On Friday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s focus on the long-term benefits of tariffs as he argued that the short-term consequences are far more severe.
“The president is fixated on the long term when he talks about trillions of dollars that the tariffs will bring in. He says the tariffs will allow us to fund both tax cuts and a lower budget deficit. Putting aside whether that’s going to be true or not, I don’t think we have the full luxury right now of focusing on the potential long-term benefits because the short-term is a horror show.”
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer’s Game Plan: 10 Stocks in Focus and 10 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar Recently.
Cramer highlighted that the tariffs are excessive and poorly executed and also lack the reciprocal nature needed for a fair trade policy. He noted that it has triggered unnecessary chaos in the markets. He further criticized the stock market’s current state and noted that it is far from functioning properly. He pointed to the struggles of private equity firms, whose stock values are plummeting.
Cramer mentioned that these companies, which hold a significant number of highly levered businesses, had been planning to bring them public under Trump’s administration. However, he said that due to the current market turmoil, there are growing concerns that these initial public offerings might be canceled altogether. He added:
“If we want to get out of this mess, we need some signs that the president understands the need for a functioning market.”
Cramer also stressed that while the U.S. may be experiencing low unemployment, it might not last if short-term issues are not addressed. He commented that the public does not elect their leaders to look only toward long-term outcomes but also to manage immediate challenges. Cramer urged Trump to adjust his approach and form better trade relationships with countries that are open to trade negotiations.
“The President needs to make a commitment… to help companies that want to avoid the tariffs. He needs to call world leaders and say that they can roll back some of the tariffs that he’s putting on them, but, they gotta play ball. Mr. President, don’t cause a crash. It will be your legacy and it can easily be avoided.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 8 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 4. 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).
Jim Cramer Talked About These 8 Stocks
8. GlobalFoundries Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 24
GlobalFoundries Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS) received a comment from Cramer during the episode, and here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“Yeah, well the problem is… they make… they do not make the latest and greatest and that’s the problem. Taiwan Semi does and no one wants to touch that stock either. So don’t feel bad.”
GlobalFoundries Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS) offers a variety of semiconductor fabrication services and technologies. The company produces devices such as microprocessors, mobile application processors, and power management units. In August 2024, Cramer made a similar comment as he said:
“I don’t like the foundry business as much. It turns out that the only people who really know how to make them cheaply is Taiwan Semi. So if you want to own a foundry, Taiwan Semi is the one to do it.”
7. Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34
A caller asked if they should buy, sell, or hold Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI). In response, Cramer said, “ORI is a winner. It’s a terrific situation. Let me throw in Chubb. I like that too.”
Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) offers insurance and related services. It provides various insurance products, including health, accident, commercial, and workers’ compensation and it also offers title insurance and services for real estate transactions. It is worth noting that Cramer was bullish on the company in 2021 as well when he stated:
“What can I say? Don’t wonder and start buying. It’s the kind of stock I really like. It’s got almost 4% yield. It’s in a good business. I don’t know, someone is going to take it over one day.”
Since then, Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) stock has gone up more than 50%.
