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 the recent US action in Venezuela and its impact on the stock market. The day he made the comments, oil company stocks were rising as investors wondered whether oil companies would benefit from a greater presence in the country. However, Cramer pointed out that refining and extracting oil takes time and added that, in his opinion, the only stocks that could benefit were those of oil and gas exploration equipment providers:
“Right well, I think the commodities are taking action immediately but it’s not oil. Oil’s kind of trying to figure out what to do. I do think that we have to look at the fact that we, do not want to immediately jump to the conclusion that we’re gonna untap all those reserves. And the reserves happen to be as they call Ven, they’re Ven heavy crude which can be refined in the US and refined in China. . .but you could say, look, Chevron has a toehold in there, they get 100,000 barrels per day. But I think that, Chevron was up 12 at one point, I think that you can get excited about these things. The only guys who are really going to make some money I think would be Haliburton, because you got to rebuild everything.”
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 January 5th. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the third quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 978 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 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
11. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 89
Oil giant Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)’s shares witnessed considerable traction after the US action in Venezuela. On January 6th, Freedom Capital downgraded the shares to Sell from Hold as it commented that while oil prices were falling, the shares of oil companies were rising to create a dangerous trend. The financial firm added that Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)’s shares, along with those of other companies, could struggle once their earnings indicate a cooler performance than what the equity performance was suggesting. Another recent coverage came from Mizuho, which reiterated an Outperform rating and a $206 share price target for Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX). The firm commented that it expected the oil company to miss its fiscal fourth quarter earnings estimate. Cramer also took a cautious tone for the firm as, like Freedom Capital, he linked share price performance with oil price performance:
“Well look I think people want to immediately jump to the conclusion that perhaps that you can un-nationalize what’s been nationalized. You can just dust off the infrastructure. I remember, I remember when I used to work with Larry Culpa. And there was a sense, that when you opened a rack, which was doing two million, that it would go to five. Well, eight years later it went to four. So, those who are trading on this right now, they are people who have been wrong about a lot of things and they are going to be wrong about this. Now maybe not wrong today, but I do think that, people might buy nuclear on this too. I think we have to, the year of magical investing ended and now we’re in the year of stupid investing and I think we have to call out trades that are stupid. If you’re going to buy oil on this, I wanna know why, because the price of oil is going to go lower, not higher.”
10. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 93
Like Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)’s shares also rose after the US operation in Venezuela. As it did with Chevron, Freedom Capital also downgraded the firm’s shares in January. Cutting the rating to Sell from Hold and setting a $123 share price target, the firm pointed out that oil stocks were performing well while oil prices were struggling. The recent US action in Venezuela has seen oil prices drop after President Trump revealed that Venezuela will send supplies to the US. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)’s shares have also slipped recently after initially surging following the political shift in Venezuela. On Wednesday, the firm also provided color to the debate surrounding oil prices. In a regulatory filing, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) pointed out that lower crude oil prices could reduce its upstream fourth quarter earnings by $800 million to $1.2 billion. Cramer cautioned that buying oil stocks on the back of the recent developments could be risky:
“Well look I think people want to immediately jump to the conclusion that perhaps that you can un-nationalize what’s been nationalized. You can just dust off the infrastructure. I remember, I remember when I used to work with Larry Culpa. And there was a sense, that when you opened a rack, which was doing two million, that it would go to five. Well, eight years later it went to four. So, those who are trading on this right now, they are people who have been wrong about a lot of things and they are going to be wrong about this. Now maybe not wrong today, but I do think that, people might buy nuclear on this too. I think we have to, the year of magical investing ended and now we’re in the year of stupid investing and I think we have to call out trades that are stupid. If you’re going to buy oil on this, I wanna know why, because the price of oil is going to go lower, not higher.”
9. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 234
On the day of this show, AI chip giant NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was due to present at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. As 2025 ended, Cramer had defended the stock despite modest performance during the year’s final quarter. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) ended the year on a high note after it announced that it had bought $5 billion worth of shares in Intel. On December 29th, Mizuho reiterated a Buy rating and a $245 share price target for the firm. At the CES, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang claimed that the firm’s latest Vera Rubin chips could boost performance by up to 10x. Cramer had been optimistic about Rubin ahead of the event, and here’s what he said before Huang made the remarks:
“If you want to know what’s front and center, it’s Jensen Huang speaking this evening. NVIDIA. And laying out a vision of the next industrial revolution, combination of accelerated computing. And, the, what I regard as being the stack. You’re going to hear a lot more about the stack. And the stack means, we are not a chip, we are software. . .
“I think that that’s something that’s front and center, data center, and reality is that, I think the last few months have been tough on NVIDIA. And maybe we could be in a period where the doubters are done, given the fact that the demand from China for the H200 is off the chart. It’s possible 50 billion. Bytedance buying a huge percentage. All the lies that we’re told about how China is not interested, well those people [inaudible] going to get away with it. . .those who said that China wasn’t interested, well maybe the PRC wasn’t taking them down. But Bytedance will take everything.
“But I would say that NVIDIA is the one to watch because it’s been underperforming in the last month and it’s going to come fast out of the gate. And I think this revolutionary speech, that I expect Jensen to give tonight, is going to quantify why accelerated computing is often left out of the equation.
“You gotta own that, it doesn’t reflect that. I think it’s going to have a great first quarter, the price-to-earnings multiple is going to shrink when you actually see the numbers. . .”
8. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 105
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is one of the top-performing semiconductor stocks on the market. Over the year, the shares have gained 236%. It is the only American company capable of manufacturing high-end memory chips that are used in NVIDIA’s AI GPUs. Analysts started 2026 on a high note for Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s shares with Bernstein raising the share price target to $330 from $270 and keeping an Outperform rating. At the heart of the coverage was the financial firm’s opinion about the firm’s memory prices as it commented that the prices should continue to rise in 2026. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is also preparing to expand its capacity as the firm revealed in its latest earnings report that it now expects to spend $20 billion in fiscal 2026 which was significantly higher than the previous $18 billion estimate. Cramer discussed Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s memory chips, the firm’s partnership with NVIDIA, and why the shares had a strong start to 2026:
“It’s because NVIDIA went and bought a huge amount of high-bandwidth memory. They like, cornered a lot of it. And that’s why Micron goes up constantly. Because we’re not building it fast enough.
“Like I said, the key thing was, if the, the high-bandwidth memory that Micron, you see the stock doubled. That was going to be the key thing that everybody needed. And NVIDIA saw it coming.”
7. Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 48
Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) is an oil and gas production equipment and services provider. Like other oil stocks, its shares also saw considerable activity after the US operation in Venezuela. Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)’s stock is up by 8.6% so far in the year to mark a strong start. Yet, as it did with Chevron and Exxon, Freedom Capital also downgraded the stock following Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture. It cut Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)’s share rating to Sell from Hold and set the price target to $32. According to the financial firm, the oil sector is seeing notable upward momentum when it comes to share prices. However, this momentum is not matched by the movement in oil prices. Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)’s shares were downgraded by Evercore to In-Line from Outperform on January 1st as the firm also raised the share price target to $35 from $28. During this appearance, while Cramer hesitated discussing oil stocks after the US operation in Venezuela due to NVIDIA’s upcoming CES appearance, he did remark that Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) looked interesting to him.
“If you want to talk about Haliburton, I like Haliburton here.
“Look, we can speculate. Go buy HAL. Because if you’re going have to really redo everything, it’s going to go to HAL. Maybe SLB, Chevron.”
6. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 122
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s shares have faced a lot of attention at 2025’s close. During the year’s second half, the shares lost 10% with a much steeper dip since their peak in early September. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock struggled amidst reports of an AI bubble and troubles with data center construction. On January 5th, RBC Capital cut the firm’s share price target to $195 from $250 and kept a Sector Perform rating. The financial firm explained that Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) while enterprise spending and AI outlook appeared positive, early 2026 financial guidance from businesses was nevertheless cautious. Cramer discussed Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) after a CNBC report claimed that Softbank had completed its $40 billion investment commitment to OpenAI. The report is crucial as it hints that OpenAI is able to access funds to spend on the data center buildout. As a result, it was unsurprising that Cramer also discussed Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in the context of data centers, as he went as far as to suggest that the fundraise was the most important thing in 2026’s first quarter:
“Do you know that this fundraise is probably the most important thing that’s going to happen in the first quarter? Because it means that you can buy Oracle. . .it means you can buy NVIDIA.”
5. Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 102
Throughout 2025, Jim Cramer had been quite optimistic about data center infrastructure company Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT). The shares are up by 33% over the past year and analysts have started 2026 on a strong note for the firm. For instance, on January 2nd, Barclays upgraded Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s rating to Overweight from Equal Weight and bumped the share price target to $200. The bank pointed out that the data center company had the potential to catch up with other AI firms. Data center demand was also at the heart of TD Cowen’s coverage of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) in December. The financial firm pointed out that the firm was its “2026 Best Idea” as it kept a Buy rating and increased the share price target to $211 from $210. TD Cowen cited its channel checks to comment that data center demand remained robust. Cramer discussed Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) after a CNBC report shared that Japanese conglomerate Softbank had completed its $40 billion investment commitment to OpenAI. Naturally, the CNBC TV host believes that the development creates a buying opportunity for Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT):
“Do you know that this fundraise is probably the most important thing that’s going to happen in the first quarter? Because it means. . .you can buy Vertiv, it means you can buy NVIDIA.”
4. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)*
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 107
Banking giant Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s shares are up by 66% over the past year. 2026 has started off on a strong note for the stock when it comes to analyst coverage. One fresh example comes in the form of an optimistic note from Bank of America. In its coverage, BofA raised Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s share price target to $140 from $120 and kept a Buy rating on the stock. It points out that the bank’s 11x P/E multiple offers a discount to its peers. The discounted multiple is also a key theme when it comes to Jim Cramer’s coverage of the banking sector. In this appearance, he discussed Barclays’ coverage of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), which maintained an Overweight rating for the shares and hiked the share price target to $146 from $115.:
“Okay, David, we talk a lot about tech here, and that’s right. But we don’t talk enough about the banks. Those stocks have been nothing short of amazing. Barclays kind of, codifies that. They talk about how Citigroup’s going to have, that’s like their focused name. But there really isn’t any of the, they’re not excited about Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Bank of America. Now look at this, this is not a semiconductor company. This is a company that’s getting a price-to-earnings multiple in part because of the new regime in Washington but also, because the earnings power turned out to be far greater than people thought. So I am going to stick with the idea that the banks are still inexpensive. We’re talking about 14, 15 times earnings. I don’t like to buy them ahead of the earnings, because there’s always going to be one.”
3. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 120
Banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) crossed Jim Cramer’s radar after he discussed a Barclays note for Citigroup. Barclays bumped up Citi’s share price target, and its coverage came after a similar note for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) on January 5th. This note saw the bank hike the share price target to $391 from $342 and keep an Overweight rating on the shares. Barclays pointed out that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and other large-cap banks could benefit from the same factors that drove double-digit earnings growth in 2025 this year as well. Cramer’s previous comments about the bank have lamented its low multiple. Following Barclays, Bank of America also hiked JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s share price target. It bumped the target price to $362 from $350 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. BofA pointed towards factors such as the bank’s strong market positioning in sectors such as private and wholesale banking. In this appearance, Cramer discussed JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) in the context of its upcoming earnings report:
“Like JPMorgan last quarter, where they really threw cold water on everything, really kind of sent you back huge and it turned out to be an amazing buying opportunity. You know all you had to do was come in there and buy it after they talked about it. Probably do that again.
“All time high today, Jamie is crushing it. 16 times earnings, what an insult to Jamie.”
2. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 104
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is an enterprise software company that enables businesses to manage their daily processes. On January 5th, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an Overweight rating on the shares and kept a $240 share price target. The financial firm pointed out that ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s shares were trading close to historically low valuation multiples and added that the software company could perform well in calendar year 2027. Cantor added that the software company is also focusing on data security and governance when it comes to AI. While Cantor was optimistic on ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW), Keybanc downgraded the share to Underweight and set a $775 share price target. Keybanc commented that the firm was facing risks from AI despite the fact that its hybrid monetization did offer some room for stability. Cramer discussed ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s seat business as well and commented on the risks from AI:
“These software companies, they just, they don’t stop going down. ServiceNow, really a darling of so many years, just getting clubbed again!
“The other business is, remember these places sell what’s known as a seat business. And anybody who’s in a software business has to be worried because you can do, we all could do software now with how easy it is with AI. That’s a big part of the problem.”
1. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 119
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is a customer relationship management software provider. Its shares are down 18% over the past year amidst broader turmoil for the software industry. However, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s third-quarter earnings results led to some optimism from analysts as Piper Sandler reiterated an Overweight rating and a $315 share price target on December 4th. The financial firm noted the software company’s progress with AI products in its coverage and pointed out that Agentforce recurring revenue had touched $540 million to account for 1.4% of the overall subscription run-rate. Later, on December 19th, Mizuho set a $340 share price target for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) as it also commented that the Agentforce platform was improving its potential for broader industry adoption. Naturally, agentics AI and Agentforce were also on Cramer’s mind as he discussed Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM):
“This is the software getting eaten by hardware, which is a little bit of a change. I come back and say, that Salesforce is going to fight. I think we should be buyers of Salesforce, because they have an agentics business. But at the same time, I’d rather own Broadcom. . . .
“Well that’s the other part of the business, they have this agentics. I mean I almost wish that Salesforce was called Agentforce. . .well because, that’s the growth business. The other business is, remember these places sell what’s known as a seat business. And anybody who’s in a software business has to be worried because you can do, we all could do software now with how easy it is with AI. That’s a big part of the problem.”
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