We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer Discussed 18 Companies That Hit $100 Billion in Market Cap in 2024. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) stands against the other companies that hit $100 billion in market cap in 2024.
Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, recently discussed a number of companies that have surpassed $100 billion in market capitalization this year, noting how these companies seem to reflect the current market mood. According to Cramer, it used to be a significant achievement for a company to reach the $100 billion mark, as most companies would never attain that level of market cap.
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He emphasized the immense effort and determination required to achieve such a feat. However, Cramer pointed out that in today’s market, the $100 billion threshold has lost some of its significance, given the recent surge in stock valuations. He highlighted that, as of the market close last Friday, 18 companies had crossed the $100 billion mark in 2024, a notable increase that speaks to the current market dynamics.
Cramer acknowledged that stocks, like everything else, had to contend with inflation, which remains a persistent issue. He went on to say:
“I know we’re experiencing a heightened market, with expectations really running so hot that you can’t believe that a presidential rally, or, let’s say, an end-of-the-year rally and a stock shortage rally are all in play at once. Many of these stocks got clocked today as part of a sell-off that seemed to infect the year’s best performers. I don’t know how long it’ll last, maybe some great buying opportunities already.”
Cramer concluded that the massive influx of capital into the market is a clear driver behind the rise in companies reaching the $100 billion valuation.
“But bottom line: When you get this much money coming in, you can see how all these companies can reach $100 billion, creating a huge amount of wealth, at least on paper. One more reason why it wouldn’t be so bad if some of the winning investors in this market took something delicious off the table.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 18 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on December 9. 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 team of accountants in a boardroom, discussing strategic moves of an insurance company.
The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 95
Cramer called The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) a winner and commented:
“Next we have Progressive. Now it’s up 60%. This auto insurer is known to use more AI in pricing than any other company… The insurance business is on fire and we know from these egregious CPI numbers, one comes out this Wednesday, they just keep raising rates. These three are winners for certain.”
Progressive (NYSE:PGR) is an insurance holding company that provides a range of personal and commercial property-casualty insurance products, including auto, residential, and business-related coverage. It has been at the forefront of technological innovation in the insurance industry, particularly with the use of telematics. The company was one of the early adopters of using driver data, such as mileage, speed, and braking patterns, to personalize insurance rates for individual drivers.
As per Barron’s, Cathy Seifert from CFRA Research highlighted that the company’s AI capabilities are ahead of the curve, which is evident from the company’s early use of artificial intelligence. In 2017, well before the rise of AI models like ChatGPT, it introduced a chatbot version of Flo, designed to assist customers with AI-enhanced quoting technology.
Josh Shanker, a senior insurance analyst at Bank of America, added that although large language models are a newer development, the company has been using AI techniques for decades, particularly in pricing insurance by crunching data, making the company more advanced than its competitors in this regard.
During its third-quarter earnings call, Progressive (NYSE:PGR) management revealed that it has been utilizing AI in its call centers for over ten years. The company implemented a chatbot to handle repetitive inquiries, reducing call volume by approximately 15%. On the claims side, it also utilizes automation for estimates, having tagged millions of images to facilitate this process.
Overall PGR ranks 3rd on our list of the companies that hit $100 billion in market cap in 2024 according to Jim Cramer. While we acknowledge the potential of PGR 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 PGR 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.
