In this piece, we will look at the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer discussed US and China relations. Discussing the Chinese strength in rare earth metals, Cramer outlined:
“Okay, so you work at a network, that’s trying to help people make money. Should I spend a lot of time talking about how the fact that we have a really great relationship with China, when China held back critical minerals that are very important for the F35 jet and to our military? Is that a great relationship when they decide to cripple our military so that when anything happens with Taiwan we can’t deliver. If that’s a great relationship, then David, I’ve got to tell you. . . .”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on August 6th.
For these stocks, we also 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. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 104
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is a well-known entertainment and leisure company. Its shares are flat year-to-date and dipped by 4.1% after the firm’s latest earnings report revealed a sharp drop in its linear TV business. Cramer discussed The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) in detail and criticized the sellers:
“Yeah I had kind of a jocular call this morning with Hugh Johnston that you just saw. Because were laughing about how the negativity, which is the negativity just so you know . .it’s a ten billion dollar market cap, ten billion market cap loss on 15 million revenue shortfall. . .they beat by 14 cents and they didn’t raise by 14 cents, that’s what happened. They only raised by ten cents, so people freak out. First, the NFL deal isn’t even included. No one’s including that on their numbers, we don’t really know what it can be worth. But second, the kind of analysis that we’re starting to see being done, in the opening moments this stock traded at 115, traded at 119, they’re so silly and shameful that you have to just say, children, behave. You haven’t done any work, how do you make the measure of a quarter?
“You can’t trade, I mean I was talking with him when the stock was hitting 116, 115, you can’t trade like that until you can figure out how much you get per game. Uh, what it means to the ESPN package. And more importantly, I mean look, theme park, remember, Epic [Epic Games] opened this quarter. . . .
“There are people, I’ve spent a lot of time in the last 24 hours trying to figure out the value of the NFL deal with some people who actually are very good and know much better than any of the people who are trading it. And, it’s considerably more than what the stock has lost. Matter of fact, the stock was at 122 when the deal was announced. That was probably right, that was probably right. If you’re gonna take down market cap this big on that miss of 50 mill and not include what each NFL game is going to be, to not include the ESPN package that you’re gonna have to pay a lot of money, to not include NFL RedZone, is just to say okay I don’t really want to make money for my partners, bunch of losers. I’ll do whatever the heck I want with the money. By the way, these are not individuals who are trading the stock. It’s not individuals.”
9. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE:FUN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 48
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE:FUN) is a leisure company that operates theme parks, water parks, and other properties. Its shares dipped by a whopping 20% after the firm’s second-quarter earnings report saw it cut its midpoint operating income guidance to $885 million from an earlier $1.10 billion. Investors were further shocked by the fact that Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE:FUN) also predicted half a million fewer visitors to its theme parks. Naturally, Cramer wasn’t impressed with the performance and didn’t hold back with his comments:
“They’re a horrendous operator. They’re horrendous. They’ve been horrendous forever. And they don’t deserve to be in the sentence.”
Here are his earlier thoughts about Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE:FUN):
“Don’t be interested in it. I don’t like the theme parks other than Disney.”
8. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 62
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is one of the largest industrial and construction equipment companies in the world. Its shares have gained 15% year-to-date despite dipping by 3.5% after the firm’s latest earnings report. In his previous comments about Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), Cramer has attributed the firm’s strong performance to tailwinds from President Trump’s legislation and the firm’s role in data center construction. This time around, he criticized sellers after the firm’s second-quarter earnings:
“I’m seeing things that are frankly incendiary. Like Caterpillar down 25, and the stock finishes up. We have a job to do. Which is to try to explain to people how stupid. . .I mean to try to tell people, how people make money.
“Like I told people, listen to the Caterpillar conference call. It’s about inventories, but no, they traded it off earnings. They are children. Children should behave!”
The day before, Cramer had discussed his reservations about Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)’s sellers in detail:
“I’m about to have a book coming out, it’s called… How to Make Money in Any Market. One of my axioms is there’s never, never, never anything to do with the stock of Caterpillar when it reports until you’ve listened to the conference call. Do you know that when I was doing my final draft, I almost took it out. Why? Because I’ve said it so many times. I thought people would be bored by it. Sure enough, the CAT number prints this morning. I know the earnings are irrelevant because the stock trades on inventories and orders, which you don’t get until the conference call. But no, the negatives they want to get out so badly, they sell it down 20 points in pre-market trading, 20 points. And then what happens when they’re done? The stock’s then rallied 25 points from there… Why? Because the orders were great, because the inventories are low. Now, I have a word for these panic sellers. They’re called morons.”
7. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 75
Fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s shares are up by 4.30% year-to-date as they gained 3% after the firm’s second quarter earnings report saw its global same-store sales grow by 3.8% annually to significantly top analyst estimates of 2.4%. Cramer has previously criticized analysts who have downgraded McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD’s stock, and he kept at it this time around as well:
“[On how it had it best comps in years] Well then what do we do about the four analysts who downgraded it right after they made the chicken wrap?. . .Well all I can tell you is if they’re cautious in near term, how about the interim, what happens if it’s horrible. . . I’ll pay up 15.
“That’s the last time anyone ever makes downgrade. There’s a guy that went from Buy to Sell, that was Redburn, Rothschild, who else was in there with that, Atlantic? They went from Buy to Sell. They’re talking about how you know what the chicken wrap was bad. I mean like what are they, did you guys, you guys are all members right?. . .this affinity program is the best I’ve ever seen. The amount of people they’ve taken in is just extraordinary. But the analysts are focused on whether the wrap tastes good or not.”
Here are his earlier thoughts about McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD):
“Finally, consider McDonald’s. Now, here’s another company that many managers seem to think has lost its way, with the stock going from a… positive performer to a real dog of late. This morning, Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy. What caught my eye here? I’ve been waiting for someone who didn’t care for the stock to go positive. In other words, that person’s been right, and that’s what we got when analyst Christine Chow went positive.
Why? Well, for the same reason why you always have to buy the stock of McDonald’s when it goes out of favor. Mickey D’s has, and I quote, ‘the excellent report, the scale, marketing, digital advantage to successfully navigate through this environment.”
6. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 97
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is a semiconductor designer that designs and sells CPUs, GPUs, and custom chips. It caters to the personal computing, enterprise computing, and AI computing industries. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)’s shares have gained 41.7% year-to-date as analysts have become increasingly bullish about the firm’s prospects in the AI race and its ability to compete with larger and well-heeled rival NVIDIA. Cramer discussed Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)’s second quarter earnings, which saw the firm post a GAAP operating loss and weak data center performance, before he interviewed the firm’s CEO, Dr. Lisa Su:
“Shares of AMD, after a huge run, a huge run, is falling today. Chipmaker beat revenue estimates, but data center revenue may be considered disappointing by the street. I’m not going to call it is.”
Here are his previous thoughts about Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD):
“It’s the AI-related chips that are on fire today. You . . got AMD. Because, AI is just moving along. . . .Let’s again speak of the stock market rather than Sweden’s gonna do, what’s happening in Sweden. The stock market is reacting incredibly positively to stuff and there are people who don’t want to react to it or think that somehow those points aren’t valuable. I think they’re crazy. We’re having a good rally.”
5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 159
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) scored a major win yesterday after President Trump announced that the firm would be exempt from his latest set of semiconductor tariffs. Cramer has spent a lot of time discussing the firm recently, particularly in the context of its troubles with the Trump administration. He advised Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to spend money in the US to woo Trump, and in these remarks, he discussed Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) first with CNBC’s Megan Costello and then with co-hosts David Faber and Carl Quintanilla:
“Okay so Meghan, despite the fact that they produce 19 billion chips in the US, that they’re opening 24 factories in the US in 12 different states, that they’ve probably been the most important if not the [inaudible] for TSMC, what do they need to do for the President to stop saying that those phones that are made in India must be made here?
“If I were Tim Cook I would say you know what those phones I was making in India, they’re not coming to the United States. I’m going back to taking the China ones, and we ought to cut the China tariff in order to be able to help Apple.
“Let’s say we saw some valuations this morning, OpenAI, ChatGPT, worth 500 billion. Perplexity we had worth 19 billion. Now so if Apple writes a check for what they made this month, for 25 billion, they get Perplexity and then we have a 250 dollar stock”
“Maybe they’re the largest taxpayer in the country, 75 billion in US taxes over the past five years. They’re the largest taxpayer.”
4. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 91
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) just can’t catch a break in 2025. Its shares sank by a whopping 8.5% after the latest earnings report as the firm spooked investors by warning that it might have to stop developing its next-generation 14A chip manufacturing technology and incur significant write-offs. While Cramer has faith in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan, he has been less happy with his successor, Patrick Gelsinger. The CNBC TV host has repeatedly criticized the former Biden administration for providing Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) with funds despite his warnings about the firm’s poor balance sheet. He reiterated his sentiment about the Gelsinger era this time as well:
“Gelsinger tried to build things in here with government money and he lost 18 billion and now we got a balance sheet that I don’t even know can sustain what’s going on.”
Previously, Cramer discussed Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s foundry business and its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan:
“Okay, the foundry was ill-advised. You’re right, we need them in the country, but they are not necessarily profitable, and Intel, the previous CEO, was spending far too much on them. We have a new CEO at Intel. The CEO’s name is Lip-Bu Tan, and he totally understands everything I just mentioned about foundries. He did make me feel that a turn is not yet at hand; it’s still a little too early. If you started buying here, I think you’re going to be able to just kind of break even versus so many others, including my favorite NVIDIA.”
3. Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWKS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 31
Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWKS) is a chip company that makes and sells products such as radio frequency chips. Its stock performance is linked to Apple’s performance as the firm is a major iPhone supplier. As a result, not only are Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWKS)’s shares down 21% year-to-date, but they closed lower after its latest earnings report too. Cramer explained why:
“Remember, they’re not allowed to say, Apple, they have to say biggest customer, biggest customer. And believe me, it’s not Samsung. I thought it was a remarkable quarter, the stock’s up two for people who don’t know better, it should be up about five to seven. And that’s one of the things that’s happened, Phil Brace came in there, and managed to be able to come out at the right time because I have to tell you, this company had been hurting. Okay. And Liam Griffin, I thought who was doing a good job but the fact is, Apple wasn’t putting in the orders. The main thing David is that the business is so hot, that Skyworks could not resist, having to say, you know what look the largest customer just put three huge orders. It was very bullish.”
Earlier, the CNBC TV host shared that despite Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWKS) being cheap, he wouldn’t own it:
“It’s very cheap. It’s very cheap, but I don’t have a catalyst. I would still rather own NVIDIA than I would Skyworks. Gotta go for best of breed.”
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 284
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), the world’s largest software company, has experienced a turnaround in investor sentiment in 2025. Its shares have gained 24% year-to-date as investors turn bullish about the firm’s AI prospects. Cramer discussed Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Azure cloud computing division in the context of Amazon’s AWS and pointed out that lower growth could make Amazon look better:
“Azure, I think it might even be four, five percent. Meaning 39 get knocked back to [34, 35% growth]. Yeah so then Amazon doesn’t look as stupid and horrible as everybody says with Amazon Web Services falling behind. A lot of companies do write, younger companies want want to write on chat [ChatGPT], they want to write on OpenAI. But Amazon did this deal yesterday with OpenAI that no one even talked about that makes it so people are more likely to stay with Amazon Web Services.”
Previously, he outlined how Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is performing well:
“So let’s do this. Let’s go over from best and not best because I refuse to call any of these the worst. I want to start with Microsoft because this one has become completely sainted. Microsoft’s doing incredibly well in every single phase of its business. The basic enterprise software product is the strongest I’ve seen it since, almost since it started. It’s aided by rapid adoption of Copilot, Microsoft’s AI product.
“LinkedIn’s just doing really strongly. Their video game’s selling spectacularly. Azure, the cloud infrastructure division, is outstanding with a huge acceleration in growth this quarter. Finally, Microsoft owns a giant slug of OpenAI and its usually valuable ChatGPT fundraising round at a $300 billion valuation. Microsoft owns 49% of the for-profit portion of the company. I’ve followed this company for a long time since it came public, even before then. There’s always been one thing, one fly… only one piece of hair on it. Uh-uh, this time the quarter was flawless, yes, flawless.”
1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q1 2025: 328
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s shares are flat year-to-date after they dipped by a whopping 9.6% after the firm’s latest earnings report. The shares fell after the firm’s latest quarterly earnings report saw it post 17.5% growth for its cloud computing business, which significantly lagged Microsoft’s 39%. Cramer discussed the cloud growth and shared key insights about why Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) might be struggling to attract customers to its cloud computing business:
“Azure, I think it might even be four, five percent. Meaning 39 get knocked back to [34, 35% growth]. Yeah so then Amazon doesn’t look as stupid and horrible as everybody says with Amazon Web Services falling behind. A lot of companies do write, younger companies want want to write on chat [ChatGPT], they want to write on OpenAI. But Amazon did this deal yesterday with OpenAI that no one even talked about that makes it so people are more likely to stay with Amazon Web Services.
“[On AWS losing cloud share] I think that’s because Amazon has not opened up its wallet to NVIDIA. . . .they’ve been spending money. . .their own chips, which aren’t as good and people are going away from them. They’re being penny wise and pound foolish there. . . David, they’re own chips are inferior to NVIDIA. . .Penny wise, pound foolish at Amazon.”
While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMZN and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
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.