We recently published an article titled Jim Cramer Discusses These 10 Stocks & Says Bitcoin Created “Froth” In The Market. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) stands against the other stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.

In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer discussed the impact of Elon Musk’s DOGE cost-cutting efforts on the US government and how action against smaller agencies such as USAID can translate into action against larger agencies and programs.

According to him:

“But I do think that when the Defense Department is on the [inaudible], and then Medicare, Medicaid. I mean, Medicare, Medicaid, I don’t know a soul who thinks that there isn’t fat in there. And I also think that, kind of like the labor department, with the unemployment number we really don’t know what it is we have big revisions, if we had, if we gave to Salesforce, I don’t know. . .I think that, if we gave these companies, literally outsourced these companies, I know people are going to say, Jim you are like, that is so right wing, but if there’s, the machines are better. . “

Cramer also commented on recent Bitcoin price action which saw the cryptocurrency dip below the $90,000 mark. He linked Bitcoin as being a “proxy for the fact that we have thirty-six trillion in debt.” Cramer also wondered how much of the gain in Bitcoin’s price was due to Michael Saylor’s firm adding the currency to its balance sheet.

Cramer added that his team has concluded that so much of the “froth” in the market in untested areas such as quantum computing came from Bitcoin. He outlined: “The reason why we’ve had so much froth . . .we think that Bitcoin got people very excited about things that are space age and that the fundament of speculation is Bitcoin. That’s what turned it all on.”

Another topic that caught the CNBC TV host’s attention was the mergers and acquisition environment in the Trump administration. After the President’s election victory in November, investors were ecstatic as they believed that the new administration could create a healthy environment for deals. Commenting on how the rules of the market still remained the same, Cramer outlined:

“Look you can enforce the rules two ways. You can use the rules and talk. Or you can prosecute using the rules. And they’re not going to prosecute. They’re going to have discussions. They are not going to do it the way that Biden did.”

He also shared that the “size” of the deals that are taking place is “microscopic” and added that “The M&A and the IPO markets are as dead as I have ever seen them.”

Apart from the M&A sector, another sector he discussed was the consumer packaged goods. These firms have struggled amidst high input prices and inflation. Cramer believes “They should all, the consumer packaged goods companies, should merge. Because they’re pathetic. They’re pathetic parodies of stocks. . . which by the way I really like them.”

Finally, he also commented on the poor performance of Mag 7 stocks and inflation. According to Cramer:

“I mean, I keep thinking about what you said about the Mag 7, and their ability to be able to affect spending. If that’s the case, look, the Fed is, Austan Goolsbee, whom I really, really like, he’s been waffling. I wish he went the other way. Because I think the data says, that he would have been right. Except for insurance, stake, eggs, okay. These are bad. Insurance, steak, and eggs. And then entertainment is just ridiculous. If Swift were to cut the prices of her tickets, we would have a rate cut immediately.”

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 25th.

For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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).

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 84

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a networking and data center equipment provider. Its shares are up by a modest 32% over the past year as the firm has navigated a tough non-AI market by focusing on AI networking equipment and cutting down its workforce to manage costs. Cramer’s comments about Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) surrounded the firm’s recent deal with AI GPU giant NVIDIA. Through the deal, the pair will work on NVIDIA’s ethernet connectivity system. Here is what Cramer said:

“People are talking about NVIDIA. And there is a nice deal this morning with Cisco. I think it’s actually much more important than people realize. Cisco’s the first to qualify. It’s going to be a real partnership. And that uh Chuck Robbins working closely with Jensen. But there is an overwhelming sense that this market keys on NVIDIA at a moment when we have no idea what the federal government’s gonna do to NVIDIA.”

Overall CSCO ranks 9th on our list of stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of CSCO 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CSCO but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.