We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer Discussed These 11 Stocks & Erratic Stock Market Performance. In this article, we are going to take a look at where AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) stands against the other stocks.
In his latest appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer commented on the erratic behavior displayed by markets at the previous day’s close. He explained that “there was a, really, an incredible program in the last seven minutes was out of high growth and into value. Or some people would say, value growth.”
While money appeared to be funneling into value stocks, for Cramer, it made sense as the market lacked liquidity. He explained that “people have to recognize that it wasn’t manipulation but it did seem, uh, strange and wrong. So, I almost want to use the word phony.” The CNBC TV host outlined that stock price movement appeared artificial “Because the market was. . . it was bad yesterday in the last five minutes.”
He added that as he was “trying to do my show and I always like to put it at the beginning, uh, where we are, and I had rushed up at five o four to interview a guest, [the] market was down, and it turned out I had to redo it. . . market was up.” As a result, the volatility and erratic stock behavior led Cramer to conclude that there wasn’t any deeper meaning to the movements. He concluded: “So I mean take this with a grain of salt, like a lot of things we have to take with a grain of salt right now.”
As for which stocks were affected, he outlined the “money kind of rotated back, to some stocks, like there were retail stocks that were up, they looked pretty good. I saw some, some pharma do well.
One topic that has gripped the financial and political worlds by storm since President Trump took over is tariffs. The President has threatened to levy tariffs on several major American trading partners. When asked whether the tariffs will be in place by April 2, Cramer shared: “And those who don’t go to Mar-a-Lago, and say you know what, we need a little time, but we’re gonna build a plant in Talladega, and we’re gonna build a plant in Bristol . . . and they get it, and then there’s no tariff.”
However, he believes that underneath the rhetoric, Trump is “actually being pretty rational, we don’t think he is, but he is.” According to Cramer, this is because “He’s looking at places where we have big trade deficits. And just saying this has to end. And the only way you can end it is to build things here, and this is what the Chinese did to us, a lot of countries did this to us. And he’s just asking, when he was on the tour, with the campaign, he would go to a lot of cities that were burned out, that used to have plants and say listen, we’re gonna bring the plants back.”
While everyone told the President “you really can’t bring back manufacturing,” Cramer believes that Trump is “doing it, he’s doing it by threatening companies that have had, really had a great run with us, it’s all he’s said.” As for those surprised by the President’s hard-hitting approach, he outlined:
“I mean you know you get what you paid for, you got this President, you voted for this President, this President is doing what he said he would do and we all act as if like, holy cow, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Well, no, go these towns in Pennsylvania and Ohio . . .the fentanyl towns, he said we gotta bring the manufacturing back. That’s what he means.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down all the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on February 19th.
For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here).
An AutoNation-branded dealership, showcasing the wide variety of new and used vehicles on offer.
AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 43
AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) is one of the largest car retailers in America. The shares are up by 37% over the past year as high interest rates coupled with inflation meant that new car sales fell and used car sales rose. In 2025, AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)’s shares gained 13.8% as the firm’s $4.97 in Q4 EPS beat analyst estimates of $4.24 while its $7.21 billion in revenue beat $6.67 billion in estimates. Cramer attributed the strength in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)’s business to a robust used car market as he shared:
“AutoNation, positive note today. Used cars are selling really well.”
Overall AN ranks 6th on our list of the stocks Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of AN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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