In this piece, we will look at the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer discussed whether President Trump could fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. The President is an ardent supporter of low interest rates, and in his recent comments, he asserted that Powell has to reduce rates. However, this particular program wasn’t the first time Cramer discussed the possibility.
In fact, he first raised the possibility in a program aired in late March. We covered Cramer’s remarks as part of our coverage of Jim Cramer Discusses These 10 Stocks & Wonders If Trump Will Try Firing The Fed Chairman. Back then, the CNBC TV host linked the President’s potential action against the Fed chair with the recent dismissals of officials from the Federal Trade Commission.
Cramer commented:
“Look, uh, there is a. . .theme here. You fired two Democrats. In the FTC. No one knows what to do. If he can fire two, if he can fire two from the FTC, he can fire Powell. Now doesn’t matter whether it’s legal or not. I thought Peggy Newton had a great piece today, talking about President Jackson. Now we’re really going back, even before McKinley, which is somehow the North Star for this administration. And I think people are just worried that Powell will be fired cause he’s not cutting rates. And I think that all of that we just heard is irrelevant. What matters that as long as there’s a belief that despite Fed chief Powell saying twice that he’s not going anywhere, as long as there is a belief that President Trump may actually have this . . where he can fire anyone, no one’s safe.”
He added that potential action against Powell might have been priced into the markets as Cramer believed stated: “I’m not saying that he will do this. I am saying that since the FTC. . .look if he took it off the table you would see the futures positive right now.”
Cramer maintained the theme in his latest remarks. When his co-host asked him if it was legally possible for the President to take action against Powell, he commented: “I mean they fired, look, I mean he fired these two FTC people. You’re not supposed to be able to do that.”
Commenting further on the legal aspects, Cramer outlined:
“And there you could say that look Chevron allows me to do it. That Chevron decision. I mean what happens when he comes out and he goes to Truth Social and he says that I’ve decided to run a third term. I mean there’s enough people in the government who would say, yeah, okay.”
As to what happens if the President fires Powell? Well, Cramer thinks “Powell says I’m not fired. I mean, it’ll be funny. You know, I remember Melissa Rivers didn’t want to be fired. In The Apprentice. . . .it’s kind of like The Godfather. Anybody can be fired. . .they can get to Powell.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on April 17th.
For these stocks, we also 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
10. D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 60
D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) is an American homebuilding company whose share performance depends on interest rates and economic activity. As a result, the fact that the shares have lost 10% year-to-date is unsurprising. D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI)’s shares fell by 9.9% in April after the firm cut its full-year forecast to $33.3 billion and $34.8 billion, from an earlier $36 billion to $37.5 billion. Here’s what Cramer said about D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI):
“And people are willing to forgive today. . .There is a bias today. Towards saying that things are a little bit better. This is not a bad day. . . .Horton, not good, the market likes it. So there is an element of forgiveness today that I want to note for the companies that are reporting.”
9. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 71
American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) is an American travel and financial services provider. The shares have lost 16% year-to-date amidst worries about consumer spending slowdown and the recessionary impact of tariffs. However, Cramer has remained upbeat about American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). He has previously commented that the firm’s payment cards are popular among younger users and demonstrate robust spending. The latest comments also revolved around these themes:
“[On AXP’s positive tone about the consumer] Better than that. Uh, I am talking about numbers which by the way include, and we’ve got first twelve days of this month. Steve Squeri going over things, you’re talking about, restaurant spending up 8%, lodging up 6%, goods up 7%, card membership, obviously more and more tremendous numbers have increased. 3.4 million. David, this is as good a quarter if you had to say anything, you would say that the consumer is on fire actually. Really spending a lot. Now I think to keep with leitmotif of novels, uh, Fitzgerald did say in the short story The Rich Boy, the rich are different from you and me. Of course, Hemingway then came back and said yeah they have more money. But this is a Gen X, Gen Z, Millennial explosion. People love the card. I am, I got, the only thing that was not so good was the airlines, it’s not that they matter. Because I gotta tell you, people are feeling good according to this. I mean President Trump could say you know what hey I told you, look how good everybody’s feeling. So I mean stock was up six at one point. . .but I will just say that Steve Squeri is one hell of an executive, and these are really great numbers. And a lot of this is just tremendous execution on the part of this company.”
“Well I mean we do have a, year-over-year we do have a leap day. But I think what’s most important is that people thought that things were going to be flat. Or maybe that people would be discouraged. But the revenues were up really, up nice, up nine. Look I look at this thing and I just say, sure, it’s possible to have done better. Remember, getting a leap year. But this is really a darn good number. And look this is one of the things viewed structurally a big change. You know the younger people just love this. They want it so bad, they want the gold card, they want the platinum card. And I salute younger people for doing something that took me about ten years to get.”
8. Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 81
Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) is a fintech firm that offers payment processing products and services. The shares have lost 39% year-to-date as they haven’t recovered from the 18% dip in February and have struggled amidst concerns about an economic slowdown. The February dip was after the firm’s quarterly results, and after they were released, Cramer commented that he thought the numbers were fine. This time around, he commented on Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ)’s competitive environment in the context of fintech firm Global Payments acquiring another company:
“People should know that it’s PayPal, Stripe, Square, all against them. And I think that these guys could be very powerful versus those. . . .Square’s had a little bit of problems.”
7. PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 85
PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) is a Chinese eCommerce retailer whose shares have been caught up in the trade war between the US and China. Not only does the firm suffer from trade tensions between the countries, but its shipments rely on a rule that exempts certain shipments from duties or tax in order to streamline product inflow in the US. Cramer’s remarks about PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) centered around this rule and the firm’s advertising spend:
“He gets hurt by the, Mark Zuckerberg gets hurt by this De Minimis that the advertising for Temu and Shein cut back.”
6. The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 91
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) is one of the biggest banks and financial services companies in the US. Its shares are up by a modest 1.5% year-to-date after having dipped by 12% in early April amidst the tariff-induced selloff. Since the post-selloff dip, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW)’s shares have gained 7%, and Cramer commented on the firm’s recent earnings report:
“Schwab had much better than expected numbers.”
5. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 94
PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) is a well-known financial services provider that enables consumers and merchants to process payments. Its shares have lost 29% year-to-date on the back of two selloffs. The first occurred in February and sent the shares down by 13%, while the second occurred in April to send them down by 13%. The February drop took place after PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s adjusted Q4 earnings missed analyst estimates. Here’s what Cramer said about the firm after Global Payments announced an acquisition:
“People should know that it’s PayPal, Stripe, Square, all against them. And I think that these guys could be very powerful versus those. PayPal, if you remember, it’s kind of dropping back a little.”
4. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 98
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is a mega healthcare company whose shares benefited as investors fled stocks with tariff exposure. This is evident in the fact that the stock is up by 9.8% year-to-date. However, the stock did tumble by 7.6% in April after a judge rejected the firm’s talcum powder settlement. In his previous remarks about Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Cramer praised the firm’s domestic manufacturing. Here are his latest thoughts:
“This is not a bad day. JNJ reports a quarter that’s good. People didn’t care the other day. Now it’s really good. . .So there is an element of forgiveness today that I want to note for the companies that are reporting.”
3. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 105
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is a software and cloud computing resources provider. It has emerged to become a key player in the AI race by acquiring NVIDIA GPUs to rent out to other firms. Cramer has discussed Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) several times in his morning appearances. He believes the firm has managed to beat Microsoft by becoming a key OpenAI partner through President Trump’s Stargate projects. Here are Cramer’s latest comments about Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL):
“But if Larry Ellison were right here I think he would say you know what, Microsoft, I took everything.”
2. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 115
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is one of Cramer’s top pharmaceutical stocks. It’s also a stock that he frequently discusses in his morning appearance. While most attention is paid to Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)’s weight loss drugs, Cramer has frequently commented that other treatments that Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is developing can also contribute to its already sizable moat. He also believes the firm’s manufacturing investments are a key strength. This time around, Cramer discussed the results of a weight loss pill trial:
[LLY surging after announcing obesity pill was good] “Right, now, David Ricks came on, came on our show and talked about how they’re going to be ready in 2026. I now feel like this could be even faster. What’s most important is what people have to realize is, to get to the number 40 million people taking these drugs which is much more than they have now, you have to have a pill. And the reason is that multiple studies between 76 and 80% of the people, say, I don’t want, I will not take an injection. I must have a pill. So the dropoff of the injection is huge. This will be a giant leap don’t forget they built one of the largest plants, incredibly quickly, in North Carolina. They are ready. This is the game changer for Eli Lilly.”
“No these are the two, the great illnesses, the great epidemics. Now we do have, David, someone who’s head of the HHS, who doesn’t like needles. Ha! Ha!. Pills, partner.”
“Well this study of blood pressure, it is going to show blood pressure not dramatically, but definitely lowered. And so instead of all the different drugs that they use now for blood pressure. They’re gonna use this. And that’s gonna be a study, NYU Langone’s in, everybody’s in the study. And I think that once again it’s gonna be very, very positive for Eli Lilly. There’s a lot of things that are coming out. Don’t forget, that Ken Langone came on my show, and said it is trillion dollar, trillion dollar company. First trillion dolllar non-tech company.”
“I think if you have comorbidity, like if you have diabetes, then you’re gonna get it. If there’s a cardio, where you have a cardio event, you’re gonna get it. It’s gonna be paid. It’ll be paid. But you have to have it in pairing, because I think that they’re just unlikely just to give it to people. Now I will say that, we listened to Gensler yesterday, he said that if worse than. . .you know, deregulation but with no people to actually approve of anything, that’s actually slower than if they actually had cops on the beat so to speak. And it’s interesting because I think the President is so focused on firing people that he’s firing the people who would make it so that you could fast track new things. So it’s almost as if it’s counterintuitive versus what he would like to do. But I find that, you know they wanna fire first and they forget who they’re firing. You wanna fire the people who green light things.”
1. UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 150
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) is the mega American healthcare insurer whose shares recently underwent a bloodbath after the firm’s latest earnings report. The stock crashed by a whopping 22% after UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH)’s earnings missed analyst estimates for the first time since 2008. The firm reported $7.20 in adjusted earnings while analysts had penned in $7.29. It also cut full-year adjusted profit per share guidance to a $26.25 midpoint from an earlier $29.75. The guidance cut also missed analyst estimates of $29.73. Naturally, Cramer had a lot to say about UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH):
[UNH taking the year down 12% when it came to EPS] “I am shocked. I mean it wasn’t just any one division. Remember medical, Medical Advantage had been a culprit. . . this is everything. I mean Optum, the Optum Healthcare system was wrong. I checked in with CVS, with Aetna, they reiterated recently. They said everything was fine. . . I was just looking at the statement, I’m saying, wow, totally contrary. This is so unlike UNH. Now of course, they said they can course correct and they’ve had it, there have been a couple of times maybe in the last thirty years where they missed this badly. But, you know, David, I’m not saying they took their eye off the ball. I’m saying they weren’t in the stadium.”
“[On coding practices coming under scrutiny to make their MLR higher] Also when you mention that, because Jonathan Kanter now he’s the guy from antirust, Justice, he was full bore United Health. Had, Harris won, I think these guys were going to be public enemy number one. They have spent so much time ready to go after UnitedHealth for being a monopolist. I will say by the way, the miss that they had on medical costs, I mean they have Optum, they’re supposed to know everything about medical costs. So this was very out of character, Carl. And also because of the weighting, it’s such a big stock, the weighting, it moves the Dow lower.”
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