We recently published a list of Jim Cramer’s Latest Calls Before 2025 Begins: Top 10 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) stands against other stocks in Jim Cramer’s latest calls before 2025 begins.
Jim Cramer in a latest program talked about the market reaction to the Federal Reserve’s latest rate cut and its guidance that suggested fewer rate cuts moving ahead.
“I guess you could say the baby got thrown out with the bathwater. It was truly hideous, a little unexpected, and yes, wicked. Even though the market’s barely oversold, we may not get that quick snapback we normally expect in a deeply oversold market,” Cramer said.
Jim Cramer said Jerome Powell’s comments and tone were “stern” and his conference call “confounded” investors. Cramer said inflation has not come down enough and that has made the Fed’s job difficult.
Cramer then talked about different sectors and companies that need rate cuts amid a slowdown.
“I really wish the Fed hadn’t been so defensive about the need to cut rates going forward. A slower approach would have been much better. If they had explicitly taken a wait-and-see approach before this meeting, we’d be in a better position. This time, they telegraphed the wrong thing, hence today’s meltdown. However, if the weaker part of the economy deteriorates further or inflation comes down, the Fed still has room to cut. Here’s the bottom line: a previously data-dependent Fed chose not to be data-dependent today with its pronouncements, and that’s what drove the market down. This happened despite the quarter-point rate cut—something that’s typically good news for stocks—but it turned out to be the very opposite.”
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In
For this article, we watched some latest programs of Jim Cramer and picked 11 stocks he is talking about. With each company, we have 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A busy retail store showcasing a wide range of consumer electronics.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 37
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC said he was surprised to see two bullish notes on Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY). He is still in a wait-and-see mode on the stock and said AI PCs have turned out to be a “plain out disappointment.”
“When they reported their quarter, it did not give you the kind of guidance that I wanted and the stock came all the way back down … I’m going to talk about it tomorrow in my investing club meeting. The AI PC did not work out. It does need rates lower. Appliances are not selling as well,” Cramer said.
Cramer is right. When 2024 started, everyone was excited about BBY amid AI PCs. DA Davidson analyst Michael Baker earlier this year said in a note that the last replacement cycle for laptops came during the pandemic and now that four years have passed on that cycle, consumers are ready to spend on new laptops, especially amid the AI wave.
Data also supported this trend. Market research firm Canalys estimated that one in five PCs shipped in 2024 will be AI-capable, translating into 170 million AI-capable PCs. Being a seller of laptops and PCs, Best Buy would be the direct beneficiary of this trend. However, so far, consumers have showed lack of enthusiasm for AI PCs.
Overall, BBY ranks 9th on our list of Jim Cramer’s latest calls before 2025 begins. While we acknowledge the potential of BBY, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar 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 BBY 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.
