We recently published a list of Did Jim Cramer Nail or Miss These 14 Stocks? In this article, we are going to take a look at where NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.
During the most recent episode of Mad Money, Jim Cramer described the current stock market as a “short sellers paradise,” offering an ideal moment for those betting against U.S. stocks. He pointed to an important deadline approaching: April 2nd when major tariffs are set to take effect.
“We have a tariff deadline, beckoning a frightening deadline, actually April 2nd when the big tariffs are going to kick in, that means we’re headed for a moment of maximum fear as regular stock buyers either flee to the sidelines or move the money to Europe.”
READ ALSO: Was Jim Cramer Right About These 23 Stocks?
Cramer emphasized that he does not see how the White House could back down from its stance, suggesting that if the administration wants to maintain credibility, it has no choice but to move forward with the tariffs. He explained that for President Trump, showing resolve by sticking to his promises is a signal of strength, even if it means sacrificing the stock market in the process. Cramer believes that this willingness to endure short-term market pain in favor of long-term trade objectives is a clear sign that the White House is committed to its strategy. He went on to say:
“For years, we’ve been conditioned to believe that everyone must do their part to get prices down because we don’t want inflation to get out of control. Unfortunately, someone isn’t doing it.”
The rising costs brought on by tariffs are forcing the Federal Reserve to pay more attention to inflation, complicating the financial space. Cramer remarked that this creates a difficult situation for money managers who now feel compelled to sell due to the economic uncertainty stirred up by Washington. Wall Street, he added, is already adjusting its estimates, factoring in the potential long-term impact of tariffs.
“But what happens in this market after the tariffs are implemented? Maybe another month of wrangling, maybe two months, maybe the whole summer. It could be real bad. So we end up with this build-in negative that could sink 10 ships.”
Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 14 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on April 1, 2024. We then calculated their performance from April 1st, 2024, market close to March 24th, 2025, market close. We have also included the hedge fund sentiment for the stocks, which we sourced from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of over 900 hedge funds. The stocks are listed in the order that Cramer mentioned them.
Please note that this article mentions Jim Cramer’s previous opinions and may not account for any changes to his opinions regarding the stocks that are mentioned. It is primarily an examination of how his previously provided opinions have panned out.
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).
A team of trainers and athletes displaying a wide range of athletic and casual footwear.
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 73
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is one of the world’s largest athletic footwear and apparel companies. Cramer was cautious on Nike at the time, citing pricing concerns and increased competition:
“Consumers are rebelling against anything that costs too much right, and Nikes are considered expensive. I think we got some positive press about the China business but it’s the U.S. that I’m worried about. […] Historically, it’s been hard to keep Nike stock down for long, but I want to see this quarter.”
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is another U.S. company that has struggled a lot over the past year. The stock has fallen by 27.19% ever since.
Jim Cramer has changed his stance on Nike. Discussing the company’s most recent earnings report, here’s what he said in one of his programs on the 21st of March:
“Yes, Sarah, you know that Nike had a, it was tough to listen to because of the inventories.
“Look, let’s just cut to the chase. What really killed us? . . .is when you hear a company just basically saying look, macroeconomic is bad, I wanna read the words. . .’we expect revenues,’ this was devastating, this is from Matthew Friend, and you know straight shooter right,. . .’we expect Q4 revenues to be down in the mid-teens range,’ why?, okay ‘unfavorable shipment time in North America,’ ‘two points of negative impact from foreign exchange,’ and of course, ‘400 to 500 basis points down creating restructuring charges for gross margins,’ look you’re not gonna want to own that stock if you hear that. But do you want to sell it Sarah at 65? That’s the question.”
And if we just want to focus, listen, Sarah, if we only want to focus on how Nike Jordan’s are doing, then we are doing a disservice to people. We know that they’ve got that wrong locker, we know that Donahue almost wrecked this company. Which is really a kind of a land speed record. . . I don’t know I would put Donahue in the fastest ever to crash a car.
“But Sarah, let’s talk about a stock that is bad. . . Nike is the paradigm of what is wrong. But, it’s a great franchise so you have to say at 65, is that company worth something? You know the negatives last night were heavy, no real positives. But is that stock deserving of say fifty dollars, fifty five dollars? Is that where you should trade.
“Well, the uncertain consumer seems to be certain when they’re buying on ON, a little more certain when they’re buying Hoka. I think the uncertain consumer turns certain when they’re buying New Balance. I think that as you know, the Adidas consumer doesn’t seem all that uncertain. I don’t want to hear uncertain. If you’re going to talk about win, you should talk about loss. The company had a huge series of losses. Look I know Corporate America likes to say you know what, don’t worry, let’s forget about the past. Corporate America. . .never wants to be able to say we were gutted by a previous CEO. Because that’s just not the way it’s done. I’m gonna do it. I cannot believe, how that man, the previous CEO, gutted anything that was new, relied on the old, it failed. Decided to sabotage people like Mary Dillon, at Footlocker. Now they have to take back all the inventory. They have no place to put it other than the Nike factory stores. Look there’s a lot of damage. And I think what happened is, there was much more damage than people realized, Sarah. And the other guys didn’t have damage. The other guys didn’t sit still. And I think the company should start acknowledging that not only do they have to win, but the other guys have to lose. And you have to beat them. And I think that while they talk a good competitive game and they talk about the Ohio State football program. . .what they didn’t talk about is how to beat the other guy. Yes, they’re gonna return to sport. . .but that means you’re going to have to design, and you can’t start designing overnight!”
Overall, NKE ranks 11th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of NKE as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NKE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.