Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, expressed his frustration on March 19 about how investors often get caught up in discussions revolving around the Federal Reserve, interest rates, and the President’s trade policies, overlooking other important factors.
“Every now and then, we want to make money in the worst way, and when I say the worst way, I mean the dumbest way. We wind up talking endlessly about the Fed and interest rates or the President’s trade policy, whether it’s punitive tariffs, reciprocal tariffs. Oh man, come on.”
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Talked About 7 Stocks & Stagflation Fears and Jim Cramer Recently Talked About These 12 Companies
On Wednesday, Cramer noted that investors reacted to the Fed’s open market committee meeting results with the same old rhetoric. The Fed announced, without any surprise, that it was leaving rates unchanged, and the market responded positively to the news.
Cramer clarified, however, that he recognizes the significance of the Federal Reserve in influencing market trends. He acknowledged that any negative remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, like signaling that inflation is still out of control or that tariffs might lead to higher prices, pushing the Fed to raise interest rates, or eliminating the possibility of rate cuts, would indeed have a damaging effect. But, he emphasized, none of that came to pass on Wednesday.
“But there’s more to this market than the day-to-day action, which is why I want to focus on the bigger long-term themes for you.”
Cramer argued that, even with changes in interest rates, these long-term stories will be what really matters. Among these enduring trends, Cramer spotlighted artificial intelligence. He called the cooling off in AI investments in recent months “wrong”.
He maintained that AI is a multi-trillion-dollar force that will continue to drive market growth and innovation. Cramer pointed out that the U.S. is grappling with a significant labor shortage, and robots, capable of handling tedious, hazardous, and undesirable tasks, are here to stay. AI’s influence, according to Cramer, is unstoppable, unaffected by the Federal Reserve or even trade policies.
“It’s a multi-trillion dollar wave that can’t be stopped by the Fed or even the tariffs. Why? Because AI’s going to change the world and if you stand in its way, you’re nothing but a candle in the wind.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 9 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on March 10. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 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).
Jim Cramer Focused On These 9 Stocks Recently
9. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34
Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) was mentioned during the episode, and here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“All right, so Cal-Maine, the reason why it’s going down is because people feel this, this shortage is going to end, when the shortage is going in, the stock is gonna go lower. I totally agree with you on everything, but I do and when I see a stock with a 4 or 5 PE, that means the numbers are going lower and therefore it’s probably not as cheap as you think. And that’s the way I look at Cal-Maine.”
Cal-Maine (NASDAQ:CALM) produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes a variety of shell eggs and egg products, including specialty options like cage-free, organic, and nutritionally enhanced eggs under various brand names. Diamond Hill Capital stated the following regarding Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Other top Q4 contributors included Centrus Energy, Graham Corp and Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM). Fresh egg producer Cal-Maine Foods has benefited from an avian flu outbreak, which has led to a significant supply disruption and driven egg prices to record highs, in turn raising Cal-Maine’s share price.”
8. Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42
A caller highlighted that Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) has $400 in financing and is to be bought out by a big pharmaceutical company. Cramer replied:
“Well, we don’t know when, you know what, this is one where I don’t want to tempt fate. There’s no revenues to speak of. It’s kind of a very dicey stock. It’s been supported by a couple of firms and I think that’s terrific. I would sell half and let the other half run. I just cannot recommend a risky stock right here.”
Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing therapies for respiratory diseases, including Ohtuvayre, a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, and asthma.
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