In this piece, we will look at the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer discussed the current climate surrounding AI spending and data center buildout. The past couple of weeks have seen multiple media reports mention AI computing infrastructure firms CoreWeave and Oracle. These reports have claimed that CoreWeave’s data center is experiencing construction delays in Texas, while Oracle has run into funding constraints for its planned 1 gigawatt data center in Michigan. Cramer discussed the funding constraints and added that the prices of AI chips were another key factor in the AI buildout. Likening the current situation to a Mexican standoff, the CNBC TV host commented:
“Yeah, look, I want to go a step back for a second. . . here’s the deal, the reason why we talk about it, is because if you don’t build this thing out, everything doesn’t. But if you do build it out, it’s all too expensive, whether it be from Micron, too expensive, the Google chip is too expensive, NVIDIA chip’s are too expensive. So what we have is this Mexican standoff. GE Vernova, I wanna expand, but I can’t get the power. Intrator would tell you I can’t build it. I don’t have the ability to have a structure that works if I’m Oracle, unless he issues equity. . .he being Larry Ellison. So we really have a situation where if someone doesn’t exert discipline soon, the whole edifice collapses. And that would be terrible. But if we get discipline and a slowdown. . . “
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on December 18th. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the third quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 978 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 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
8. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 92
Pharma giant Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s shares are up by 1.9% year-to-date on the back of a strong run since early November. Before the run started, the stock was down 16.8% year-to-date on the back of several factors. The year started out with Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) battling with China-specific headwinds that saw it halt its Gardasil HPV vaccine shipments in the country. Gardasil suffered from an inventory buildup due to factors such as low demand and market competition. Other headwinds for the stock included a $3 billion restructuring program and a top-line growth slowdown. While Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda has become a best seller worldwide, it has also increased the pressure on the firm to come up with successors.
More recently, on November 18th, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced that a phase two trial for its Winrevair drug for patients with combined post- and precapillary pulmonary hypertension was successful to allow it to move forward to a phase three study. Bank of America raised the firm’s share price target to $120 from $105 on December 15th as it recalibrated its FY27 EPS estimates. Cramer also believes that Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) might be undervalued, as he commented:
“Merck is an inexpensive stock, all these stocks are coming back.”
7. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 114
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is another top Cramer healthcare stock. Over the course of the year, the CNBC TV host has praised the firm’s lead in the weight loss drug industry and its manufacturing capacity. Cramer has also asserted that Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) has a robust drug pipeline that can help the firm in non-weight-loss drug markets. However, more recently, Bank of America cut the firm’s share price target to $1,268 from $1,286 on December 15th as it kept a Buy rating on the shares. In its note, the bank outlined that Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is expanding its presence into new markets, and the firm’s 2027 earnings can help capture its growth potential.
Discussing Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), Cramer shared his thoughts on an area he regularly discusses. This area is the weight loss pill market, and he believes that if Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) can successfully execute the pill’s development, then the firm could gain ground against Novo Nordisk:
“Now it’s interesting, Ely Lilly has a study which says basically you can take the pill and they’re gonna get business from Wegovy with the pill. It’s probably worth a hundred points, but people are, at this level, refusing to pay more, it’s almost a double top, I don’t think so, because if you can take the pill and switch from Wegovy, that could be game, set, match for Lilly, against Novo Nordisk.”
