We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Put These 8 Stocks Under the Microscope. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer put under the microscope.

On Friday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, reminded his viewers that during volatile market days like that very day, it is easy to get caught up in the chaos and miss the bigger picture. He emphasized that understanding the overall picture could reveal significant opportunities. Cramer also took the time to go over some of his favorite casual dining stocks, pointing out that the CEOs of these companies had previously appeared on his show and provided valuable insights into the business.

“I want you to listen to me, breathe in, breathe out slowly… and don’t take any action until you’re certain that you can handle any amount of pain if it goes against you. If you think you can cope, then use the craziness that is happening in this stock market to start a position or to put money in an index fund that mirrors the S&P 500 because I think you’ll do fine, but if you can’t take the pain, don’t even think about it.”

READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Commented On These 6 Stocks Recently and Jim Cramer and Analysts Like These 10 Stocks

According to Cramer, the current market is far too volatile and fragile. He warned that if investors lack the mental strength to withstand short-term downturns, they risk buying stocks at their peak and selling them at a loss before witnessing a market rebound, like what happened that very day. The market started strong, dipped significantly, and then quickly recovered. He went to say:

“When the market’s going up, everybody wants to wait for a pullback to buy stocks at a better price but once stocks start rolling over, we get terrified and we can’t bring ourselves to pull the trigger. Lately, we’ve experienced a wholesale liquidation. I think there’s some great buying opportunities out there, you just need to know how to find them.”

Cramer specifically pointed to casual dining stocks that have taken a hit, even after reporting strong earnings. He suggested that some of the decline could be attributed to profit-taking after a peak in stock prices, while other factors like high valuations may have contributed as well. Furthermore, some of the weakness in these stocks was due to softer traffic in early February, which he noted was due to bad weather, as well as the ongoing trade war negatively affecting consumer sentiment.

“The bottom line: When you look at these three casual dining plays, their stocks are down big from their highs. I think they’re absolutely worth buying. Even if the economy’s truly headed for a nasty slowdown, these chains offer the consumer great value and that’s exactly what the consumer wants at this moment.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 8 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on March 7. 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).

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84

Noting the current strong travel demand, a caller asked if Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was a buy and Cramer replied:

“I do prefer United to Delta. The group is really under a lot of pressure right now, but I think that they’re going to have a very strong summer. I would hold on.”

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) is an airline company that provides air travel and cargo services, operating a broad range of domestic and international routes. In January, commenting on the company, Cramer said:

“But I’m [inaudible] with Ed Bastion this morning, the CEO of Delta, 25 years he said it’s never been this good. I thought I would never see United over one hundred. Nine times earnings. You know… I want to be more negative. But the thing I’m negative on, is something which just says, you know what, economy’s still hiring. I gotta take recession off the table. Isn’t that terrific?…

I wanna see things that are good for earnings. And when I get them, I’m not gonna say, you know what, I am seller of Delta because Ed Bastion doesn’t know what he is talking about. Ed Bastion does know what he’s talking about. In profitability, yes we may not pay as much for profitability, but I would have thought that if the Fed were really, really as nervous as they seem, that Delta would have had not a blow out number, but a disappointment. And they didn’t.”

Overall, DAL ranks 2nd on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer put under the microscope. While we acknowledge the potential of DAL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DAL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the 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.