In this article, we will take a detailed look at Jim Cramer’s Latest Calls: Top 10 Stocks.
Jim Cramer recently talked about the impact of tariffs on the US stock market and mentioned some similar events from history.
“We know that the president, who loves tariffs, is now threatening to put tariffs on our trading adversaries that are as high or higher than the fabled Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 — yeah, the one that helped cause the Great Depression. The sellers are not oblivious to history, even with the White House is as they see Trump mimicking legendary president Herbert Hoover, who, despite endless diatribes by economists saying Smoot-Hawley could destroy the economy, championed and signed the bill in the name of — yes — the Working Man, especially the farmers. Exports dropped 60%, and we went into the worst depression in our nation’s history. Hoover regretted it, saying that they should be repealed in 1932 — way too late. I think the comparison is excessive, but you never want to be in the same sentence as Herbert Hoover, should you join the sellers.”
Cramer announced the end of Mag. 7 and said he’s buying low-multiple tech stocks, banks and industrials for his charitable trust.
“I would not jump back into the Magnificent 7 because, as of tonight, there is no mag. Came up with that name, scrapping it right now. No moniker fits the 2 or 3 that remain viable.”
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In
For this article, we picked 10 stocks Jim Cramer has been talking about over the past few weeks. 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Serve Robotics Inc (NASDAQ:SERV)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 5
A caller, who said he’s in his 20s, recently asked Jim Cramer whether he should buy Serve Robotics Inc (NASDAQ:SERV).
“A very risky stock. I would normally advise people to either do Tesla. I know that’s become a very risky stock, or Nvidia, which just reported a nice quarter. But because of your age and how you feel about it, I’m going to greenlight you, but only for someone your age,” Cramer said.
9. Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 31
A few days ago, Jim Cramer was asked about Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) in a latest program. He said he cannot recommend the stock.
“I don’t like doo market and while I still appreciate Rivian’s balance sheet they need so much more money I think ultimately to become a big company so I cannot go there because I think you’ll look back and say why did Jim green like that to me and I’m not going to do that.”
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund stated the following regarding Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) is a US-based electric vehicle manufacturer focused on the design, development, and production of electric adventure vehicles, pickup trucks, and commercial delivery vans. We own Rivian because we believe the company is a future leader in the growing electric vehicle market with a strong brand, compelling products, and a vertically integrated business model. During the quarter, Rivian’s stock price was driven by its progress on cost reduction initiatives and management’s stated confidence in achieving positive gross margins by the end of 2024. The recent announcement of a joint venture with Volkswagen, involving up to $5 billion in investment, also significantly boosted Rivian’s financing outlook and validated its technology. We trimmed our position in Rivian given the strong performance in the quarter.”
8. Badger Meter Inc (NYSE:BMI)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 32
A caller recently asked Jim Cramer about the scientific and technical instruments company Badger Meter Inc (NYSE:BMI). Cramer said he’s bullish on the stock.
“That is just one of the most steady-as-she-goes companies. I actually like Agilent more than Badger Meter Inc (NYSE:BMI), but I think it’s a terrific situation. I would hold on to it. Test and measurement has to be a very good business wherever you find it.”
7. Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 56
Jim Cramer in a recent program on CNBC said the market “misinterpreted” Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP)’s last quarterly report and recommended investors to pile into the stock on the next pullback.
“They are very easy to set up. They are the ones that every single entrepreneur that I know is on Shopify. And I think you nailed it. I know that the last quarter people misinterpreted it and they sent it down. Why don’t you wait until they report it again? That same thing will happen, and you’ll be able to have a better opportunity to buy it than you have right now.”
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) is a cloud-based software provider for multi-channel commerce. Shares rose 32.7% in the fourth quarter, finishing 2024 up 36.5% on strong financial results, including year-over-year revenue growth of 26% thanks to continued market share gains with gross merchandise value growth of 24%. Shopify reported continued success in its original online commerce segment while also expanding into offline, international, and business-to-business (B2B), which grew 27%, 30%, and 145%, respectively. Operating margins of 18% came in 240bps above expectations. While the company again guided for an accelerated pace of reinvestments into the business, which will limit short-term margin expansion, we believe this is the correct long-term strategy, as Shopify is taking advantage of its continuously improving product set and maturing go-to-market, in order to further expand its addressable market, targeting international merchants, offline and B2B retailers and going up market. We remain shareholders due to Shopify’s strong competitive positioning, innovative culture, and long runway for growth, as it still holds less than a 2% share of the global commerce market.”
6. General Motors Co (NYSE:GM)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 64
Jim Cramer said in a latest program on CNBC that the concerns over the potential impact of tariffs have been a drag on General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) shares.
“That’s a big reason why General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) trades at less than five times earnings—just extraordinarily cheap. It’s a big reason why CEO Mary Barra announced a $6 billion buyback today. The stock, which is down 9% for the year, had a quick bounce but gave up a big chunk of it. Tariffs—we never know when we’re going to hear about tariffs next, but we do know they’re coming, and we know that no stock is immune to tariff talk.”
Hotchkis & Wiley Large Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of passenger vehicles. GM reported a strong Q2; however, management provided a cautious outlook for the second half of 2024. Comments from GM mirrored those of other OEMs and auto suppliers, leading investors to believe the automotive cycle has peaked. We believe this is an overreaction, and we continue to view GM as an attractive investment. We like GM for many reasons. First, we believe GM has leading market positions in its main business segments. Second, the valuation is extremely attractive. Finally, it is a strong free cash flow generator, and the management team is committed to repurchasing their undervalued shares.”
5. Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 64
Jim Cramer was recently asked about Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) on CNBC. He praised the company’s latest quarter and recommended the stock as a cybersecurity play.
“Really good quarter. The headlines were out immediately before they even could read the release. Sellers came in. Had they read the release, they would have realized it’s fine. I like Palo Alto so very much. It’s a great way to get involved in cybersecurity and good work.”
In the fiscal second quarter, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)’s Next-Gen Security ARR jumped 37% year-over-year to $4.78 billion.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)’s platformization strategy is working. What was this strategy?
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)’s leadership has rolled out an “Accelerated Platformization and Consolidation” strategy, offering its platforms for free for a limited time in exchange for long-term commitments. With about 75 “Net New Platformizations” in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, customers are taking the deal and standardizing on its platforms.
In the latest earnings call, the management talked about the fruits of this strategy so far:
“We’re seeing some interesting behavior that reinforces our conviction that the future state of cybersecurity will have to be AI-enabled platforms that can markedly improve the speed of response. We delivered approximately 75 new platformizations in Q2, up from approximately 45 in the year ago. We now have a total of over 1,150 platformizations within our top 5,000 customers. As you might expect, many of our platformizations start with network security, and are from customers that have platformized in one area. However, our number of two-platform customers grew over 50% in Q2, and we’re seeing a number of three-platform customers up three times year over year. Also, the number of customers platformized in Cortex is up more than three times reflecting a strong excitement.
We’re excited to see the number of parts we have had success driving strategy so far, and our Q2 performance keeps us on track. To achieve our stated target of 2,500 to 3,500 platformizations by fiscal year 2030. Investors have always asked me what platformization deals look like. I want to provide a few examples based on deals we signed this quarter.”
Read the full earnings call transcript here.
Parnassus Growth Equity Fund stated the following regarding Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been a profitable position for the portfolio. Given its elevated valuation, we decided to sell it to fund the purchase of Workday, where we see greater opportunity and a clearer story of margin expansion potential.”
4. Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 70
Jim Cramer in a recent program on CNBC was asked about Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET). Here is what he said in response:
“I thought they reported a good quarter. I know people worry about the Meta business. I think the Oracle business can make up for that, but there are other people who feel like, you know, everybody’s shooting at them right now. I think it can bounce, but I know that the competition has gotten tougher. Let’s leave it at that.”
ANET shares have lost 25% this year. Some believe the stock’s valuation has become attractive despite AI CapEx growth fears from major companies. Management remains confident that ANET will hit its AI revenue target of $750 million this year. It sees new opportunities from backend infrastructure growth as AI clusters become increasingly important for data center operators and top hyperscalers. The company has projected a 17% revenue growth rate for 2025, covering both backend and frontend AI infrastructure, totaling around $1.5 billion. Given the scale of $325 billion in big tech CapEx investments for the year, it seems ANET’s guidance was overly cautious.
Giverny Capital Asset Management stated the following regarding Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“I trimmed Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) as it grew beyond 10% weight in the portfolio thanks to its continued outperformance. Arista has been on a tear in January and if our clients are lucky I will leave Arista alone for a while! The market appears to see that Artificial Intelligence data centers are going to require robust investment in networking equipment, and Arista is the leader in that sector.”
3. Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 87
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC praised Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU) latest results.
“There was a thought that maybe in two it was not going to make the quarter. Some people worried about global business solutions. Consumers only have 3%, but Credit Karma was magnificent. 16% dividend boost. Morgan Stanley goes hold to buy. Fantastic, just fantastic situation. I like those guys very much, and I think people really misjudge there. Their small business is still very strong in this country.”
Parnassus Growth Equity Fund stated the following regarding Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) shares fell despite the financial software company posting strong quarterly results. The company’s pricing-dependent long-term guidance concerned investors. However, we continue to believe Intuit’s customer growth and relevant platform will sustain its wide moat and long growth runway.”
2. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 158
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC mentioned the reasons behind the latest decline in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares. Cramer believes the threat of tariffs has been impacting Apple negatively.
“CEO Tim Cook committed to spending $500 billion in the United States over the next four years. Some are telling me that’s not a real narrative, but that’s wrong. They say it was planned ahead of time, and that’s wrong too. I say, who cares? The commitment is terrific. Hey, a lot of that could have gone to India, but Apple couldn’t get any sort of immunity. Of course not. They could be hurt by tariffs tomorrow, which seems wrong to me. Maybe that’s why Apple stock got hammered today. When I searched for any reason, any reason at all, the only explanation I could come up with was tariffs. Sure, Apple’s an American company, and it’s going to make a lot of things here, but it gets a substantial number of its parts from Taiwan and manufactures a huge amount of its products, like cell phones, in China. Because of the president’s somewhat arbitrary nature, it’s very hard to own Apple right now. You don’t know if the president is going to attach tariffs to Taiwan’s stuff or more tariffs than the People’s Republic of China. Are there any assurances he won’t? What will that do to Apple’s gross margins? Can it afford margin deterioration when the stock trades at 33 times earnings? That’s why the stock went down. These are the musings of someone who actually likes the stock very much, who says own it, don’t trade it, and thinks the company is sensational. I just cringe now when the president talks about this stuff again, not because I’m against tariffs—I’m in favor of tariffs, I like targeted tariffs.”
Apple’s latest quarterly results were helped by Services revenue in the latest quarter, but the key challenges haunting the company remain as they were. Many analysts believe just a few AI apps would not be enough to trigger a broader upgrade cycle for iPhone. Apple is dealing with currency headwinds as the stronger US dollar is expected to reduce top-line growth by 2.5% next quarter. For Q2 FY2025, management expects overall revenue to grow in the low to mid-single digits. Apple’s stock is trading at a premium valuation, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 39-40x, a price-to-free-cash-flow ratio of 33-34x, and a PEG ratio exceeding 3x. Upcoming quarters would be difficult for Apple and its current valuation is not justified.
Tsai Capital stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We initiated our investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in 2016 and elevated it to a core holding in 2018, the same year the company introduced its redesigned 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. Under Tim Cook’s visionary leadership, Apple has consistently redefined innovation in hardware and software.
The September 2024 launch of the iPhone 16, with its groundbreaking AI capabilities, including enhanced image generation tools, marks another inflection point. We believe this transformative device is the foundation for an AI-driven supercycle and could entice approximately 100 million consumers to upgrade, reinforcing Apple’s leadership in the industry.
Today, Apple’s ecosystem spans over two billion active devices, supported by a rapidly-growing base of subscription services. This strategy has helped to turbocharge customer engagement and spending. In the most recent fiscal year, which ended in September 2024, Apple’s high-margin services division accounted for 39.3% of total gross profits, up from 32.8% just two years ago.
1. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 193
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC said NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) numbers from “excellent” and the company has been delivering a steady performance.
“It was a very good quarter. Everyone thought this would be the most eventful quarter of earning season, but it turned out to be a non-event. Why? Because it was terrific, and Jensen Huang gave us terrific numbers. He’s about as steady as the president is Ruel. The company posted solidly better-than-expected sales and earnings, with strong guidance for the quarter driven by the strength of their new high-end chips, the Blackwell chips. Fantastic. Bravo. While we still have to worry about tariffs and export restrictions, I have to tell you, the numbers were excellent.”
Nvidia’s numbers might be excellent, but the market will keep punishing the company for not coming up to its gigantic (and sometimes unrealistic) growth expectations. About 50% of the company’s revenue comes from large cloud providers, which are rethinking their plans amid the DeepSeek launch and looking for low-cost chips. Nvidia’s Q1 guidance shows a 9.4% QoQ revenue growth, down from the previous 12% QoQ growth. Its adjusted margin is expected to be down substantially as well to 71%. Market does not like when Nvidia fails to post a strong quarterly beat. The stock will remain under pressure in the coming quarters when the company will report unimpressive growth.
Nvidia is facing challenges at several levels. Competition is one of them. Major competitors like Apple, Qualcomm, and AMD are vying for TSMC’s 3nm capacity, which could limit Nvidia’s access to these chips. Why? Because Nvidia also uses TSMC’s 3nm process nodes. Nvidia is also facing direct competition from other giants that are deciding to make their own chips. Amazon, with its Trainium2 AI chips, offer alternatives. Trainium2 chips could provide cost savings and superior computational power, which could shift AI workloads away from Nvidia’s offerings. Apple is reportedly working with Broadcom to develop an AI server processor. Intel is also trying hard to get back into the game with Jaguar Shores GPU process, set to be produced on its 18A or 14A node.
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in compute and networking systems for accelerated computing and AI. Shares increased 10.6% for the quarter and were up 170.3% in 2024, on strong quarterly results, with record data center revenue, which surpassed $30 billion, driven by demand for its Hopper GPUs, while Gaming and Automotive also beat expectations. Key investor debates include the continued progress on improving the capability of AI models (e.g. scaling laws – see more in the outlook section below), transition from AI training to inference and the potential impact on competitive dynamics, and the pace of adoption of AI across industries. Despite near-term uncertainties, we maintain conviction in NVIDIA’s leadership in accelerated computing, driven by its ability to innovate and adapt to market shifts. With robust margins, a dominant data center presence, and a growing ecosystem across hardware and software, we believe NVIDIA is well positioned to capitalize on the structural growth in AI and high-performance computing.”
While we acknowledge the potential of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar 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 NVDA 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. Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and insiders. Please subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email address below. You can also look at Jim Cramer Discusses These 12 Stocks & Says Late Selloffs Are Deliberate and Jim Cramer Said These 13 Stocks Can Hold Their Value Amid Tariffs.
