We recently published a list of Jim Cramer on 10 Stocks With The Biggest Declines Last Week. In this article, we are going to take a look at where EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) stands against other stocks with the biggest declines last week that Jim Cramer discussed.
On Monday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, analyzed the 10 largest stocks that suffered the most significant declines the previous week. He explained that examining the biggest losers can offer important insights into the current state of the market.
“Last Thursday and Friday were just brutal with the S&P plunging a combined 2.1%, Nasdaq [and] Dow both fell 2.7% as we got some soft economic data paired with some signs that the Fed, they weren’t that eager to make cuts.”
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Cramer emphasized that although the average decline was only 2-3% over the two-day selloff. However, focusing on individual stocks, the damage was much worse. He noted that growth stocks, which had been performing well, began to falter starting on Wednesday. Cramer then reviewed the largest pullbacks from the last three days of the week.
He explained that his analysis covered all components of the S&P 1500, specifically those with market capitalizations above $10 billion, ensuring a thorough and rigorous review. And when looking at these names collectively, Cramer noted that there is a lot to learn about the market dynamics. He went on to say:
“First for the hottest of the hot stocks without valuation support, they’re always vulnerable to sharp pullbacks usually it’s because of the bond market. Not this time.”
He added that when investors buy into momentum stocks, the gains can come quickly but just as easily disappear. Furthermore, he pointed out that many companies that were once considered solid performers are now reporting good earnings but offering disappointing guidance, which signals potential trouble ahead. He also noted that the less-than-truckload freight companies are suddenly out of favor, a sign of a weakening economy.
“Here’s the bottom line: At least in the eyes of Wall Street, the US economy’s looking quite a bit worse than it did just a month ago. Fortunately, it’s now a new week and even started off well with some decent gains for most stocks today, although there was a bit of collapse at the close. But we can always learn something from looking at the results of the tape and last week we got a real education from the momentum buyers trapped in the school of hard knocks.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 10 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on February 24. 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).
A close-up of a coder at a computer, coding away to bring the latest software service to life.
EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56
While discussing EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) stock’s recent decline, Cramer mentioned its presence in Ukraine and the recently announced poor guidance by the company.
“There was EPAM, EPAM Systems. That’s an enterprise software company for platform engineering and development. I don’t follow this company all that closely, but I do know that EPAM has a major presence in Ukraine and the Trump administration seemingly wants to pull the plug on assistance to the Ukraine. I thought that was why the stock punched 20% in the last three days of the week but there’s more to it because EPAM reported on Thursday morning and the guidance was absolutely miserable.”
EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) provides services in digital platform engineering, software development, and infrastructure management, alongside consulting, design solutions, and specialization in emerging technologies such as AI, robotics, and virtual reality. When Cramer discussed stocks that could do well in December 2024, he commented:
“Next is EPAM Systems, which is an enterprise software company for platform engineering development. Now the stock’s come roaring back leading, it is part of the return of the enterprise software primacy over hardware. EPAM’s strength is a green light to buy Salesforce and ServiceNow, the two biggest enterprise software plays that I like.”
Overall, EPAM ranks 3rd on our list of stocks with the biggest declines last week that Jim Cramer discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of EPAM 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 timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than EPAM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.