In this piece, we will look at the stocks Jim Cramer talked about after January’s biggest AI event.
After the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Jim Cramer had a lot to talk about NVIDIA and other stocks. While you can take a look at what he had to say about Wall Street’s favorite AI GPU stock by opening our full list, Cramer emphasized that there is a clear division in the stock market. He pointed out “Well again I think that there’s two markets. There’s the healthcare market, the materials market, uh, the food and beverage market. David, that area is just wasteland.” He shared that safety isn’t on investors’ minds when understanding the current stock market. I learned from my friend Michael Haley who is a demolition man that safety never takes a vacation,” Cramer shared and added “He was not speaking about snacks. Because safety’s last!”
The CNBC host also commented on a recent report which shared that consumers might be able to save money by using GLP-1 weight loss drugs. According to him, “If you want to save some money, well, look it’s four hundred dollars. That they’re saving. And by the way, you know, the average person in this country, four hundred dollars, nice saving.”
Another segment that’s caught his attention recently is the alcoholic beverages market. The Surgeon General’s recent opinion of placing a cancer warning on these beverage bottles hasn’t escaped Cramer’s attention. However, he doesn’t think a warning label will deter consumers. Cramer commented that in the aftermath of the Surgeon General’s remarks, “liquor’s just being crushed.” He recalled the Prohibition and shared “All I can tell you is that, we did this thing in prohibition, we had this thing called prohibition, it didn’t work. That was a real way to wipe it out.” Yet, even though the stocks are down, they might not have seen different performance had the warning not been issued. According to Cramer “People don’t wanna own these stocks anyways because of interest rates. It’s just a double whammy.”
Following a comprehensive press conference by President-elect Trump, bond yields soared as investors fretted about political stability. Cramer believes technology stocks are more resilient to rising bond yields but other sectors like healthcare suffer. Yet, according to him “If you were in healthcare right now you’d be saying, what, if you’re Rob Davis at Merck, you say like listen, things aren’t that bad. But it doesn’t matter because it’s all caught up with bonds.”
One government official in Cramer’s crosshairs was FTC chair Lina Khan. Cramer commented on the increased frequency of mergers and acquisitions in the US this year. “I love these deals, David. They take out a competitor,” he shared. “You can raise numbers. It’s rationalizing the American industry. It’s everything that a previous guest [Lina Khan] on this network, hated,” according to Cramer. He also shared thoughts about Khan’s actions against Jeff Bezos’ eCommerce company. The case “is about hurting small businesses,” believes Cramer. However, he believes that it should have been about inflation instead. “Never did she [Khan] ever say that it was about keeping prices down for the consumer. But inflation is the single biggest problem that we have in this country economically. And so she completely missed that boat. And then she injected Reagan into that,” he opined.
Finally, while materials, industrial, healthcare, and alcoholic beverage stocks are struggling, the “Magnificent 7 is what moves things,” said Cramer. He also believes that “if Biden’s legacy is that the Magnificent 7 did really well, well I mean given that I’m a dollar sign represented by a man, I’m thrilled.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down all the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on Tuesday.
For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? 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).
18. Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 10
Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNC) is an AI virtual assistant company that caters to the needs of the automotive industry. Its shares are up by 90.5% year-to-date despite less than a month having passed since the year’s start. The strong performance of Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNC)’s stock is due to NVIDIA having extended a partnership with the firm. Through this deal, the company’s AI models will be powered by NVIDIA’s cloud software platform and improve the time that it takes for Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNC)’s products to be deployed into vehicles. Here’s what Cramer said:
“The other day it was Cerence, Cerence is another company that’s run by Brian Krzanich, who used to run Intel and CDK which has got technology for autos. And they’re the one, you’d speak to, I think some people think it’s better than Siri in a car. Well you know open my car door, turn my heater on.”
17. Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 20
Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) is one of the largest providers of payroll and human resource management software to small businesses in America. Its shares are down by 1.5% year-to-date as they have responded to data suggesting that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates just once in 2025. Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX), due to its business model, is dependent on the health of the labor market for its prosperity. The dependence means that when rates are high and business spending is low, investors expect Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)’s revenue and recurring income to be constrained. Cramer’s comments surrounded the firm’s intent to acquire Paycor:
“Paycor’s got really good product. I wanted the human capital to be dominated by Paychex. It’s been a dog fight. This is terrific. This is a terrific deal! And Paychex is up because it’s sensational. Because I thought that Paycor might have a really good product, but no, now I don’t have to worry about that.”
“I think that Paychex has been keeping prices down for a very long time and this is a good thing to happen to their suite if you can keep the price down.”
16. Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 22
Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR) is a self-driving technology company. Its shares have been on a roller coaster in 2024. They gained 39% after it announced a deal with NVIDIA and a German firm for autonomous trucks. Since then, the stock is down by 22.8% to trim its year-to-date gains to 10%. Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR) depends on economic activity to increase the uptake of its products. Investors are also likely wary of the fact that the firm is yet to generate revenue. Here’s what Cramer said:
“We have companies that were small that are suddenly large, and what happened? Well, they got a call from Jensen Huang and they became partners. Aurora Innovation, self-driving technology. AUR, here’s a stock that’s up 36%, the other day it was Cerence, Cerence is another company that’s run by Brian Krzanich, who used to run Intel and CDK which has got technology for autos. And they’re the one, you’d speak to, I think some people think it’s better than Siri in a car. Well you know open my car door, turn my heater on. So anybody, we saw Micron this is back to that touched by an angel, and the angel is the man in the sparkling leather jacket.”
15. Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 27
Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) is another software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that caters to the needs of the human resource management industry. It provides payroll management, background tracking, candidate management, and other associated services. Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR)’s shares are up by 19% year-to-date primarily on the back of larger rival Paychex’s intent to acquire the firm. The day the news made rounds, Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR)’s stock jumped by 25.7%. Here’s what Cramer said about the deal and the firm:
“You wouldn’t necessarily pit Paycor versus Paychex because Paycor doesn’t have the full suite that you need. And it’s rational. That’s a rational deal.”
14. The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 30
The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) is one of the best-known American food snacks companies. It’s one of the safe stocks that Cramer discussed in the introduction to our post. The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)’s shares are down by 22% over the past year, and they have lost 8.8% year-to-date. The weak share price performance has primarily been due to inflation forcing cost-conscious customers to alternative brands. The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)’s acquired Twinkie maker Hostess Brands for $6 billion in 2023 and Cramer’s comments surrounded the deal:
“I would point out by the way, Mr. Smucker has told me there has been absolutely nothing wrong with the Twinkie deal.”
13. e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 40
e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) is a new-age beauty products company that caters to the needs of budget-conscious customers. After its shares soared to record highs early last year, they have trimmed back their gains as e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) struggles to maintain its aggressive sales growth trajectory. Inflation has had a role to play in its woes as well. To counter these trends, the firm has partnered up with Dollar General to sell its products to cost-conscious customers through the latter’s stores. Here’s what Cramer said about e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF):
“If you look at ELF there’s a battle ground there. They’ve had competition from Sephora, which is open and close. David if you went with me to my Sephora, you would say holy cow it’s a totally changed store.
“And by the way Elf and Estee Lauder are not getting together. Sephora is not merging with Ulta. So let’s not go crazy, David.”
12. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 40
Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) is an American retailer that sells branded and other beauty products. Like other beauty companies, its shares haven’t performed well as they are down by 13% year-to-date. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has struggled with slow demand for its pricier products, but the shares gained 3% in January after the firm announced that its chief operating officer Kecia Steelman would become its CEO. Here’s what Cramer had to say about the appointment at Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA):
“Ms. Steelman is just fantastic. This has been a terrific time, Mr. Kimball did a good job, in an area, and I want to point this out cause people they say well I have a chart, I don’t know. This area has been so under fire, the cosmetics area has been terrible. Look at Estee Lauder, one of the worst stocks that I’ve ever seen. If you look at ELF there’s a battle ground there. They’ve had competition from Sephora, which is open and close. David if you went with me to my Sephora, you would say holy cow it’s a totally changed store.
“So what I’m seeing here is a smooth transition from Kimball, to Steelman, and a better than expected holiday season. So this is a natural to buy. The fact that it is only up eighteen, I know that, that seems like a lot, but not when it comes to a raised forecast and a new CEO. Dave did a great job 11 years ago, fantastic, he spent a lot of time with me, he’s a great manager. Before that was Mary Dillon. And she did a great job. . . .But I like Ulta here, I like the new CEO, I like the old CEO, and I love upsides and positives for the holidays.”
11. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 43
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm that provides data analytics and other services to government and business users. The shares are up by 301% over the past twelve months as strong performance in US commercial sales and Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s ability to allow AI to penetrate government operations has caught investor attention. The stock has struggled in 2025 and is down by 11.8% year-to-date as analysts and investors trim price targets and liquidate their holdings. Carmer, for his part, continues to remain enthusiastic about the firm’s CEO Alex Carp:
“Did you know that Alex Carp is one of the greatest pistol shooters in the world? 260 yards, bang.
“Go ahead make my day, Carp. I’ve been a Carp enthusiast lately.”
10. Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 48
Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) is a uniform company that rents and sells uniforms and provides other services such as restroom cleaning and first aid. Despite a broader slowdown in industrial stocks, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS)’s shares are up by 27.7% over the past twelve months due to the somewhat essential nature of its services for the industrial world. However, the stock dipped by 10.6% in December after Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS)’s fiscal second-quarter revenue of $2.560 billion missed analyst estimates of $2.563 billion. Cramer commented on the firm’s bid to acquire a uniform company and grow its operation:
“But Cintas stock is up huge. And you know why that is. What a great merger.
“Is the customer a principal beneficiary? I think the customer might wanna put Cintas against UniFirst.
“I’m worried about Cintas not getting all those small businesses, but if they get together, it’s dynamite.
“But Cintas is such a great company. And I just think that you buy that stock hand over fist.”
9. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 49
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) is a well-known beauty products company that has struggled in a global economic slowdown and inflationary wave. The shares are 45.5% over the past year as the firm’s business in China has contracted. During its fiscal year 2024, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)’s Asia sales dropped by 6%, which the firm blamed on China’s economic slowdown. Given that Asia accounts for 30%+ of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)’s sales, a recovery in the region is key for its performance. Cramer isn’t impressed with the stock either:
“Look at Estee Lauder, one of the worst stocks that I’ve ever seen.
“And by the way Elf and Estee Lauder are not getting together.”
8. Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 51
Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) is a food and snack company that makes and sells some of the best-known snack product brands such as Oreos, Toblerone, and Dairy Milk. Like other food companies, and despite the fact that defensive stocks do well in a tight economy, Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ)’s shares have lost 23% over the past year. The share price drop is due to consumer preference for affordable food products. Cramer’s comments for Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) revolved around the impact of GLP-1 products on food companies:
“They have to merge. Look at Mondelez. Mondelez has to merge.
“No I’m saying that, if you look at Mondelez’s product lineup, it is just, it like a GLP-1 petri dish.”
7. Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 52
Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) is a new-age social media company that is one of the newest entrants on the stock market. Its shares have gained 231% since the IPO in March 2024. Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) has benefited particularly in the AI age as its user base allows AI companies with plenty of data to train their models with. The firm’s anonymity and community-based model enables users to freely express their opinions, while its moderator platform also ensures stability on the platform. Cramer commented on Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT)’s community platform:
“And what he should have said, is that Reddit is a superior form of getting people out of the community who are doing destructive things to the community.”
6. Stryker Corp (NYSE:SYK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 55
Stryker Corp (NYSE:SYK) is a medical devices company that is one of the few players in the rapidly growing surgical robotics market. The firm has a robust portfolio of surgical robots. It includes products such as Mako, Triathlon, and Pangea lineups that primarily work with fractures and other skeletal procedures. Stryker Corp (NYSE:SYK)’s shares jumped by 1.5% in January after a report surfaced that it was planning to acquire a company to expand its presence in the vascular diseases market. Cramer commented on the news:
“And David, by the way, Stryker, wow. This is gonna be Stryker able to get beyond what it’s doing with just the head and shoulders, knees and toes! Knees and toes!
“That’s fabulous for Stryker!
“I wanna buy the stocks of every single of these acquirers.”
5. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 68
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is a well-known chip manufacturer that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Its shares are down by 59% over the past year as the firm has battled with rising costs, sluggish demand in the personal computing market, competition from rivals such as AMD, and the loss of process technology leadership to AMD. Investors are now wondering whether Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) will split its chip design and manufacturing businesses to help stabilize the balance sheet. Cramer was surprised that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s shares were rising, and he also commented on the firm’s financials:
“[On Intel being up 1.5%] Can you repeat that?! What were you saying about Intel?
“Have you looked at that balance sheet of Intel? That’s a suboptimal balance sheet.”
4. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 107
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is one of three memory manufacturers in the world – a fact that provides it with a strong moat in the industry. The stock struggled in 2024 as the firm struggled with a slow demand in the consumer market and missed its fiscal second-quarter guidance by a billion dollars. However, Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) caught a break in January when NVIDIA revealed that its AI GPUs relied on the firm’s HBM memory. Its shares are up by 16.9% year-to-date, and here is what Cramer said:
“Micron was down in the dumps because it did not have good AI PCs. Who knew that all their high bandwidth, uh, memory that Jensen’s using is all Micron. Well the answer is kinda everybody.”
3. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 158
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the most valuable consumer technology company in the world. However, its shares have been off to a slow start in 2025 as they are down by 4.9% year-to-date. The sell-off in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares is primarily due to dampening investor expectations about the firm’s ability to entice its users to use AI products and services. The stock had gained in 2024 on the back of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s brand loyalty leading the push to consumer AI. As for Cramer, he commented on an oft-ignored aspect of the firm’s AI presence and a downgrade by Moffet Nathanson:
“[On the Moffett Nathanson downgrade]”Well let’s first talk about the fact that this man had a hold on it during one of the greatest runs I’ve ever seen in my career. Second, it is multiple stretched. I’m gonna give them that. But, you don’t know what, Apple, is the free rider of all time. Now I did think the one thing that was interesting was it did talk about the Google, the lawsuit, that Google might not pay them. But you know that lawsuit, that’s gonna be resolved in 2027 that’s when I’m gonna put it on the docket. There isn’t anyone who thinks that it’s gonna be resolved in next year even.
“But I just think, oh it’s an easy shot. You know the stock’s been down five, seven days, a little rally yesterday, it goes up. Look I don’t think the quarter’s going to be that certain, but I do think that there’s a new way to look at Apple. And he ought to get on board. The way to look at Apple is just that they didn’t have to spend anything on AI. Everyone else is spending eighty billion!”
2. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 193
Since these remarks were after NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang’s appearance at the CES in Las Vegas, Cramer went into quite a bit of depth about the company. At the CES, Huang explored a variety of AI applications in a keynote that appeared intent to shift the focus away from enterprise AI applications which have dominated the narrative so far. It covered industries such as robotics and automobiles, and an announcement that caught Cramer’s attention was NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s plan to squeeze its Blackwell GPU into a laptop:
“First thing I’m gonna say is that there’s just a huge amount of people saying Amazon’s gunning for NVIDIA. Well, Amazon, they play a good game of chess. No, they play checkers. After this, Amazon’s a checker’s play. Jensen’s playing chess.
“Well because Amazon, well the big reason why Amazon, that Amazon’s supposed to be gunning for NVIDIA, right. Microsoft’s supposed to be gunning for, good luck, he [Jensen Huang] left that behind. Because he’s doing physical.
“So here’s what’s going on. There’d been a lot of scrum, about who’s doing maybe inference, then Amazon’s moving into training. NVIDIA’s not talking about any of that. NVIDIA’s talking about robots. They’re talking about the way you build a factory. They’re talking about physical. They’re talking about Toyota going the way that Tesla’s going. They basically just said you and I are gonna have robots.
“My point is that he is leaving everyone behind. And that’s why it’s stock can go higher. Because if we’re doing physical [physically shrinking a Blackwell GPU in a laptop form factor], what that means is, that you are going to have a robot that does, that is going to be doing exactly what we can do. A robot will be able to talk, it’ll be able to be our buddy. It’ll do things that we hadn’t been able to think they could do. And this is what this is about. This is about productivity and robots. Now yes the PC that we showed that’s gonna be for sale for a very good price. I think that’s going to be very competitive, maybe there’s really going to be AI. But I was just blown away by the digital twin for manufacturing, the Toyota being like Tesla, the humanoids. Remember he keeps [inaudible] humanoids. They even threw a bone in for Apple Vision Pro. Which the downgrade says is a bust. Okay fine, but I just think that it was, that it was, that it was about not being the Jensen Huang that we’ve been hearing about. . . .but I just think that this was, dazzling. Intellectual purposes. Not showman purposes.
“Okay so, who has been a huge customer? Tesla in the data center. Notice that he said the data center, he didn’t say car. Because they’re not making the ones for the car. But if Toyota does that, Toyota has the balance sheet to do it. You know, they’re gonna have to buy five, they may have to buy five hundred thousand chips to get this done. So you’re looking at orders from now to kingdom come. Now over and over and over again he says we’re ready to ship, Blackwell’s ready to ship. Blackwell will be shipping by. . . so therefore you want to put the numbers up right now. I thought that there would be people who say you know what I’ve already heard this.”
1. Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 235
Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ:META) has made quite a bit of headlines in 2025. Its shares are up by 64.5% over the past twelve months as Wall Street has been optimistic about the firm’s ability to monetize AI. However, in 2025, Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ:META) is in the news as the firm has decided to scrap fact-checking in the US and replace it with a community notes platform that is similar to Elon Musk’s X. Cramer’s comments about Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ:META) revolved around the new initiatives:
“It’s so funny. What did he use? He used X! It’s really the, Reddit plan. That he’s using. And what he should have said, is that Reddit is a superior form of getting people out of the community who are doing destructive things to the community. Um David, the embrace of anything Musk is something that we could spend most of our lives talking cause I think that there are a lot of people at home, uh, who say, who elected Musk?
“Well I think that he wants to play ball. I think that he is, look, I think that he is not a changed man because of this. I think he has been going toward this for a long time. He realizes, look we gotta play a role in this country. I’m sure he views this [as a] constructive role. A lot of it constructive. And I find that when he went on Joe Rogan, which is an important in this country, what it said is look, I am a person who wants to listen to all views. And that’s by the way again Reddit. Reddit is all views as long as it’s not scatological. But he didn’t mention that it was Reddit, that it was X, because he wanted to say that, that you’re, you know, you’re getting it right with Musk!”
META is a stock Jim Cramer recently talked about. While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some 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 META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.
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