11 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar

9. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 70

Construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)’s shares have gained 77% over the past year and are up by 9.9% year-to-date. Jefferies kept a Buy rating on the shares and raised the share price target to $750 from $700 ahead of the firm’s earnings report. The financial firm pointed out that Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) was heading into its earnings with a conservative setup, as volume trends and margins appeared to be stable. Barclays also bumped up the share price target as it increased it to $610 from $555 and maintained an Equal Weight rating. One factor that the bank discussed about Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) was the stock’s relation to interest rates as Barclays remarked that firms that could benefit from rate cuts were in a favorable position. Cramer has also regularly discussed Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)  over the past couple of months. The CNBC TV host has pointed out that the company has exposure to AI as it provides equipment that is used in data center construction. Following the favorable analyst commentary, Cramer remarked that Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) could experience tailwinds:

“Yeah, look I think there’s been, still one more number bump, CAT, everyone’s recommending it, that’s because CAT makes engines, as does Cummins, and Bloom Energy, lets not forget that. BE’s real, although very expensive. That they are the engines to make sure your data center doesn’t go down. It was a windfall, people didn’t see it, they used to equate CAT with China, Jim Umpleby fixed that. Can CAT go higher? Yeah, because I think the number’s going to go up. Remember, there was a sense yesterday, with Vertiv not doing that well, with Eaton which I think is a very good data center, not doing that well. It’s everything shortage, and when you see shortage, everything else gets taken away. So if you watch Sandisk go down today and you watch Micron and if you watch Seagate and Western Digital, those can go down and that will allow CAT to go up. It is that, either or.”