In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 10 Jim Cramer Stocks to Watch as US-China Prepare to Begin Talks
The optimism over US-China trade talks is increasing as the US Treasury Secretary is set to meet China’s trade negotiator in Switzerland later this week.
In a latest program on CNBC, Jim Cramer expressed his renewed optimism for major tech stocks and said the negative market sentiment about these companies was weakened after the latest quarterly reports.
“Sometimes you forget why you ever liked something in the first place. Take the super stocks, the hyperscalers, the tech titans—I don’t care whatever you want to call them. These stocks all got lumped together because of their size, their gigantic market caps that dwarf the rest of the market, and then they lost their juice,” Cramer said. “It’s their scale, their smarts, their moats, their balance sheets, and their sensational products.”
Jim Cramer also talked about the latest data in company reports that shows the demand for data centers remains strong.
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 recently talked about during his programs on CNBC. With each stock, we 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. Tempus AI Inc (NASDAQ:TEM)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 7
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about Tempus AI, a stock that has gained attention because of its addition to Nancy Pelosi’s portfolio. Pelosi in January purchased 50 call options on the stock with a strike price of $20 and an expiration date of 1/16/26.
“Yeah, diagnostics with no money being made. We’re not recommending stocks right now that are losing a lot of money because we think this could be a dicey environment, turn on a dime. It’s going fine right now, but I don’t like companies that aren’t making any money,” Cramer said about TEM in a latest program.
Baron Discovery Fund stated the following regarding Tempus AI, Inc (NASDAQ:TEM) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Shares of Tempus AI, Inc (NASDAQ:TEM) contributed to performance. Tempus is a cancer diagnostics company that provides genomic testing results. Tempus has also amassed an over 200 petabyte proprietary multimodal dataset that combines clinical patient data with genomic testing data. In addition to using this data to empower more intelligent diagnostics for its own tests, Tempus also licenses this data to biopharmaceutical companies which use it to design smarter clinical trials and identify potential new drug targets. We think this proprietary dataset is unique with meaningful barriers to entry, and brings meaningful value to biopharmaceutical R&D. As we mentioned in the letter from last quarter, shares have been incredibly volatile. We took advantage of this volatility to buy a meaningful position when shares sold off into the low $20’s per share from an IPO price of $37. When shares spiked into the mid-$70’s (likely due to short sellers covering losses as shares rose), we took profits on a meaningful portion of the investment as we believed valuation had become stretched (shares now trade in the high $40’s to low $50’s level). We like our position sizing now, and would add to the position at lower valuations. We believe that Tempus has significant growth ahead of it and we are excited about its unique business model.”
9. Exlservice Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:EXLS)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 22
Jim Cramer during a latest program on CNBC talked about Exlservice Holdings:
“I actually like it. I agree with you, it’s one of the fintech stocks that’s been proving to be very solid, and I like it. I should actually spin. We should have them on the show, as they’re doing very well.”
Polen Global SMID Company Growth stated the following regarding ExlService Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXLS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We initiated a position in ExlService Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXLS), a business process outsourcing company that we think has become a leader in data services over time. Exlservice is a diversified business with 95% customer renewal rates and four-to-five-year contracts. While the work is not glamorous, the company is experiencing strong demand from customers attempting to determine how to best clean up and structure data to participate in the next stages of digital transformation, including generative Al (“GenAl”). We expect this strong customer demand to continue. Many companies are faced with significant basic blocking to benefit from GenAl successfully. Simultaneously, the company invests heavily in developing GenAl-enabled tools and recently announced partnerships with Microsoft and AWS (Amazon Web Services is’ Amazon’s comprehensive cloud computing platform) to co develop Al solutions and accelerate go-to-market plans.”
8. BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 37
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about BlackRock and reiterated his long-term bullish case for the stock:
“Look, we own it for the Chartiable Trust. Candidly, we’re down on it and I don’t like that when we’re down on a stock, but we are. The stock has declined far more than I thought it would on what was a decent quarter. I agree with you, and I think it should be bought. That said, I’ve been wrong, but I think it should be bought. In long term, I think this would be a great position.”
Nightview Capital stated the following regarding BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Finance is transforming. Technology is democratizing access, reshaping wealth management, and enabling entirely new models of investing. From algorithmic trading to digital-first advisory platforms, the sector is evolving rapidly. Investors demand smarter, more sustainable options. The potential is significant, and we are focused on companies shaping how people save, invest, and transact in the years to come.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK): Core Opportunity: BlackRock leverages its scale and innovation to lead in asset management, ETFs, and financial technology.
Key Highlights: Massive Scale: AUM exceeds $10.6 trillion, supporting diverse revenue streams.
AI and Sustainability: Investments in AI, data centers, and energy transitions unlock trillions in opportunities.
Financial Strength: Operating income grew 12% YoY, with margin expansion of 160 basis points.
Investment Case: BlackRock’s consistent innovation, strategic partnerships, and shareholder returns position it as a leader in financial evolution. Its mix of growth and stability makes it an attractive long-term investment.”
7. Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ:RUN)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 43
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC commented about Sunrun (RUN):
“Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ:RUN), no, a bad couple of quarters. I can’t be there, and by the way, look, First Solar is really going to cut me. It got clubbed the other day. I think the group is very fraught right now. It’s fraught.”
6. Union Pacific Corp (NYSE:UNP)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 78
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about Union Pacific. Here is what he said:
“Okay, people feel that this stock is right in the crosshairs of the tariffs, that they’re going to hurt, get hurt more than anybody else. I want to buy the stock right here at 214. I would start buying. The next buy would be at 204, then maybe get some at 194. Build a good basis, start with small and build up in a pyramid. That’s what I feel about Union Pacific Corp (NYSE:UNP). I’m looking at it myself. I like this level.”
Diamond Hill Large Cap Concentrated Fund stated the following regarding Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Other bottom Q4 contributors included Extra Space Storage, Texas Instruments and Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP). Railroad operator Union Pacific saw muted volume growth in the quarter. Further, investors are contemplating the possibility higher tariffs on goods coming from Mexico could weigh on Union Pacific’s business, which handles a large share of border crossings.”
5. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 158
Investopedia’s Caleb Silver said in a latest program on Schwab Network that Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) results were better than Wall Street’s estimates by a “long shot” and praised the company’s iPhone revenue.
“Better than expected by a long shot, especially when you listen to at least some of the early reports out of Apple, with Tim Cook saying he didn’t see any evidence of a lot of people bringing sales forward by panic buying ahead of potential tariffs. He’s also saying they moved half their production of iPhones over to India. We know by the end of next year all iPhones will be made in India. So, better than expected results. The wearables was a little bit of a miss there, but that is a super discretionary item. People will not go without an iPhone, but they’ll go without an update to their watch before they do that. A little soft in services as well, but when you look at where they make their money, they’re still making money where they make their money. They did some $95 billion in sales for the quarter. That’s pretty impressive.”
Apple’s iPhone revenue was above estimates in the latest quarter, but revenue for Services, one of the key pillars of hope for the company’s bulls, came in slightly below estimates. CEO Tim Cook said the company sees a $900 million impact from tariffs in the second quarter, and is unable to predict the effects of duties beyond that.
If tariffs remain in place, Apple could see a 30% to 40% increase in iPhone price, a devastating possibility for the company. If tariffs are reversed, the company is still faced with the harsh reality of a slowdown in iPhone sales at a broader level due to competition in China and a lack of major motivators for users to upgrade.
Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“The fund maintained a position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) throughout the quarter through the release of the company’s new iPhone 16 in September. Company leaders were excited about the release of the new model, as this is the first model that will feature enhanced AI capabilities through the Apple Intelligence features. Sales for the first few weeks in October and November trailed behind year over year sales from the iPhone 15, as availability of Apple Intelligence was not compatible with all iPhone models. Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI that has allowed the integration of ChatGPT into the Apple ecosystem, separate from the core Apple Intelligence features. This partnership highlights continued progress from Apple to introduce AI capabilities into its products and we expect the iPhone 17 to have even more expansive AI capabilities, increasing potential demand for the new model that is on track to be released in 2025.”
4. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 193
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC said the market concerns about data center demand were crushed amid latest reports from major technology companies. Cramer said he stuck with tech investments at his charitable trust despite skeptics saying that the demand for data centers is declining.
“I found it incredibly frustrating because we never had clear evidence that there was anything wrong with the AI infrastructure thesis to begin with. The idea that hundreds of billions of dollars are going to be spent on these new data centers is true, and that’s why we stuck with the stocks for the Charitable Trust. We defied the data center bears, aided by an interview with data center expert Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who told us that demand for his highest-end chips is stronger than ever. And we felt like idiots for doing so. Day after day, we heard about little chunks of the story that, when added together, meant you were long in the tooth if you stayed positive and you were going to lose a lot of money. Until earnings season came along and the data center bears started getting gored by the bulls. That’s when we realized we were right all along.”
The market will keep punishing Nvidia 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%. The market does not like it 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.
Ithaka US Growth Strategy stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the undisputed leader in accelerated computing, with dominant market share in Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) powering AI workloads across data centers, edge devices, and emerging platforms. Its end-to-end ecosystem—from silicon to software (CUDA, networking, and AI frameworks)—creates high switching costs and a widening competitive moat. With secular demand for AI infrastructure still in its early innings, Nvidia stands to benefit from sustained topline growth and strong operating leverage. In early January, a little known Chinese AI company, DeepSeek, released its large language model (LLM), DeepSeek-R1, to an unexpecting world. This model was purportedly trained on very few high-end Nvidia chips and was highly efficient when compared to other leading models. This release set off a chain reaction where investors have had to grapple with the idea that the world may not need as many GPUs as previously thought, which hampered the Nvidia buy case and sent the P/E multiple down to its cheapest level in the past 5 years.”
3. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 235
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about the results of Meta Platforms:
“Last night, the bears were trampled to death when both Microsoft and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) revealed they were totally on board with continuing to spend big on the data center. Microsoft’s data center constraint. Mark Zuckerberg at Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) says he needs to keep spending because it’s just so lucrative to do so. It’s simple, it’s necessary if big money is going to be made monetizing his Met AI site, which he’s so crazy about.”
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) biggest strength remains its huge user base, which continues to grow despite record levels. The company has 3.43 billion monthly active users as of March, up 6% year over year. This equals about half of the world’s total population, giving the company immense power for monetization and data processing. The company also raised its capex guide for the year from $60-$65 billion to $64-$72 billion, crushing concerns about an AI and data center slowdown.
Another overlooked element in Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) business is its ads growth. The company, which depends on advertising for 98% of its revenue, is growing at a rate of 21% YoY. In comparison, Google Search grew by 9%, while Alphabet’s overall business, including Cloud and Services, expanded by 12%. Even YouTube’s year-on-year growth stands at 11%, well below Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) rate.
Given Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) current growth, Wall Street’s estimates of 21% EBIT growth and 18% OCF growth seem conservative compared to the tailwinds the company is benefiting from right now.
Nightview Capital stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Core Opportunity: Meta Platforms, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:META) platforms—Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger—reach nearly half the world’s population daily, making it one of the most powerful advertising ecosystems globally. With investments in AI and augmented reality (AR), we believe Meta is also creating significant optionality for long-term growth.
Competitive Advantage: Thriving Core Platforms: In Q3, we saw Meta achieve a 23% YoY revenue growth,—a testament to strong user engagement across its ecosystem. The advertising landscape as a whole continues to evolve and we believe Meta’s existing platforms offer a defined advantage in this new world. Existing platforms in the age of AI continue to be the most powerful indicator of future success in our opinion.
AI Leadership: Meta’s AI capabilities and the Llama AI model are driving efficiency and product innovation. In our view, these assets have been under-appreciated by the market while enhancing Meta’s ability to further scale and innovate its leading advertising business…” (Click here to read the full text)
2. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 279
Alex Kantrowitz, Big Technology podcast founder, said in a latest program on CNBC that Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) results showed that the economy was in a better shape in the first quarter than expected. He believes the company is in a better position when compared with Amazon:
“I think what the Microsoft earnings results underscore, and the expectations for Amazon underscore, is that the economy was actually in quite good shape in Q1. So, I do expect to see Amazon benefit from that. Now, the only overhang for Amazon is they didn’t have the OpenAI models in the way that Microsoft has. I know AI isn’t driving all the cloud spending, but that is important when companies think about the way they’re going to expand their thinking on that. So, Microsoft could be in better shape than Amazon.”
Mar Vista U.S. Quality Select Strategy stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported strong bookings, highlighted by an accelerating remaining performance obligation of nearly $300 billion, representing 36% year-over-year growth, as well as healthy cloud revenue growth of 21% year-over-year. Despite this solid performance, MSFT stock came under pressure as Azure revenue growth, at 31% year-over-year, came in at the low end of expectations. Additionally, guidance for the March quarter forecasted Azure revenue growth of 31% to 32%, reflecting a slowdown in non-AI related Azure growth.
We continue to believe Microsoft is well-positioned to gain market share as organizations of all sizes pivot toward a digital-first future and adopt generative AI solutions. With a strong presence in the enterprise and a comprehensive portfolio spanning infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS), Microsoft is a mission-critical IT provider across industries.
The company is executing effectively against a significant market opportunity by delivering a roadmap for digital transformation and the adoption of innovative AI tools like ChatGPT. This helps businesses boost productivity while reducing costs. Consequently, we expect Microsoft’s solutions to remain resilient even in a challenging macroeconomic environment, supporting low double-digit intrinsic value growth over our investment horizon.”
1. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 286
Jim Cramer recently commented on Amazon’s latest quarterly results. Here is what he said:
“Even though Wall Street didn’t like the guidance we just got from Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) tonight, it sure doesn’t seem like they’re backing away from AI infrastructure spending at all.”
Amazon yet again impressed with its Cloud business in its latest quarterly results. AWS revenue jumped 16.9% year over year in the most recent quarter, while its operating income rose 22.6%. AWS has now surpassed a $100 billion annual run rate, playing a central role in helping businesses modernize infrastructure, reduce costs, and accelerate innovation.
The market often overlooks Amazon’s ads business, which is generating more than $10 billion in quarterly revenue despite being built from scratch. In the first quarter, ad revenue rose 19% from a year earlier to $13.9 billion, continuing to support overall profitability.
According to some Wall Street estimates, Amazon is projected to earn $6.20 per share in 2025 and $8.95 in 2027, reflecting 44.4% earnings growth over two years. The stock currently trades at 20.7 times its expected 2027 earnings, which makes it attractively valued.
Alger Spectra Fund stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a global technology company renowned for its expansive e-commerce platform, offering a vast array of products and services to consumers worldwide. Beyond online retail, Amazon generates revenue through its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides scalable computing solutions to businesses and governments; subscription services like Amazon Prime, offering members benefits such as streaming content and expedited shipping; and advertising services that enable brands to reach targeted audiences on its platform. During the quarter, shares detracted from performance due to concerns surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump’s impending tariffs on imported goods, raising fears about increased operational costs and weaker consumer spending. Additionally, management’s lower-than expected fiscal first-quarter sales forecast and substantial planned investments—including a $100 billion commitment to AWS and AI infrastructure in 2025—further pressured sentiment regarding near term profitability. Despite the near-term share price weakness, we believe Amazon’s fundamentals remain strong given its diversified business model, continuous innovation, and dominant positions in high-growth areas like e-commerce and cloud computing.”
While we acknowledge the potential of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), 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. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMZN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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