On Tuesday, April 1st, the host of Mad Money opened the show by focusing on President Trump’s tariffs and the economic risks ahead of ‘Liberation Day’. While Cramer expressed sympathy for the President’s goals, he warned viewers that the consequences could be severe for both consumers and the broader economy:
“Now as someone who’s been a huge critic of unrestrained free trade, I am very sympathetic to what President Trump is trying to accomplish with these tariffs. Every other country on earth tries to protect its own domestic industries except America which has spent decades letting foreign competitors steamroll our guys in exchange for cheaper stuff. President Trump is justifiably furious about this he wants to do something about it but solving the problem is going to hurt. We don’t know how much our prices will go up for just about everything, but we do know those tariffs will be used as an excuse to raise prices across the board. It’s been very hard to get a sense of the overall damage.”
But despite understanding the motivation behind the policy, Cramer was blunt about the scale of economic disruption that a proposed 20% tariff on all imports would cause:
“Speaking as someone who’s not a fan of free trade I have to be honest here, a 20% across the board tariff on almost all imports that would be horrendous for the economy. That’s a 20% increase on everything we buy from overseas and we import a huge amount of foreign goods in America, and those goods are cheap because that’s the deal. There’s plenty of competition from these companies but with the exception of the auto industry and those that contribute to it -mainly steel – it doesn’t matter anymore. The truth is the jobs that are meant to be protected by tariffs were automated out of existence a long time ago.”
Cramer mentioned that even the industries that stand to benefit in theory, like autos and steel, aren’t necessarily helping the average American:
“The tariffs aren’t protecting us from anything because we barely make anything anymore. The horses left the barn ages ago. Ford and GM will be able to make more money by raising prices but who does that help besides their shareholders and union members? What’s good for General Motors is not necessarily good for America anymore. All people know is that cars will be more expensive; they don’t care about who makes them.”
He also criticized the administration’s execution, calling out the lack of clarity and coordination behind the policy rollout and questioning whether any American companies will actually be spared from the impact:
“I wish the White House were more serious about making the tariffs work. Our country’s been crushed by foreign imports that are typically made by cheap labor and often subsidized so they destroy our jobs. But the jobs are gone. We had almost a million seamstresses in this country four decades ago now we have almost none; they aren’t bringing back those jobs. Sure, some companies thought they’d be buying immunity by building new factories here, but there’s nothing on paper that suggests that the president will spare them. Is there really no sanctuary?”
Wrapping up the opening segment, Cramer reminded viewers that while many Americans may support a “tough-on-trade” agenda, their real fear is inflation; and it’s inflation that the tariffs will likely exacerbate:
“Finally, most Americans are worried about inflation; not tariffs. That’s what got Trump elected for heaven’s sake. As much as I rail against the devil’s bargain that gave our country the cheap stuff at the cost of domestic jobs, cheap stuff is what America wanted. […] Here’s the bottom line when the book is written on this moment I think we’ll question what we were liberated from on Liberation Day and again I think Trump is totally justified in cracking down on our trading partners but that doesn’t mean it will be good for the economy.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 17 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 1. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock 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).
17. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71
The first caller of the show asked Jim Cramer about his thoughts on American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) and whether it seemed like a buy, hold, or sell, to which Cramer replied with:
“Yes, you do [buy more American Express] because Steve Squeri is incredible. I think it’s one of the great franchises of all time and I’ve studied it for 150 years. I think these guys… this is one of America’s great companies.”
American Express remains a dominant force in premium credit card services, thanks to its loyal and growing customer base. The company has been aggressively expanding into younger demographics, and its strong brand equity continues to drive long-term earnings growth.
Bretton Capital Management, an investment management company, published a Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was our best performing stock last year, returning 60%, which was on top of 2023’s 29%. Its premium credit cards are more popular than ever, and its moderately affluent customer base continues to spend. American Express did especially well signing up younger cardholders, a great sign that its growth can be sustained for years to come. The combination of healthy revenue growth and tight expense control led to an earnings-per-share growth of 25%.”
16. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 339
When asked by a caller about the potential impact of tariffs on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and how it might affect the company’s growth strategy, Jim Cramer said the following:
“Here’s my thinking: I think that the ones who can survive are the strongest and the biggest, and that’s what it’s coming to. This is Amazon, it’s from $242 down to $192. What can I say other than (pushes button saying “buy buy buy!)”
Despite margin pressure from rising shipping and fulfillment costs, Amazon continues to thrive thanks to its cloud unit AWS and its dominant e-commerce platform. Its scale gives it pricing power that many competitors can’t match.
Backing Jim Cramer’s bullish sentiment, Balyasny Asset Management significantly increased its stake in Amazon by over 1,000% in Q4 2024, making it the top stock in the firm’s portfolio with a $769.3 million equity position. The company posted 11% revenue growth to $638 billion, with AWS leading the charge, growing 19% year-over-year in Q4 2024. The company’s proprietary AI chips and focus on automation helped expand its operating margin and fuel a 90% surge in GAAP net income. Its rapid expansion of same-day delivery infrastructure and a booming advertising segment, which is now generating an annual run rate of $69 billion, show Amazon’s relentless pursuit of operational and strategic dominance.
Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates also lists Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) as a top holding with a stake worth over $200 million. Dalio’s confidence stems from Amazon’s end-to-end AI integration, which enhances demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and digital marketing. The company’s custom AI chips offer clients a more affordable alternative to Nvidia’s GPUs, positioning AWS as a go-to solution for businesses deploying generative AI applications. While Amazon’s 12% stock gain in 2024 lagged behind some tech peers, its structural advantages in logistics, cloud, and advertising make it a durable long-term play.
