Jim Cramer: Buying Tesla (TSLA) Stock Only Because of Possible Trump Support is ‘Bad Reason’

We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Is Talking About These 10 Stocks Heading Into December. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) stands against other stocks Jim Cramer is talking about as heading into December.

Jim Cramer in a recent program talked about President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury pick and highlighted his enthusiasm for the stock market.

“On the other hand, President Trump was all about Nielsen ratings when he was on The Apprentice, and as president, he repeatedly said, The Dow Jones Industrial Average all-time high, and the S&P 500 were his new Nielsen ratings. He likes being rated, he likes to win, and he wants that stock market to go up to ratify his performance. That’s a big reason why the market exploded higher when he won.”

Cramer also discussed Trump’s Treasury pick Scott Bessent’s possible 3-3-3 plan that calls for bringing the budget deficit down to 3% of GDP, 3% growth and producing 3 million barrels of oil per day.

Jim Cramer said he is skeptical about Elon Musk’s efficiency plans in the upcoming Trump administration.

“Can there be a legitimate top-to-bottom change in the efficiency of our government and its associated costs? Count me as a skeptic about any attempt to change the government, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Doge thing, because every penny of spending in the budget has a constituency. When you add all those proposed cutbacks together, you face tremendous opposition. But that’s not the point. What matters is that this Treasury Secretary-designate is a serious person.”

READ ALSO Jim Cramer’s Latest Lightning Round: 11 Stocks to Watch and Jim Cramer on AMD and Other Stocks

For this article we watched several latest programs of Jim Cramer and picked 10 stocks he is talking about. With each stock we have mentioned its hedge fund sentiment. 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Jim Cramer: Buying Tesla (TSLA) Stock Only Because of Possible Trump Support is ‘Bad Reason’

25 Most In Demand Cars Heading into 2024

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 99

Jim Cramer in a recent program made the case that investing in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock just because of Donald Trump’s possible support is a “bad reason” as he believes allowing EVs and related infrastructure all over the country won’t be simple for the upcoming government.

“I’m not against owning Tesla, you know that. I just think that this is a bad reason. Elon Musk tells a very compelling story about full self-driving as well as solar robots, all wrapped up in one stock of a company that happens to make vehicles. But the idea that the White House can somehow allow self-driving cars everywhere with the stroke of a pen, that’s just plain fanciful.

First, our country simply doesn’t work like that. We have state and local governments with tremendous power to block anything. I remember when I was going to be able to take a self-driving taxi from downtown Phoenix to Glendale, the home of the Arizona Cardinals, a couple years ago for the Super Bowl. It seemed so simple, except Glendale didn’t allow self-driving vehicles. I was incredulous, but the municipal government of Glendale was able to block us.

Second, you might think it’s natural for Trump to just declare the federal interstate highway system a self-driving zone, but you know what? That’s meaningless too. Think about it—how do you get on the interstate highway system? Other than a few municipalities that may be designated on some map someday, it’s catch-as-catch-can. The feds can’t control state or local self-driving laws. If they try it, those municipalities will sue the Federal Highway Administration, and they’re going to win.”

Cramer said Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) does not need an “Elon Musk premium” as he believes the “Tesla premium” is enough to justify investing in the stock.

“Tesla’s a tech company; the others are automakers. And a tech company can get an insanely high price-to-earnings multiple with no one blinking so much as an eye about it.”

Polen Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

“The largest relative detractors during the quarter were Apple, Airbnb, and Tesla (not owned). We’ve spoken at length about our rationale for not owning Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). In short, the market seems to be pricing in a lot of positive optionality for this company in the near-to-intermediate term (and particularly a fully autonomous fleet of electric vehicles in the medium term). What exists today is an automobile manufacturer limited to the higher-income segment that is increasingly challenged to sell vehicles when interest rates are not zero. We continue to question the company’s long-term growth profile and governance.”

Overall, TSLA ranks 2nd on our list of stocks Jim Cramer is talking about as heading into December. While we acknowledge the potential of TSLA, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar 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 TSLA 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.