On Wednesday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer shared his thoughts on the notion of whether the current surge in semiconductor stocks could be the modern-day equivalent of the energy boom of the 1980s.
“Is it possible that this red-hot semiconductor rally is only just getting started? This morning, Ben Reitzes of Melius Research… put out a piece that tries to relate the current remarkable move in the semis, they’re driving this whole market, to the incredible energy rally back in 1980. In those days, oil made up 30% of the S&P 500. Right now, the semis make up 12% of the S&P.”
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Cramer made a point to stress that there are significant differences between the two sectors. He explained that oil, at its core, is a commodity. He said that the dramatic rise in energy stocks during 1980 had more to do with macroeconomic forces than with the actual performance or innovation of the companies themselves. He explained that semiconductors, on the other hand, are deeply connected to broader economic cycles.
As per Cramer, although chips from U.S.-based companies are dominant globally, that alone does not justify semiconductors becoming an outsized portion of the S&P 500. He noted that currently, the entire tech sector makes up roughly 32% of the index. He went on to say:
“Of course, over time, tech can certainly become a larger percentage of the S&P, and the semis can keep moving up in value, but the comparison to the oil boom, that’s too much for me. Plus, it’s an ominous comparison because after 1980, we had a multi-year oil glut. If you just go back a few months, we saw what happens when the economy ticks down or when the president presses the tariff issue, the semis get crushed. So if you really feel the need to double down on the group, at least wait for the next big sell-off before you pull the trigger.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 11 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on June 25. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the first quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 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).
11 Stocks Jim Cramer Put Under the Microscope Recently
11. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22
AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. A caller asked what Cramer thought of the company, and this is what Cramer said in response:
“Listen, sunshine, that stock is up like 50 points… yeah, this stock is straight up from 20s to the 50s. What we have to do is tomorrow we gotta ring the register a little bit and say to ourselves, congratulations, and go buy yourself something fabulous, okay? Because you just hit it out of the park.”
AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) develops the BlueBird satellite constellation to deliver space-based cellular broadband that connects directly to smartphones. The company’s service targets users beyond the reach of traditional ground-based networks, including commercial and government applications. On March 28, the company was mentioned by Cramer when he said:
“The biggest problem is that they’ve got a hideous balance sheet, and I don’t like hideous balance sheets. What has to happen is I think they should take on a partner. I do think that they’ve got a very interesting way to- look it’s a good telecom company partner, but what really matters to me is they’ve got to either start making money or get someone to give them some money. Right now, I think you’re too up in the air in this particular stock market.”
10. Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 26
Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. A caller asked for Cramer’s thoughts on the company, and in response, he said:
“Okay, this is high-performance computing infrastructure, and high-performance computing is on fire. That company doesn’t make any money, but I think it’s a very good spec.”
Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) develops and operates digital infrastructure. The company delivers cloud services and high-performance computing tailored to sectors including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cryptocurrency mining. It is worth noting that in April, when Cramer was asked about the company, he said:
“I know the company, and it’s the kind of thing, we have so many of these digital infrastructure plays. I actually just prefer if you’re going to go there, just go buy Salesforce. I’m not kidding. Go buy CRM, I would feel better that way.”
9. SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. When a caller inquired about the company during the lightning round, Cramer commented:
“The old St. Mary Energy. Alright, listen to me. This thing, I saw it downgraded today. They are doing not well. Okay, I think you should go buy Coterra if you want an oil. That is not a company that you want to own right now. I’m sorry.”
SM Energy (NYSE:SM) is an independent energy company involved in acquiring, exploring, developing, and producing oil, gas, and natural gas liquids, with operations concentrated in the Midland Basin and South Texas. On June 26, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share, payable by August 4, to shareholders of record on July 18.
8. Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41
Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. Discussing the stock’s recent decline, Cramer said:
“What the heck happened to the stock of Paychex today? Payroll processor and outsource human capital management company that cuts one out of every 11 paychecks in the private sector. This morning, Paychex reported what the Street thought to be a mixed quarter. In-line earnings paired with oh-so slightly lower than expected revenue, which would’ve been fine but… people thought that maybe their full year forecast for revenue, little light…
On the other hand, the earnings forecast was fantastic. It seems crazy to me that the stock plunged 9% today in response to those numbers, making it the worst-performing in the S&P 500. I mean, some of this disturbance might be because the company recently closed on a $4.1 billion acquisition of Paycor, a company, you know I like very much, and maybe that makes their financials a little harder to understand today. 9% still feels excessive to me.”
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) provides human capital management services covering payroll processing, human resources support, employee benefits, insurance solutions, and retirement plan administration. The company primarily serves small and mid-sized businesses.
7. DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41
DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. Answering a caller’s query about the company during the lightning round, Cramer stated:
“You know, I thought the last quarter was good, and nobody liked it. I swear to God, I thought all the different innovations were good. People thought the revenues were too weak. I’m going to go with the flow and tell you it’s time to sell.”
DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) provides an AI-driven agreement management platform that includes electronic signatures, automated contract workflows, document generation, and identity verification tools. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2026, the company expects total revenue to be between $3.151 billion and $3.163 billion. Subscription revenue is projected to range from $3.083 billion to $3.095 billion.
DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) anticipates billings between $3.285 billion and $3.339 billion. Furthermore, the company’s non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be between 27.8% and 28.8%.
6. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. Cramer highlighted Wall Street’s reaction to the company’s latest data announcement regarding MariTide, and said:
“Unlike Mounjaro or Ozempic, which needed to be injected once a week, Amgen’s MariTide is one shot per month. I prefer monthly over weekly when it comes to injections any day… So what did we learn when Amgen presented on Monday afternoon? First, the market didn’t like it. The stock sold off. Hard response… There… [was] some genuinely new information too. I’m talking about the Phase 1 trial, data from the separate trial, studying much lower starting doses of MariTide with different escalation schedules, far less vomiting at the low doses…
This is really important because it seems to go down easier when patients start at a lower dose and then ratchet up gradually. So what exactly does this mean for Amgen, the stock? Again, Wall Street was not impressed. When Amgen published this data on Monday afternoon, the stock dropped an incredible 15 points in just a few minutes, finishing the day down almost 6%. But over the past two days, the stock’s recovered a big chunk of the ground that was lost, so maybe there’s something good here…
My bigger concern, we may not see MariTide get FDA approval and make it to the market until late 2027 at best… Amgen’s very confident that their Phase 3 trial will be successful by the time 2027 comes along. Millions of people will probably be taking that Lily weight loss pill. That said, the stock… sold off to the point where I would not bet against it…
I don’t think that new MariTide data is bad enough to justify this decline. And now you’re getting a bargain. That’s right, Amgen’s at a bargain, basement price of 13 times earnings…. And while Lilly’s a great stock that certainly deserves a premium… I think Amgen’s gotten too cheap by comparison.
This is still a big biotech company with mid-single-digit earnings growth expected this year, not to mention potential upside for this GLP-1 drug down the road. But here’s the bottom line: We got plenty of data from this American Diabetes Association conference that ended earlier this week, and I think Amgen’s trial results were misunderstood. The stock did not deserve to get hit this hard. Lily’s still my favorite way to play the GLP-1 story. But if you’re looking for a bargain, you could do a lot worse than Amgen.”
Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) develops and markets human therapeutics, with a portfolio that includes treatments for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare disorders.
5. Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 73
Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. When a caller highlighted that the stock has received a Sell rating, Cramer commented:
“On Marvell Technology, they have a Sell?… That’s just ridiculous. Marvell’s an excellent company, and they won a lot of business for some of the hyperscalers. I don’t know. That’s crazy. Matt Murphy is doing a remarkable job. The stock is starting to act right… So, by the way, I’m leaving a twofer, is AMD. So I think… you’re on the right track owning Marvell, and that brokerage firm should rethink their negativity.”
Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) supplies semiconductor solutions for data infrastructure, with a focus on system-on-a-chip designs that incorporate analog, mixed-signal, and digital processing. The company provides Ethernet components, processors, custom semiconductors, interconnect and storage technologies, and high-speed data transfer devices. Hardman Johnston Large Cap Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“The portfolio’s off-benchmark position in Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) contributed negatively with a return of -44.2%. Shares of Marvell came under pressure during the release and subsequent realization of the innovations of the DeepSeek’s R1 model. DeepSeek is a Chinese AI competitor to ChatGPT and other large language models (“LLMs”) that claimed to operate at significantly lower cost. This pressured the entire AI compute and networking supply chain, and, while impressive, we believe the immediate selloff was an overreaction. The compute requirements for reasoning models like R1 should drive greater hardware demand and lower cost, as more accessible AI models should drive up adoption. This pressure was exacerbated by Marvell’s FY4Q results and FY1Q guidance that fell short of exuberant buyside expectations, as Amazon Web Services ramped its Trainium2 custom processor.”
4. Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 85
Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. During the lightning round, a caller inquired about the company, and Cramer replied:
“I’m worried. There’s a lot of companies coming for Workday, and I don’t like that. I think that what happens is we begin to see what’s happening to Salesforce right now, where people just don’t want to own Salesforce. So I want to stay away from Workday. I got enough pain right now with Salesforce.”
Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) provides cloud-based enterprise software designed to support financial management, human resources, spend management, planning, and supply chain operations. The platform includes features for analytics, reporting, and custom application development. Parnassus Investments stated the following regarding Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We also added several new positions, including two in Information Technology: Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY), a category leader for enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. We believe Workday’s product stickiness and key initiatives such as its partnership with other service providers position the company well for incremental growth over the next few years.”
3. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 117
Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. Highlighting the company’s history of good acquisitions and strength during uncertain times, a caller asked about the company. In response, Cramer said:
“I am horrified about what’s happening at Danaher. Everything you said is true, but the CEO, Rainer Blair, I mean, what is he doing? I mean, the guy has done nothing. This stock has been such a disappointment for me that I just have to stand, I mean, I would get on this desk right now if I were younger. I would drum up, I would scream, and I would say, Danaher, make changes now. But instead, I just said that. I think that was pretty emphatic.”
Danaher (NYSE:DHR) develops and sells products and services used in medical, scientific, and industrial applications, including technologies for bioprocessing, diagnostics, lab automation, genomic research, and clinical testing. Andvari Associates stated the following regarding Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“For the handful of companies in Andvari portfolios that do make physical goods, they all share a mitigating factor: they all have above average pricing power. The source of their pricing power stems from selling products that are critical to the end user and yet are a small proportion of the customers’ total costs. They also often benefit from high switching costs. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), Mettler-Toledo, Zoetis, and IDEXX fall into this camp, as well as TransDigm.
More specifically about Danaher, their customers design its equipment and consumables into pharma and biologic production lines. If a research lab has made the significant investment to standardize on Danaher equipment, it must continue to buy the appropriate consumables and receive regular maintenance services from Danaher. Thus, if a lab needs to grow, there is little chance a lab would stop buying from Danaher. If a pharmaceutical or biologic manufacturer needs to grow, there is virtually no chance they will switch to similar equipment unaffected by tariffs. It is just too costly and risky to be recertified by the FDA or its European equivalent, the EMA. Danaher can raise prices on its customers given the value provided by its products and the switching costs involved.”
2. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. A caller asked if it was time to take a profit in the stock or double down. In response, Cramer said:
“I mean, they are going to be the entertainment channel, so to speak, for the world. It’s worth $542 billion, that makes sense to me. I don’t want to double down because I think you might get an intraday swing at a point where you can buy some. But I’m not going to go against this company, which may be one of the best-run companies in the entire world, and I am not going to tell you to sell the stock.”
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) delivers streaming entertainment that includes television series, films, documentaries, and games. The company’s content is accessible on various internet-connected devices and is offered in multiple genres and languages. Earlier in June, discussing the “new high” list, Cramer stated:
“The dominant winner in this new high list… well, it’s so easy. You probably even know if you just watched a couple hours of our show, and that’s Netflix. Now here’s this stock that seems to permanently reside on the new high list. It’s one of those positions that every time it moves up, some analyst raises numbers and raises price targets. Truly virtuous circle.
Right now, Netflix is going up on its content slate, including the upcoming season of Stranger Things and Squid Game. It’s also been going up because its ad tier is working well, and it should only get better as they develop more ways to help advertisers target the right viewers. At the end of the day, Wall Street loves the subscription business, and Netflix, it’s the king of subscriptions.”
1. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 212
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the 11 stocks Jim Cramer put under the microscope recently. The company was mentioned during the episode, and here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“If the semis became like the oils in 1980, then tech would… account for about 60% of the S&P 500. I think that’s unrealistic… I just think we gotta curb our enthusiasm a little bit, and everyone knows I love the sector. It’s hard to accept that a stock like NVIDIA, currently the largest company in the world, could double or even triple if Reitzes’ (Ben Reitzes, Managing Director and Head of Technology Research at Melius Research) bullish forecast comes to life.
But that’s what would have to happen. Again, I think the world of NVIDIA, but I don’t see it tripling from here, at least not anytime soon… Congratulations to NVIDIA for reclaiming the crown of the largest company. It is a stunning achievement.”
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) develops advanced computing, graphics, and networking technologies. The company provides a wide range of products and software that support data centers, AI, robotics, gaming, virtual computing, and automotive systems, including cloud services and digital twin applications tailored for enterprise AI use.
While we acknowledge the potential of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that 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 NVDA and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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