Jim Cramer on Apple Inc. (AAPL): “It’s Bad. I’m Not Gonna Tell You It’s Good” – China Risk Looms Large

We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Reveals Stocks Benefiting From Tariff Selloff & Discusses These 8 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.

In his appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on Thursday, Jim Cramer commented on small-cap stocks, Mexican stocks, homebuilder stocks, and sectors that the money moving out of tariff-exposed stocks might flow into. Commenting on the fact that Mexican stocks thrived while US stocks sank, Cramer linked the country’s decision to work with President Trump as being behind the strong performance. “I know well look I, they turned out to be not bad,” he said. “You paid the piper and you bring the stuff in. The piper’s not as bad as you thought. And it’s really good,” Cramer added.

Shifting to the small-cap stocks, Cramer explained why the Russel index had entered a bear market. The index lost 10.7% on Thursday and Friday, and according to Cramer, the downward movement is due to multiples shrinking. He shared:

“This is a multiple shrinking. We’re going to go to 16 times 26′ numbers. That’s how you have to figure it out. You just take look at those. And that’s where we’re gonna go.”

The CNBC host didn’t hold back when it came to either clarity or calling the tariffs ‘reciprocal.’ He reiterated that the markets were reducing valuation multiples as tariffs can impact corporate earnings. According to him:

“. . we won’t get clarity. Like everyone was thinking about that so called clearing event. That was nothing. Reciprocal as we said we threw out immediately. I just think that you’re downsized. And you ought to keep some capital so that when we get there, because we can get there. I’m not saying the end of the world, but I am saying, yeah, we’re going back to a very low multiple.”

He added: “I came on the Today Show, in 2007 and I said if you needed money anytime in the next five years, you should sell. And it was a great call.”

As for homebuilder stocks, Cramer pointed out that “rates are coming down. Mortgage rates are coming down pretty severely,” and wondered if this means that it’s time to buy. “I mean, do you buy the homebuilders,” he wondered.

Elaborating further on capital flows during the selloff, he outlined:

“I’m just saying that money’s going to gravitate from places that had been like [Michael Dell’s company] . . .and it might go to [homebuilding stocks]. Because rates are coming down. And they’re coming down really hard, really fast. We should recognize that. The rates are really braking[sic].”

“But you know you just gotta look at companies whose brand names are good,” Cramer added. “And it’ll work. It’s just that there are very few stocks that will work versus where they were a week ago. But there’s stuff that’ll work,” he outlined.

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 3rd.

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).

Jim Cramer on Apple Inc. (AAPL): “It’s Bad. I’m Not Gonna Tell You It’s Good” - China Risk Looms Large

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 166

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares were hit quite hard during the post-tariff selloff. The stock dipped by 15.9% on Thursday and Friday due to the firm’s China exposure and the potential to be hit by retaliatory measures. China is one of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s largest smartphone markets, and investors were worried whether the firm could face action from the Chinese government. In his previous remarks, Cramer speculated that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might secure a tariff exemption. Here are his latest thoughts:

“Does Apple have power? Can Apple go to Verizon and ATT and say listen you still want our phones to open accounts? I don’t know. I mean look ATT’s up today. All domestic.

“[On 54% China tariffs affecting the iPhone’s price] It’s bad. Look I’m not gonna tell you it’s good. It’s bad.

“If T-Mobile says listen this is our chance to get share from Verizon [by selling the iPhone]. . . it’ll be a joint hit [on T-Mobile and Verizon].”

Overall, AAPL ranks 6th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. 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.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.