We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer Looked At These 7 Stocks Recently. In this article, we are going to take a look at where IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) stands against the other stocks Jim Cramer recently looked at.
On Mad Money, Jim Cramer recently delved into the impact of previous President Joe Biden’s policies on the stock market, raising a question that has been on the minds of many executives: Did the market perform well because of the administration, or in spite of it?
According to Cramer, one clear example of success despite the prior president’s policies can be seen in the oil sector. He pointed out that oil performed well even though Biden, who was vocal about his opposition to fossil fuels, is not a supporter of traditional energy sources.
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Cramer remarked that he himself had pushed back on the notion that the oil industry was doing poorly under Biden when speaking with oil executives. He noted that while the stocks of these companies had done reasonably well, the underlying issue was that there had been no meaningful communication between the president and fossil fuel industry leaders.
Cramer explained that Biden, who was a staunch advocate for renewable energy, essentially ignored dialogue with the oil sector, leaving executives without a chance to discuss their concerns.
“The oil company CEOs that I know wanted to plead their case, play ball, but they never got a chance. Instead, they got a kick in the teeth though almost one year ago when the president crushed the most viable portion of the complex, the liquified natural gas market, by putting a pause on new export decisions pending environmental review.”
Cramer also pointed to another major sector that saw gains in spite of the president’s policies: the banking industry. He shared that during his conversations with various bank CEOs, many of them took the opportunity to criticize the Biden administration, especially in terms of its tone and approach. While the banks performed well under Biden, Cramer noted that much of this success was despite the administration’s handling of financial regulations.
He explained that the lack of communication between the government and the business world had created an environment where many companies were hesitant to pursue mergers and acquisitions, which would have been profitable for shareholders. Instead of fostering productive discussions, the administration’s approach seemed to be to litigate first, without ever attempting to engage in meaningful dialogue. Cramer added:
“It had a very successful chilling effect on doing new deals, many of which would’ve made shareholders like you a great deal of money… The bankers wanted some degree of transparency about the new regulations that intruded endlessly on what they were doing. They wanted some sense of the real capital levels that the government wanted to see and they wanted a seat at the table when the president discussed business. Didn’t happen.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 7 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episodes of Mad Money aired on January 17. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the third quarter, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A veterinarian in a veterinary clinic examining a companion animal.
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42
Discussing IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX), Cramer said, “Too inconsistent. I’ve gotta tell you, if Chewy were to come down, that is the one I’d like you to be in, Chewy.”
IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) creates and provides diagnostic products and services for veterinary care, livestock, poultry, dairy, and water testing industries. In December 2024, Cramer did a deep dive into the company and said:
“When we started this show, they used to be one of our favorites. They do software water microbiology testing… But after an incredible run from below $200 in March of 2020 to an all-time high of about $700 in August 2021, the stock’s been lost to the wilderness for a couple of years. That action mirrors what we’ve seen in many other pet stocks because, after a huge boom in pet adoption during the pandemic, there were a couple [of] lean years that followed, including lower vet visits trends, something that impacts IDEXX.”
Cramer then discussed IDEXX Laboratories’ (NASDAQ:IDXX) last quarterly results, describing them as somewhat mixed. While the company missed revenue expectations, it beat earnings by 12 cents. However, Cramer noted that IDEXX lowered its full-year revenue forecast and simply reaffirmed its earnings outlook, which contributed to a less-than-optimistic outlook and led to the stock taking a hit. In the weeks following the report, the company also announced the departure of its CFO, though Cramer noted that the news did not have as significant an impact on the stock as he initially expected. He added:
“I think the company should benefit from a continued comeback for vet visits, which has been happening but at a slower pace than they expected. As we get further and further removed from the pandemic, I expect everything pet-related to keep trending back towards normal levels. And in the context of IDEXX, normal means strong secular growth thanks to increased vet visits and tremendous pricing power. Clearly, a leader in veterinary testing. At its high in 2021, IDEXX sold for 76 times the next year’s earnings estimate. Now it’s trading just 36 times next year’s earnings estimates… I think that’s a compelling entry point. Not ironclad, but pretty good.”
Overall IDXX ranks 4th on our list of the stocks Jim Cramer recently looked at. While we acknowledge the potential of IDXX 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 timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IDXX 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.
