Jim Cramer Rubbished Circular AI Deals & Commented On These 5 Stocks

In this article, we will discuss: Jim Cramer Rubbished Circular AI Deals & Commented On These 5 Stocks. For more stocks, you can head to Jim Cramer Rubbished Circular AI Deals & Commented On These 18 Stocks.

Why Jim Cramer Stands by Defense Sector and 5 Stock Calls

5. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q4 2025: 82

Athletic apparel giant NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)’s shares are down by 18.7% over the past year and by 26.7% year-to-date. HSBC discussed the firm on April 13th as it cut the share price target to $48 from $90 and lowered the rating to Hold from Buy. Earlier, Piper Sandler had downgraded NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) to Neutral from Overweight and cut the share price target to $50 from $60. Innovation at the firm was a key factor in the coverage, as Piper Sandler remarked that the apparel company lacked in this area. In his morning appearance in December, Cramer remarked that NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) needed lower inventory and higher innovation. As he has slowly become less optimistic about the firm, Cramer wondered in this appearance whether activist investor Elliott Management could play a role at NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE):

“You’ll just love this. Elliott has to take on Elliott. Well Elliott Partners has to take on Elliott Hill at Nike. It’ll be the battle of two titans, Elliott versus Elliott.”

Here is what Cramer had said about NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in December:

“Remember the turns that we need, the Nike turn, the Starbucks turn, the FedEx not kind of minor turn. I think all three of them, Nike has too much inventory still. . .

“I think that he’s worried about, Elliott Hill’s worried about China, he doesn’t have any clarity on China, if he had more clarity on China and he had more innovation which is what I’m counting on. It’s the two Is here, innovation, they need more innovation, and inventory, they need less. If you can get the two Is going, the stock goes to a hundred rather quickly. I think the stock gets three downside and 20 upside.”

4. Allbirds, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIRD)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q4 2025: 1

Allbirds, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIRD) made quite a splash earlier this month when it announced that it would pivot into becoming an AI chip company. Its shares are up by a whopping 106% year-to-date, primarily on the back of a 582% jump on April 15th when it made the announcement. Cramer didn’t take kindly to the affair, as he called Allbirds, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIRD)’s management “clowns and fraudsters” after they announced the shift. In this appearance, he remarked that the market as a whole would suffer if more people followed Allbirds, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIRD)’s approach and added that the firm should be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):

“You know by the way, I would just say. . .travesty, it’s wrong, if they do this stuff, more of these do it, you and I are going to have to say senora to the market. The SEC should be looking into what they’re doing. . .the SEC should call them in and say, can I understand your plan?”

In his Mad Money appearance on the 16th, Cramer explained his chagrin towards Allbirds, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIRD):

“Why am I so adamant that speculation is getting out of control again? Well, exhibit A has to be a company called Allbirds… Six weeks ago, Allbirds seemed to be headed into the dustbin of history… It doesn’t make any money. But rather than shut down, it did something I’m sure it thought was genius. Allbirds sold its shoe business to American Exchange Group, and it announced a definitive agreement with an institutional investor for a $50 million convertible bond, which, and I’m quoting from the release here, “will enable the company to pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider.

“Yep, they pivoted from casual shoes to AI, and they’re changing the name to NewBird AI. The company sees a need for more compute and it’s going to bridge the gap. They say that NewBird AI will, and I quote, “initially seek to acquire high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements, meeting customer demand that spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service.” Oh, I got it. There’s a compute shortage and we know who to call, a casual shoemaker… Allbirds wasn’t even a successful shoe company, for heaven’s sake, yet the stock rallied nearly 600% yesterday on this… news story.”

3. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q4 2025: 256

Social media giant Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of Cramer’s top stocks when it comes to going against the narrative. While the firm has come under pressure for its multi-billion-dollar capital spending plans, the CNBC TV host has regularly defended it by commenting that it needs to spend in order to protect its industry moat from OpenAI. Deutsche Bank also discussed Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s shares on April 16th. It reiterated a Buy rating and a $920 share price target on the firm and remarked that the firm’s AI investments will help bolster its bread-and-butter advertising business. Cramer has also praised Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s smart glasses on multiple occasions, and like Deutsche, he has also praised the impact of AI on its advertising business. In this appearance, he once again went against the grain when it came to heavy spending on AI talent:

“And he’s so good, he brought in all this A talent, we’re now starting to see that talent produce. Remember everyone saying he paid too much for people, that’s wrong. . .he’s a talent evaluator.”

2. Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q4 2025: 85

Glass manufacturer Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) has been one of Jim Cramer’s favorite stocks when it comes to the data center industry. In 2025’s latter half, the CNBC TV host asserted on multiple occasions that Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)’s ability and plans to switch out copper for glass in the data center sector made it a great stock to buy. Mizuho discussed the firm on April 2nd as it raised the share price target to $155 from $145 and kept an Outperform rating. Mizuho’s coverage came after Bank of America had raised Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)’s share price target to $144 from $155 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. BofA explained that it had made the adjustments due to expectations about the strength in the optical cycle. Cramer discussed JPMorgan’s coverage of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW):

“JPMorgan rains down on the huge parade, by talking about maybe we should be getting a little more negative or a little more circumspect about the data center and they downgrade one of my favorite positions, Corning. They take down Corning. It is a take down, by the way, and they may not think it is, but, ouch. I mean, look at that. And that stock has been one of my biggest wins, unlike, this is a Nike upside down. But yeah they said listen, let’s not go overboard, it’s kind of like Taiwan Semi, it’s up so much.

“Fiber has better latency, when I was down with Wendell Weeks and Tim Cook, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Wendell Weeks being the CEO of Corning, he talked about how fiber could take over the whole darn data center. Because they burn so hot.”

1. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q4 2025: 45

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) is one of the largest freight and logistics companies in the US. Its shares are up by 96% over the past year and by 28% year-to-date. April has been a good month for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)’s stock as it is up by 12.4% since the 15th. Evercore ISI increased the firm’s share price target to $232 from $222 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares on March 26th, according to The Fly. As part of its coverage, the financial firm remarked that the downturn that had affected the firm appeared to have ended. Evercore based its opinion macroeconomic and other industry-specific signals. Cramer praised J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)’s management during the earnings call:

“I happen like JB Hunt, and I like the fact that they’re always candid on their call. They really kind of called the bottom yesterday. Now I know that they would say, Jim don’t say that we inflected. But it was a really good call, it was very positive, the stock hadn’t been going up but this was the, what I’d call, the breakout call.”

While we acknowledge the potential of JBHT to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than JBHT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years.

Disclosure: None. Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and insiders. Please subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email address below.