In his latest appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer suggested the recent tariffs might not simply be about economic leverage. He hinted at a deeper agenda within parts of the administration that goes beyond trade policy:
“There’s plenty of sense that something’s going to happen that’s going to take this away. In fact, just because of what we saw the other day with it going to 10 percent, I don’t see that at all. I think these are very different kinds of tariffs. I mean, this is a tariff where I think there’s some people with the administration who actually ultimately have a goal of regime change.“
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Discussing the likelihood of a negotiated settlement between Washington and Beijing, Cramer expressed deep skepticism that China would retreat under pressure. Instead, he described a Chinese leadership that had long prepared for confrontation:
“When do the Chinese back down? Right now they’re not, but I don’t know. I think the Chinese have been ready for this since first Trump. I think that they are ready for tariffs. I think they’re going to build coalitions worldwide. I do not think they’re paper tigers. I think that they’re a strong country and they’re ready. They’re ready for the fight. And I’m afraid that we have many divisions that were behind enemy lines before this war started, including Apple.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on April 11th.
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).
7. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 96
Cramer brought up Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) while discussing the divergence between Wall Street pessimism and Main Street resilience. He referenced conversations with multiple bank CEOs and praised Wells Fargo’s CEO Charlie Scharf. Here’s what he said:
“When you listen to Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo, he’ll tell you that Main Street’s doing quite well. He’s actually seeing loan growth for the first time. […] I’m positive and constructive, and I think Charlie Scharf did a great job, and that stock should be higher. […] By the way, Michelle Bowman, I think, is going to be very positive for Wells Fargo, a deregulated Federal Reserve.”
6. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 123
Cramer’s take on JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) came during a conversation about a potential recession and the pressure companies face to issue or retract forecasts. He noted that JPMorgan remains a best-in-class bank, and any temporary weakness could be a long-term buying opportunity. Here are his thoughts:
“I think in a recession you pull your forecast. And when people here pulled forecast, you just sell the stock. Now is that right? I don’t think so. I think that I joke I wish actually this was the quarter where people said you know what we’re not going to give guidance anymore. We’re gonna be like Warren Buffett. […]
Well, look, these companies are great. And if we’re going to say there could be a deal and the deal’s going to be tough and- With China, you mean? Yes. Then you’re going to be saying, why didn’t I pay $224 because now I’m paying $290.”
5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
Once again, Cramer expressed deep concern over Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), calling attention to the company’s vulnerability in China. He framed Apple not only as a target of tariffs but as collateral damage in a broader geopolitical battle between the U.S. and China. He repeatedly questioned why American companies like Apple were being punished while foreign competitors like Huawei and Samsung stood to benefit. Here are his remarks:
“And I think that one of the things that’s happening is that people are just saying, look, it’s too crazy. I mean, Apple was up. Now, I could argue that Apple shouldn’t have ever been up, but Apple’s come down. There’s a sense that, like, OK, this thing may be for real. And if it’s real, then how can you own Apple? Why not go buy Samsung?
[on 18% of Apple’s sales coming from China] That’s existential for Tim (Cook). […] Well, they can’t move to India faster.
[On speaking with people from Trump’s administration] When I speak with them, I’m viewed as being a, someone who is a lapdog to Apple. And I resent that. I think that Apple’s one of the greatest companies. […]
Is Apple not the greatest? One of the four-five greatest companies in the world. So why are they being punished? What did they do wrong?”
4. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74
Cramer identified a new group of “anointed” stocks. Those are the companies he believes are safe havens in this unpredictable macro environment. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) stood out as one of the few domestic companies that benefit from trade decoupling and aren’t exposed to China. Here’s what he said:
“I’m putting together a list every day of the companies that are now, I’m calling the anointing company. You can call them the sainting companies. These are the companies that are what you have to buy here. And David, one that I think you and I are both kind of in awe is the turnaround of Verizon. Look at this. This is Verizon. This is not NVIDIA. This is Verizon. And it’s a taker of these products.”
3. BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 53
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) CEO Larry Fink appeared live on the show to discuss markets, recession fears, and institutional flows. In response, Cramer offered a personal take, citing his charitable trust’s position in the stock, saying:
[Talking directly to the company’s CEO on the show] “I’m going to be pedestrian for one second. My charitable trust has a huge position in your stock. I thought that your organic growth was better than expected. And look, the flows in are still good. The technology is great. Lost in the whole shuffle, your stock has come down a lot and to me represents value.”
2. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 223
Cramer maintains his long-standing bullish stance on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). During the show, he contrasted short-term analyst pessimism with the company’s massive role in powering the AI revolution and urged investors not to be shaken out. Here are his comments:
“You have a stock like, again, the key to the market is NVIDIA, where you had a price target cut for the first time. The stock’s still up. […]
I’m getting Nvidia sold out, but these guys, you know, say, oh, no, they had a bad 48 hours. I mean, the short-sighted nature of Nvidia. I want every retail investor who’s in Nvidia to not be shaken out by Wall Street, which is saying, you know what, you’ve got to be very careful about the last 48 hours of Nvidia. Right. That’s really the way to play it.”
While revisiting the AI and semiconductor trade, Jim Cramer laid out his theory on why NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is still a winner, saying:
“Okay, here’s my theory. And so far, okayed by the powers that be. There is a shift from hyperscaler to others who need the latest and greatest. What does that mean? And by the way, Grace Blackwell sold out, which is the current chip, sold out. […] And I will tell you that if you’re a robot maker, you need all the ones that you can possibly get. Self-drive, you need all these. These are not hyperscale. […] I think what you find is that people who have felt that NVIDIA was an easy short, maybe not so easy.”
1. Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21
A late-breaking FDA policy shift caught Cramer’s attention as a breakthrough moment for small-cap biotech company Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX). Cramer framed this as a deregulatory milestone, and one that could play directly into Recursion’s AI-focused drug discovery platform. Here’s what he said:
“Alright, we got some news from the FDA that’s impacting the stock. I don’t normally do small caps, but there’s an FDA announcement, plan to phase out animal testing requirements for monoclonal antibodies. By the way, Regeneron, biggest in that. But what they’re gonna do is you gotta do it AI. And the AI company that has it, I’ve had them on, is Recursion Pharmaceuticals, RxRx, backed by Jensen Huang and NVIDIA. And they’re going to be the winner in how we decide much faster to have drugs approved in this country. It’s the first real deregulation I’ve seen. Congratulations to the people who are trying to deregulate.”
RXRX is a stock Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of RXRX 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 time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than RXRX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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