In this piece, we will look at the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
In his recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer commented on the devastation from the California wildfires and its impact on the services business. Cramer wondered “whether we’re supposed to be thinking about how much business was really, service business was hurt because of California.” He also contemplated whether wealthy people who were invested in the “service part of the economy” seemed to be “just, not spending, because they don’t know what their situation is.”
One of Cramer’s favorite barometers of the stock market performance is his bear-bull indicator. The show marked a rare occasion this year when the CNBC TV show host mentioned this indicator. Cramer shared that “The bull indicator is the lowest since June 2022, and bear’s the highest since September 2022. So you got, it’s reflected everywhere. The level of confusion that’s turning into negativity.”
One sector that came to his attention during the show was the alcoholic beverages industry. According to Cramer, “The stoners aren’t making money. Beer’s not making any money. Hard liquor’s not, oh my god the browns, people talk about the browns. They’re down so much.”
He shared some of the reasons behind why alcohol stocks might be suffering. Cramer outlined:
“The numbers are just incredible. People just have shifted to food. What it really is this they want one beer instead of two. They want, instead of having two margis they’ll have one margi. And that’s the big change. It’s moderation. And that is amazing because we’ve never seen moderation. We’ve seen people just drink more and more and more. And then the price went up very big. None of these liquor companies are willing to cut prices. I don’t know why they’re not. They’ll all break one day. They’re just going to break. They’ll break.”
As markets opened during his show, Cramer commented that they were struggling after President Trump’s latest tariff announcements. “It’s a fraught moment,” he outlined and added, “I don’t want anyone to think that we’re minimizing it. It’s a very fraught moment. Because the President is in accelerated computing mode on tariffs.”
Continuing with the analogy of the AI GPUs, Cramer shared:
“Between, yes, pre-train and post-train, I don’t know. I mean look I try to be constructive about this stuff. Last night I couldn’t be, because I said look, these are great American companies and they have no idea . . . they don’t know what to do. They just don’t know what to do.”
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 February 27th.
For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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).
11. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 31
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) is one of the biggest alcoholic beverage companies in the world. Its shares have lost 4% over the past year as the firm has managed to weather the storm that has plagued the broader industry. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD)’s shares are up by 20% year-to-date as the firm’s fourth-quarter earnings report in February impressed investors. Amidst dropping demand, the firm shared that its profits grew by 10% in Q4 which was higher than analyst estimates. Here is what Cramer said about Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD):
“They have cut back dramatically. Look David, although Bud had better numbers. But people thought Bud’s numbers are going to be really bad, but, the decline in beer’s . . .I had Texas Roadhouse on, and when their hottest drink is a mocktail. I mean a mocktail! I’m talking mocktail!”
10. Sempra (NYSE:SRE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 34
Sempra (NYSE:SRE) is a California-based utility that provides power and natural gas. Its stock is flat over the past year after a massive 19% drop in February. Sempra (NYSE:SRE)’s shares fell after it cut its 2025 profit-per-share guidance to a $4.50 midpoint from an earlier $5.075. A warmer winter in Texas also led the firm to miss its Q4 earnings estimate of $1.60 per share by ten cents. Cramer also mentioned the California wildfires when discussing Sempra (NYSE:SRE):
“Because again and again we come back, hey by the way, Sempra, a company I like very much, SRE, that was a, they were hurt, it was down 20% the other day. Why? Well because suddenly the public utility holding commission out of nowhere in the last couple of days in California said we have a fire problem. And take a look at that decline. This is a really good utility. We’re just beginning to calculate how bad the wildfires really were for business. Obviously, the loss of life was terrible.”
