So for some people like Howard Schultzs starbucks mean more throughput. For others it means you can keep financial controls. Is it all of the things for you . I call it a triangle. Back of the house and keeping sharp about controls in the restaurant on costs, labor and food. For the employees there are new technologies about how to set schedules and communicate with your manager. Then for the guests, payment technology, rewards, gift cards. You have to get in that. We have to get in the game and we are excited to do that. You have taken so much share in chicken. Are you maxed . You have done a remarkable job. How much can you take . Our market share has moved from 14 to 25 of chicken qsr. Combination of the incredible sales track record and our new units taking share. So i think there is more room to we are focused on the total sector on growing share of qsi. Sounds like excess cash flow you will use to buy as the stock gets hammered today. Its been a remarkable performer. Given what you think of temporary factors involved in the value meals, this is a Good Opportunity for the company to bring in more stuff. We have told the marketplace that the board has authorized 200 millionle in repurchases. We have refinanced the company to have flexibility for organic growth and share buybacks. We have told the story on capital structure and you will see the benefits. Its important to point out when you took over you were buying back almost the full amount the company was worth. You are so right. Am i right . Thank you, jim. Announcer coming up apple of my wry . And certain politicians calling for their head. Boycott apple. Announcer dont miss cramers take ahead. And those who do should switch to geico because you could save hundreds on Car Insurance. Ah, perfect. Valet parking. Heres the keys. And, uh, go easy on my ride, mate. Hm, wouldnt mind some of that beef wellington. To see how much you could save on Car Insurance, go to geico. Com. Ah car alarm sounds its ok i take pictures of sunrises, but with my back pain i couldnt sleep and get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Take one of those pillows and take a big smell. They smell really fresh what if we told you we washed these sheets 7 days ago. Really . No way downy . Downy fabric conditioner give us a week, and well change your bed forever. Add new downy fresh protect. Working on my feet all day gave me pain here. In my lower back but now, i step on this machine and get my number which matches my dr. Scholls custom fit orthotic inserts. Now i get immediate relief from my foot pain. My lower back pain. Even though the averages have been pulling back but a nice rally today february has been a positive month for the stock market. Its safe now to search for of Growth Stocks that have fallen out of favor. Thats why we are charting the rise and the fall of some former market darlings so we can understand what works and what doesnt. Whats damaged merchandise and whats a damaged stocklele which brings me to Williams Sonoma. You may recognize them as west elm, pottery barn and other brands. After rallying up to 89 at its peak in august, more than quadruple in five and a half years they have gone into a free fall down to 56 as of today down 36 from the highs in just six months. It is too hot to hold. Williamssonoma was a beloved stock you could buy and hold for ages. This company was such a well run purveyor of high end Home Furnishings. Year after year you couldnt go wrong. Now it seems they cant do anything right. What happened . First you have to understand what made it a juggernaut for years to begin with. Category. Since the Great Recession ended they were on a quest to take market share. Once housing came back they roared back along with it. In addition this is one of the few retailers that seemed to have gotten the internet right. Given that 50 of their sales come from various ecommerce platforms. They have a huge database of high income consumers and run the best in class Web Marketing and Data Analytics team so they are good at targeting advertising. They are. They probably targeted you and you know how right they seem to be. Beyond that they have been a fabulous at incubating new brands like west elm where we do too much shopping. Huge driver of the outperformance back when it was beloved by the market and it has a presence overseas where they have been successful in the uk and australia. Many investors believe it could double in size thanks to the International Growth story. What went wrong . If you asked me to pick out a the list. Now it wouldnt make the list. The wheels came off the in august when they had a positive quarter with in line earning and better than expected sales. Managements guidance was the rest of 2015 was like a punch to the gut. With the sales and earnings forecast well below what analysts were expecting it took people by surprise. The Stock Plunged nearly 9 over the next two trading days as many analysts rushed to defend the company claiming a buyback opportunity because they were used to loving the stock. To mid november when they had a solid quarter but far from great. That was a real problem when people were hoping for a return they beat the headline numbers but same store sales were light. You know how important that is. Wall street was looking for 5 . They had 80 basis points gross margin miss making less money per fum than they used to. Management narrowed the earnings forecast. Not what we expected from the great williamssonoma. This is when many analysts started to give up on the name. Goldman sachs decided to remove it from the buy list citing the weakening Gross Margins and a slow down at pottery barn. A decell radiation in ecommerce and a 12. 5 increase in inventory that is significantly outpaced the sales growth. Remember, inventory is the ba