We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Says Big Tech is Back And Deep Dives Into These 8 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed.
During the latest episode of Mad Money, which aired on the 1st of May, Jim Cramer dove straight into the recent tech earnings reports and celebrated the fact that some of the biggest names reported great earnings, saying:
“Sometimes you forget why you ever like something in the first place. Take the super stocks, the hyperscalers, the tech titans, I don’t care, whatever you want to call them. These stocks all got lumped together because of their size, their gigantic market caps that dwarf the rest of the market and then they lost their juice. […] We’re reminded of how the mega caps got so big to begin with. It’s their scale, their smarts, their moats, their balance sheets, and their sensational products.”
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He then emphasized how quickly the market turned around on the back of those great earnings reports:
“Couple weeks ago, the formerly magnificent seven felt impossible to own. But days like today remind you why you avoid these stocks at your own pearl. You got to have a couple of them. These companies are endowed with tens of billions of dollars. They’re like nation states. They don’t flinch at spending tens of billions to compete in artificial intelligence. They have the flexibility to pivot to what’s necessary. […] They’re run by seasoned hands who are incorruptible and bold and can course correct if they missed the mark the previous quarter. They are marvellous gems.”
Voicing his support for the big American tech companies, he said:
“This is why I take every chance to harangue public officials and urge them to stand up for these companies which because of their size have become honeypots for lawsuits by foreign governments who never stop hitting them up for money. But in the end, their optionality knows no bounds. Save tariffs. Something that they could not have seen coming and snuck up on them very fast. Snuck up on everyone. This has been the roughest stretch for these amazing companies that I can recall. “
Finally, he gave his nod of approval to these resilient companies, before beginning to analyze their recent earnings reports:
“But the bottom line, if we’re in for lean times, you know what? It’s quarters like these that remind me that these mega caps were built to prosper, built to make money in any kind of market, and they’re truly ready to excel when things turn south for everybody else, including Apples.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 8 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on May 1. 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).
A wide view of an Apple store, showing the range of products the company offers.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
While discussing the tech giants’ earnings, Jim Cramer turned to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). He called the earnings report “strong” but with a “muddier outlook” in his view. He then went over the company’s earnings and gave his own analysis on them as well as the potential impact of tariffs on their costs. Here’s what he said:
“Apple gave us a classic top and bottom line beat with sales up 5% year-over-year and earnings per share up 8% despite strong FX headwinds in the period.
Everyone was worried about iPhone sales, but those came in nearly $1 billion ahead of expectations with Apple CEO Tim Cook telling me tonight there was no evidence of a temporary sales boost from consumers buying ahead of the tariffs. China sales a little light of but isn’t that expected by now? Offset by much better than expected sales in the Americas and the rest of Asia.
Apple continues to achieve record sales in many emerging markets. The stock, by the way, get this: It’s reduced its share count by over 40% since 2012. It announced a new $100 billion dollar share purchase repurchase tonight. Only the very consistent service revenue line was light. That was disappointing. Got to call it when I see it.
I expect that the company will give more color on the exposure to tariffs and the potential impact that they might have on the rest of the year during the earnings call which is currently ongoing. And while the strength of the first quarter results themselves are a great reminder of why it never really pays to get too negative on the world’s largest company, Apple’s estimating it will have $900 million in cost increases and tariffs next quarter. That is suboptimal. Not their fault. It will matter, but it’s suboptimal. […]
Even though it’s the slowest growing and the most tariffed, it does still make the most beloved products in the world.”
Here’s what Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund said about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“The fund maintained a position in Apple throughout the quarter through the release of the company’s new iPhone 16 in September. Company leaders were excited about the release of the new model, as this is the first model that will feature enhanced AI capabilities through the Apple Intelligence features. Sales for the first few weeks in October and November trailed behind year over year sales from the iPhone 15, as availability of Apple Intelligence was not compatible with all iPhone models. Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI that has allowed the integration of ChatGPT into the Apple ecosystem, separate from the core Apple Intelligence features. This partnership highlights continued progress from Apple to introduce AI capabilities into its products and we expect the iPhone 17 to have even more expansive AI capabilities, increasing potential demand for the new model that is on track to be released in 2025.”
Overall, AAPL ranks 6th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL 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. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
