On Friday, Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, addressed the current state of the stock market, giving a cautious recommendation to investors. He gave his blessing to buy stocks, but only to those who can tolerate the potential pain that comes with it. His advice was clear: proceed slowly. He warned against rushing in, acknowledging the market’s current volatility.
“How can markets be so out of control? And they are, well, because frankly, we are in a very emotional market. It’s a market that’s torn between buyers who see terrific opportunities because the market’s down and the Walmart White House where the president keeps trying to give you every day lower prices on stocks almost every time he talks.”
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Cramer expressed frustration with the unpredictability of the market, noting that pain seems to be a constant factor. He predicted that this pain might continue, especially as new developments around trade policies emerge over the weekend. Tomorrow, according to Cramer, would likely bring another round of surprises regarding tariffs, contributing to the volatile shifts in market positions that are particularly noticeable on Fridays. He emphasized that this fear-driven behavior is rooted in the uncertainty that permeates the market.
Highlighting the larger issue, Cramer remarked that individual earnings are increasingly overshadowed by the president’s inconsistent actions on tariffs, whether it’s imposing or suspending them without warning.
“I believe the stock market is still the greatest engine of wealth creation in history, but I often feel it cross purposes with the president now.”
He argued that while Wall Street generally dislikes tariffs, what it despises even more is uncertainty, a sentiment that has been intensifying under the current administration. In the midst of this chaos, Cramer stressed that individual stocks are not mere pawns in a larger political game, even if it sometimes feels that way. He added:
“They’re not play things though and you can’t think of them that way or else you’re gonna miss some tremendous opportunities.”
Jim Cramer’s Latest Lightning Round: 8 Stocks in Focus
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 March 7. 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’s Latest Lightning Round: 8 Stocks in Focus
8. Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE:FPI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 7
During the episode, Cramer commented on Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE:FPI) and said:
“Novel, novel idea. I kind of like the idea as a spec because there, we know that we don’t have enough farmland so I think, you know what? I’m going to bless it… Thought a lot about since, since AGCO, which was an amazing, amazing bottom call that we got from AGCO. We had them on recently.”
Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) is a real estate company that is managed internally, focusing on owning and acquiring premium farmland across North America, as well as providing loans to farmers that are backed by farm real estate. Palm Valley Capital Fund stated the following regarding Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE:FPI) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“The position with the greatest positive impact on Fund performance in Q4 (more than 10 basis points) was Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE:FPI). The company completed over $300 million in sales of farmland in the fourth quarter and recognized a 17% gain over book value. Farmland then announced a large $1.15 per share special dividend in December. Recent transactions have lent support to carrying values of the company’s properties, which have benefited from appreciating farmland.”
7. Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 17
Highlighting Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) stock’s over 1600% gain last year despite declining revenues, a caller asked if Cramer thought that was a speculative bubble, and here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“I think it’s a meme stock. It’s a meme stock and, and therefore it’s a battle between the longs and the shorts. I don’t know who wins in the end, but it is a meme stock. It is not, it is not trading on the fundamentals, which are frankly paltry.”
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) focuses on developing and building quantum computers and superconducting quantum processors. Cramer was blunt about stocks like RGTI in January when he commented:
“Now I know there are real people who work at Rigetti or D-Wave…. They, they, they probably, they go to work, they, they talk with, about qubits and developing quantum materials that have never been ever seen before… Very compelling stuff but it doesn’t tell you much about the earnings power, which is what I care about.”
6. Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21
A caller asked what Cramer’s thoughts on Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX) were and he said:
“Well, I’ll tell you… I’m reticent to put to, to really just to pull the trigger on Recursion because when they came on it was, it looked like at a good level and since then it’s just been disastrous. We’re going to have to hold off. I gotta meet them face to face and see what’s going on.”
Recursion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RXRX) is a biotechnology company in the clinical stage, aiming to transform drug discovery by incorporating advanced technology. It has several drug candidates undergoing clinical trials for a range of conditions. In November 2024, Cramer stated:
“I like the story at 10 and I have to tell you, you know what that makes me? That makes me wrong. I knew that Nvidia had a stake in it. They still do and it made me get excited about it… Then they did a secondary offering and it didn’t hold. Now I think at 5, it is worthwhile speculation.”
5. Sempra (NYSE:SRE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34
Sempra (NYSE:SRE) was mentioned during the episode and here’s what Cramer had to say about the company:
“Well, tell you the truth… they did not do a good job. It was a bad quarter. It is very upsetting to me. I’ve spoken to Jeff Martin several times as CEO, but there were several things that were definite misses. It does deserve to trade lower. It yields almost 4%. I still can’t tell you to buy. We have to see another quarter because it was that jarring. I wish I didn’t have to say that, but Sempra did not deliver. That’s just plain and simple.”
Sempra (NYSE:SRE) is an energy infrastructure provider that delivers electric and natural gas services, manages electricity transmission and distribution, and focuses on the development of energy infrastructure. In February, discussing a few stocks that can hold their value amid tariffs, Cramer said:
“How about a sleeper stock? One that’s withstood the seller, Sempra. Sempra’s a growth utility with a decent yield and a lot of opportunity. CEO Jeff Martin, that, guest many times, can show you that this stock offered a better return than most of the traditional growth names. You know when this might be worth buying on weakness, I’m debating to put it in the Charitable Trust.”
4. Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
Pointing to Cramer’s rule of “accounting irregularities equal sell”, a caller noted that Cramer recently congratulated the company. Hence, he asked Cramer if he thought it was time to start building a position in Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI). Cramer replied:
“There are still remedies that are needed. Until all the remedies happen, I am not going to approve it. In the meantime, that industry has become very cutthroat. Look at HPE today. If you want to know the winner in that space, it’s going to be Michael Dell and I do say at this level that it would be a good idea to buy Michael Dell’s company. It is so low, it sells, it’s nine times earnings and Michael Dell is fantastic at what he does and also probably one of the most charitable people I’ve ever met.”
Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) focuses on designing and manufacturing advanced server and storage solutions.
3. ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47
When a caller asked what Cramer thought of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE), he said:
“I have to tell you, I think OneOk may be the best-run pipeline company in the country and I think you should own it… Enbridge is good too. Don’t wanna hurt people’s feelings.”
ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) is involved in activities related to gathering, processing, fractionating, storing, transporting, and marketing natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) throughout the United States. In August 2024, Cramer was asked about the company and he said, “I think Oneok is terrific. I would indeed buy more.” Over the past 12 months, OKE stock gained more than 15%.
2. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 52
A caller highlighted Seagate Technology Holdings plc’s (NASDAQ:STX) 3% dividend, PE of 16, and recent quarter-over-quarter growth. When they asked for Cramer’s thoughts on the stock, he said:
“Alright, Seagate. Okay, now this is a very cheap stock, but cheap for a reason. It’s because the business is very cutthroat and I suggest that if you wanted to go in this business, you wanted to go into storage, I am going to send you honestly to Broadcom. I’d rather see them, they got storage too.”
Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) offers data storage products, such as hard drives, solid-state drives, and external storage solutions, catering to a variety of uses including enterprise and gaming. It is worth noting that Cramer expressed a similar opinion about the company in January when he said:
“You know what, this stock, I have to tell you, it has never ever done well in the time that I’ve watched it and it’s always been cheap. I’m calling it a value trap. If you like Seagate, I say that you will love Broadcom.”
1. Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 80
A caller asked what Cramer thought about Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) moving forward, and here’s what he had to say in response:
“I think they’re one of the greatest fintechs. You know, everyone wanted to go into the really fancy new fintechs. You stick with the one that you have, you are doing really well.”
Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) offers a wide range of technology solutions for payments and financial services, such as merchant acquiring, mobile payments, fraud prevention, digital banking, card transaction processing, and various network services. The company has a broad presence, reaching nearly every household in the U.S. The London Company stated the following regarding the company in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) – FI delivered another strong quarter, executing well on company initiatives. Merchant revenue growth remains strong, driven by Clover’s notable market share gains through strong distribution, new product launches. and higher attach rates for value-added services. The Financial segment continues to show resilient growth, leveraging digital payments and effective cross selling to expand customer wallet share across segments. Free cash flow generation remains strong with management focusing on organic reinvestment and capital returns. We are confident in Fl’s ability to deliver sustainable earnings growth through its strong product portfolio and disciplined capital allocation.”
While we acknowledge the potential of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) 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 FI but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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