On Thursday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer, discussing the economy, described it as divided into two distinct tracks: one propelled by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, and the other, rooted in consumer activity, showing clear signs of weakness.
“We have two economies. There’s the tremendous economy with amazing growth, the one that’s connected to artificial intelligence. And then there’s the anemic economy connected to the consumer, which seems to deteriorate by the day.”
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Cramer pointed out that the strong performance of the AI sector has distorted the broader market view. He mentioned, “The AI economy just takes up too much weight in the averages.” He added that this outsized impact makes it more difficult to recognize the underlying weakness in the consumer-driven portion.
Cramer emphasized that auto sales, housing, and retail, core pillars of the economy, are underperforming. He said, with the second-quarter GDP growth coming in at 3.8%, under normal circumstances, such growth would suggest strength across these industries, but that is not what he is seeing.
“Here’s the bottom line: The writing is on the wall for a big chunk of the economy. If we don’t get more rate cuts, things are going to keep sinking. The other part, the AI part, is totally indifferent to rates. Most of these companies will never need to raise money. Even if they do, it seems like they just sell equity to the deep-pocketed business partners. High rates for them just mean higher returns because they have so much cash earning interest more than any time in financial history.”
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 September 25. 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 on Jim Cramer’s Radar Recently
16. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is one of the stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar recently. Cramer mentioned that he wishes the Charitable Trust owned the stock, as he commented:
“What I found most ironic was an actual real-life example of the power of IBM’s quantum computing product versus the other ones that we’ve been talking about. HSBC, a giant bank, uses IBM’s Heron quantum processor to improve its algorithmic bond trading.
It produced a 34% improvement in trade predictions. Ah, the irony of an old-line company beating the pants off its younger competitors. Although, by the way, I’d point out that many of these younger quantum plays aren’t that young. They’ve been around for a long time without coming up with something as practical as what IBM has already developed. Maybe IBM is the best way to invest in quantum, and it’s a mighty inexpensive stock. I spent a lot of time with IBM recently. I wish we owned it for the Charitable Trust, frankly. It looks that good.”
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) delivers integrated solutions spanning software, consulting, infrastructure, and financing, with products in hybrid cloud, AI, servers, storage, and lifecycle services.
15. Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60
Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) is one of the stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar recently. When Cramer was asked about the stock, he said:
“I don’t understand this, and WM, you know, the old Waste Management. They’re both so good, and they just do nothing but go down. I need to see a bounce. As Jeff Marks would say, how about a bounce? And I agree.”
Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) provides waste management and environmental solutions, including collection, recycling, disposal, and landfill services, along with processing and selling recyclable materials. The company serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers. When a caller inquired about the stock’s long-term prospects during a June episode, Cramer replied:
“RSG is such a good company. Oh my god, it’s just so good. We had, I don’t know if anyone remember[s], we had Jon on recently, and I just said, you know, you got one hell of a company. That is a great stock.”
