We recently published a list of 9 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The Gap (NYSE:GAP) stands against other stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar.
Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, shared his concerns on Thursday, describing the current stock market environment 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.”
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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.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 9 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episodes of Mad Money aired on March 13 and March 20. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 hedge funds.
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).
The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39
On March 13, Cramer referred to his conversation with The Gap, Inc.’s (NYSE:GAP) CEO Richard Dickson, praising the strong fourth-quarter earnings report. He noted that despite slightly lower guidance, the market reacted positively, and the company achieved its eighth consecutive quarter of gaining or maintaining market share across all four brands. He went on to ask:
“How about the trade war though? Won’t President Trump’s volatile trade policy crush The Gap like it’s crushing everybody else in the business? Look, this company gets less than 10% of their products from China with less than 1% coming from Canada and Mexico. On the cost side, they’re fine. The only worry is that the trade war wrecks consumer confidence and crushes the entire economy, which does seem like a possibility at this point. But as I said repeatedly, I think the Federal Reserve will start cutting rates at that point in order to prevent a recession.
When I asked Dickson about the concerns surrounding the health of consumer, he emphasized that what Gap’s been doing to reinvigorate their brands is resonating with customers and their ability to gain market share in declining industry makes him feel pretty confident about the future of the business. I think he’s probably right. Even if the company gets hit with some near-term turbulence, I like it.”
The Gap (NYSE:GAP) is a retail company that sells clothing, accessories, and personal care items for men, women, and children.
Overall, GAP ranks 7th on our list of stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar. While we acknowledge the potential of GAP 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 GAP 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.
