We recently published a list of Jim Cramer’s Thoughts on Liberation Day, Tariffs, and 17 Stocks to Watch Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.
On Tuesday, April 1st, the host of Mad Money opened the show by focusing on President Trump’s tariffs and the economic risks ahead of ‘Liberation Day’. While Cramer expressed sympathy for the President’s goals, he warned viewers that the consequences could be severe for both consumers and the broader economy:
“Now as someone who’s been a huge critic of unrestrained free trade, I am very sympathetic to what President Trump is trying to accomplish with these tariffs. Every other country on earth tries to protect its own domestic industries except America which has spent decades letting foreign competitors steamroll our guys in exchange for cheaper stuff. President Trump is justifiably furious about this he wants to do something about it but solving the problem is going to hurt. We don’t know how much our prices will go up for just about everything, but we do know those tariffs will be used as an excuse to raise prices across the board. It’s been very hard to get a sense of the overall damage.”
But despite understanding the motivation behind the policy, Cramer was blunt about the scale of economic disruption that a proposed 20% tariff on all imports would cause:
“Speaking as someone who’s not a fan of free trade I have to be honest here, a 20% across the board tariff on almost all imports that would be horrendous for the economy. That’s a 20% increase on everything we buy from overseas and we import a huge amount of foreign goods in America, and those goods are cheap because that’s the deal. There’s plenty of competition from these companies but with the exception of the auto industry and those that contribute to it -mainly steel – it doesn’t matter anymore. The truth is the jobs that are meant to be protected by tariffs were automated out of existence a long time ago.”
Cramer mentioned that even the industries that stand to benefit in theory, like autos and steel, aren’t necessarily helping the average American:
“The tariffs aren’t protecting us from anything because we barely make anything anymore. The horses left the barn ages ago. Ford and GM will be able to make more money by raising prices but who does that help besides their shareholders and union members? What’s good for General Motors is not necessarily good for America anymore. All people know is that cars will be more expensive; they don’t care about who makes them.”
He also criticized the administration’s execution, calling out the lack of clarity and coordination behind the policy rollout and questioning whether any American companies will actually be spared from the impact:
“I wish the White House were more serious about making the tariffs work. Our country’s been crushed by foreign imports that are typically made by cheap labor and often subsidized so they destroy our jobs. But the jobs are gone. We had almost a million seamstresses in this country four decades ago now we have almost none; they aren’t bringing back those jobs. Sure, some companies thought they’d be buying immunity by building new factories here, but there’s nothing on paper that suggests that the president will spare them. Is there really no sanctuary?”
Wrapping up the opening segment, Cramer reminded viewers that while many Americans may support a “tough-on-trade” agenda, their real fear is inflation; and it’s inflation that the tariffs will likely exacerbate:
“Finally, most Americans are worried about inflation; not tariffs. That’s what got Trump elected for heaven’s sake. As much as I rail against the devil’s bargain that gave our country the cheap stuff at the cost of domestic jobs, cheap stuff is what America wanted. […] Here’s the bottom line when the book is written on this moment I think we’ll question what we were liberated from on Liberation Day and again I think Trump is totally justified in cracking down on our trading partners but that doesn’t mean it will be good for the economy.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 17 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 1. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47
When a caller asked Jim Cramer about his stance on Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO), the host was torn between the company’s strong performance and his personal reservations. Here’s what he said:
“Altria is troublesome for me because I’ve lost relatives to smoking. At the same time, there’s no denying they are one of the best-run companies in the world and they have actually made more money than almost any company in the world when they did the split with Altria and Philip Morris and Kraft Heinz, so you have a good one. I just don’t want to recommend it myself.”
Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) remains one of the world’s leading tobacco producers, backed by iconic brands and a steady track record of returning capital to shareholders. In Q4 2024, the company reported net revenue of $5.11 billion (excluding excise taxes), a modest 1.6% increase year-over-year, and delivered adjusted earnings per share of $1.29, slightly beating analyst expectations. Looking ahead, Altria (NYSE:MO) projects 2025 EPS growth of 2% to 5%, with guidance ranging from $5.22 to $5.37. The company’s performance reflects both margin strength in its core tobacco business and disciplined financial management, even as it faces headwinds from regulatory scrutiny and illicit e-vapor product competition. Altria is also reinvesting savings from its Optimize & Accelerate initiative to support smoke-free innovation and long-term transformation. With a $1.16 billion stake, Arrowstreet Capital lists Altria as one of its top 10 holdings.
Overall, MO ranks 2nd on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of MO 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 time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MO but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
