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 discussed President Trump’s legislation and its impact on the US economy. While he believes that the bill will provide the rich with tax incentives, Cramer is also of the opinion that it will spur growth. He outlined:
“Well no, I’m saying, there are many provisions [in the bill] that are pro growth. But you have to believe in that growth. In order to think that this bill is good. Now go back to Larry Fink, okay. Larry Fink sat there, he said listen we can grow our way out of it. This is a very pro growth bill. However, at the same time, some people who feel that all that matters is interest on the national debt can’t like it.”
Cramer added:
“That’s why I say, I want to distinguish between, how well we’re gonna do right now during when the sausage is being made. And when the bill comes out. Because the bill is a good one. It does give rich people more. And I think that. . . the 1%, that is getting treated too well. But then I get hit by people who say well Cramer wants higher tax. I’m just saying, well stating fact.”
One of the hottest topics right now in the financial press is the impact of tariffs. Most of the debate surrounds a potential increase in inflation with some quarters also worrying that higher tariffs and a lower deficit could create trouble with deficit financing. On the topic of rates and business, Cramer sees “rates going higher” and believes “April was not a great month in this country for business.”
As for the tariffs and growth, here’s what he said:
“I believe it is pro growth. There are other things that have been done, including the tariffs that are not pro growth. But it does shake out, ultimately, that if you’re going to grow, to get out of this as opposed to cut. This gives you a chance at that growth.”
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 21st.
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).”
12. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 84
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is one of the biggest networking equipment providers in the world. The firm’s shares have gained 6.8% year-to-date after successfully navigating through a steep 14% drop in April after President Trump’s tariff announcements. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s shares have gained 18.7% since the bottom as they have benefited from several catalysts. These include the firm’s fiscal third-quarter earnings report which sent the stock 4.9% higher as Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) raised its full-year revenue guidance to $56.5 billion – $56.7 billion from the earlier $56 billion – $56.5 billion and hiked profit-per-share estimates to $3.77 and $3.79 from an earlier $3.68 to $3.74. The firm’s revenue guidance also beat analyst estimates. Here’s what Cramer said about the firm:
“Cisco has some good things in Europe.”
Cramer previously commented about Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in February. Back then, markets were still reeling from the shock of the DeepSeek selloff in January and investors were wondering whether AI stocks still held promise. Cramer commented on Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s deal with NVIDIA:
“People are talking about NVIDIA. And there is a nice deal this morning with Cisco. I think it’s actually much more important than people realize. Cisco’s the first to qualify. It’s going to be a real partnership. And that uh Chuck Robbins working closely with Jensen. But there is an overwhelming sense that this market keys on NVIDIA at a moment when we have no idea what the federal government’s gonna do to NVIDIA.”
11. Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 85
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. Cramer frequently discusses the stock on his morning show, and he praised its industry as stocks sold off after President Trump’s tariff announcements in April. The CNBC host believes Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)’s presence in the SaaS industry protects it from inflationary pressures and business disruptions due to the tariffs. Ahead of the firm’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report earlier this month, Cramer had been optimistic about its ability to deliver strong results. The optimism was warranted as Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)’s $1.4 billion in revenue and 24 cents in adjusted earnings beat analyst estimates. Cramer praised the firm’s management:
“Tonight, I’ve got Snowflake, which is right now at the cusp of a breakout. That’s Ramaswamy, he’s done a really terrific job.”
Artisan Partners mentioned Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) in its Q1 2025 investor letter. Here is what the firm said:
“During the quarter, we initiated new GardenSM positions in Baker Hughes, Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) and Viking. Snowflake is a leading cloud data warehouse and analytics platform, benefiting from the ongoing shift away from on-premise infrastructure. Its cloud-native architecture enables greater scalability, faster performance and improved efficiency for businesses managing large data sets. We see upside as a new management team refines the company’s sales and marketing strategy, aligning it with the growing demand for tools that help organizations organize and analyze data. While competition bears watching, we believe Snowflake is well positioned to help its customers structure data to take advantage of increasingly powerful AI models.”
10. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 88
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is the largest home improvement retailer in America. It’s a frequently discussed stock on Cramer’s morning show. The CNBC TV host also talks about The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) in his evening show, Mad Money. His recent Mad Money remarks saw Cramer comment that high interest rates sapped the life out of an otherwise strong gardening season that is a boon for the company. Cramer added that while The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s shares typically don’t fluctuate in response to interest rates, the rates’ impact on gardening might be ushering in a change. Here are his latest thoughts:
“By the way, the retail group is total chaos today. I mean Home Depot’s back down. . .”
Earlier this month on Mad Money, Cramer had commented:
“Now, not that long ago, we dropped in on a monster Home Depot store management meeting in Vegas where we heard about some great ideas for spring gardening season, which by the way, kicks into overdrive this weekend. Unfortunately, these big weeks for lawn and garden have been overshadowed by stubbornly high interest rates and no rate cuts from the Fed, not to mention tariff worries. Now I’ve watched this stock since it came public, and there are plenty of times that Home Depot doesn’t actually march to the tune of interest rates, but instead is levered to repair and renovation.
As so many people are stuck in their homes, I’m willing to trade up because that would force them to give up that low mortgage rate that they may have gotten during the COVID period. Now we own the despot for the Charitable Trust, and while I’m not expecting a blowout by any means, I have to tell you I like it long term, and it’s down 2% for the year, well, off its highs… Home Depot stock is a great one to own because, like Walmart, these guys have the scale to cope with the tariffs that are going to be put on so many foreign-made goods that they sell at Home Depot. The little guys we know, they don’t have that kind of flexibility.”
9. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 96
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is one of Cramer’s top retail stock picks. The CNBC TV host is enamored with the stock primarily due to the firm’s scale and its ability to lower prices. Cramer believes that Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)’s scale will enable it to dominate the retail market along with Walmart in case President Trump’s tariffs end up causing inflation. He believes that the firm also uses its scale to leverage lower consumer prices. Cramer’s previous remarks about Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) asserted that apart from the company, no other retailer could match or compete with Walmart on a price basis. Here are his latest thoughts:
“Costco’s very, I am friendly with Richard Galanti, the former CFO. And one of the things that Costco did was say, I don’t know do we really have to do this [get into eCommerce]? And, then they realized they had to do it. And once they went in, I mean they come out guns blazing. I mean they’re a little like Apple in that sense. Like we don’t necessarily have to be first but we’re gonna be the best. And Costco’s model is so perfect for this, they are gonna have, I think they’re gonna pass on what they can. But remember, their model is volume.”
In a recent Mad Money episode, Cramer commented:
“Next, on Thursday, after the close, we hear from the company that I think has the most consistent earnings and also the most persistent sell-off after we see the earnings, even when they’re good, and I’m talking about Costco. It’s unnerving to watch a fantastic quarter and still see a stock go down. And that’s just how it’s done with this one, even as we have a fairly good idea how the company’s doing, because you know what?
This company gives us monthly numbers. As we tell investing club members, don’t buy Costco ahead of the quarter. It’s going to go down. It’s like TJX. You’ll usually get a much better price if you just wait a couple of days.”
8. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 105
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is one of the largest enterprise resource planning software provider firms in the world. The firm has leveraged its ERP scale to also take a strong foothold in the AI industry. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is a key OpenAI partner for President Trump’s Stargate AI project. Cramer is a fan of the firm as he believes it has managed to steal Microsoft’s proximity to OpenAI. His recent comments about Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) speculated that the stock might drop. Since he made them, the shares have gained 13.6%. Here’s what Cramer said in this show about the firm:
“David, the big project that you guys talked about with Larry Ellison. . . .that’s very good for NVIDIA.”
In a recent Mad Money appearance, Cramer remarked:
“Well, last quarter was not good. Last quarter was not good, okay, but I think the stock started to show you something today. I think it showed you that if you get a better tape and a better tech tape, you’re going to make some money in Oracle. I urge you to hold on. Would I be a buyer? Yes.”
7. GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 111
GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) is the former energy division of industrial conglomerate General Electric. Cramer has mentioned the firm several times in his morning show. Before the DeepSeek selloff in January, Cramer was full of praise for the firm as he believed that GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) stands to benefit from AI infrastructure in the US. In fact, while investors piled into all kinds of nuclear stocks, the CNBC host maintained that GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) was the only nuclear stock worth investing in. The recent investor caution for AI has made Cramer dub the firm an “unknown soldier.” Here are his latest thoughts about the firm:
“Look, GE Vernova, the other companies they’re not adding capacity. I don’t understand why they’re not, but they’ve been fooled before. There’s a little bit of money coming in from GE Vernova, that’s probably the best stock in the entire market. Because they make turbines. . .and what’s incredible is, if you’re another government that has a trade surplus with us, you can either buy Boeing or you can buy the turbines. So it is the hottest area of the entire economy.”
In a recent Mad Money episode, Cramer remarked:
“… GE Vernova is the unknown soldier, okay? The one that got to the other side, and I think is going to keep going, and that’s what matters… GE Vernova is at the heart of every major power trend there is, except solar, which is lucky because the solar stocks got eviscerated today by the big ugly bill that just passed out…
I think the nat-gas for data center and nuclear opportunities are some of the biggest out there, and GE Vernova dominates both of them. So the tariff avoidance theme, they got that too. I was a skeptic about nuclear power because the CEO, Scott Strazik, told me I was too bullish about it when I interviewed him back when GE Vernova came public. Scott’s not dissuading me anymore… The possibility of what could go right at GE Vernova is so incredible that the stock’s value just can’t measure up to the opportunity.
The bottom line: No wonder when I surveyed the battlefield, I could only find one soldier left standing that I like, one that fixes trade surpluses, restarts a new nuclear trend, and solves the conundrum of powering the data center and firing up the growing electric grid. GE Vernova is made for this moment. This is the one big stock that’s survived the making and passing, at least in the House of that big beautiful bill, and I bet it keeps winning.”
6. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 116
Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is one of the biggest retailers in America. It is also a frequent feature of Cramer’s morning show. He believes that Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is the only brick-and-mortar retailer in America that can rely on its scale to fight any tariff-induced inflation in America. In fact, the firm’s scale and its warning that prices might rise due to tariffs has landed it in controversy recently after President Trump warned Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) that he was watching the firm for price increases. Here are Cramer’s latest remarks about Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT):
“I am questioning, how well it’s doing. It’s not big enough. They’re not opening a lot of stores, it’s part of urban strategy that seemed just okay. There were issues even, you know, off of George Floyd, but they recovered very quickly. . . .But I think that that’s more, if you might show some others, yeah Walmart’s really good too, TJX is really good too.
“Go look at the prices, when I. . .would walk with Brian through a Target store, I said this is too high, this is too high, this one’s too high. Where is the 2019? How about 2019 prices? I know that right now Walmart’s got some 2019 prices.
“Look, when you put up a chart of Dollar Tree, Dollar General, not Dollar Tree. Dollar General, I think that if Target can really lower price, you can have a kind of a conversion of. . .
“I’ve gone over this with Brian many times. I think everyone loves to go to Target. They’ve got those great brands that are their own. They have to cut price, cut price, cut price. They have no choice. They have to cut price.
“By the way the retail group is total chaos today. I mean Home Depot’s back down, Lowe’s is down. I thought Lowe’s had a good quarter. Again Target, it’s not existential. They got a really good yield. They’re gonna figure it out. I’m just saying that you’re up against a wall here, and the wall is Walmart.”
In a recent Mad Money episode, Cramer had commented:
“Was Walmart really supposed to eat all the tariffs that had been put on the goods it carries? It sure sounds like it. Take a look at the President’s posting this weekend, ‘Walmart should STOP trying to blame tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China, they should, as is said, EAT THE TARIFFS, and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching and so will your customers’…
My understanding is that they negotiated the best deal possible on each item. The company then had to decide how much they could make on these goods when they sold them to their customer. Further, my understanding is that they tried to make it so other items that weren’t tariffed only saw their prices raise a little bit. They blended things to prevent a big increase in price for some specific heavily tariffed products. Good thinking…
I’m willing to wager that given Walmart has price leadership on pretty much every item it sells, the president would most likely end up posting that the other companies should cut their prices to as low as Walmart’s.”
5. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 126
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the world’s largest electric vehicle company and another regular feature of Cramer’s morning show. Most of Cramer’s attention focuses on the firm’s CEO Elon Musk. He often discusses Musk’s AI company xAI and its Grok AI model. The CNBC TV host believes Grok is one of the top AI models in the industry, especially since it’s up-to-date with earnings calls and news. As for Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), he believes that the firm is a technology company instead of a pure-play EV maker. His latest comments about Musk saw Cramer reiterate that the interstate highway system is key to the firm’s success:
“David I felt that his longer, larger without saying it concept was that the interstate’s going to be open. The President’s gonna grant the interstate. And so we’re gonna go from New York to Boston on the interstate. That’s what he was saying. . .it’s I-95.”
In a recent appearance on Mad Money, Cramer mentioned the impact of Musk’s role on the firm’s stock price:
“Or take the stock of Tesla, which you know I like here. Today, my colleague David Faber interviewed Elon Musk…. Musk reminded us that his machines will soon be on the road driving autonomously, 1 million of them, and the numbers have gotten better for the traditional business. Now, the latter, it can be verified. The former sounds a little bit like the hubris talking. Still, that kind of thing can allow Tesla to buck the bond market.
Now, unfortunately, at the very moment, the bonds are so in charge that Tesla stock could only go up while David was asking Musk positive questions about the business. The stock would go down when David talked about Musk’s government work and the impact it might have on car sales. Still, it managed to finish the session up a buck and change. I guess that’s a victory. But yeah, I think it would’ve been up quite a bit if we had a more benign backdrop of bonds.”
4. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 150
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), the largest health insurer in America, has been a regular feature of Cramer’s morning show lately. The stock is down by a whopping 41% year-to-date due to a disastrous earnings report in April. The earnings report was one of the worst in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s history, and it sent the shares tanking by an unbelievable 27%. The days after the report weren’t kind to the stock either as multiple reports claimed that it was being investigated. Cramer commented on one such report and ratings action from HSBC:
“Oh UNH is up.
“The things that they, I mean I thought that this was about as strongly denied, they’ve not denied the other stuff.
“Oh the HSBC, that’s really early.
“Well Mr. Hemsley bought so much stock. You see those insider buys, from smart people. Those are not idle. It’s not an idle buy. . .I think Hemsley’s money. He’s money. He’s very good.”
In fact, Cramer’s been citing insider buys as evidence of robust management at UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) for quite some time. Here are his recent remarks:
“People sell things for many reasons, right. They get divorced, I don’t know about that. They get maybe something happens in their family, they need money. But David, why do they buy? Sometimes they buy because there’s a bargain. Now typically these insiders, maybe they buy like 1500 shares. Well how about if you bought, you’re Stephen Hemsley, returning CEO, who acquired 86,000 shares at 288. That’s pretty, you know 25 mil.
“And then, Kristen Gil, director, what, 3700 shares. Timothy Patrick, director, 1553. The CFO, come right in, the CFO’s in there buying the heck out of it too. 5 million. So I just say to myself, if they really knew, like the Journal says that they’re being investigated criminally, that’s a very big buy that would obviously go away.
“Absolutely, but remember it is a fine company. I don’t think the franchise, unless it’s indicted, is going to go away. So let’s just say [inaudible] I was convinced that maybe we’re too negative. At the 300 level.”
3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 223
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of Cramer’s top stock picks. He has remained optimistic about the firm despite recent share price weakness. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s shares are down 2% year-to-date as they have yet to recover all the losses from January’s DeepSeek selloff. However, despite the weakness, Cramer believes the firm will usher in a new industrial revolution. Apart from AI, he believes that robotics will play a key role in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s future business. His recent comments reflected the role the firm can play in the rollout of sovereign AI:
“[On Melius note highlighting 16 GW of new incremental AI compute build out] I loved this piece this morning cause it said that sovereign AI really matters. That the UAE really matters. David, the big project that you guys talked about with Larry Ellison. . . .that’s very good for NVIDIA. What I worry about Carl, is that he took on, the government. Very, very hard. Saying, look, we are doing the wrong thing in China. That we should get them basically, they used to be all built on us. Now it’s 50%, they’re [inaudible] to use second rate rather than us. We have to chane the rules and we have to go back to being the dominant player in China cause it’s good for our country. It’s very philosophical. I regard Jensen as right. . .he’s the best there is.”
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s charismatic CEO Jensen Huang recently spoke at a conference in Taiwan. Here’s what Cramer said after his speech:
“Look, it’s a great, an enjoyable keynote. If you want to find out why everyone loves him, you can get it all on that. Because he’s talking about how, look I want people to by some of us, they don’t have to buy all of us. . . He’s making some available to companies that don’t use his stuff. Who [are] in the data, in the cloud. So I thought it was very very positive. I mean look he has this string of companies, and once again if you wanted to buy what’s most impacted it would be Dell. I thought Marvell was mentioned very positively. Cisco, was mentioned. These were companies that can link it to other companies that may not right now be using him. But I think overall what he’s saying is look, this isn’t a revolution. It’s an information management revolution. We’ve never seen anything like it. David he talks about, there was electricity was the first okay. And then the internet. And now this. And he’s the leader of this. And I don’t know. That felt comfortable. Obviously people bid it up, they knew there was going to be a some sort of announcement, which was major countries. We didn’t get that.”
2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 234
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the poorest performers in the big tech stock category this year. Its shares have lost 9% yar-to-date as investors remain concerned about weakness in its cloud business and government action against the firm. Cramer’s previous comments about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have wondered whether the firm will be able to continue paying Apple to ensure its search engine is the default option on iOS and other devices. In fact, Cramer’s quite pessimistic about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) as he believes that there’s little reason to buy the stock. Yet, the firm’s shares have 7% over the past month. Here are his recent thoughts:
“I am in the Ben Reitzes, Melius, skeptical camp because it’s too expensive. . . stock’s not expensive because the plan may not work!
“Stunning innovation, but then next paragraph says look I don’t know if it’s gonna work. You see that? These tools were awesome. Yeah, okay. Ahead of Adobe, but they did say look it’s a little too expensive. . . monetization of AI research is all that matters.”
In a previous morning appearance, the CNBC host was quite apathetic about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL):
“We’ve heard already from Alphabet, which surprised people with how Chatbot Gemini didn’t cannibalize Google, even though there are concerns that Google made less money per search click and it could spiral. I don’t care for the stock anymore, but I do know it’s done better than most stocks in this market since in the last few weeks.”
1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 339
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the largest eCommerce retailer in America and has a robust presence in the cloud computing business. The firm is also among the handful in the world that develops its artificial intelligence chips. These chips are called Trainium, and they have generated speculation about whether they could replace NVIDIA’s GPUs. However, Cramer doesn’t believe this will be the case. When his co-host raised the question, he simply remarked:
“Oh, the Trainium. they’ll take very single NVIDIA they can get.”
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s shares jumped by 3% after its fiscal first-quarter earnings report. The CNBC host discussed the firm’s financial report in detail:
“Then there’s Amazon, which is trading lower after hours because the company gave a conservative forecast for the second quarter, as they typically do. And who can blame them given the impossible-to-game tariff situation.
But looking at the first quarter results themselves, Amazon also reminded us why it’s one of the world’s best companies. Why you can’t bet against it.
Sales grew 9% year-over-year, topped expectations by over $600 million, led by double digit growth from Amazon Web Services, and the company’s increasingly important advertising business. The gross margins there are insane. Earnings per share, meanwhile, is up an incredible 62%. Beat the $1.36 consent assessment by 23 cents.
Now, one of the more quizzical things from the Amazon quarter were the results from the Amazon Web Services cloud computing business, which is such a fabulous business. Sales were up 17%, very good, but that was light- that was light of what we expected.
The operating margins on the other hand were fantastic. They reached nearly 40%, street was only looking for 35. And that’s why Amazon Web Services segment profit came in over $1 billion above expectations. Essentially, all the total company’s bottom line beat in the quarter. But you know, again, people found a little bit of what we call ‘hair on the story’.”
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