In this piece, we will take a look at the 14 stocks that Jim Cramer recently talked about.
In his latest appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer continued to talk about the incoming Trump administration’s tariffs. Coupled with the Fed’s data-driven interest rates cycle, tariffs have created quite a stir on Wall Street as investors are wary of them contributing to inflationary pressures and making the central bank hesitate when it comes to reducing rates.
He believes that one of the key issues surrounding tariffs is the interconnection between the US and China. Cramer shared that “I know many business people have talked to President-elect Trump and they’ve said, ‘It’s not as simple as steel. Steel’s a hundred thousand people, I mean some of these companies have three hundred, four hundred thousand people themselves. I think the problem is we’re so intertwined and a lot of people felt, you know what, when President Trump, or when he was President Trump, you basically felt you were supposed to go from China to Mexico. Seemed like a good deal. And Mexico seemed like, favored.”
Since then, Cramer shared that the sentiment around Mexico has changed. According to him, the same people are now wondering “Why did we go to this country that apparently doesn’t like.” He also shed light on the relationship between China and Mexico and shared that “China and Mexico are strange bedfellows. China’s been flooding the country with autos! And, what we did was we moved all of our auto production down there! Also Germany, you go to Puebla, and it’s Volkswagen!” He added that this makes implementing tariffs tricky as “it’s just that the cars go back and forth, and back and forth, where, where do we put the tariff on? Where to we take it off?”
However, while the market might be worried about the broader impact of tariffs, businesses are also excited about growing merger and acquisition activity. Cramer outlined that “very quickly, people just say, you know what, look, tariffs are so convoluted that something has to happen. But the idea that they can talk to other companies and maybe combine, they want that so badly.”
Apart from his takes on stocks, some of Cramer’s most controversial views are of cryptocurrencies. While he doesn’t advocate completely shunning them, the tight-knit crypto community either panics when he’s bullish for Bitcoin due to the well-known inverse Cramer effect or wonders why he doesn’t advocate holding more crypto as part of a portfolio. In a recent episode of Mad Money, Cramer shared some of his latest thoughts about crypto:
“I’ve always endorsed keeping up to 10% of your portfolio in gold as a kind of insurance against the world’s lunacy. But for years now, I’ve also been saying Bitcoin’s a fine alternative to gold for that 10% position. Why not? I think the federal budget deficit is at impossible levels. I don’t want to be wedded to a currency backed by the full faith and credit of a country that owes $36 trillion.”
Cramer reiterated that there’s more to investing than simply “just owning cryptocurrencies.” In fact, he believes that buying stocks can potentially lead to an investor making more money than buying cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin’s part of the most obviously diversified portfolio in recent history,” believes Cramer. “Buying and holding stocks can be just as lucrative as buying Bitcoin six days after Biden dropped out of the race. Or maybe, just maybe, it can make you even more money.” Another Mad Money episode saw him stress that he has held Bitcoin for years as Cramer shared:
“I want to discuss Bitcoin, really. I do—not to the detriment of stocks but in addition to stocks. I come to praise Bitcoin, not buy it. First, let’s dispel the idea that I’ve never believed in Bitcoin. Now, if you search YouTube, you can see that I first bought Bitcoin on September 15, 2020, when it was at just over $10,000.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of stocks that Jim Cramer is talking about, we listed down stocks he commented on during at latest episode of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street and tweeted about.
For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here).
14. Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 34
Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) is the embattled biotechnology company that rose to global fame during the coronavirus pandemic. The firm’s fall from grace is the sharpest example you’ll find of the tough conditions in its industry. Pharma firms spend billions of dollars and years developing drugs. The heavy time and money investment means that their drugs have to generate value for years as well in order to recover costs and create space for developing new treatments. However, Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has struggled since the coronavirus pandemic. It is aggressively investing in R&D, with TTM expenses being $4.8 billion. While investing in growth is good, the spending is just $200 million short of the firm’s revenue. Cramer isn’t too happy with Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) as he shared:
“Moderna, I guess is one of the great fizzles I’ve ever seen.”
13. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 36
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is one of the biggest car manufacturers in America. While car manufacturers do not perform well when the economy is sluggish, consumer spending is low, and interest rates are high as consumers have less money to fork out for expensive purchases, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s troubles in 2024 are also of the firm’s making. For instance, consider the firm’s massive 18% share price drop in September following its second-quarter earnings. At the heart of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s woes are its quality control issues which had racked up $800 million in warranty expenses in Q2. The firm also stopped producing its EV truck in October. Firm-specific factors such as inventories and warranty costs were also on Cramer’s mind when he shared:
“Tesla’s [got] a lot of mojo, that’s a technical term for the stock going higher. Ford does not have a lot of mojo and this note by Jefferies, they’re talking about David, this is one of the reasons what can save the Fed when they cut. Ford has inventory drifting up to 96 days. That says to me, way too much, way too much. By the way that’s far more than GM, 26, um, well I mean GM and Stellantis have much lover inventories. And David they have this gigantic cumulative gap of 8.5 billion warranty and quality problems, bad warranties and extended warranties where the cost of fixing is way too high and parts are going up huge during the closure. So that’s a very tough.
“No, no, we got rid of it because I couldn’t take your ridicule. The ridicule got to me in Boeing at $240.”
12. RH (NYSE:RH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 39
RH (NYSE:RH), also known as Restoration Hardware, is a home furnishing provider. It is a typical stock that does not perform well when interest rates are high. RH (NYSE:RH)’s shares are up 46% year-to-date, but this optimism is built on the back of lower interest rates. Before the Fed’s first rate cut in September, the shares were down 14.6% during the year, and they jumped by 25% after the rate cut. Cramer is quite optimistic about the stock as he’s going against the tide of short sellers betting against the firm. His optimism surrounding RH (NYSE:RH) stems from confidence in the firm’s leadership and its CEO. While short sellers might be betting against the firm, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway scooped up a $203 million stake in the firm in Q3. According to Cramer:
“Keep an eye on Restoration Hardware. We got a nice piece from Stifel today going from $420 going to $500. But this is, RH is one the most heavily shorted stocks in the entire market. Gary Friedman is the CEO. Just looking over the first quarter, a lot of people feel like he’s too bullish in his projections. That’s nonsense. The guy is spot on in his projections. Probably one of the most accurate CEOs about what’s going to happen. So as this one comes in, I know it seems high, but, it’s a winner. And as the rates come down, it’s even a bigger winner. And I think people are going to understand worldwide ambitions are paying here. Very interesting short squeeze.
“I just think coming down, that’s one you got to be very, very cautious if you’re thinking about shorting. Very dangerous.”
11. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 43
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is one of the hottest, if not the hottest stocks of 2024. Its shares can do no wrong as they are up by an unbelievable 356% year-to-date. The optimism is built around several facets. For starters, Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) has shifted the narrative of being a government contractor by delivering consistent growth in its US commercial business. As an example, the firm’s US commercial revenue grew by 70% annually in Q2 and followed up with an equally impressive pace in Q3. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s commercial success is built on its close work with customers for rolling out AI technologies. Cramer’s remarks were short:
“Well Palantir’s not allowed to go down. A lowest past a distant moon to go where Palantir’s going to be going down.”
10. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 46
Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) is one of the more interesting companies that you’re likely to come across. The firm is known for selling TASER guns, and yet, it is one of few weapons manufacturers that also runs a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business. The diversification allows Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) to simultaneously benefit from price-dominated and margin-heavy businesses. Hardware sales accounted for 59% of the firm’s revenue during H1 2024, which indicated a diversified revenue base. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON)’s stock boomed by a whopping 29% in November when the firm’s third-quarter financial results saw its revenue jump by 32% and recurring revenue grow by 36% annually. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) also raised its full-year guidance for a solid set of results. Cramer appreciated the firm’s software diversification as he was nothing but full of praise for the firm:
“Axon is amazing. We never talk about it because they came from the TASER to being a great records company. They turned out to be one of the great software as a service companies of our time.”
9. Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 54
Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) is a specialty medical raw materials provider that caters to the needs of the gene testing industry. As its target market is susceptible to high rates, the shares have gained a modest 8% year-to-date, and these gains have come on the back of a 10.5% rise since mid-November. The rise occurred after UK regulators approved Vertex’s gene therapy for Sickle Cell disease which signaled to investors that the market for Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)’s products could grow in the future. After jumping by 2.3% after trading opened, the firm’s shares lost most of these gains. Cramer commented on the firm’s removal from the NASDAQ 100 index:
“Illumina you could argue it’s China.”
8. Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 55
Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) is one of the biggest industrial and defense conglomerates in America. Its scale is also at the center of the debate surrounding the firm after activist investor Elliot Investor disclosed a $5 billion stake in November. Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON)’s shares were flat prior to the November 2024 election, and they have gained 13% since then. Some of the optimism is based on the firm’s prospective spin-off of its aviation business. Analysts are bullish about the separations, particularly because similar moves by other conglomerates have ended favorably. Cramer agrees with them, as he shared that not only is Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) “A really large position of mine” but added:
“Well you’ve got this cohort that’s selling it between 35 and 39 times earnings if you take Howmet, also known as how I met my mother, uh if you take GE, you look at the comps here and they’re just so extraordinary. And you’ve got this company which is not delivering. Frankly the last three quarters have been, you know they’ve had some guide downs. But more importantly this will be the pureplay that we’re all looking for that hasn’t moved yet. So I think that’s brilliant.
“Look they busted $235 earlier this morning and I said okay people seem to have to understand what this will mean. But then you’ve got this problem of how long it’s going to take. And people, I mean look at DuPont, they’re splitting in three companies. People have forgotten about it. It’s been forever.”
7. Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 70
Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) is a semiconductor company that sells chips to the data center industry. The shares are up 115% year-to-date, as they have been driven by the firm’s AI products. Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) sells systems-on-chips (SoCs), networking products, and communications products. The stock jumped by 23% in December after its third-quarter earnings report that saw Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) guide $1.80 billion in revenue which was significantly higher than analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. The upbeat earnings were on the back of the roaring demand for custom AI chips that are all the rush in the industry as big tech seeks to shift away from NVIDIA’s expensive and short-in-supply GPUs. Cramer, however, had Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) on his mind for a different reason. Commenting on the CEO’s recent stock buys, here’s what he said:
“That’s Matt Murphy. He’s just, Matt bought a ton of stock, 40 points ago he was very visible about it, said listen I think the stock is going higher. In terms of visible opportunities where you watch insider buying, there was nothing like this. People didn’t think anything of his million, million dollar buy. People have to understand there are still some things out there that have some wisdom. Like insider buying, you don’t buy for any reason other than you think your stock will go up. You sell for a million reasons David, you only buy for one reason.”
6. GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 89
GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) is a fresh company formed after the spin-off of General Electric’s energy division earlier this year. Since the spin-off, the shares have gained 157% to make it one of the best-performing stocks of the year. Cramer referred to GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) as part of his remarks for Honeywell as he was impressed by the firm’s performance after the split. GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) benefits from the growing demand for clean energy, particularly from AI data centers. The firm has been focused on refocusing efforts away from its wind generation business to better cater to the rising demand for clean energy. Commenting on GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV), Cramer shared that the firm’s CEO benefited from its surprising exposure to data centers:
“Well he got the break that Vernonva turned out to be data center. A data center. But then you have to go throw cold water on it.”
5. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 98
Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) is a medical products company that supplies items to the biotechnology, diagnostics, and other industries. It also plays a key role in the bioprocessing industry, which is a sector thought to have considerable exposure to emerging and high-end medical industries such as gene editing and therapies. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)’s diagnostics and bioprocessing businesses, which have exposure to gene testing and drug discovery posted $2.36 billion and $1.78 billion in Q3 sales. Both of these beat analyst estimates but the stock tumbled by 11% following the earnings as its profit fell and the guidance failed to impress investors. Cramer is among those unimpressed by the direction Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) is taking as he shared:
“The year-over-year from Danaher is terrible. They have not tried to stimulate where we thought they would, which is in medtech and in pharma. When are they going to take care of their people?”
4. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 99
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the world’s biggest pure-play electric vehicle manufacturer. Since the November election, the firm’s shares have gained 84% on the back of CEO Elon Musk’s close ties with the incoming administration. The share price growth has removed all losses since Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s autonomy day which spooked investors due to a lack of specifics related to the firm’s robotaxi plans. Cramer’s comments surrounding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) covered Musk and his relationship with the President-elect. Musk’s firm has seen turmoil in 2024 on the back of a weak EV market which depressed the share price before the election. Here’s what Cramer shared:
“I think that this story during this period is actually much, not as much Trump and Musk as I think as many people think, and much more that this is now a tech company and it happens to coincide with this period. You know Dave look a lot of people just say that its great that they’re going to be together. But it’s not as if Tesla’s going to suddenly be favored. As a matter of fact there’s a story today that we know of on crash, crashes where Tesla’s would be the losers.
“There’s a conflict about, there’s a decision that Trump may make about scrapping car crash. . . .I’m just saying it’s not the news flow, is not what people are buying. No I’m saying the actual news flow about Tesla.
“I’m just saying that you can’t get this valuation from cars is what I’m saying.. . .”The Full Self Driving right now, if you talk to Waymo, these guys have nothing.
“You need to have a Federal highway system, you need to have Trump say you know what, you can be Full Self Driving on the highway system. . . .I’m just saying that it’s more about Tesla the ethos than it’s Tesla the car.”
3. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 116
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is one of the biggest customer relationship management software providers in the world. The firm commanded a 21.7% market share in 2023. In 2024, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s shares have gained 39% year-to-date. As has been the case with most SaaS companies this year, the firm’s narrative has also been driven by AI. CRM applications are believed to be on the chopping block as firms switch to AI chatbots and other tools. As a result, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s shares were up by a modest 16% from the start of the year to November 5th. Since then, the stock has gained 20% as Wall Street gathered confidence in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s AI applications and products. As for Cramer, here’s what he shared:
“But everyone is focused in Salesforce, which you know I am too.
“When you see the sales, when you see the advertisements, you’re going to say, you know what, can I sign up, I don’t want to talk to humans ever again.”
2. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 121
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the global leader in video streaming. With 282.7 million subscribers under its belt, the firm enjoys a wide moat in the industry. Yet, its customer size has also created doubts about future growth. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s hypothesis depends on monetizing its user base and adding new users to grow revenue. The potential slowdown was also at the heart of an analyst note from Loop Capital which downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and increased the price target to $950 from $800. Analysts cited stretched valuation multiples for the stock as they shared that these mean that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) had little room for further growth. Cramer commented on the latest note and shared:
“But in retrospect, was there anything more obvious than this than Tesla. That’s the problem, only retrospect. They seem too easy.”
1. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 202
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock is up 42% year-to-date, and if we remove the share price movement after the firm’s latest quantum computing chip announcement, then the shares were up by a more modest 26.9% year-to-date. The muted sentiment surrounding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s shares has stemmed in large part from its troubles with the US government. The Justice Department has launched action against the firm for being an alleged monopoly, and reports have suggested possibilities of the firm having to sell its Chrome business. However, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s quantum computing announcement was remarkable, as the firm built a chip capable of computing calculations requiring 1o septillion years in under five minutes from the ground up. Cramer shared additional insights about why he believes Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s ending the year on a strong note:
“YouTube’s doing incredibly well, and they got NFL right by the way that was just a brilliant move. They don’t really talk about that.
“Well you know what it’s really about, come on that’s not what it’s really about. We had someone in the Justice Department, Jonathan Kanter, who was hoping to take this company and turn it into a Greyhound Bus!.
“Well, Cruise dropping out was pretty big, Gemini I’m starting to like a little more. . . yeah.”
GOOGL is a stock Jim Cramer recently mentioned. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GOOGL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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