Jim Cramer Latest Stocks: 23 Stocks He Just Talked About

11. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 69

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is a well-known fast food company that sells Mexican cuisine. The firm has spent 2024 executing a growth strategy that aims to add at least 8% a year to its store count. In 2025, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) expects to open anywhere between 315 to 345 restaurants and focus on digital sales for margin-friendly revenue. It has also focused on price increases in 2024 and raised prices by roughly 2% to battle food inflation. The price hike has hurt Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) as its Q3 comparable sales grew by 6% and missed estimates by 6.3% Cramer gushed about the firm’s former CEO Brian Niccol who left his role in August:

“Of course, they had that giant split. But if you take a look at about when Niccol came in, uh and we should look at that, a ten year chart on Chipotle, you’ll see that Chipotle was in this bad shape.

“Chipotle was almost in as bad shape as Starbucks. And Brian turned that around very very quickly. Remember he came from, . . .Yum!, and I remember asking him, I said something like the Yum! burrito has like a 147 ingredients and yours has 80. And he says, well, what does it matter? I’m at Chipotle now. And his campaigns at Yum! were brilliant. He moves over to Chipotle, first thing he does is tackle the health and safety issues.”