On Thursday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer took time to explain his approach to buying the stock of a high-quality retail franchise during periods of weakness.
“Growth does come… in many forms, and one of them is in retail. I have my stable retailers that I know are well-managed companies that can deliver in any environment, not immediately, though.”
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Shed Light on These 10 Stocks Recently and Jim Cramer Answered Questions About These 10 Stocks Recently.
Cramer outlined a six-part framework that he uses when deciding whether to invest in a growth retailer in weakness. His first question was: “Do you personally shop there?” He explained that it makes no sense to invest in a retailer you would not visit yourself. The second factor he considers is the company’s balance sheet. Furthermore, his third point focused on the leadership team. He explained that he looks for management that refuses to stand still and wait for conditions to improve. The fourth element in his framework involves interest rates. He explained that he is wary of companies that depend on Federal Reserve decisions to thrive.
Cramer said he prefers businesses that would welcome lower interest rates but do not require them to succeed. He noted that investors should target companies that are built to earn in any rate environment, and then enjoy the added benefit when cuts do happen. Next, he talked about scale. He said that he looks for companies with such a dominant presence that suppliers are the ones seeking shelf space, not the other way around. His final point was about the stock itself. He asked, “Is the stock good enough that you don’t have to trade it?”
“And the bottom line: When the Fed does start cutting, your slow-growing retailer stock gets turbocharged as all the so-called smart money comes flying in.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 14 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on September 4. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the second quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 900 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
Jim Cramer Shared Insights on These 14 Stocks
14. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 121
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer shared insights on. During the episode, Cramer discussed the company’s earnings and the market sentiment toward the company. He said:
“To me, there are four main components that I look for when a company reports: Did it beat sales and earnings projections for the quarter? And did it then raise sales and earnings projections for the future quarter? Salesforce handily beat the projections made about this just-reported quarter. So far, so good. But their cash flow came in a little weaker than Wall Street expected. While their guidance for the current quarter was solid, there were individual lines in that guidance that were again softer than what the analysts anticipated.
I figured Wall Street would maybe look past those negatives, given the huge number Salesforce is putting up overall. But that’s not what happened. Instead, we were inundated with stories about how Salesforce gave weak performance… Salesforce’s stock closed at $244… Keep in mind, most companies are not using AI in any way yet that’s visibly making any money, but Salesforce is serving up customers who are thrilled about Agentforce and how well it’s worked for them. I think we’ll hear a bunch of them when we go out to Dreamforce… next month. I bet it’ll be impactful. Those points did not matter one bit, though, to the sellers…
Some of the real bears believe that Salesforce could be so efficient that its clients will slim down themselves using some of their own AI too and then let go of some of the Salesforce using workers. I think the analysis is incorrect. The bears seem to forget that Agentforce uses a different business model, a consumption model, not a per-user model, and the company can make a ton of money.
The bears don’t care, though… What would change their minds? If Salesforce were to report huge earnings and then guide up well above what Wall Street’s looking for. That would change the narrative, but that hasn’t happened yet. Will it? That’s the $230 billion question, with $230 billion being Salesforce’s current market capitalization. Ultimately, this company will either start crushing the numbers or its stock will be crushed. Why? Because like it or not, that’s how Wall Street works.”
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) delivers CRM technology and cloud-based solutions that unify customer interactions, data, and workflows, while integrating AI-driven analytics, automation, and productivity tools.
13. Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50
Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer shared insights on. During the lightning round, whether it was time to take profits in the stock, and Cramer replied:
“Oh, it’s not my, it’s not one of my favorites. It doesn’t have the kind of growth, you have some nice gains. I don’t know. Why don’t you take half and then see what happens?”
Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS) is a professional sports company that owns the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, and other affiliated development league teams, and operates a dedicated training center. The company reported its fiscal full-year earnings on August 12, generating revenues of $1.04 billion, which was up 1% year-over-year. It reported an operating income of $14.8 million and adjusted operating income of $38.2 million.
