Jim Cramer, the Mad Money host, said on Thursday that he sees travel demand climbing and discussed various travel and leisure stocks.
“While I’m happy to see all these travel stocks roaring, you have to be cognizant that if you buy them up here, you are chasing them a little bit. But you know, I’m also wary about the fact that Wall Street’s attitude toward anything connected to the consumer can apparently change on a dime like it did three weeks ago.”
READ ALSO Jim Cramer Expressed Thoughts on These 14 Stocks and Jim Cramer Highlighted 7 Stocks in Light of the Fed Rate Cut
Cramer pointed out that the most recent shift happened to be positive, but he said there is no way to know what the next turn will look like. He noted that even with that uncertainty, the travel rallies still have room because a number of these companies remain well below past highs and trade at what he said are reasonable price-to-earnings multiples. He added that it is the kind of setup people look for in this market.
“Here’s the bottom line: We need to stay close to the consumer, watching what they’re doing rather than indicators that only follow what people say they’re doing to make sure that there’s no clear sign that things are deteriorating…. It’s hard to own these stocks. I think the consumer travel trade, though, can keep working as long as the Fed remains our friend. I bet these stocks continue to go higher, and there’s a residue here from the pandemic. It taught us something. We’re long on money, but we’re short on time.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 7 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on December 11. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the third quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 978 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 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
Jim Cramer Recently Talked About These 7 Travel and Leisure Stocks
7. Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK) is one of the travel and leisure stocks Jim Cramer recently talked about. Cramer called it his favorite during the episode, as he remarked:
“Finally, as I looked over the S&P 500’s top gainers today, I noticed that three of the top five gains came from major cruise line companies. I thought this strange. Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival, all up about 6%. But that again is part of what you buy after a Fed cut if you think the consumer’s better than you think. Let’s also not forget about Viking Holdings, the river cruise company that’s not included in the S&P 500. That is my favorite. Viking’s held up much better than the three majors this year because it’s more focused on older, wealthier travelers. The whole group’s been roaring for the past couple weeks, in part because everyone recognized that the Fed is still our friend and the shutdown didn’t really matter.”
Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK) runs passenger travel services and provides river, ocean, and expedition cruises. Cramer discussed the company stock’s performance for the year during the October 21 episode. He said:
“Lately, we’ve heard a lot of handwringing about how demand for travel is finally tapering off, but not all forms of travel are created equal. Some of them are more equal than others, and that’s why the cruise lines have been holding up incredibly well. They represent tremendous value. Take Viking Holdings, that’s the parent of Viking Cruises, which is the world’s leading river cruise play. So far, this stock’s up more than 155% since it came public, roughly a year and a half ago, including a 39% gain year to date. At these levels, Viking’s within striking distance of its all-time high.”
6. Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) is one of the travel and leisure stocks Jim Cramer recently talked about. Cramer noted that the stock is cheaper than BKNG, as he commented:
“I’d much rather go with the online travel agencies like Expedia and Booking Holdings… Expedia’s up… 35% before it bottomed in early November. Of the two (BKNG and EXPE), Expedia had the better third quarter… Expedia’s the cheaper stock, trading at just over 15 times next year’s earnings. That’s way too cheap versus roughly 20 times earnings for Booking. Plus, both of them should do better if I’m right about the consumer’s a lot more resilient than anyone thought of a month ago.”
Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) operates travel platforms that provide lodging, flights, car rentals, vacation rentals, and package options. During the September 22 episode, Cramer suggested sticking with the company’s stock, as he said:
“And then there’s Expedia, the online travel agency. Expedia’s projected to put up 18% earnings growth next year, but it sells for 13 times next year’s numbers. Oh, that is very cheap. In fact, it’s much cheaper than key competitor, Booking Holdings, at 21 times earnings. So I say stick with Expedia. Booking’s a very well-run company though.”
