On Thursday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, shared his thoughts on the president’s recent stance against the “false free trade era,” expressing his agreement with the shift away from free trade.
“Yes, I’m not a big fan of free trade. Yes, I feel that our country has been abused by our so-called trading partners, especially when it comes to cars. And yes, I favor the 25% tariff on automobile imports. Close watchers of the show know that this is not a new view for me. I’ve seen China devastate entire industries in this country.”
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Cramer said that America made a “deal with the devil” in the 1990s by allowing the influx of cheap goods from overseas. He noted that while there is nothing inherently wrong with affordable products, the trade-off has been the decimation of American industries and the devastation of factory towns across the country.
Cramer observed that the loss of manufacturing jobs has been a major concern. He noted that while the decision to import cheap goods may have seemed like a good deal at the time, in retrospect, it has led to significant societal and economic damage. He added:
“Now the president has declared that false free trade era is over, and I’m on board with this even as I wish he could lay out a clear plan rather than rolling out the tariffs one by one.”
He emphasized that if America wanted to bring back manufacturing jobs, sacrifices would be required, including the imposition of tariffs. The most important point for Cramer was the acknowledgment that these jobs, along with the many ancillary positions tied to them, had been lost, but there might be a chance for some of them to return.
“Factory jobs may not be as important these days as every other kind of job, frankly but when we look around our country at all these gutted small towns that have led to such despair, such drug use, such homelessness, the bargain for cheap goods, I think it’s a mistake. I’m glad the White House is finally going full speed in the opposite direction. It’s about time.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 16 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on March 27. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment 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 Put These 16 Stocks Under a Microscope
16. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE:TKC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 9
A caller asked what Cramer thought about Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE:TKC) and he stated, “Well, I mean that’s like a dice roll…. That’s a bridge too far for me.”
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE:TKC) provides a variety of digital services, including broadband, cloud storage, communication platforms, digital payments, and cybersecurity, alongside financial offerings like loans and insurance. According to the company’s 2025 guidance, the company aims for revenue growth of 7%-9%, data center and cloud revenue growth of 32%-34%, an EBITDA margin of 41%-42%, and an operational capex to sales ratio of approximately 24%.
15. GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
Highlighting the current focus on preventative medicine and the Cancer Moonshot, a caller asked his thoughts on GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) and Cramer replied:
“I actually like GRAIL a lot. I am probably alone on this because they’re losing a lot of money. But for exactly why you said I like Grail and I would be a buyer.”
GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) is a healthcare company specializing in early cancer detection technologies, offering screening tests for asymptomatic individuals, diagnostic aids for suspected cancer cases, and post-diagnostic tests, along with development services for clinical studies and research. Earlier, in January, when Cramer was asked about the company, he said:
“Just great science, but it is parabolic. It had a parabolic move, and those are going to be repealed…Please wait until it gives back a lot of the gain that it just had.”
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