On Friday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer commented on the sports betting industry, as he discussed how new competition from prediction markets is impacting the industry.
“I want you to keep in mind that September is a pivotal month for the sportsbooks because it marks the start of the football season. It’s make or break for these companies…. People love to bet the favorites… And by the way, that is bad news for sportsbooks. When more favorites win, the sportsbooks experience higher losses.”
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Cramer also talked about the rise of online prediction markets. He named Polymarket and Kalshi as two platforms reshaping how people place bets, and noted that these services allow users to wager on a wide variety of outcomes, not just sports. He explained that, unlike conventional sportsbooks, these platforms facilitate peer-to-peer betting.
“They give people a marketplace to bet against each other rather than taking the opposite side themselves… Long term, they could allow the prediction markets to offer better odds than the online sportsbooks.”
Cramer also pointed out the regulatory differences that set platforms like Kalshi apart. He explained that Kalshi is treated as a designated contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), meaning it is treated more like a stock exchange than a sportsbook. He said that because these platforms do not operate as the counterparty in the bets, they avoid being classified as gambling operations. He noted that this distinction allows them to bypass the complicated web of state-level licensing requirements.
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 16 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on October 3. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the second quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 900 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).
16 Stocks Jim Cramer Recently Talked About
16. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 156
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently talked about. During the episode, Cramer emphasized owning and not trading the stock, as he commented:
“How much better would an individual have done if she just decided that Apple was a terrific company? So she owned the stock and didn’t flit in and out of it because flitting is too difficult. Sure, Edison Lee can do it, but then again, he’s never had a Buy rating on the stock during this whole period. So if you listen to him, maybe you never even owned Apple in the first place. I think that if you agree with me about owning it, not trading it, you will enjoy, by the way, How to Make Money in Any Market because I spent a tremendous amount of time really criticizing trading as a tactic… It’s much better to find the stocks of companies you love, and if they go down, you buy more of them, which would’ve been the best strategy after all for owning Apple. In my book, I praise sticking with… individual stocks like Apple because they can deliver big wins, life-changing wins, but only if you let the gains compound year after year. You shouldn’t touch the stock unless something goes severely wrong. That’s the way to go. If you still have the itch to trade… be my guest. Just know that it’s usually a loser’s game unless you’re doing it as a full-time job or you can hire lots of traders to do it for you.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, manufactures, and sells smartphones, computers, tablets, and wearables under its iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch brands, along with accessories and digital services.
15. Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22
Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently talked about. A caller asked for Cramer’s take on the stock during the lightning round, and he commented:
“Well, first of all, I think that Dillard’s, having shopped there, but not that recently, I say, wow, up 42%. That’s a lot. Let’s do this. Let’s take some of it off the table and let the rest run, okay? Because the numbers aren’t that great and the multiple’s really high. I like Costco much better. Sell some of that, buy Costco.”
Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) operates department stores and an online platform that provides apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, and related goods. During the April 29 episode, Cramer said that the stock is not a place to be. He stated:
“Now, I mean, and we’re in a world now where you really are going to make money in Amazon, in TJX, okay, you’ll make money in Walmart, and you’re going to be struggling to make money in any other retailer other than Costco. I don’t think Dillard’s is a place to be.”
Since the above comment was aired, the company’s stock is up almost 80%.
