We recently published a list of Was Jim Cramer Right About These 13 Stocks? In this article, we are going to take a look at where Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed.
In the most recent episode of Mad Money, Jim Cramer shared his thoughts on how the government’s approach to tariffs could play a crucial role in sustaining the stock market rally. Cramer expressed satisfaction with the current direction of policy.
“There’s what happened two weeks ago, two Thursdays ago, more accurately when the stock market official went into correction mode. Until the market broke down like that, I think the president was perfectly willing to hammer anybody just to get his way.”
“I don’t think he (President Donald Trump) wants to punish good American companies that make things here.”
READ ALSO: Did Jim Cramer Nail or Miss These 14 Stocks?
Cramer explained that he no longer thinks the president wants to harm American companies that manufacture goods domestically. He suggested that the shift in attitude is a relatively new development, and it may signal a more nuanced approach going forward. He noted that with the market’s recovery, it is possible that the conversation around protectionist tariffs will surface once again, but the context might have changed.
Cramer speculated that when the market entered correction mode, President Trump may have been influenced by the pleas from various observers about the damaging effects on stocks of good American companies.
“Here’s the bottom line: At the end of the day, America’s the only country on earth that’s played fair on trade. Everybody else breaks the rules to protect their domestic businesses. That’s hollowed out our industrial heartland. And that dynamic can only change if our government takes a more carrot-and-stick approach. Assuming Trump doesn’t go overboard, that might just be what we’ve got and it means stocks can finally stage a real rally again.”
Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 13 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on April 2, 2024. We then calculated their performance from April 2nd, 2024, market close to March 24th, 2025, market close. We have also included the hedge fund sentiment for the stocks, which we sourced from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of over 900 hedge funds. The stocks are listed in the order that Cramer mentioned them.
Please note that this article mentions Jim Cramer’s previous opinions and may not account for any changes to his opinions regarding the stocks that are mentioned. It is primarily an examination of how his previously provided opinions have panned out.
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).
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 126
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is a leading electric vehicle and clean energy company. Cramer pointed out multiple headwinds and lowered expectations:
“Tesla’s numbers were weaker than expected […] 387,000 vehicles when we expected them to sell more than 457,000 […] The real problem with Tesla is that it turns out to be a mortal car company and not an immortal tech company.”
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has soared 72.92% since that episode, outperforming expectations despite Cramer’s cautious tone.
The company has faced some backlash in the past months and the stock has dropped a lot from its peak. Investors worry whether CEO Elon Musk’s politics are affecting its product demand. Here are Cramer’s comments about the matter from March 21st:
“[On Musk’s employee on hands meeting] Yeah it was great. Look I think he’s trying the focus off the fact that it’s a car company. Well look, he just kind of reminds of Henry Ford. Not necessarily some of the political things that Henry Ford was involved in. Henry Ford always said though, when things got tough, never complain and never explain. And this man is kind of hitting on both cylinders there. I, do I like the stock? I think that if you change the narrative and actually produce the data that he talked about for self drive, it would be good. I mean but right now, the long knives are out for him like almost no one I’ve ever seen in history. He’s doing, again, you have to understand there are people who say this man has become the most arch Republican Trumpist in history, and we’re supposed to buy his cars? We bought them because they were pro environment and now he’s in, he’s deeply in the anti-climate change theory. Look it’s heavily political, it’s heavily political.”
“[Dan Ives on Wedbush warning about something have to change, Jonas cutting PT to $410 from $430 and saying it’s a top pick because firm is transitioning to AI and robotics] Well, you know what’s a highly diversified play on AI and robotics? It’s the unfathomably bad acting golden negative bear cross, NVIDIA. . . So I mean if you want AI, I’ll give you NVIDIA. You want self-drive, I’ll give you NVIDIA. And I’ll tell you, do want some NVIDIA? I’ll give you NVIDIA. That stock can’t even seem to hold 117. So I don’t want to, I look at it in a positive way, I like the idea that it’s going toward tech. But right now tech is so hated, I think I’d rather have it go toward GM and Ford.”
“Well I think that people felt by this point that there would be a souring in the relationship between the headstrong Musk and the headstrong Trump. But that hasn’t happened. I think people are kind of surprised that he seems to get a kick out of dismantling the government. Okay, I mean some people get their kicks in strange ways. But I will say that, if he were to say tomorrow, you know what, I’m going back Tesla, then the stock will be at 400. And people want that optionality. I like the stock right here. But I think you have to buy it slowly because I don’t think the numbers have all been fully cut Sarah. I think there’s more number cuts coming.”
Overall, TSLA ranks 12th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of TSLA 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TSLA 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. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.