In this article, we will take a detailed look at Jim Cramer’s Latest Calls: Top 10 Stocks.
Jim Cramer in a recent program talked about Bitcoin and reminded investors that he has always believed in the cryptocurrency.
“I want to discuss Bitcoin, really. I do—not to the detriment of stocks but in addition to stocks. I come to praise Bitcoin, not buy it. First, let’s dispel the idea that I’ve never believed in Bitcoin. Now, if you search YouTube, you can see that I first bought Bitcoin on September 15, 2020, when it was at just over $10,000.”
Cramer said he likes the idea of Bitcoin being the store of value and said he always recommended investors to allocate 10% of their portfolio to the currency. However, he again urged investors to look to stocks for the rest of their portfolios.
“I heard Fed Chief J. Powell talk about how he believes people are buying Bitcoin as a store of value, like gold, because there’s not much transaction done in Bitcoin. I’ve always endorsed keeping up to 10% of your portfolio in gold as a kind of insurance against the world’s lunacy. But for years now, I’ve also been saying Bitcoin is a fine alternative to gold for that 10% position. Why not?
I think the federal budget deficit is at impossible levels…Sure, you might have been all in on Bitcoin. You know what? Terrific. Me too. But what if I told you there are indeed other ideas hidden in plain sight in the stock market? Ideas that you could have owned with the other 90% of your portfolio that wasn’t Bitcoin.”
Cramer then mentioned a few stocks that have posted dramatic gains since their IPOs to show investors the power of stock investing.
READ ALSO Jim Cramer’s Latest Lightning Round: 11 Stocks to Watch and Jim Cramer on AMD and Other Stocks
For this article, we watched the latest programs of Jim Cramer and picked 10 stocks he recently talked about. With each stock we have 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Navitas Semiconductor Corp (NASDAQ:NVTS)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 8
Jim Cramer was recently asked about Navitas Semiconductor Corp (NASDAQ:NVTS). Here is what he said:
“I’ve got to tell you that company’s losing a lot of money. I think you can take a flyer at three bucks, but understand it’s losing a lot of money and it’s a flyer.”
Meridian Contrarian Fund stated the following regarding Navitas Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:NVTS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Navitas Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:NVTS) designs and produces highly efficient power semiconductors, leading the way in Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology, which enables superior energy efficiency and charging speeds compared to traditional silicon. Handling GaN is challenging, and Navitas has a significant competitive advantage with its technology. We initially invested in early 2023 when the company lost favor due to a downturn in the highly cyclical mobile phone end-market. The stock declined in the period when revenue guidance came in lower than expected, driven by continued weak conditions in the EV and solar markets, which delayed customer product launches. During the quarter, we increased our position, confident in the long-term secular outlook for energy-efficient semiconductors, Navitas’ ongoing technological leadership, and its strong balance sheet, with over $100m in net cash. We believe the company is well-positioned to weather the current cyclical downturn.”
9. Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RXRX)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 16
Jim Cramer was recently asked about his thoughts on Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RXRX). He said he was “wrong” about his initial excitement around the stock.
“I liked the story ……I have to tell you, you know what? That makes me wrong. I knew that Nvidia had a stake in it; they still do, and that made me get excited about it. I think that at this point, then, they did a secondary offering and it didn’t hold. Now, I think at $5, it is worthwhile speculation”
AI-based drug discovery is one of the biggest trends major companies and venture capitalists are betting on. Some estimates suggest AI-led drug discovery could soon be a $100 billion business. Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RXRX) is an AI drug discovery play, as Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RXRX) uses high-dimensional data and predictive results for drug discovery and development. Last year, Nvidia decided to invest $50 million in Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RXRX) in a partnership that would see the combination of Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc’s (NASDAQ:RXRX) chemical and biological datasets with NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud and other AI tech stack for drug discovery.
Here is what Lux Capital has to say about Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“As we discussed before describing “Extensionalism”, one of our theses has been the growing convergence between the biological and technological, the organic and inorganic, man and machine. Lux has made investments in the digitization, technological capture and amplification of each of the human senses. Consider vision and speech: we have technology that can rapidly recognize and label objects from pixels (companies that span defense, biotechnology, manufacturing and transportation like, Recursion (NASDAQ:RXRX), and others that can rapidly generate videos, images, and even more complex language from simple inputs.”
8. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 31
Jim Cramer was recently asked about Dow Inc. Here is what he said:
“Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), this is a tough one. I think that Jim Fitterling does a great job, but it needed China, it needs up prices to go up, it needs a much stronger economy. It yields 6.29%, a lot of people bought it in the ’50s thinking that it wouldn’t break down through the 5% level. If you don’t have growth and you’re selling at 21 times earnings, you’re not going to be able to do anything at these prices. I’m willing to put a position on but understand that it did—the yield turned out to be not the kind of protection that we thought.”
Dow is operating in three segments: Packing & Specialty Plastics, Intermediates & Infrastructure and Materials & Coatings. The stock is down about 24% so far this year as pricing headwinds, unfavorable environment amid elevated interest rates and lower volumes continue to take a toll on business. Dow’s business is exposed to market cycles and interest rates. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) thrived when interest rates fell to near-zero levels in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid an unfavorable environment, Dow’s management has been cutting costs and improving efficiency.
7. Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 33
In late November, Jim Cramer was asked about Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI). Cramer said he won’t go back to the stock amid alleged accounting irregularities.
“My view is accounting regularities equals sell, and I never go back. I will be happily willing to miss another 20 points; it doesn’t matter. Accounting irregularities equal sell has saved me millions of dollars.”
However, Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) shares soared recently after the company said an investigation found no misconduct in the company’s accounting practices. The firm also said it will be replacing its finance chief.
Carillon Scout Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) was the top detractor to returns in the second quarter. Super Micro designs and manufacturers server solutions based on modular and open-standard architecture. This modular approach combined with a strong engineering culture helps the company to supply the market with advanced servers and rack-scale compute solutions quickly. After an impressive return in the first quarter, the company offered disappointing near-term earnings guidance, though we do not believe its long-term opportunity has diminished. We expect continued strong growth for several years, although the range of outcomes is quite wide; it is difficult to forecast AI server market growth with precision.”
6. Zoominfo Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ZI)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 37
Jim Cramer was recently asked about Zoominfo Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ZI). He said the company does not have enough specialty and moat.
“Technology and marketing company, I—you know, not enough specialty, not enough moat. Let’s pass on that.”
Zoominfo Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ZI) is aiming for growth in 2025 by concentrating on enterprise clients. The company’s shift away from riskier small and medium-sized businesses and its focus on high-value enterprise and mid-market customers is expected to help stabilize its revenue.
Still, ZoomInfo faces tough competition in a fast-changing industry, particularly from Salesforce (CRM). Salesforce’s Sales Cloud and its extensive CRM platform offer a robust solution for customer relationship management and sales enablement, creating a major hurdle for ZoomInfo.
Zoominfo Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ZI) tries to stand out with its proprietary database, which provides sales and marketing teams with actionable insights, giving it a unique edge despite Salesforce’s large user base.
5. Autozone Inc (NYSE:AZO)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 47
Answering a question about Aptiv in a latest program on CNBC, Cramer said:
“I am concerned that many auto parts may be made in China. We don’t know. AutoZone had a very good quarter. I would go with Autozone Inc (NYSE:AZO).”
Autozone Inc (NYSE:AZO) is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories. Bears used to argue that the company would have a tough time amid the rise of EVs since the demand for traditional auto parts would decline. However, ever since the EV demand slowed down, that argument fell apart. The traditional gasoline-powered cars still dominate U.S. roads, accounting for over 98% of all registered vehicles as of May 2024. Even if EV sales were to match those of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, it would take a considerable amount of time for EVs to make a noticeable impact on the overall vehicle landscape.
Appalaches Capital stated the following regarding AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Passing on cost structure benefits, sometimes called “Shared Economies of Scale,” is not the only form of these positive feedback loops. AutoZone, Inc.’s (NYSE:AZO) moat also deepens as it grows. While most would think of the company as a very good retailer, I would say that the business model is more nuanced than that. The automotive aftermarket is a highly fragmented and specialized industry. There are hundreds of companies producing automotive components, most of which are specific to one of thousands of vehicle models. In 2022, there were over 280 million registered vehicles in the U.S., further adding to the fragmented nature of the value chain.8 Outside of large metropolitan areas with public transportation, people rely heavily on their vehicles in all facets of their daily lives. Not having a working car poses significant problems. Whether it’s getting to work or shopping for groceries, if something breaks on your vehicle, you need it fixed immediately.
The combination of all of these factors leads AutoZone to maintain a large and diverse inventory that is ready on a moment’s notice. Manufacturers and vendors cannot sell directly to consumers because it would take too long for the product to arrive, and it would not be economical to build out their own distribution network given the low turnover of the inventory. AutoZone is heavily relied upon by their suppliers, and as a result, their suppliers give them very favorable payment terms allowing them to stock more inventory while tying up less working capital. The creditors of these suppliers additionally acknowledge the prowess of AutoZone, providing more flexible credit to suppliers if their inventory is sent to AutoZone. With more inventory, they can better meet the needs of their customers, resulting in higher sales and a more efficient network of stores, which in turn leads to a more effective service for suppliers. This is a very effective flywheel. AutoZone is not new to the portfolio, but I do enjoy writing about it.”