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First they started buying materials and pharma companies like DuPont, 3M, Johnson. Then they expanded their net to beat up, beaten-down growth software companies. Today they cast the widest net yet, wrangling aerospace like Boeing, high-quality growth retailers like Costco and Walmart, and even Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.
Who is 'they' and what am I talking about? I am using trader shorthand to describe what big institutional buyers — the ones who move stocks — where they're buying, like you saw today, and their patterns. They are now using them to rearrange their portfolios to have more than just AI exposure. That's what's happening. So where does that money come from to do all this new buying, cast the wide net? Mostly from Nasdaq stocks, especially the ones connected to the once-loved, now-scorned data center. This sea change is roiling the averages.
The Dow jumping 53%, but the Nasdaq falling 22%.
You can see what I'm talking about when the Dow Jones rallies furiously, as it did today, but the data-center-heavy Nasdaq actually loses almost a quarter of a point. That is a very interesting dispersal. What is this action saying? You need to know. I'm listening to it. Pretty much what we said in 2000. That's the problem. When the tech stocks cratered and the money flowed into areas where growth remained, it looks a lot like that bygone era, and we wish good riddance of that era. We don't want that. In the end, it could take everything down. I bring that up not because it will. I just need to tell you if history is going to repeat itself.
Why is this great swap happening again? Well, it all starts with tech. We've seen a huge part of the Nasdaq and lots of the S&P pivot hard in the last year as they started ramping up for the data center. They pivoted in a beautiful way. But there are many parts of the data center. The parts that most excited people were actually the parts that were in short supply. That's right. In just — well, let's just say they were scarce. And I'm talking about memory and storage from Seagate, Western Digital, SanDisk, and Micron. There were shortages in all these. These companies historically have been very boom and very bust. When it's very boom, there's a big shortage. When it's very bust, there's a surplus. When AI exploded on the scene and the data center caught fire, we had to fill those data centers with servers, and servers are packed with memory and storage. Those big four companies, plus SK Hynix, which now trades here, not just in Korea, and Samsung in Korea, very quickly got huge pricing power because there literally weren't enough chips to go around. And by the way, SK Hynix and Samsung are much bigger than our companies — not much better, but much bigger. So what's happened to these companies? They've been able to raise prices and raise prices and raise prices with abandon, and it's caused a lot of things to be a little more expensive than you and I like. That allowed, though, for some of the greatest runs I've ever seen in stocks. Listen to these. Western Digital went from $70 a year ago to $799. In June, Micron started at $101 a year ago and then it rallied to $1,255.
Seagate went from $152 to $1,145, and SanDisk made the biggest move of all, galloping from $42 to $2,354.
Those moves are incredible. I call them lifetime gains, at least if you took them. But every one of these stocks peaked in June. Western Digital's now fallen from $7.99 to $4.63. Micron, $255 to $820. Seagate, $1,145 to $747. And SanDisk, well, it's tumbled from $2,354 to $1,196.
And those are colossal losses. What triggered them? And the answer is elusive. Prices for their wares haven't come down at all. Some of them are still going up all the time. But I've been through many boom and bust cycles with these companies, and the stocks always start coming down well before the business deteriorates. You can't see what's going to happen. That's what I always say, though: you have to sell the parabolic moves. More on this later. These shortages trigger because parabolic moves always end. The stocks just anticipate that ending. In other words, the stocks fall first, and then the numbers go down. My best guess: remember, there are two Korean companies that are the biggest memory makers. I just talked about it. But maybe the Chinese, which are struggling with memory pricing, have managed to produce more chips than we know, and some of the producers in Asia can therefore switch to China. Producers in Europe switched to China. Maybe they're about to place fewer orders with the Koreans, busting the shortage. And that would also explain why Apple, big buyer of memory, saw its stock hit an all-time high today. Not a conspiracy theory, just a conjecture. Now, we are going to get a real chance to see if these disk drive memory stocks can reignite, because Seagate reported a very nice upside surprise this very evening, and it is trading higher after the close, about 50 points higher than where the trading ended at four. But here's the thing: these stocks all traded higher initially after they reported already. We need to watch like hawks to see tomorrow if the money can flow back to the company's stock. If it can, we could be in a reprieve mode. If it can't, let's just say, well, they all trade together.
Many of those who sold these stocks to take capital gains will keep redeploying the capital away from the kind of tech that's found in the data center, though, and we saw that all day today. Now, they certainly aren't selling because of a lack of demand for data centers. That demand's ferocious. We just found out today that Meta and BlackRock are getting together to build a $14 billion data center. Every day we get huge deals like that. Every day. I'm not kidding. This weekend we had hundreds of billions of dollars of these deals, exactly like them. No, they're selling because they're afraid of the whole group. They're concerned that the big buyers of this data center equipment will slow their spending or stick to their current budgets, in part because they saw how sellers swarmed out of Alphabet stock when it raised its capital budget to get even bigger in the data center. They saw Alphabet raise its capex budget, which was initially going to be $180–190 billion, up to $195 billion to $205 billion. The stock then dropped 7% on that news and lost $275 billion in market cap just on that news. Let's see: it raised its spend by about $15 billion in the midpoint and then shed $200 billion. Now, Alphabet stock's recovered a bit since then, but the point remains, perhaps more important: anyone who participated in Alphabet on the secondary got crushed as the stock went from $355 to $330, with a pit stop as low as $318.
And now, Alphabet has negative free cash flow. So, the data center stocks, once so prized, now seem dicey. I expect that the tech buyers will try to mount a rally off of Seagate's good number this evening. I don't know if it's going to last. Meanwhile, I can't believe the gains we saw today in Costco and Walmart, which have been such dogs. They're up 1.6% and 1.2% respectively, but were much higher at one point. The software companies like ServiceNow and Salesforce jumped 4.8% and 4.6% respectively. The food stocks soared. Oh my God, that group is strong. Coke and Pepsi rallying 5%. Coke in that great quarter, and 2.2%. Drugs all went up. Biotech was screaming. Now, you can call it a broadening or you can call it a fleeing. Of course, we have to distinguish among the decliners. Memory stocks are part of a bottleneck in the data center. They're regarded as a tax. They're hurting the margins of the buyers. There are other companies like Nvidia and, I believe, Intel that are worth holding on to because their gains weren't from shortages. But I recognize their stocks have been hurt. Wow, we're taking a beating in this Intel, but I'm going to buy it all the way down for the Chapel Trust. Why don't I even buy some of them? Because I don't think AI spending is going to collapse. Some of the builders may exercise prudence when they announce their spending plans, and that could put pressure on some of these stocks, but they'll still be okay, just not as good as they were. So much money has been made with the data center thesis, but a lot has been lost of late. If you bought stock on that Google secondary at $355, if you bought SpaceX right out of the gate, you're in no mood to help finance the data center build, are you? And if you're a privately held operator, your values likely come down since June. We just can't see it. The next move might be a down fundraising round, and then perhaps they won't even have enough money to meet their commitments, causing losses all the way down the line, particularly to those who extended financing. Something I don't like. That's a big reason why the entire complex has been trading lower. There are plenty of other reasons why money's fled to non-tech growth stocks and the formerly hated software stocks. Oil's down, rates stable, Fed could have a benign outcome tomorrow. Not that long ago, we thought there might have been a rate hike. The earnings of the winners have been far better than expected. Healthcare's really been trampled for no reason. But the overwhelming theme here is the concern that some big company, wary of what happened to Alphabet, says it's going to hold the line on AI spending. No more increases. The market can certainly be wrong. Maybe soon OpenAI comes out and says, you know what, clear line of profitability next year. Perhaps Anthropic says, time to come public, we're profitable. Then the data center story lives, and you'll wish you owned some Dell or AMD or Nvidia or Intel. The bottom line right now, though: other stocks are in the sunshine, and the semi portion of the data center is under assault. Money can flow back, especially considering how low these stocks have gotten. But it sure would help to hear some of the hyperscalers say they're making a ton of money with AI, or at least not losing it, or even a line of sight to profitability that could save the group. But does anyone have one? I don't know. Let's go to Robert in New York, please. Robert.
Jim, thanks for having me on the show. I just want to let you know, as I do every year, that it's my birthday this Thursday.
Oh my, Robert, we're going to have to send you some cupcakes like we send Heather Gains, because they were delicious.
Jim, my favorite song is 'Happy Birthday to Me.' Happy birthday to me. Thank God for Jim Cramer. He keeps making us money.
Sinatra will never be confused with Robert. So last year I said, 'Commit, don't quit, you're changing.' This one I'm saying that Sinatra — no, he's not. All right, all right. Yeah, you're right. What do you got?
Let's get to work. Okay. This next company is an American biotech that develops and markets robotic products designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients through minimally invasive surgery, most notably with the da Vinci surgical system. Jimbo, now I think this stock is on sale. Hospitals are eagerly buying the company's new da Vinci 5 systems, with placements jumping 18% in the second quarter. This stock is at a low, and Jim, I cannot buy it unless I speak to you, but I think this is going much, much higher. Intuitive Surgical.
Okay. All right. Look, I was figuring, Robert. Here's the problem: they did not have a good last quarter. However, I agree that it's down so much that it is looking up to me, down 36%. I think this and a lot of the others have been thrown away. Have a couple days' gains, but don't forget the quarter wasn't that good. It's not as good as you're singing. Okay. Jimmy Chill says be careful in Intuitive Surgical. All right. Right now, the data center stocks, they're in, you know, a little pain today, but many other sectors are in sunshine. Mad Money tonight: SpaceX has slowed dramatically since its IPO. Is there an opportunity here? Now it reversed in midday trading. I'm taking a look ahead of big lockup expiration, though. That is the best opportunity in the market, hidden underground. I'm taking a look at the aggregates stocks for a second day. Give you my take on this incredibly good growth stock group of rocks. And shares of Nucor on a tear this year. Speaking of growth, oh my God, the growth in the steel business is just nothing short of amazing. And Nucor is the leader. Stay with Cramer.
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Last night I got a call about SpaceX from Kevin in Kentucky, and I told him what I've been saying all along: this is a stock that requires a lot of trust. If you trust Elon Musk, then it's worth owning for the long haul. But if you don't trust him, forget about it. But now that the stock's come down nearly 50% from its initial highs, I figure it's worth circling back. You know, look, this one could be very interesting. It's been a little more than six weeks after its IPO. SpaceX hit a new low of 107 this morning, down almost 53% from its high, but then it had this really terrific bounce off that low and ended up the day nearly 3%. That is a very positive pattern, people. Maybe some of the big sellers are cleared out. Still, even if you like SpaceX, I think it probably pays to be patient because I expect to see some lower prices in the not-too-distant future, as I will explain. After peaking at 225 on its third day of trading, it's being viewed as a meme stock, a trillion-dollar meme stock. SpaceX has sunk to 116 and change, practically in a straight line. Why has it been such an awful trader? Look, this is a rocket play with a big satellite internet business that I love. It's also a major data center operation, and data center plays have been crushed over the past month. That said, it's not like there hasn't been any good news here. Early this month, the quiet period ended for SpaceX, and most sell-side analysts initiated coverage of the stock with 28 buy ratings, seven holds, just one sell. They're extremely bullish. And if you look at most of the hold ratings, their price targets are quite a bit higher than where the stock's currently trading. Kind of makes it a de facto upgrade. The key here is that we now have the consensus estimates for SpaceX's future numbers. And those analyst projections, they look pretty darn good. The consensus estimates have SpaceX losing money this year, though they expect profitable quarters starting right now, the third quarter of 2026. Then they have the company reporting a modest profit of around 7 cents per share next year. Come 2028, Wall Street expects SpaceX to earn over $3 per share. With the stock now at around $116, that means it's trading something like 38 times the 2028 numbers. Now, look, I know that sounds crazy for some stocks, but it's not particularly expensive for an elite growth stock run by the greatest investors of the century so far. So if you believe these numbers, this stock's definitely getting cheaper as it comes down. And I like that. The question is, should you believe the analyst estimates? When you think of these projections, the analysts expect a lot of the heavy lifting to come from SpaceX's AI division, which includes everything from its Colossus data center to its Grok AI platform and other AI applications like Cursor, the AI coding tool the company's acquiring for $60 billion that everybody loves. They're expecting — well, all the people who write software — they're expecting solid growth from the space business, genuine strength from Starlink, and then a revenue and earnings portion from the AI business. Is that reasonable? Well, this bullish outlook for the AI business is based in large part on two big deals that SpaceX announced in the weeks before its IPO. And they are really good deals. On May 6, they announced this massive deal with Anthropic that has SpaceX renting compute at a cost of $1.25 billion per month. Then on June 5th, the company made a deal with Google, which has Google paying them $920 million per month for the same thing. Put together, we're talking an additional $26 billion in annual revenue that came out of nowhere. When you build out data centers, you can rent out your excess computing power for a big premium. At least you can right now. However, those two deals can be cancelled by either party with 90 days' notice. From my perspective, that makes this new revenue stream very tough to model because nobody's really locked in. And if you look at the bullish analyst estimates for 2028, they're clearly assuming we're going to see a lot more deals like these two. That's certainly possible, although there aren't many other companies with such deep pockets, and that's what I worry about. It's really a small group of companies that can do these deals. Next Tuesday, though, we're going to get a glimpse into how the AI business is doing when SpaceX reports any color at all about the nature and durability of these kinds of agreements. Well, any indication that similar ones are in the works that could prop up the stock. What else will we be listening to? Well, you might have heard that SpaceX had a successful test flight for its next-generation Starship rocket last Friday night. This was the 13th test flight and the first one since the IPO. That's key to the future of the space business. Finally, for the last segment, connectivity. We want to see continued progress for their Starlink satellite internet and mobile service. Regular viewers know that I love this Starlink business. It has excellent subscriber growth because it offers incredible service at a surprisingly low price, especially in Europe. But expectations are high here. So SpaceX really needs to impress, especially since it's not known how good the service is in urban environments. But beyond the earnings report, there are two big issues with owning this stock right now that I need you to know about and think about. First, I believe it's likely that Elon Musk may already decide to have SpaceX just buy Tesla and consolidate his publicly traded companies under one roof. Tesla's been doing terribly. It's just reported a weak quarter, and the stock's down nearly 40% from its highs last December. Because SpaceX has a dual-class ownership structure, if Musk wants to use it to buy Tesla, well, there really isn't anybody who can stop him. Personally, I think SpaceX has a better mix of businesses than Tesla. So I don't know if I love the idea. Second issue: the float. Remember, very few of SpaceX's shares actually trade on the open market right now. Currently, most of them are under lockup, but next Thursday, 911.5 million shares will be released from the lockup, which will more than double the stock's float. By my math, SpaceX's float will go from just under 5% of the shares outstanding to almost 12%. Maybe that's why there's been such big short activity in the company. I can't tell you exactly what that means for the stock, but generally speaking, more supply does tend to result in lower prices. Even if they report a great quarter on Tuesday, I don't know if it can withstand the lockup expiration on Thursday. Unless the shorts come in and cover, and maybe that will be the trampoline that you need. I don't know. Here's the bottom line: SpaceX has been a real dog since it peaked the third day after it became public. But I know there's a lot of interest in this one and a lot of faith in Elon Musk. And I like the way the stock went out today. Hey, I don't blame anyone for believing in him. I believe in him, too. Guy's got an incredible long-term track record. However, if you're really looking to buy SpaceX, you know what? Maybe buy a little, but I'm really begging you to kind of wait to go big for that first wave of lockup when insider selling expires next Thursday. Be patient. Let it drag the share price lower before you pull the trigger. Boney's back after the break.
Coming up, they form the foundation of most of our world. So, can aggregates stocks be the foundation of your portfolio? Cramer is digging in next.
Yesterday I paid this real cool visit to CRH. That's the largest aggregates producer in North America. I was at their Mount Hope Quarry, not that far from here in northern New Jersey. And I spoke to CEO Jim Mintz. This maker of rocks for infrastructure and construction, largely like gravel, has been a terrific long-term performer, up more than 80% since it switched its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange nearly three years ago. But the stock's down 17% year to date, mostly thanks to worries about higher oil, higher interest rates. We've seen similar pullbacks in Vulcan Materials, Martin Marietta, the other two big aggregates companies. It's the big three. And that's why I think this group deserves a closer look. I'm always looking for things that are down that can go higher. You know, I don't care that much about the things that are flying. Remember, right now investors are looking for growth wherever they can find it, as long as it's not only perfectly safe, related to data center. People want diversification. I don't blame them. And I see an opportunity in the aggregates companies. They've been hammered by high oil prices because quarrying stone consumes a ton of diesel. They've been hammered by higher interest rates because they make new construction more expensive to finance. Although, as we saw from CRH yesterday, a lot of business that they have is road building, and the government maintains the roads. Good customer. And oil's already plummeted back to the 70s, and treasury yields are coming down too. So that's not so bad. Plus, these companies all have major barriers to entry for the simple reason that rocks are really heavy and thus expensive to transport. You need local quarries wherever you are operating, and getting permits to start a new one can take years, assuming you can even get a permit. Not a lot of homeowners want quarries next to them. That gives the established producers tremendous pricing power, which is why their stocks have been such long-term winners. Sure, the aggregates companies have some data center exposure. The rock can form the foundation of a data center campus. I saw a model of how the stuff that's really underneath a data center. It's pretty intriguing because it's not just rocks, but you need their stuff. And you know what? It can also work underneath a highway, a bridge, an LNG facility, a warehouse, a housing development. That's where some really specialized rocks are. It's kind of diversified exposure. Enough AI infrastructure to provide upside, but enough diversification that one hyperscaler changing its capital spending plan won't wreck the entire business. CRH reminded me of this opportunity when I visited yesterday, but historically, you know what? I didn't really know CRH that well, and I've been much more of a fan of Vulcan Materials and especially Martin Marietta. So let's take them one at a time. I think it's really valuable. Vulcan Materials is the nation's largest producer of construction aggregates. Now, this is the example I used in 'How to Make Money in Any Market' to demonstrate what long-term compounding from a growth stock can look like in an incredibly basic business: rocks. Get this: $1 invested in Vulcan on December 21st, 1925 — $1 — would have grown to $393,492 by the end of 2023. So remember, it's yours. You give it to your kids, they inherit it, maybe it even goes further. And listen to that kind of thing. Okay, that's a big win. Now, it didn't happen because someone perfectly timed every housing cycle or recession or infrastructure bill. This is a testament to the staying power and long-term growth of the rock business and the earnings power of a well-run company when you hold it for decades. That's what we try to teach here on the show. Now, Vulcan reports tomorrow before the opening. We know the company executed well in the first quarter despite a difficult environment. I'm optimistic, even though this quarter may also be a tough one. And look, the stock is not cheap, especially compared to its peers. This one sells for almost 32 times this year's earnings estimate. That's like a tech stock. Versus 31 times for Martin Marietta, also expensive, just 17 times for CRH, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to spend some time with them. So yes, you're paying a premium for Vulcan Materials, but companies like these rarely look statistically cheap because the market understands the quality of the reserves and pricing power. Vulcan has repeatedly demonstrated over multiple decades that it can grow profitability through different environments. If rates eventually come down and housing recovers, Vulcan should have volume upside on top of the pricing and productivity gains it's already delivering. If tomorrow's quarter confirms that volumes, pricing, and margins remain intact, I think we're going to get a nice snapback, like we saw a lot of the snapbacks in today's session. How about Martin Marietta Materials, the country's second-largest domestic aggregates producer? Now, they report Thursday, and its previous quarter was strong, albeit not perfect. These guys have been on the show a lot. The big story here is their agreement to acquire Lhoist, and now that is a North American company, and the deal's big: $13.5 billion in cash and stock. The CEO came on CNBC to explain why Martin Marietta is making such a large bet on a major producer of lime, dolomitic lime — you like the dolomites — and industrial minerals. The deal brings 20 quarries and production facilities, 45 distribution terminals, and $1.8 billion in annual sales. Lime starts with the same core acquiring skills as aggregates, but it serves a broader collection of end markets, from steel manufacturing to water treatment, environmental applications, infrastructure, soil stabilization, and industrial production. There are no meaningful substitutes, limited import competition — yay — and enormous barriers to building new supply. And that's why Martin is willing to pay so much for this thing. It'll make them a heck of a lot more profitable, but also make them more diversified. But I can't ignore the risk here. Martin has a strong takeover record. They've done a really good job. But these companies are long-term rollups. They buy assets repeatedly, and sometimes they get the timing wrong. Lhoist was a terrific business, but Martin Marietta is paying a full price, issuing a lot of stock, and taking on substantial debt. That's worrisome. So there's some execution risk, and we also have to worry about the broader economy. That's the key difference between Martin Marietta and Vulcan today. Vulcan offers the cleaner aggregates story with a focused portfolio, strong unit profitability, and less near-term risk at almost a similar multiple. Martin Marietta potentially has more upside, but the Lhoist deal also means, I think, a little more risk. Maybe kind of like the CRH acquisition — you make an acquisition and you just, you know, you say to yourself, are these acquisitions a bridge too far if the economy goes well, if the economy doesn't do well? Plus, both companies remain hostage to the broader economy. There's real earnings risk when construction volumes decline, whether it's poor public funding, weekends, or energy costs spike. But their earnings power is not as boom-bust as it used to be. And that is why these stocks have been able to compound for so long despite periodically ugly construction cycles. And it's why they get such high price-to-earnings multiples, even though they make rocks. In the end, the three big aggregates names have pulled back hard. And after yesterday's visit at CRH Quarry, I wanted to go over my two favorites in the group, Vulcan and Martin Marietta, because they own scarce, difficult-to-replace assets that society simply can't function without. Roads need to be refurbished, bridges need to be built, factories, power plants, LNG terminals, and yes, data centers all need foundations. We can't live without these rocks, and very few companies can do all those projects that I just mentioned. So the bottom line: when I see Vulcan and Martin Marietta pulling back, it makes me want to swoop in. This is a moment where we're looking to diversify away from data centers, and I think that you could do a lot worse than the rock processors, which have surprising growth. That said, don't go all in with the earnings coming this week and the macro environment still uncertain. We got a Fed meeting tomorrow. I recommend putting both on the shopping list, buying their stocks into weakness, which you often get. These are all lasting companies with much bigger moats than you would expect for companies that, in the end, make stone. Not the most special of commodities. Let's go to Robin in Cali. Robin.
Hey Jim, is Sterling Infrastructure a buy at this time?
Um, I think that I know it got hit pretty hard. Um, I think it's a really, really good company. That particular segment did go parabolic, and when a stock goes parabolic, we're not quite sure where it's going to bottom. This one has almost taken out the beginning of its parabola. So we're close to it, but down huge today. You got to wait a couple more days. Vulcan and Martin Marietta Materials are rocks, and they rock. All right. I think it's a buying opportunity. That much more Mad Money, including my exclusive with steelmaker Nucor. Then we're seeing a major unwinding in a lot of former market darlings. So what's going on here? I'm breaking down the moves and how to handle them, and their parabolic and oily calls rapid fire tonight's edition of the lightning round. So stay with Cramer.
Look at the stock of Nucor. The nation's preeminent steelmaker reported a better-than-expected quarter last night after already pre-announcing to the upside back in June. Not only did they deliver a top and bottom line beat, they gave very bullish guidance for the current quarter, too. In response, the stock deservedly shot up 7% today. It's now up 84% over the past 12 months. A steelmaker. Some of that's because President Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50% last year, protecting Nucor and its compadres from foreign dumping. Even when the war in Iran started, the stock kept marching higher. It's like nothing can derail this thing. So, can it keep running? Let's check in with Leon Topalian. He's the chairman and CEO of Nucor, a great American company, to find out. Mr. Topalian, welcome back to Mad Money.
Thanks, Jim. Appreciate you having us.
Okay. So, Leon, let me ask you, is this the greatest demand environment you have ever seen in your career at Nucor?
Yeah, it's funny. I shared that exact quote today on our earnings call, Jim. You know, I just crossed my 30-year mark with Nucor, and I would tell you the demand drivers are unlike anything I've seen because they are as diverse, as wide, in terms of markets — from military towers and structures, data centers, energy, energy infrastructure, non-res construction, insulated metal panels and towers, structures — all of them are at or near record backlogs. And so it is absolutely unequivocally a demand environment like I've never seen before.
And would there be a demand environment like this if we had the old rules on tariffs, where there really wasn't — you could pretty much — the government looked the other way when other countries tried to flood our imports?
Look, you and I have talked about this for a long time. We are in a global oversupply situation, and nations around the globe are trying to find a way to dump and subsidize their steels to land on the shores of the US. What we've seen in the current administration — and I've got to applaud President Trump, USTR Jameson Greer, you know, Secretary Lutnick — they understand, and it's really, to me, an investment in American manufacturing and the steel industry. But to answer your — the short answer to your question is, yeah, I think we would. Look, imports are at the lowest levels I've seen in my 30-year career. At the same time, the demand drivers are unlike anything I've seen. So you've got, you know, the dual factor in place today. And quite frankly, Nucor's at a position at the tip of the spear in almost every one of those instances to win. We have the capability, the volume, the cleanliness, the grades, the just the differentiated capability to reward our shareholders handsomely. And so I love what our stock's been doing, but quite frankly, we're just getting warmed up. Jim, not everything we've invested in is yet online. And that's coming by the end of this year. We will start it up. West Virginia, the largest investment in the history of Nucor at $4 billion invested in Mason County. When that comes online, you're going to see a through-cycle performance that Nucor has never achieved before.
Now, do you think that there is an inflation problem in the country? And could you try to estimate whether there's any real inflation in steel despite the tariffs?
Look, I — yeah, I think there's some. And you know, when it comes to overall GDP to steel demand, well, you know this better than anyone. It is a commodity-driven business. It is supply and demand. Pricing is going to be dictated simply by the consumer. Now, when you pull out five or six million tons of steel out of imports that were flooding our nation, man, it creates a very, very balanced level playing field where Nucor and other steel producers can win. And again, I think we are the best positioned in our industry to take full advantage of that.
You know, it's funny. You got to go back to Hamilton. You really do. I mean, Hamilton said, 'If you do the tariffs, what'll happen is our country will thrive and we'll build plants.' Now, how many people have you put to work since we decided to take this industry seriously and not have it destroyed by imports?
You know, in the last seven years, Jim, we've created about 9,000 direct Nucor jobs and about 30,000 indirect jobs through contractors and on-campus facility partners. So we continue to reward the communities where we live and work. We're so excited about the investments we made in Lexington, North Carolina, again, Mason County, West Virginia, Kingman, Arizona, the new galvanizing lines at Berkeley and Crawfordsville, what we're doing in CSI, the investments in Gallatin, and almost every division that continues to be reinvested in. Our three towers and structures facilities, two of which are running now, the third that'll start up early in 2027, are all going to create again the highest lift Nucor has ever seen.
Now, what do you want to be done with USMCA? I know the Trump administration has opted not to renew it. I thought it was doing okay for you. I mean, is there something that could be better?
Look, I think there's a few things you can tweak, right? Could we take rules of origin and content for automotive up a little bit? Yeah, I think we can do that. But 232, I agree with you, was a good vehicle. Except when you see violations of 3,400% of, you know, products coming across from Canada into the country or from Mexico into the United States. USMCA wasn't the problem when we had people that were violating it and not creating outcomes that were going to create a more level playing field. That's the problem. So I think today you're going to see a year-to-year review that actually will tighten those things up. Again, I think we have a USTR and Jameson Greer that understands this very well. And I think you're going to see that the country will win as a benefit to that annual review process.
Now, Leon, the last thing I want to ask is, I deal with a lot of these so-called hyperscalers. And they go into a town and they say they're going to create all these jobs and don't worry about a thing. It's really going to make your neighbor better. I always ask them, do you ever think about like what Nucor does when they go in ahead of time and make sure that it's the right place for the people and that you're the right guys for the people? Has anyone ever contacted you? Of all the companies I've said they should talk to, you should talk to Leon. He knows how to do it. Have any of the guys called you? Every one of them I've mentioned it to.
You know, we have a great relationship with many of the hyperscalers and the very biggest ones. You know, I guess, Jim, for me, the most gratifying part of that is when I get to go to those plants, when I get to go up — and I just was up at our plant in West Virginia — to see the lives that are being impacted, to see the communities change where we can come in literally at the grand opening, write a million-dollar check to the school system, supply the food banks and food pantries, reinvest in that community, and then hire locally, right? Jobs that we're paying $130 to $150,000 a year annually. We take great care not just of our team but the communities that we live in, and that is going to continue a long time in our future and how we operate and the things that we do and that we value.
