Michael Mann 
We are buying 55 shares of Capital One Financial at roughly $171.22 Following the trade, Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust will own 200 shares of COF, increasing its weighting to about 1% from 0.75%. We making a small buy in our newest position, Capital One Financial. As we talked about in our initiation Thursday and on Friday’s Morning Meeting, the financial services company has a significant catalyst on the horizon with its acquisition of Discover Financial Services. The deal is expected to close in early 2025, pending approval by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. There are clear strategic and financial benefits from this deal. From a strategic perspective, the deal helps Capital One gain scale and move up the card issuer ranks to the top spot from No. 3. It also allows Capital One to shift to a three-party business model, allowing it to own its relationship with consumers and merchants. “The pending Discover acquisition would fundamentally alter Capital One’s position in the payments ecosystem by granting it direct control over a closed-loop network,” analysts at Bank of America wrote in a Feb. 19 note when they upgraded their rating on Capital One to a buy. “We think that this would enhance [Capital One’s] offerings and enable it to compete more effectively in the small business market and in the super-premium consumer market with American Express,” Bank of America added. On the financial side, Capital One expects to generate $1.5 billion in expense synergies and $1.2 billion in network synergies from the Discover acquisition. The deal should also strengthen Capital One’s balance sheet, allowing for an increase in share buybacks a few quarters after it is completed. We would also be buyers of CrowdStrike if we were not restricted from trading it. This buy would represent the second 25 of the 50 shares we sold above $400 earlier this year. We added to CrowdStrike on Wednesday during the stock’s initial post-earnings decline. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long COF and CRWD. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
