On Tuesday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, broke down which stocks came out on top in the first half of 2025 and which names in the S&P 500 fell the hardest.
“The first half of 2025 is officially over, and it’s been a wild ride. Let’s learn. The market got obliterated in early April thanks to the president’s Liberation Day tariff announcements.”
READ ALSO: 14 Stocks Jim Cramer Recently Looked At and 21 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar.
Cramer noted that soon after, there was a swift rebound as most of those tariffs were eventually delayed or dropped altogether. He highlighted that by the end of June, the Dow had risen 3.6%, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted gains of 5.5%, finishing the second quarter at all-time highs. However, not every corner of the market participated in the rebound. Cramer noted that the small-cap-focused Russell 2000 was still down and took a jab at earlier investor sentiment, commenting, “Remember how everyone said to buy those?”
“Here’s the bottom line: Looking back at the top five performers in the S&P 500 for the first half, it’s kind of a mix of representatives from the market’s top themes, AI data center, anything that can help them keep the lights on, plus, the red hot bull market in aerospace… These winners can teach us a great deal, but there’s just as much to learn from the market’s worst performers.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 10 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episodes of Mad Money aired on July 1. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the first quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 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 Recently Discussed These 10 S&P 500 Stocks
10. Edison International (NYSE:EIX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44
Edison International (NYSE:EIX) is one of the stocks listed in our article, Jim Cramer recently discussed these 10 S&P 500 stocks. The company was the last of the worst S&P 500 performers in the first half of the year, and Cramer said:
“Finally, the fifth worst performer… of the first half was Edison International, that’s a regulated electric utility in southern California, with the stock that was down 35%. This year began with those horrific LA wildfires, which took place in the company’s service area. But that’s not what truly crushed the stock. California utilities have all proven to be bad investments this year… What’s the issue in California? Proposed regulations that were originally aimed at addressing affordability, but somehow morphed into a major regulatory overhaul.
The bill in question… would create a new regulatory authority, force utilities to take on debt to pay for fire mitigation, capital efforts, and other capital spending, while also limiting their ability to recoup these costs by raising prices. Oh man, the utilities would… have to make an ongoing contribution to a state-run wildfire insurance fund.
The bill passed the California Senate last month, and it’s still working its way through… the state assembly. I don’t want to get into the politics of this, but obviously, it would be very bad for the utilities that do business in the state. If you buy something like Edison International here, you’re betting that this bill dies in the next couple of weeks or gets vetoed by the governor. I personally wouldn’t take that bet.”
Edison International (NYSE:EIX) produces and delivers electricity throughout Southern California. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural customers.
9. lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 48
lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) is one of the stocks listed in our article, Jim Cramer recently discussed these 10 S&P 500 stocks. Cramer acknowledged that he was wrong about LULU bouncing back in May and said:
“The fourth worst performer, wow, lululemon athletica, the former athleisure kingpin, which suffered a nearly 38% decline in the first half. lululemon’s struggling for some of the same reasons as Deckers, and that includes an excessive reliance on Vietnamese manufacturing, which we all thought people should be doing. Back in late May, I told you that lululemon might be due for a comeback, given how far its stock had fallen. That was a big mistake of mine. I guess I had too much reverence for the brand, and I thought the expectations were too low.
No, turns out they weren’t low enough. LULU reported a stinker of a quarter last month, sending its stock down almost 20% in a single session, and it hasn’t been able to find its footing since. Can LULU come back now? Stock’s certainly cheap, selling for less than 17 times this year’s earnings estimates, but I just stuck my neck out on this one only to have it chopped off. At the end of the day, while LULU pretty much invented the athleisure space, that business has become incredibly competitive. So until they can put up better numbers, LULU’s in the penalty box here.”
lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) designs athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories for both men and women.