In this piece, we will look at the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer commented on how market sentiment towards AI appeared to be changing. “Yeah look, this is a moment where, if you have AI, we are now saying it’s good,” he said. “Remember we were sick of AI for a while and now AI’s back,” Cramer added.
He also commented on the current tensions between the US and China regarding AI and overall trade. The US has restricted sales of advanced AI chips to China, and to Cramer, the current environment “feels so much like Russia and United States from the Khrushchev time on, it really does.” He added that US technology was superior to the Chinese, and when co-host David Faber pointed out that China was pushing out a lot of STEM graduates, Cramer replied: “We’re four times smarter than they are. Our schools. Four times better.”
The US AI chip sanctions have included restricting all but 18 countries from being able to acquire the latest AI chips. The laws were introduced under the Biden administration and Cramer’s been their critic. When Faber asked him to explain the rules, called ‘Diffusion Rules,’ Cramer outlined:
“Okay so Biden picked 18 friends. 18 friendly nations that were allowed to get all the chips that they . . and then there was the next group, which was the not so friendly, which when look at, is a lot of EU countries which I always thought were friendly because of NATO, that kind of thing. . .Iceland, Mexico, not in there. And then there’s just the enemies list.”
Cramer added rather cryptically: “And some people now feel that they’re going to offer licensing for a country which would really be bad. Worse than what Biden did.”
He added:
“No they have got to get that changed because. . .if you go check, Jensen Huang did this . . .he did this huge tour, all around the world, to all these countries that are basically going to be denied and that are not friendly.”
As for the impact of tariffs on economic growth, Cramer believes: “Well, we gotta see, this next quarter is the quarter where, everyone is so concerned.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on May 1st.
For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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).
10. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 96
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is one of the biggest banks in America. Cramer has commented on the firm several times during his morning show. He believes Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s CEO Charlie Schwarf is a competent executive and indicated that the firm can benefit if it manages to fully shake off its past reputational hits. Here are his latest thoughts about Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC):
“How about Wells? Selling at the bottom? Well Wells had a corrupt management, in his eyes, and Charlie Scharf has cleaned it up. They still haven’t had the, Federal Reserve, get rid of the cap.”
9. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 110
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is a software company that enables businesses to manage their workflows. Its shares have lost 7.3% year-to-date but performed well in April as they gained 22% during the month’s final days. Cramer’s previous remarks about ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) have commented on the firm’s recent earnings. He explained that the shares performed well because investors had overestimated the impact of cost-cutting efforts on the firm’s business. Here are his recent thoughts about the firm:
“Right, and we want to come back to it. It was a big guide up and it had rule of 50, it had great growth, great margins. This Truist piece today, Hold to Buy, it does say something that I think people have to recognize. This company’s not a leader in AI. And I don’t even know if Jensen Huang has [inaudible] in terms of what, when you bring someone in, you can either build your own AI or you can call ServiceNow and they’ll build it for you. Even for customer relationship management. So I think you maybe want to circle back to the one that was as good last week as the one perceived now. Bill McDermott, credit to him, he’s picked up a huge number of accounts.
“The opposite. . .bigger winner from DOGE, people got that completely wrong. Bill is just a, he’s a closing machine.”
8. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 115
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is one of Jim Cramer’s favorite pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks. In several appearances, the CNBC host has pointed out that the firm’s non-weight loss drug portfolio and sizable manufacturing investments can create compelling tailwinds for the stock. Cramer also believes that the weight loss drug market is now dependent on a pill, and his latest comments about Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) built on this hypothesis:
“Well I mean Dave Ricks was on and really, there was some research this morning that said look really it’s only going to be about two, three percent that ultimately it gets steered to Wegovy. Look, if you go back to the last quarter, Lilly had the same thing happen. Lilly just does not guide aggressively. David Ricks is very conservative. The stock tends to go down more than six, seven, it tends to go down eight, nine, and then you gotta start buying it. We’ve been going through this. We own it through the trust. This is like the third time we’ve had to deal with this. But in the end, what David Ricks said, that was the most important thing, is they have the pill. And the pill mean two hundred million people overseas. Look, you can’t use that, the injector’s gotta be kept cold, people don’t like to take a shot. Whoever has the pill, is going to be the winner.”
“To me, this one where you’ve literally got a CEO, who is the least promotional, Carl this guy’s the least promotional CEO I have ever, really self-effacing.”
“But I love the fact that they are just talking about these markets, like China, India. And how when you get the pill, they’re gonna go all over. He did not talk too much about the claims. They were trying to bait him into saying more things. But there are so many studies out that are going to indicate that it’s just . . .a longer life pill.”
“Well David Ricks would tell you, look the studies of hypertension. Look in the end, it’s going to Alzheimer’s and cancer. What does it do for those?”
7. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 126
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is one of the largest pure-play electric vehicle manufacturers in the world. 2025 has been a tumultuous year for the firm as the stock has struggled due to weakening sales and CEO Elon Musk’s role in the US government. However, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s shares have gained 26% since the firm’s earnings solely on the fact that Musk indicated that he would cut down his government role. Cramer commented on a media report that the firm’s board had purportedly searched for Musk’s replacement:
“Well I mean look I think that there was a campaign that said I wanna be paid here. . .There’s a lot of what I regard as a false narrative here. David, the fact is, when you go and you look at the FT piece, alright ‘Tesla Board Denies Launching Search For Musk. . ” I love the FT, I say that, okay that’s what I called definitive.”
“But don’t you think at the board meeting, I think that we’re dealing with formalities. I think that obviously launching a search is different from, I turn to David and I say, hey David, man I don’t know, shouldn’t we be thinking about how much time he’s spending there? Is that considered to be a search?”
“I think that they, no a formal search no, like they didn’t call Spencer Stuart. They didn’t pick up, hey Jim Citron, I need someone right here. . .right, and I just feel like that what happened is just that, it’s not bad to have that story if you’re board. Because, I think that someone could sue him for not even thinking about it. This board likes to be sued.”
6. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 131
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A) is Warren Buffett’s investment company. It’s been in the news a lot lately primarily because of Buffett’s prescience in holding government bonds at a time when the stock market is facing off with tariffs and due to the ‘Oracle’ selling his stake in Apple long ahead of the recent drop. More recently, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A) made the news after Buffett announced his retirement as CEO and appointed Greg Abel as his successor. Here’s what Cramer said about the firm before Buffett’s announcement:
“It’s been remarkable how prescient he is. And I remember when you’ve talked about it, kids week, it was an observing thing. He was taking some profits. It’s really interesting. I know David always points out to me, he may not do the actual picks. . .Russell Weiner said do you know that Warren Buffett is now my second largest shareholder? And that’s Dominos. And he said I don’t speak to him but it is, and I said well I don’t know, maybe it’s possible that he’s not, that he, but I went to Becky Quick, because Becky can ask him. But what an informator if you find out that he is your second-largest shareholder.”
5. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 162
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is a software company that enables businesses to manage their customer relationships. It’s part of a broader enterprise software group that has been recommended by Cramer recently due to its little exposure to tariff uncertainties. Specifically for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM), Cramer’s previous remarks have asserted that the firm’s recent share price drop is unwarranted. Here are his latest thoughts:
“When Davidson downgraded Salesforce to a Sell, uh, it was very funny, because I asked Benioff, and he goes, Davidson? Who are they?”
4. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 166
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the world’s largest consumer electronics firm which has been caught dead center in the trade tensions between the US and China. The firm manufactures most of its most valuable product, the iPhone, in China. With President Trump levying high tariffs on imports from the Asian country, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been forced to diversify its supply chain. Cramer’s remarks revolved around the firm’s recent legal troubles:
“I was just, when you read that I immediately went to Apple to get comment they were I think a little blindsided there. I thought that was one of the most aggressive things I’ve ever heard a judge do. I don’t know, that was, David, that was basically saying listen, we’re referring this to criminal. We’re referring you to Justice. It’s criminal, it’s not civil. It’s more jail than fine when it’s criminal. Criminal is bad. And you’ve often told me that jail bad, versus non jail.”
“What you wanna hear from them, is that they’ve shifted enough iPhone business to India that they can make em in India and send em to America and then no one cares about if they come from China.”
“I bet you they accelerate how fast they can do it.”
“I think that we’re going to be surprised, how about that, about how quickly they can, it’s vital.”
3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 223
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the world’s leading AI GPU designer whose stock has struggled this year. Investor concerns about the demand for AI GPUs and growing US restrictions against GPU sales to China are some of the factors that have impacted the stock. Cramer’s previous remarks have defended NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and asserted that the firm will experience sizable demand. Here are his recent thoughts:
“And that and the fact Jensen Huang hasn’t said a thing other than the President and the stock is finally getting out of its way.”
“Well how about the fact that Jensen Huang said the whole time they’re buying, they’re ordering, they’re ordering, and people didn’t care what Jensen’s saying. He was out of favor. And then Michael Intrator comes in and says they’re ordering, they’re ordering, what journalist had decided to sabotage this thesis?” “And they’re, both Microsoft and Meta have one single problem that the liars who used, who come on air all the time, maybe they’ll realize they’re lying, maybe they’re just brainwashed. These guys all need more NVIDIA, They all need more data center. I mean that was the theme. I thought the theme was there’s too much NVIDIA and there’s too much data center. David, there was a false narrative that started ever since. . . the DeepSeek Sputnik. And now you have Jensen Huang, explaining to President Trump, how you have to be able to have more countries and we don’t know whether he’s going to win.”
2. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 262
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a frequent feature of Cramer’s morning show. Over the course of the year, he has attributed share price strength to the firm’s cost-cutting efforts and linked weakness to economic concerns that drive down advertisement spending. More recently, Cramer has also wondered whether tariffs on Chinese goods will lead to lower Chinese advertisement spending on Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s social media platforms. Here are his recent thoughts:
“Look, Meta was such a tour de force, that I found myself thinking, if I could start a business I’d like to send a check to Zuckerberg and he would target the people I need to find. I mean this was a call where they actually just said basically Procter & Gamble, what are you doing? McDonald’s, stop. I mean he was saying that advertisers, if you put money into linear TV, you’re just trying to reach the septuagenarian crowd or octogenarian crowd. Come join us. It was just, it was so good. Still they’re losing more than $4 billion in Reality Labs, but that’s some sort of what, is that Area 51 or something?”
“And they’re, both Microsoft and Meta have one single problem that the liars who used, who come on air all the time, maybe they’ll realize they’re lying, maybe they’re just brainwashed. These guys all need more NVIDIA, They all need more data center. I mean that was the theme. I thought the theme was there’s too much NVIDIA and there’s too much data center. David, there was a false narrative that started ever since. . . the DeepSeek Sputnik. And now you have Jensen Huang, explaining to President Trump, how you have to be able to have more countries and we don’t know whether he’s going to win.”
“Three billion people use it [WhatsApp] for business, in lesser developed countries.”
“Not as much [WhatsApp US market penetration] but I think it’s gonna, I’ve got to tell you, the dominance of it overseas is rather extraordinary and I think, I’m glad he said that because I think most people don’t. . .like when I met him he said where’s your WhatsApp, I said what’s that, what’s app, he said no WhatsApp, that’s how we communicate. And you put your face in it and stuff.”
“How was the call, how did you like the call, where he’s just basically saying that we can target anybody. Like you can target, I mean if you have a, like my daughter’s had a potato chip company, she needs to target people who like potato chips that are curly. I think he’d do it.”
1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 317
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock appears to have turned around a corner since the firm’s latest earnings report. The shares have gained 10% as management painted a positive picture of AI growth. AI growth and profitability have driven Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s narrative since last year and led the firm to lose its crown as the world’s most valuable company. Here are Cramer’s thoughts about the earnings report:
“Well Microsoft had guided, so suddenly you get on this call and they just crush it. They guide higher and there’s glee on the call. It’s glee. Amy Hood is happy. Satya Nadella is happy. They correct people if anyone is less happy. It was just, David, a happy call. Happy call.”
“Oh my god, remember how Amy Hood at one point said that was non-AI, that was looking good she corrected a wayward analyst who just didn’t get the memo.”
“And they’re, both Microsoft and Meta have one single problem that the liars who used, who come on air all the time, maybe they’ll realize they’re lying, maybe they’re just brainwashed. These guys all need more NVIDIA, They all need more data center. I mean that was the theme. I thought the theme was there’s too much NVIDIA and there’s too much data center. David, there was a false narrative that started ever since. . . the DeepSeek Sputnik. And now you have Jensen Huang, explaining to President Trump, how you have to be able to have more countries and we don’t know whether he’s going to win.”
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