In his latest appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer pushed back against widespread pessimism surrounding the U.S. economy, particularly when it comes to the health of the consumer. Referencing recent data and strong bank earnings, he argued that fears of a sharp slowdown are overstated:
“Consumer spending is up nicely. I mean, for all the things you hear about, the pessimistic surveys, year over year is good. And David, I think that as we forget, as long as unemployment stays as low as it is, we’re going to surprise people in terms of the economy, despite the fact that there’s a lot of stir and drag when it comes to the White House.”
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Asked whether the consumer will remain strong in the face of tariffs and political noise, Cramer stayed optimistic, saying jobs matter more than headlines:
“I think that the agri-consumer, as long as they have jobs, yes. I don’t think they sit there and say, you know what, there’s coming tariff, I’m going to just disappear. Now you can see these numbers are pulled through. I don’t buy that. “
He then shifted to the recent dislocation in equity markets, pointing out that even companies reporting solid earnings have seen analysts cut price targets, saying:
“The reset that happened of stocks getting clogged. We’re just now starting to deal with how awful it was. The market just had, that sell-off was so quick and so vicious that companies that are reporting good numbers, the analysts are saying, listen, really good numbers. I’m cutting my price target. I’m not used to that. I’m used to really good numbers and price target bump. “
Later, citing the latest Bank of America survey showing extreme bearishness, Cramer interpreted the results as a contrarian signal that could point to an opportunity for investors:
“Well, I just think that in the end, the fundamentals are going to will out. I think that this survey about pessimism. I mean, that says buy, not sell. So, I mean, I think people are really beaten down. I know people are beaten down.”
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 April 15th.
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. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)
Number of Hedge Fund holders: 116
While reflecting on market sentiment and recent earnings reactions, Jim Cramer praised Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) for defying expectations. Despite fears of a potential miss, he noted that the company delivered solid results that should not be overlooked, saying:
“But why did we overlook that incredible Walmart meeting? I read every page of that Walmart meeting. I’m not saying it was boom. I’m saying it was garden variety good from Walmart. A lot of people felt that Walmart was going to miss, if anything, what they showed you. Business is pretty good. We can’t overlook that. We can’t.”
Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has been impressed by Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s resilience during a volatile macro environment. Here’s what he said about the retailer a few days ago:
“Walmart pulls its operating income guidance for the current quarter. […] People thought they were going to guide down. I heard many people tell me last night, boy, are you ready for Walmart’s big guide down? […]
[after listening to the company’s CEO giving a positive outlook] It’s rather extraordinary to have a level of confidence from the largest retailer. And Doug McMillan should be applauded.
[talking about how the largest retailers have pricing power] And they have power. They have pricing power. And they can make the Japanese, look, the Chinese right now, here’s what they’re saying: we can’t go up against Walmart; we can’t!”
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