On Thursday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer turned his attention to the consumer packaged goods sector and expressed a clear sense of frustration and disappointment with how these stocks have been performing.
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Put These 14 Stocks Under the Microscope and Jim Cramer’s Thoughts on These 12 Stocks.
Cramer stated that he feels sorry for companies in the space that depend on consumer spending to stay afloat. He recalled a time when packaged goods stocks were market favorites, capable of sparking rallies off news that today would trigger selloffs. What once inspired confidence now draws skepticism.
Cramer pointed out that even the highest-quality names in the group, companies that used to be seen as dependable performers, are being punished by the market. As for the weaker players, Cramer said they are not just facing scrutiny, they are being “buried alive in criticism.”
“Sometimes misery loves company. Sometimes you just hate a company, and this market sure seems to hate the consumer packaged goods space. Without growth, pure growth, Wall Street, it’s having nothing to do with it.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 15 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episodes of Mad Money aired on June 5. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock 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).
15 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar
15. Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44
Coming to Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ), Cramer remarked:
“Hey, no wonder Constellation Brands has tumbled 3.6%. The maker of Corona [and] Modelo must be doing really badly. Maybe they’re the benchmark of a bad alcohol business.”
Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) produces, imports, and sells a wide range of alcoholic beverages, offering beer, wine, and spirits under names such as Corona, Modelo, Robert Mondavi, Kim Crawford, The Prisoner, Casa Noble, High West, and SVEDKA. When Cramer was asked about the company earlier in May, he commented:
“Oh, I know it’s trying to bottom, but you know what? The beer business is soft. The spirit business is not so good, and frankly, I expected more from the company. I think the company has been a very big disappointment, and I just have to say, I don’t need to be in stocks that have been disappointing. I’m sorry. I wish it were doing better for certain, my wife’s in that business itself, but I don’t see it.”
14. Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF-B)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Calling Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF-B) the “worst one”, Cramer commented:
“But the worst one, Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel’s, which reported a truly terrible quarter. Although if you read the press release propaganda, you might have thought everything’s fabulous. Of course, when you look at the stock, which plummeted nearly 18% today, you’ll notice that it finished even worse than Tesla stock, which is saying something given the war of words between Elon Musk and President Trump, one of the worst spitball competitions I have ever seen.
The conference call for Brown-Forman, which used to be a terrific investment, was surreal. They took whatever they could find that was at all good, and there wasn’t much, and that’s all they really wanted to talk about. You think this whole company is Woodford Reserve, which was the best-performing liquor. Of course, the analysts weren’t buying it, not one bit…
There’s the brand issue. Somehow, Jack Daniel’s just isn’t selling as, the way as it used to. Hey, by the way, same goes for their biggest tequilas, like el Jimador and Herradura, two mainstays that both declined 13% in the fiscal year that just ended in April.
It’s not their forte or a needle mover, but those are horrendous numbers. After all, one of the few bright spots in the entire liquor business is the agave spirit, and yes, think margarita, but it’s not so bright for Brown-Forman. Amazing. As badly as they’re doing in whiskey, they’re actually doing worse in tequila. Wait, there’s a silver lining: Whiting points out in the call that spirits continue to take share from beer and wine.”
Brown-Forman (NYSE:BF-B) produces, markets, and sells a variety of alcoholic drinks, including spirits, wines, and ready-to-drink options. The company also provides contract bottling and sells whiskey and wine in bulk.
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