On Monday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, analyzed the 10 largest stocks that suffered the most significant declines the previous week. He explained that examining the biggest losers can offer important insights into the current state of the market.
“Last Thursday and Friday were just brutal with the S&P plunging a combined 2.1%, Nasdaq [and] Dow both fell 2.7% as we got some soft economic data paired with some signs that the Fed, they weren’t that eager to make cuts.”
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Cramer emphasized that although the average decline was only 2-3% over the two-day selloff. However, focusing on individual stocks, the damage was much worse. He noted that growth stocks, which had been performing well, began to falter starting on Wednesday. Cramer then reviewed the largest pullbacks from the last three days of the week.
He explained that his analysis covered all components of the S&P 1500, specifically those with market capitalizations above $10 billion, ensuring a thorough and rigorous review. And when looking at these names collectively, Cramer noted that there is a lot to learn about the market dynamics. He went on to say:
“First for the hottest of the hot stocks without valuation support, they’re always vulnerable to sharp pullbacks usually it’s because of the bond market. Not this time.”
He added that when investors buy into momentum stocks, the gains can come quickly but just as easily disappear. Furthermore, he pointed out that many companies that were once considered solid performers are now reporting good earnings but offering disappointing guidance, which signals potential trouble ahead. He also noted that the less-than-truckload freight companies are suddenly out of favor, a sign of a weakening economy.
“Here’s the bottom line: At least in the eyes of Wall Street, the US economy’s looking quite a bit worse than it did just a month ago. Fortunately, it’s now a new week and even started off well with some decent gains for most stocks today, although there was a bit of collapse at the close. But we can always learn something from looking at the results of the tape and last week we got a real education from the momentum buyers trapped in the school of hard knocks.”
Jim Cramer on 10 Stocks With The Biggest Declines Last Week
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 10 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on February 24. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock 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 on 10 Stocks With The Biggest Declines Last Week
10. XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44
XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) was discussed during the episode. Here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say about the company:
“Hey, by the way, the ninth biggest loser, Old Dominion Freight Line, good company, and the 10th biggest loser XPO, also good, are in the the same less-than-truckload business. All three of these freight companies reported earlier in February, turning in okay results but they all got hit last week in response to an ugly quarter from competitor TFI International. And by the way, also FedEx was rumored to become more of a competitor in the industry. I don’t know about this group. When you throw in the softer macro data mentioned earlier, Wall Street just gave up on all these. The freight market’s been awful for years. Now we call it the freight recession, but if you’re waiting for bottom, you might wanna wait a little longer to get some confirmation [that] things are improving. I don’t see any improvement… As for the nine and 10, we’ll do the freight players I mentioned, that’s Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO. Both freight plays with less-than-truckload exposure like Saia. Now, and, and they both went down on negative pin action from the competitor and not necessarily from themselves.”
XPO (NYSE:XPO) offers freight transportation services, including less-than-truckload, truckload, brokerage, and multimodal solutions, along with managed transportation and warehousing across various regions.
9. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50
Cramer delved into Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) stock’s recent decline and the freight market’s weakness.
“Hey, by the way, the ninth biggest loser, Old Dominion Freight Line, good company, and the 10th biggest loser XPO, also good, are in the the same less-than-truckload business. All three of these freight companies reported earlier in February, turning in okay results but they all got hit last week in response to an ugly quarter from competitor TFI International. And by the way, also FedEx was rumored to become more of a competitor in the industry. I don’t know about this group. When you throw in the softer macro data mentioned earlier, Wall Street just gave up on all these. The freight market’s been awful for years. Now we call it the freight recession, but if you’re waiting for bottom, you might wanna wait a little longer to get some confirmation [that] things are improving. I don’t see any improvement… As for the nine and 10, we’ll do the freight players I mentioned, that’s Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO. Both freight plays with less-than-truckload exposure like Saia. Now, and, and they both went down on negative pin action from the competitor and not necessarily from themselves.”
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) provides less-than-truckload and expedited transportation services, along with value-added solutions such as container drayage, truckload brokerage, and supply chain consulting.
Conestoga Capital Advisors stated the following regarding Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Based in Thomasville, NC, Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) is one of the country’s largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, an industry which has high barriers to entry. The company generated industry leading profit margins because of the durable competitive advantages it has created over decades including a balanced network and superior service. The freight industry is coming off a two plus year volume recession and we anticipate ODFL will resume its historical cadence of share gains in the next freight upcycle.”
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