Jim Cramer is one of the top watched TV personalities on CNBC. He is the host of Mad Money and also the co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. Nearly two hundred fifty thousand people watch his show daily on TV and most of these are ordinary investors trying to understand what’s going on in the market. Jim Cramer’s bullish and bearish stock picks on his show is the starting point for many investments made by these folks. Insider Monkey, your source for free insider trading data, will try to help these people by analyzing hedge fund holdings in these stocks.
On April 29th Jim Cramer was bullish about the following stocks:
Baidu (BIDU) and Sina Corp (SINA): Cramer has been very bullish about these two Chinese internet companies for a while now. He said Beijing-based Renren Network, which is similar to Facebook, is going to go public next week and it will ignite an increase in Chinese internet companies. To investors considering selling these two stocks, Cramer recommended not to sell BIDU and SINA until Renren goes public. Baidu is very popular among prominent investors. Fisher Asset Management, Coatue, Discovery Capital, and JAT Capital had $100+ Million in BIDU at the end of December. Sina wasn’t nearly as popular but hedge funds bullish about China also had SINA in their portfolios. Shumway Capital, Coatue and JAT are the largest holders.
Avnet (AVT) and Apple (AAPL): Cramer interviewed Avnet’s CEO on Friday. The stock reported its first quarter earnings on Thursday and beat expectations by 11 cents. Cramer uses this stock to gauge the direction of tech stocks. He said Avnet is the reason why he is bullish about mobile internet stocks, i.e Apple (AAPL), and semiconductors. He is still bullish about Avnet, which returned 35% since Cramer last interviewed its CEO in January 2010. Avnet isn’t very popular among hedge funds. Cliff Asness’ AQR had $18 Million in AVT at the end of December. Apple is the most popular stock among hedge funds. Hedge fund stars like David Einhorn, John Griffin, Stephen Mandel, Chase Coleman and John Burbank all own AAPL in their portfolio.
Ferro (FOE): Cramer thinks it is a good idea to buy this stock in dips and sell it in rips. Since the stock is in a dip right now, he recommended buying it. Ferro isn’t in a lot of hedge funds’ radar. Chuck Royce and Jim Simons have small positions in this stock.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): Chipotle declined close to 10% during the past couple of weeks. Jim Cramer is calling bottom here. Jim Simons had the largest position in CMG. Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners also had more than $122 Million in CMG at the end of December.
Goodrich (GR): Cramer recommended GR in his Lightning Round. He said GR will benefit from the new product cycle in aerospace industry. Goodrich is also one of Larry Robbins’ favorite stock picks. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick also have large positions in GR. We also like this stock.
Columbia Sportswear (COLM): Cramer likes this stock even though it went up 32% since he first recommended it in October 2010. He doesn’t agree with naysayers who are worried about increasing input prices. Chuck Royce had the only significant position in COLM at the end of December.
VF Corp (VFC): The stock beat the earnings estimates and raised its guidance for the rest of 2011. Despite this, the stock went down after the announcement. Cramer still likes this name though. This stock isn’t in hedge funds’ radar.
General Motors (GM) and Herbalife (HLF): These two are the other stocks Cramer expressed bullish views in his discussions. GM has been a real disappointment for several hedge funds. It was one of the most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of December. John Griffin’s Blue Rigde, William Ackman’s Pershing Square, George Soros, David Tepper’s Appaloosa, Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management, Richard Perry’s Perry Capital, and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors are among the several high profile hedge funds with GM positions. Herbalife isn’t nearly as popular as GM. Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer had the largest position in this stock among the hedge funds we follow.
Jim Cramer was bearish about the following stocks:
Avon Products (AVP): Cramer thinks Avon’s CEO Andrea Jung is a serial disappointer. He is bearish about AVP. The only hedge fund with at $10 Million investment in AVP was Phill Gross’ Adage.
Whole Foods (WFMI): Cramer says there are concerns that Whole Foods’ growth is slowing down. He wonders whether Trader Joe’s is cutting into WFMI’s sales. He recommended reducing exposure before the earnings announcement. Steve Cohen had nearly $45 Million in WFMI at the end of December.
