We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer Recently Discussed These 17 Stocks And Chinese Hackers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against the other stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
Jim Cramer’s appearance on Squawk on the Street aired on January 17th covered a wide variety of topics. As the day was in the final few days of the outgoing Biden administration, Cramer shared his thoughts about the policies of the outgoing and incoming governments. Commenting on President-elect Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent’s confirmation hearing Cramer shared that he “liked it.” He shared the reasons behind his approval.
“Well, I think that, in the end, he respects the process. I think a lot of the, I think there’s the process respecters and the process undoers,” Cramer thinks. He “felt that Secretary Bessent, soon to be, I gotta be careful, who knows, he’s talking about, there was a give and take. There was a moment when he was give and take with Senator Sanders.” While during their exchange, Cramer thought “Sanders thought that he was gonna, tee off on Sanders.” However, Bessent and Sanders actually “had common ground, and there was a lot of respect. And then I think Sanders had nothing to say, it was kind of like, okay,” according to the CNBC host.
Another hot topic in the markets is the President-elect’s potential policies on cryptocurrency. When asked by co-host Sara Eisen about his thoughts on Trump passing an executive order for crypto, Cramer stated “I agree and I think, well look the President-elect has made it no secret that he wants a strategic crypto reserve. So I’m not quite sure where that would be. Not in Fort Knox, it’s kind of, anywhere, right. I would like to make sure the blockchain is severe. I’m trying really hard to get a grip on that reserve because it doesn’t jump out at me.”
One country that Cramer regularly targets in his morning thoughts is China. This time around, he likened China to East Germany. ” We thought East Germany was incredibly powerful. They would go to the Olympics, and we’d say they’re amazing. We thought their schools were really great. And it turned out to be an empty suit,” believes Cramer. China needs “exports, they need everybody, they need help from everyone and they don’t wanna help anyone,” according to him.
In fact, China might be one of the reasons “President-elect Trump was elected,” he shared. Cramer shared that this is “because the Chinese dumped everything in every, of what we used to make. I mean my father sold gift wrap. They wiped out the gift wrap companies. So my father ended up working for the Chinese. They were nice to him.” China’s hostility leads Cramer to “think that we all should be cognizant that the Chinese are not our friends. But they are trying. I think that’s smart to try.”
The CNBC host also shared his on a recent conversation between China’s President Xi Jinping and the President-elect. “Well look I think that Taiwan is a hot button. Because President-elect Trump has said why doesn’t Taiwan pay more for its defense? I get that. That’s a kind of the NATO, consistent, right, consistent with NATO,” he shared. Cramer also shared his thoughts on Bessent saying tariffs are not inflationary. According to him, “Well, I liked that even though everything we’ve ever read all our lives says that they’re inflationary.”
He still likes Bessent since Cramer believes “Bessent’s a serious guy. I mean when you sit down and you watch these presentations and interactions in the European world where they interview him. The man is so thoughtful. That you’re close to Secretary Yellen, I think that in terms of a chess match, I’ll bet Bessent. He’s really exciting. He’s an exciting intellect.” In fact, Cramer thinks that Bessent “may know more about the way the economy interacts with our country than anyone out there.”
Finally, the outgoing Biden administration, particularly the Treasury Department, has been repeatedly targeted by Chinese hackers. Cramer quoted a cybersecurity CEO and shared:
“He was describing how out of date most of our government is in terms of identity. Meaning that you can, someone’s hacking you, you’re blocked, because they don’t have the eye, like you know it’s vision, or it’s finger. And we don’t do that. We use very old fashioned technology from the nineties where it’s very easy to hack. Everyone in the world knows the last four digits of your social security number.. . .we need to have visual, or we need to have fingerprint, and we don’t. Which is crazy.”
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 January 17th.
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).
A wide view of an Apple store, showing the range of products the company offers.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 158
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the most valuable consumer electronics firm in the world. It has been a regular feature in Cramer’s recent shows. The CNBC host believes that the iPhone’s sales play an unnecessarily large role in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s hypothesis. The stock is vulnerable to any reports of an iPhone downturn as the smartphone accounts for more than half of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s revenue. Cramer has also dismissed Mark Zuckerberg’s criticism of innovation ending at the firm since Steve Jobs’ death. This time around, he commented on the impact of the Chinese economy on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL):
“Well I mean look, people are trying to justify like Evercore comes out and says listen we got the stronger for longer iPhone cycle. Uh, yeah that’s true but the decline I think had a lot to do with the fact that the stock had this spurt, at the end of the year that seemed really. I mean what was that about? I mean NVIDIA had somewhat of a similar one and both stocks have just been laggards since the year began. And it’s just a lot of controversy, a lot of belief that the stocks have gotten overvalued. I say, own them, don’t trade them. But, I don’t think Apple’s going to have a good quarter. Who does think Apple’s going to have a good quarter? I mean that’s the thing when you read these pieces of research, Sarah, they’re all saying you know what Apple could surprise to the downside. Well, if everyone says that Apple’s going to surprise to the downside then what kind of surprise is it? It’s a surprising non-surprise.”
“This is cell phone, Sarah. Well, because, cell phone, not a good sector. It’s just not. It’s a no growth sector. But that can change. And don’t forget there’s so many other revenue streams. That service revenue stream from Apple is so terrific. I mean I love paying for something at 3 am that I didn’t know I paid.”
“Well look if the GDP number [for China] were real as opposed to what I think which is doctored, you would believe that Apple is doing well. Apple wildcard to the downside. It’s kind of a two of clubs.”
Overall AAPL ranks 2nd on our list of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL 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. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL 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.
