5 Best Recession Stocks to Buy According to Jim Cramer

4. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67 

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) makes and sells athletic products. Cramer has said that there has been “too much fear” around names like Tesla, Apple, and Nike in light of their dependence on China in recent weeks. As China lifts virus lockdowns, these stocks, which delivered solid earnings even during the pandemic, could lift even higher. Cramer has advised investors to stick with firms that have “pricing power” during a recession, identifying Nike as one which caters to the high-end retail segment in this category. 

On June 6, Stifel analyst Jim Duffy maintained a Buy rating on NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) stock and lowered the price target to $150 from $160, backing the firm to meet multi-year growth targets despite COVID and China restrictions. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, London-based investment firm Fundsmith LLP is a leading shareholder in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), with 6.7 million shares worth more than $905 million.  

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is another play on e-commerce as well as the anticipated growth in consumer spending as we learn to live with COVID-19. After selling out of the stock in 2016 due to competitive concerns, we were motivated to repurchase shares because of optimism around a new management team’s focus on accelerating Nike’s shift toward e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution. Near-term supply chain issues in Vietnam and retail weakness in China that we see as ephemeral provided a good buying opportunity. We do not believe the market is giving proper credit to Nike’s potential to deliver attractive, high-single-digit revenue growth while delivering operating margin expansion as more merchandise is sold direct. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is also still under indexed to the women’s category, which we see as a significant ongoing catalyst.”