Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, said on Friday that OpenAI needs to raise cash to pay Oracle and discussed where the data center trade might go next.
“What really mattered today, though, is the possibility that funding for the data center build-out, something that was beginning to seem chimerical, has tantalizingly returned to a degree of certainty. The possibility that there are many pools of capital that may still want to get into data center, into AI, could drive a whole host of down-and-out tech stocks higher. Rather than limping into 2026, these stocks have erupted. It’s very unexpected. But can it last? This is the question. Look, I’ve been a hypercritical person when it comes to the data center promoters of late… I don’t like deals like the companies are doing, where one company gives another company money, and the recipient then buys product from the donor company. These are called Lazy Susan deals or circular deals.”
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Talking about what needs to happen next, Cramer said that OpenAI should move quickly and attempt to raise $200 billion at a valuation of $1 trillion, saying the momentum seen this week makes such a move possible. He said that the path looks like the only real option. He noted that with that level of funding, OpenAI could pay Oracle what it requires to build out the data centers. He added that once that happens, every other hyperscaler would be forced to keep spending heavily on infrastructure just to keep pace.
“The bottom line: No matter what, OpenAI needs to raise a lot of money, and it needs to raise it now, or else the whole data center edifice will go down and stay down. But if they raise $100 billion dollars in the next couple of weeks, then we will live to play again, and we’ll see plenty more days just like today.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 11 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on December 19. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. 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).
Jim Cramer Answered Questions About These 11 Stocks
11. StubHub Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:STUB)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29
StubHub Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:STUB) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. Answering a caller’s query about the stock during the lightning round, Cramer said:
“No, they’re losing too much money. We’re going to stay away from them. We don’t want to own the ones that are losing money. We got so many that are making money. They’re going down. We need the losers.”
StubHub Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:STUB) runs a digital marketplace for buying and selling tickets to live events, including sports, concerts, and theatre, through its StubHub and viagogo platforms. Cramer highlighted the company’s first results after going public during the November 13 episode and called the results “disappointing.” The Mad Money host said:
“Because of those soft results from Ticketmaster, I’d also like to point out that StubHub, a similar business that I warned you away from after it came public in September, is now down 20% from its IPO price. Not good. In fact, it’s now down more than that because the stock is moving lower in after-hours trading, after StubHub reported a disappointing result in its first earnings report as a public company after the close tonight, first.”
10. EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79
EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. A caller sought Cramer’s opinion on the stock, and he stated:
“Oh man, they’ve got a lot of money…. I mean, they sold a lot of product. It’s all about… their bandwidth, their broadband, and they’ve got it, and they sold it, and I think the play is over. Boy, they had a lot of it, more than I realized.”
EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) provides networking technologies and communications services, including satellite television, streaming video, wireless connectivity, broadband access, and 5G infrastructure. After the company stock nearly doubled in just two days after a major deal with AT&T and signs of progress with regulators, Cramer commented on the turnaround during the Squawk on the Street episode aired on August 27. He said, “It’s an incredible, what a comeback that is for something that a lot of people…”
9. Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21
Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. When a caller asked about the stock, Cramer was quick to comment, “I’ll give you my answer: [sell, sell, sell].”
Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) develops and produces electric vehicles, powertrains, battery systems, and proprietary in-house software. When a caller asked whether the company is a long-term play, Cramer responded:
“You’re 21. Let’s put our money with something that is going to make a little more sense than Lucid. I think that if you wanted to be in that area, if you wanted to be in that kind of progressive area, you might go with Rivian, okay. I think Rivian is better than Lucid. Bingo.”
8. ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42
ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. During the lightning round, a caller inquired after Cramer’s thoughts on the stock, and he replied, “ONEOK is a buy right here. Not just because I think Walter Hulse is terrific.”
ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) provides midstream energy services, which include handling the gathering, processing, transportation, storage, and export of natural gas, natural gas liquids, refined products, and crude oil. Cramer mentioned the company during the July 28 episode and said:
“Now, if you’re looking for another natural gas-oriented pipeline company with some growth, there’s ONEOK. These guys have a particularly strong presence, bringing natural gas to the Gulf Coast, which is where most of our existing liquified natural gas export infrastructure currently sits. Now, the yield isn’t quite as strong here. Right now, ONEOK units pay a dividend that yields just over 5%, but with ONEOK currently down over 30% from its highs late last year, this one could potentially have more upside than Energy Transfer.”
7. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 114
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. Inquiring if their portfolio is diversified, a caller highlighted that their top five holdings are LLY, SLG, MSFT, CVX, and TSM. Cramer said:
“Really interesting setup here. Okay, so, Taiwan Semi is the actual fab that makes the chips for Broadcom, makes chips for AMD, makes chips for, yes, NVIDIA. Alright, that’s in Taiwan. Very important. Eli Lilly is the company that has GLP-1 Mounjaro, very powerful drug. They’re going to have a pill form next year that’s going to revolutionize everything. I think the stock’s going up another $500 billion, I kid you not. Chevron is my favorite large oil company with a good yield. That’s run by Mike Wirth. SL Green is a company that’s come back from the dead basically, and it’s a REIT… in New York. I’m not really, I don’t really want a REIT in New York, but that’s what they do. And then Microsoft, okay, Mr. Softee, we know it’s business-to-business software with the consumer side of it too. So I’m going to say, this is semi, this is software, this is drug, this is oil, and this is retail, and I’m going to bless all of them. Now, would I keep SL Green? I do happen to see Federal Realty coming back, and I’d like to see Don Wood in that portfolio instead of SL Green.”
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) develops and markets medicines for diabetes, obesity, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and other chronic conditions.
6. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. Playing the round of “Am I Diversified?”, a caller mentioned that their top five holdings are NVDA, CRWD, AAPL, GS, and HOOD. Cramer remarked:
“Interesting… We’ll do some, set some time on this. Alright, CrowdStrike, we know… amazing cybersecurity company. NVIDIA… That’s the largest semiconductor company in the world. Apple is a consumer product company that’s tech. Goldman Sachs is a boutique, but not so boutique anymore, bank, in other words, they’re not as big as Bank of America, not as big as JPMorgan, but they have an amazing brokerage business, and they’re terrific in their investment house. And then Robinhood, which does nothing like Goldman, people may say, well, wait a second, two brokers, this is for retail. Goldman is for the ultra-rich and for company. So they’re very different, and I don’t want anyone to confuse them.
Now, Apple and NVIDIA are both pure tech. I own Apple, and I say own it, don’t trade it. And I say NVIDIA, own it, don’t trade it. So I’m in a jam here myself. I am un-diversified because I own both of these, but I understand exactly why… [the caller] could feel I should be in it. A real classic person would say Robinhood and Goldman, get rid of one. NVIDIA, this is tricky to tell. NVIDIA, Apple, and CrowdStrike, get rid of two because… there are three tech and two fin. But I showed you how I divide them. So you understand why if you were playing, if you were doing this, say, for How to Make Money in Any Market, my five stock program, it would work for you. And that’s why I am teaching this way, because of the way we do it in How to Make Money in Any Market. And I think you’ll understand it and like the book and understand what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) manufactures and sells devices such as the iPhone, Mac, iPad, along with its line-up of wearables and accessories. The devices are supported by the company’s app ecosystem, AppleCare, and cloud tools.
5. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 88
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. A caller asked if their portfolio is diversified enough, with their top five holdings being AMZN, COST, ETN, PANW, and HD. Here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“This is like our previous caller. A lot of these people are club members. These are, many, very many of our club member stocks. Alright, Home Depot, well, that’s a play on housing. I’m not calling it a retail. I’m calling it a play on housing. Palo Alto is, you know, really cybersecurity, okay, and growing and growing. Did a big deal with Google today. Eaton is primarily not data centers, primarily electrical equipment. It does have a huge data center business, what we call AI equipment.
Amazon is obviously Amazon Web Services and retail. And then Costco is a retailer whom I think is actually a little more troubled. We’ve had to sell a lot of our Costco for my Charitable Trust because we did not like the way the conference call went when they reported last. But retail and retail, but remember I told you this is housing, Palo Alto is cybersecurity, Eaton is electricity, at producing it, keeping it good, and making sure that the data center is hooked into the grid. And then Amazon obviously is one of the great tech companies, but it’s really also a retailer. I think… [the caller] is fine. Now, some would say, wait a second. You got three retailers here. Remember, I’m thinking Home Depot is a housing play, Costco is a club company, and Amazon is a tech company. So, we’re okay.”
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) operates membership warehouses and provides groceries, fresh food, household goods, electronics, and more. In addition, the company offers various services through pharmacies, gas stations, optical centers, and e-commerce options.
4. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 243
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. Starting the round of “Am I Diversified?”, a caller mentioned that their top five portfolio holdings are JPM, GOOGL, BA, PG, and AVGO. Cramer commented:
“Let’s go to work in a year of practical investing, it’s upcoming…. Okay, so Broadcom, we know is that great semiconductor, fabulous semiconductor company that’s in, just riddled through the data center. I love it. Big position. Boeing is probably… right now, my favorite stock for the next three months. It’s doing great. Procter’s the other one. We have a new CEO coming in, obviously personal care products…
JPMorgan is, to me, my number two bank after Wells Fargo. They hate to hear that. They get very upset. And then Alphabet is, you can say, well, is that too close to Broadcom? No. Alphabet’s also Waymo. Alphabet is also YouTube. It’s way bigger than Gemini, and although I love Gemini, I was on it like a hundred times today. So, we have diversified tech, we got semiconductor, we have aerospace, we have consumer product, and we have banking. I got to tell you, I think that’s perfect…. [The caller’s] portfolio is just nothing short of perfect.”
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) provides tech-related products and services, including search, advertising, cloud computing, AI tools, and digital content platforms like YouTube and Google Play.
3. Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 48
Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. A caller was bullish on the company but mentioned their worry that the competition in the industry is increasing. Cramer replied:
“Yeah, well, that’s the problem. I loved this company when it was the only game in town, but the fact that there are others makes me very, very circumspect about it. I’m going to have to say, take a pass on what was once a company that really had a field to itself, but no more.”
Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) designs and sells clear aligners, retainers, and orthodontic devices. Meridian Growth Fund stated the following regarding the company in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) is a global leader in dental technology and the maker of Invisalign clear aligners. We were initially drawn to Align for its strong competitive position and innovative iTero digital scanning system, which enables clinicians to design more precise treatment plans and enhances the overall patient experience. The stock underperformed during the quarter as expectations for a demand rebound did not materialize. Patient conversion rates softened, most notably within the teen segment, where revenue growth slowed to 3%. In addition, market share gains reversed amid a weaker macroeconomic backdrop for discretionary dental procedures and a shift toward lower-cost wires and brackets. Given these dynamics, we trimmed our position during the period.”
2. Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 57
Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. When a caller inquired about the stock during the episode, Cramer commented:
“So, Sumit Singh was on the show recently, and I got to tell you, I totally agree with you, but we are fighting a trend. People feel that Amazon can’t be beaten, and I think that’s wrong. Chewy’s got a lot of ancillary businesses that will really help them. I’m with you. I’m a buyer of Chewy.”
Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) runs an online marketplace for pet food, supplies, medications, and health products, along with a range of pet services. Cramer discussed the company during the December 10 episode and remarked:
“Well, here’s a confusing one. This morning, we got this set of numbers from Chewy, the online store for pet food and pet supplies that I have told you I like very much. [The] company reported a modest top and bottom line beat, also raising the low end of their full-year forecast. At the same time, though, the guidance for the current quarter seemed to be a little light. Wall Street seemed to have a hard time figuring out what to make of these results. Stock initially dropped in pre-market trading. Then it came roaring back and opened almost up 7%. Then immediately pulled back from its high, spending the rest of the day fluctuating between positive and negative territory, with the stock… finishing up about 1.5%. It was just crazy.”
1. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer answered questions about. A caller noted that the stock has been declining since they bought a position in it and asked for Cramer’s advice on it. He replied:
“Alright, you’re right to worry because a lot of people are concerned that the, that their parts themselves have gone up a lot, and their raw costs are going down. I think Dell can fall from here. I think it can fall, but not below much, maybe 115, 110. And you should buy it because Michael Dell will be in there buying with you, and he is a very smart fella, and he’s not going to let those component costs bother the bottom line too much. The stock is still up for the year.”
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) provides storage systems, servers, networking gear, and consulting services, along with laptops, desktops, workstations, and accessories. The company’s stock was part of Cramer’s game plan during the November 21 episode, as he stated:
“I can’t believe how important Tuesday evening is. First, we have Dell Technologies. The betting line here is that the company’s going to stumble because of some raw ingredients, mainly semiconductors. They’ve gone up so much in price during the quarter. I’m not buying it. This is Dell, for heaven’s sake. I’m not worried about Michael Dell and other commodities. I mean, give me a break. He’ll source them right and get them at good prices. I think the story would be about the company still doing terrifically when it comes to the data center and the enterprise. So you need to own the stock ahead of the quarter. That’s a gutsy prediction, probably the most gutsy that you’re going to hear tonight.”
While we acknowledge the potential of Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DELL and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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