‘Headed into a calm before the storm moment here’

Next week could be a relatively calm stretch for Wall Street, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Friday, but he advised investors to start preparing for trading days on the horizon.

“Get ready. After next week, the onslaught of earnings and the Labor Department’s all-important non-farm payroll number will strike,” the “Mad Money” host said. “After a crazy up and down … week, we’re now headed into a calm before the storm moment here, and that storm could get a lot worse depending on what happens in China, where there’s no calm to be found at all.”

Here’s Cramer game plan for the week ahead. Revenue and earnings-per-share projections are based on FactSet estimates:

The struggling Chinese property developer Evergrande has, so far, left investors in limbo about whether it will fulfill its $83 million interest payment on its U.S. dollar bond, which had a deadline of Thursday. Concern about Evergrande’s financial struggles spilling into the global economy rattled markets early in the week, but worries improved throughout the week.

“On Monday, we should get word about what will happen to the part of the Evergrande edifice that hasn’t been bailed out,” Cramer said. “I think the government will make sure the big shareholders do get wiped out, and that includes management.”

“I fully expect to learn of the [government] regime’s new enemies when we return to work Monday morning,” he added. 

Micron

• Q4 2021 results: after the bell; conference call scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET
• Projected EPS: $2.33
• Projected revenue: $8.23 billion

“Today the long knives were really out for these guys; three different firms warned of looming disappointment. I have to admit that those predictions were particularly daunting,” Cramer said. “My view? Why don’t we just wait and see how Micron does? Just remember that high-end semiconductor plays have little to do with Micron, so they might be worth buying if this quarter drags down the whole industry.”

Thor Industries

• Q4 2021 results: Before the bell
• Projected EPS: $2.98
• Projected revenue: $3.31 billion

“While I like Thor … I also wouldn’t be a buyer here because we’re at the wrong stage of the business cycle” for the RV maker, Cramer said. “It’s too discretionary, and as the delta variant fades away, the stock market will say people will start traveling normally again. In other words, even if Thor blows away the numbers, I think there will be a lot of analysts who just say, ‘Well, that was the last good quarter.'”

Cintas

• Q1 2022 results: Before the open; conference call set for 10 a.m. ET
• Projected EPS: $2.76
• Projected sales: $1.88 billion

MillerKnoll

• Q1 2022 results: After the bell; conference call scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET
• Projected EPS: $0.54
• Projected revenue: $651 million

“Wednesday gives us a…