On Thursday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, drew attention to ten stocks that have been driving the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2025. He described some of these stocks as “quiet winners,” noting that many of them, particularly those outside the tech sector, are often overlooked by Wall Street despite their strong contributions to the market’s progress.
“I gotta tell you, we got some real strange leadership this year. When you look at the quiet winners of 2025, the ones that don’t belong to the Magnificent Seven, the ones that are unsung, even as they got us where we are so far this year, it’s a real low-key hodgepodge.”
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He elaborated on this, emphasizing that the stocks leading the charge in 2025 form an eclectic mix that may seem unconventional. Some of these companies were prominent in the past but have been largely forgotten, while others are relatively invisible, making steady gains that often go unnoticed.
According to Cramer, these stocks represent a sharp contrast to the giant, high-profile names that dominate everyday conversations about the market. He remarked that on a day when the Dow dropped by 126 points, the S&P rose by 0.36%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.51%, it was worth taking a closer look at the stocks driving the Dow higher, as this index is composed of some of the most established companies that, despite their storied histories, do not typically get the media attention they deserve. Cramer concluded by stating that the performance of these quieter, non-tech stocks so far this year has been significant.
“Bottom line: So far this year, we’ve had many very big winners outside of tech, and I bet most of them can keep quietly working their way higher.”
Jim Cramer Discussed 10 Stocks Leading the Dow Higher in 2025
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 10 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on February 6. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the third quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Jim Cramer Discussed 10 Stocks Leading the Dow Higher in 2025
10. The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78
While The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) takes its place among the stocks that have performed well in the Dow, Cramer expressed confusion over its recent gains.
“Finally, a newbie added to the index, Sherwin-Williams, a little odd here, paint company. This one’s a tough, it’s tough. I don’t get it. It’s housing slowed, 7% mortgages. I’m honestly shocked the stock’s so high. Still, it’s not a tech stock, it’s not a Mag Seven, in fact, it’s a quintessential not tech stock. Maybe that’s why it’s there.”
Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) develops, manufactures, and sells paints, coatings, and related products to a wide range of customers, offering both branded and private-label products across various sectors, including architectural, industrial, automotive, and marine applications.
Parnassus Investments stated the following regarding The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) gained on optimism that lower interest rates would spur a resurgence in home renovations, leading to higher sales of its paint products. The company also hosted an investor day where it gave medium-term financial targets that were well received by investors.”
9. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62
Cramer mentioned how well American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) is performing and that it takes 9th place among the stocks that have led the Dow this year.
“Finally, travel is the number one theme in this country. Hotels just won’t quit, this morning, Hilton announced a true blowout quarter. Expedia gave you a monster quarter this evening. It’s one after another after another. But the best one’s American Express, it’s the ninth-best performer of the year. Plus, it fits the bill for 2025 after a fabulous last quarter.”
American Express (NYSE:AXP) provides a variety of payment services, such as credit and charge cards, banking, expense management, travel services, merchant solutions, as well as fraud prevention, and customer loyalty programs. A few days ago, Cramer highlighted the investor sentiment around the stock as he said:
“I’ve seen this happen endlessly with American Express, AXP, too. It’ll creep up and the fact that the millennials and the gen-whatevers love it, and then it reports on a sleepy Friday, it always reports on Friday, and everyone runs from it like it’s got the bubonic plague. But two weeks later, American Express is up from where it was before the quarter and people have forgotten why they sold it.”