Jim Cramer on Target Corporation (TGT): ‘They Do Food And Food Is Something You Need Scale On’

We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer Shed Light on These 10 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) stands against the other stocks.

Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, recently offered some important advice on how young people should approach investing and managing their money. He emphasized that the first and most important step for anyone is to invest. Cramer pointed out that investing is the only way to secure financial freedom in the long term. He then stated:

“Before you can start investing, you need to pay off the foreign credit card… No matter how much money you rack up in the stock market, if you’re carrying a balance on your credit cards, then it’s going to eat your returns.”

READ ALSO: 10 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar and 17 Best Stocks for Kids According to Jim Cramer

Cramer then shared a few lessons specifically tailored for young investors. He explained that the first piece of advice is valuable to people of all ages. His advice was that young people should save money. He noted that the stock market can actually serve as a tool to help people save by forcing them to set aside a portion of their paycheck that they might otherwise spend. He then added:

“Second lesson for young investors, this is a much more targeted piece of advice: While you’re still young, you can afford to take a lot more risks than say a gray beard like myself.”

Finally, Cramer stressed that it is never too early to begin planning for retirement. He recommended taking full advantage of any employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, especially if the employer matches contributions. He also urged young investors to consider contributing to a Roth IRA, which he described as an ideal option for those early in their careers.

“Here’s the bottom line: For young people just outta college investing is a great way to trick yourself into saving money you might otherwise spend. Beyond that, remember, when you’re young, you can afford to take a lot more risk with your portfolio and it’s never too soon to start contributing to your 401k or IRA.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 10 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on January 24. 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).

Is Target Corporation (TGT) the Best Widow and Orphan Stock To Invest In?

A woman purchasing groceries at a Target store, with a cart full of products.

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 49

Cramer highlighted the lack of pizazz in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) and noted that its peers are overshadowing it currently.

“You know what, I actually think that there’s gonna be like an activist at Target eventually because it does have a good balance sheet and it’s very cheap. But here’s the problem: They do food and food is something you need scale on and Costco and Walmart do much better food. They do delivery and that’s something you need scale on and Walmart and Amazon do a much better job. They need more pizazz and that is something that Brian Cornell can control and they haven’t had it lately. You don’t hear like, I gotta go to Target, I gotta go to Target. They need to bring the excitement back and it doesn’t have it right now.”

Target (NYSE:TGT) is a general merchandise retailer offering a wide range of products, including apparel, beauty items, groceries, electronics, home goods, and seasonal merchandise. The company also provides personal care, baby items, pet supplies, and various household essentials.

For context, over the past 12 months, Target’s (NYSE:TGT) stock declined over 14% while Amazon’s stock gained more than 33%, Costco’s stock went up over 47% and Walmart’s stock rose more than 82%.

Overall TGT ranks 4th on our list of the stocks Jim Cramer recently shed light on. While we acknowledge the potential of TGT 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 TGT 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 Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap

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