During the most recent episode of Mad Money, Jim Cramer described the current stock market as a “short sellers paradise,” offering an ideal moment for those betting against U.S. stocks. He pointed to an important deadline approaching: April 2nd when major tariffs are set to take effect.
“We have a tariff deadline, beckoning a frightening deadline, actually April 2nd when the big tariffs are going to kick in, that means we’re headed for a moment of maximum fear as regular stock buyers either flee to the sidelines or move the money to Europe.”
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Cramer emphasized that he does not see how the White House could back down from its stance, suggesting that if the administration wants to maintain credibility, it has no choice but to move forward with the tariffs. He explained that for President Trump, showing resolve by sticking to his promises is a signal of strength, even if it means sacrificing the stock market in the process. Cramer believes that this willingness to endure short-term market pain in favor of long-term trade objectives is a clear sign that the White House is committed to its strategy. He went on to say:
“For years, we’ve been conditioned to believe that everyone must do their part to get prices down because we don’t want inflation to get out of control. Unfortunately, someone isn’t doing it.”
The rising costs brought on by tariffs are forcing the Federal Reserve to pay more attention to inflation, complicating the financial space. Cramer remarked that this creates a difficult situation for money managers who now feel compelled to sell due to the economic uncertainty stirred up by Washington. Wall Street, he added, is already adjusting its estimates, factoring in the potential long-term impact of tariffs.
“But what happens in this market after the tariffs are implemented? Maybe another month of wrangling, maybe two months, maybe the whole summer. It could be real bad. So we end up with this build-in negative that could sink 10 ships.”
Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 14 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on April 1, 2024. We then calculated their performance from April 1st, 2024, market close to March 24th, 2025, market close. We have also included the hedge fund sentiment for the stocks, which we sourced from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of over 900 hedge funds. The stocks are listed in the order that Cramer mentioned them.
Please note that this article mentions Jim Cramer’s previous opinions and may not account for any changes to his opinions regarding the stocks that are mentioned. It is primarily an examination of how his previously provided opinions have panned out.
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).
14. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is the largest health insurer in the United States. Back then, Cramer highlighted regulatory setbacks and cybersecurity issues but saw short-term rebound potential:
“The nation’s largest health insurer with a stock that fell 6% in the quarter. This stock was hurt by higher medical costs, just like Humana […] Tonight, to add insult to injury, the health insurers got some bad news about Medicare Advantage Plans—the government’s not allowing them much of an increase in their policies […] Of the six losers I’m covering tonight, UNH probably has the best chance for a bounce back from where it bottoms tomorrow or Wednesday.”
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has gained 5.47% since that episode, supporting Cramer’s view that it had rebound potential.
The stock saw a steep intra-day decline in February this year, after a media report claimed that the DOJ would investigate the company. Jim Cramer shared his thoughts on it on the 21st of February:
“Well look, I’ll go over the math of what it does to UnitedHealth. This is gonna be one of those long battles, government may win, may not, stock’s down as if, all the stocks are down as if this is the government really cracking down on them. I hate to say it because I think that there are a lot of people that feel that they, uh, that Medicare billing practices, if you read the article, are wrong. Carl, these companies, they’re survivors. And, uh, you buy this uh, yeah you buy it because UnitedHealth is very powerful. I’ve often felt that UnitedHealth is every bit as powerful as the government. Because they are, strong, sprawling, and ready to fight. And the government has historically not been able to take on this group. They haven’t really taken on the middle-man either. Look I mean we have strong corporations in our country and you know UnitedHealth is not going to have to, in the end, I am telling you that I do not think this is going to be significant to their earnings. That’s what I’m saying.
“Yeah look, I mean again, I come back, why do we have higher payments for Medicare Advantage. I mean this stuff is so opaque. Uh, they, these companies have had a lot of scrutiny against them. You’re gonna need legislation. I don’t think you’re going to be able to do anything with the Justice Department. Civil fraud division by the way. You have the legislation. Then there’s an issue. But when you have these lawsuits it tends not to bring about any sort of practice. Look, I’m not being cynical. I know that there are people that just say how can you not, how can you not think that this is gonna break up everything? Well, I mean, think about the history of the government. Winning against these big companies, they don’t. And I am saying that, down twelve percent, you buy UnitedHealth. We’ll have portfolio managers come on within the next six days, and there’ll be a huge number of people who bought em. Cause well, it’s been these, it’s been these long lawsuits. So I’m just saying, get ahead of it right now.”