We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer’s Lightning Round: 8 Stocks to Watch. In this article, we are going to take a look at where IES Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IESC) stands against Jim Cramer’s other stocks.

Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, recently shared his insights on several key topics. He discussed the recent turmoil in the pharmaceutical sector, which followed the news that President-elect Trump is considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Cramer pointed out that the pharmaceutical industry took a significant hit after the announcement, but he believes this may present solid buying opportunities. Cramer acknowledged that RFK Jr., whom he humorously referred to as “Bobby Jr. for some Sopranos flavor,” has a strong anti-big pharma stance, which could be a concern for the sector. However, Cramer emphasized:

“… There’s a whole federal bureaucracy at HHS and frankly, I don’t think Trump will let him wreck a pretty important sector of the stock market.”

READ ALSO Jim Cramer Is Focused on These 15 Stocks This Week and Jim Cramer Talked About These 11 Stocks Recently

Cramer further addressed the potential confirmation of RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He suggested that while there is a debate about whether the Senate will provide confirmation for him, he believes RFK Jr. will likely be approved. However, Cramer remained less concerned about RFK Jr. causing significant damage to the pharmaceutical industry, noting that he doesn’t expect him to have much success in pushing his anti-vaccine or anti-pharma agenda. Moving on to broader market trends, Cramer commented:

“After the initial Trump rally euphoria in the wake of the election, we quickly transitioned to a Trump rally hangover last week with the averages getting clobbered.”

He highlighted that semiconductor stocks were among the hardest hit, partially due to the typical tech sector sell-off when bond yields rise, as they did last week. Cramer also expressed concern, saying:

“With the election results from earlier this month and the second Trump administration coming in about two months, I am very worried about companies that are hostage to the Chinese economy.”

Finally, Cramer turned his attention to autonomous vehicles, suggesting that while the Trump administration’s plans for self-driving cars may sound ambitious, they could be more difficult to execute in practice.

He pointed out that a variety of state and local governments would need to align on new regulations, and the notion that the federal government could allow self-driving cars nationwide with a simple executive order seemed “just plain fanciful.” Despite this, Cramer advocated for owning TSLA, not because of any regulatory changes under Trump, but because he believes in the vision and leadership of the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 8 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on November 18 and listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them.

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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

IES Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IESC)

Cramer commended IES Holdings, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:IESC) CEO and remarked:

“This is a terrific infrastructure play. We know it and one of the things I didn’t know about it is it’s Jeff Gendell’s company. He’s a terrific money manager. He’s really fabulous. He gets everything. This is just [a] fantastic stock.”

IES Holdings (NASDAQ:IESC) specializes in the design, installation, and maintenance of electrical and technology systems, providing infrastructure products and services across various sectors, including residential, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure solutions. Under the leadership of Jeffrey Gendell, who has served as the CEO since October 2020, the company has expanded its reach and capabilities.

Gendell is also the founder and managing member of Tontine Asset Management, a private investment management firm that is the majority shareholder of IES Holdings. During the third quarter, Gendell highlighted the continued growth within the company’s Residential segment. He noted that this segment has expanded its plumbing and HVAC service offerings into new markets, alongside its established electrical services, and is seeing growth that outpaces the general housing market.

Additionally, IES Holdings (NASDAQ:IESC) is increasing its market share in existing electrical markets, further supporting the segment’s success. Gendell also pointed out that the Communications, Infrastructure Solutions, and Commercial & Industrial segments are benefiting from strong demand, particularly driven by the data center market. He expressed optimism about the continued positive performance of these segments through the remainder of fiscal 2024 and into fiscal 2025. The company is set to announce its fourth-quarter and year-end results for fiscal 2024 on November 22.

Overall IESC ranks 4th on Jim Cramer’s list of stocks to watch. While we acknowledge the potential of IESC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that 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 IESC 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.