Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, on Monday brought attention to something he believes is often overlooked in the market: the influence of analyst price targets.
“We don’t talk all that much about the impact of analyst price targets, but we should because it’ll explain a lot about why so many stocks keep levitating almost aggressively. First, price targets matter. They give a broker or a trader a reason to call a customer.”
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Shed Light on These 14 Stocks and Jim Cramer Reflected on These 17 Stocks.
Cramer argued that any mechanism capable of swaying large institutional investors has the potential to move markets, and a raised price target fits that description. He acknowledged that while some may feel these adjustments should not carry so much weight, the reality is that they do. In fact, Cramer pointed out that analysts themselves often misjudge trades, ending up on the wrong side.
Cramer suggested that heading into Monday morning, there was a strong possibility that many traders were shorting certain stocks. He highlighted that this kind of thinking is widespread among hedge funds, many of which closely follow the yield curve and allow it to dictate their strategies.
“In the end, though, a lot of money managers simply failed to realize that the amount of money being pumped into the system by the big, beautiful budget will trigger huge buying. The short sellers were too worried about the deficit to read the fine print, which is filled with reasons to buy the stocks.”
Cramer said that small, seemingly minor increases in price targets often signal that short sellers are being caught off guard by skeptical investors turning bullish, and that is the “process” to make money in 2025.
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 July 21. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the first quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 1,000 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 Thoughts on These 14 Stocks
14. Solid Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLDP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 16
Solid Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLDP) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. A caller asked for Cramer’s opinion on the stock, and he commented:
“Momentum, the stock’s up 100%. That’s big momentum, but when it’s up 100% percent, then you know what, I think you gotta do what I call a schnitzel. Take a little off the table because that thing has just been a horse.”
Solid Power (NASDAQ:SLDP) develops solid-state battery technology for electric vehicles and other applications. The company provides sulfide-based electrolytes and licenses its cell designs and manufacturing methods. In its Q1 earnings report in May, the company reported objectives for 2025.
Solid Power (NASDAQ:SLDP) is planning to improve its electrolyte research using customer feedback and internal development insights. It plans to begin installing a pilot line for continuous electrolyte production and expand sample distribution to meet partner commitments. The Electrolyte Innovation Center will support fast, demand-driven innovation. The company also plans to maintain financial discipline alongside ongoing investments in technology.
13. Enovix Corporation (NASDAQ:ENVX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 23
Enovix Corporation (NASDAQ:ENVX) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. During the lightning round, a caller inquired after Cramer’s thoughts on the company, and he stated:
“We have a glut of oil. I’m worried about that. ENVX is another stock that’s just up way too much. I mean, we gotta find some stocks that are not up like a straight shooter, because what happens, these are what I call parabolic buys. And if you buy a parabolic stock, what happens is it goes parabolic down. So, therefore, we’re not going to buy that stock.”
Enovix (NASDAQ:ENVX) designs and produces advanced lithium-ion battery cells for use in wearables, smartphones, computing devices, electric vehicles, and other applications. Massif Capital stated the following regarding Enovix Corporation (NASDAQ:ENVX) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Our most volatile position remains Enovix Corporation (NASDAQ:ENVX), and we admit to being miffed by its continued volatility. At one point, it made sense as it was a story stock, but at this point, the stock has advanced well beyond being a story. Despite the progress the firm is making operationally, the stock has historically annualized volatility over rolling 100-day periods of nearly 100%. Last year, the stock moved more than 30% from local lows to local highs four times; it also had drawn downs from local highs to local lows of more than 35% three times. The short interest in the stock also remains incredibly high at more than 30% of the stock’s float.
This strange trading behavior and short interest are occurring against a strong operational backdrop. The firm completed site acceptance testing for its high-volume production line at its Fab-2 site in December, positioning the company well for mass production of batteries starting in 2025/2026. The management team also continues to advance the sale pipeline, announcing, in December, a prepaid purchase order from a “Silicon Valley-based global technology leader” for a battery solution for the buying firm’s mixed reality wearables. The deliveries for this order will be small in 2025 and ramp in 2026, but it’s unclear, especially given the market for mixed reality wearables (total TAM assuming battery ASP of $5/unit is $175 million), that they will be all that significant. Nevertheless, this order is yet another indicator that this is no longer a company with a science experiment and a story but instead a battery manufacturer…” (Click here to read the full text)
12. CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 36
CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. A caller asked what Cramer thinks of the company, and in response, he said:
“Alright, I think I like CoreWeave and I like Michael Intrator, but I would say the stock is $60 billion, and it’s going to have to come down and cool off a little bit. There are too many shorts in it. The shorts are covering right now. Once they’re finished covering, I think the stock does drop, and you can take a look at it.”
CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) provides a cloud platform designed to scale and accelerate generative AI workloads, delivering GPU and CPU compute, storage, networking, and managed services. The company also supports AI training, rendering, and dataset optimization through specialized tools and infrastructure. During a June episode, Cramer called the stock “overbought.” He commented:
“I think it is overbought. I think it’s up on a short squeeze. I think the stock is just way too high. I mean, look at this. I mean, prices at $40, it should have never priced there when it did its IPO. People didn’t like it. They didn’t understand the balance sheet. Lots of hedge funds got shorted here, thinking that this thing really was not worth anything at all. I recommended buy it the whole darn time. The whole darn time.
… What I need to tell you is that if you bought it here, you can take off half of your position, half of it, and then you’re playing with the house’s money. Who doesn’t want to play with the house’s money? That’s the goal. The goal if you want to be a great investor is the house’s money. And that’s what you have if you bought CoreWeave when we said that we liked it. The relationship with NVIDIA is very solid, and NVIDIA owns a big chunk of CoreWeave.”
11. Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. A caller asked what Cramer thinks of the stock during the lightning round. Here’s what he had to say in response:
“I’ve always felt that GVA was a takeover target, and by the way, it’s up 7%. That’s nothing to, you know, that’s nothing to sneeze at. I do believe, just so you know, that I think that the infrastructure play is still on and therefore Granite is still on.”
Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) builds and rehabilitates infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, airports, dams, and energy facilities, while also producing and selling construction materials like aggregates and asphalt. The company is expected to release its Q2 earnings somewhere between the end of July and the first week of August.
In the Q1 earnings report, Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) posted unchanged 2025 guidance at revenue between the range of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion, adjusted EBITDA margin between 11.0% to 12.0%, CapEX of $140 million to $160 million, and SG&A expense of approximately 9.0% of revenue.
10. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. When a caller inquired about the company during the lightning round of the episode, Cramer remarked:
“Well, the good news about General Mills’s, it’s got a 5% yield. The bad news is that unless, they didn’t do what Pepsi did. See, when I was on the Pepsi Cola call, listening to… Ramon Laguarta, he has managed to be able to somehow deal with the GLP-1s. General Mills has not been able to deal with them. So I’ve gotta tell you, I am on the camp which says you can buy it because of the dividend, but not because of the earnings. That’s a tough one.”
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) produces and sells branded food products, including cereals, snacks, frozen meals, baking mixes, dairy items, and pet food. The company’s portfolio features several well-known brands and is distributed across various retail and foodservice channels.
9. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. Cramer discussed the stock in light of the steel tariffs. He remarked:
“What do we make of this incredible comeback in Cleveland-Cliffs stock today, the vertically integrated steel maker focused on value-added steel products, particularly for the auto industry. This stock plunged from the low 20s early last year down to five bucks and change this past May when President Trump approved, and you know I’m against this, the Nippon Steel acquisition of U.S. Steel, which Cleveland-Cliffs also wanted to buy.
But shortly after the deal was approved, Cliffs got a gift from the administration. The president doubled the tariff on steel imports from 25% to 50%. In response, the stock jumped 23% in a single session. And it’s never looked back because, well, the president may have saved the industry, and it exploded higher once again today, up more than 12% when Cleveland-Cliffs reported a better-than-expected quarter. There’s a sense that business will only get better as we process the higher steel tariffs.”
Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) produces flat-rolled and stainless steel products, along with steel plates, electrical steel, and tubular components. Moreover, the company supplies raw materials like iron ore and provides metal processing services for industries such as automotive, infrastructure, and manufacturing.
8. United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. Cramer mentioned the stock during the episode and criticized its recent sell rating.
“Barclays seems to have bought into a theory that we’re heading into recession or something, or at least a capital spending drought. That hasn’t played out. So today, they raised a whole bunch of price targets in the capital goods sector, but they raised them to well below where the stocks are already trading. They took… United Rentals, $565 to $620. Stock’s at $778. The firm even had a Sell on that one. These, those are just plain wrong, and they still need stock to come down a lot.”
United Rentals (NYSE:URI) rents a wide range of construction and industrial equipment, including tools, aerial platforms, trench safety gear, and power systems. The company also sells equipment, parts, and safety supplies and provides repair and maintenance services.
7. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. During the episode, Cramer discussed the stock in light of Barclays’ recent coverage. He said:
“Barclays seems to have bought into a theory that we’re heading into recession or something, or at least a capital spending drought. That hasn’t played out. So today, they raised a whole bunch of price targets in the capital goods sector, but they raised them to well below where the stocks are already trading. They took Caterpillar stock, for instance, $335 to $383. It’s at $410… These, those are just plain wrong.”
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) designs and manufactures heavy machinery, engines, and locomotives that serve industries like construction, mining, energy, and transportation. The company also offers financing, insurance, parts, and digital solutions to support equipment performance and customer operations. During the July 15 episode, Cramer made positive comments about the company, as he said:
“I think, you know what, I gotta tell you something… I mean, the primarily not housing, but you’re absolutely right. You have to have housing. Vulcan Materials is actually more of a play, as is Martin Marietta Materials. However, Caterpillar is an ancillary to that. Caterpillar’s done incredibly well this year. I will miss Jim Umpleby, who’s stepped up to chairman, but I think he left Caterpillar in the best hands I’ve ever seen the stock in. It’s a buy, and I think you will do quite well. Now, at this point, I would wait till after the quarter, which is August 5th. You don’t need to get ahead of it.”
6. Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 70
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. A caller asked Cramer whether their son should buy the stock now or wait, and he said:
“Your kid’s got horse sense. I would tell him to buy some now, the stock was down. That is the way to go. I like that. That’s the best stock of the whole darn lightning round.”
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) sells coffee, tea, beverages, and food items through its stores and branded products. During the July 11 episode, Cramer recommended buying the stock. He commented:
“This morning, Starbucks came up as part of the conversation on Squawk on the Street as a source of coffee beans from Brazil, and what’s going to happen now that President Trump just hit Brazil with a 50% tariff. Ah, just one more reason to [sell, sell, sell] Starbucks, right? Wrong. The actual price of coffee beans represents less than 10% of the cost of a cup of coffee. Sure, Brazil’s important, but Starbucks, with its incredible scale, is better suited than anyone else to be able to deal with and find cheaper source of beans.
More important, Starbucks is another stock that people want to buy when it’s hot and stay away from when it’s cold, even if it’s being run by a proven commodity who knows how to execute a turnaround. I remember the turn that CEO Brian Niccol engineered at Chipotle before he went to Starbucks after some nasty foodborne illnesses sent the stock in a tailspin.
Niccol came in at the beginning of 2018 when Chipotle stock was at around $6, alright, keep that in your mind. He left for Starbucks a little less than a year ago when Chipotle was at $56. Are we really supposed to believe that the price of Brazilian coffee beans is going to reverse that turnaround that he’s organizing? I think that’s insane. Stock’s down more than 20 points from its high, even if it’s quickly rebounded from today’s low. This is the right time to buy Starbucks. Goes down a little more, you get to buy more.”
5. Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72
Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. A caller asked if Cramer thinks that the company will beat the top and bottom line when it reports in 2 weeks, and he replied:
“Yes, I do absolutely. I think Reddit, last time it ran, it went up too much. It was way too hot. I don’t know why that happened. I think that Reddit’s going to have a really good quarter. I was shocked to see how much there was a big short position in it, but now I think Reddit’s prepared. Steve Huffman’s really terrific.”
Reddit (NYSE:RDDT) runs a digital platform that allows users to join interest-based communities, share content, and engage in conversations. During a June episode, Cramer was quite bullish on the company stock, as he commented:
“There’s a whole host of stocks that are roaring on what can only be described as re-evaluation of growth or animal spirits. We see Reddit, the online message board, shot up more than 5% today… Unlike most of the people around here, the older people I talk to, I pass no judgment about these people. You know why? Because they are buying very good companies… These are top-notch businesses that might have gigantic earnings power someday… You believe that Reddit stock is too expensive. Their ads represent incredible value, believe me. I can’t believe how cheap they are. I think the stock’s not getting enough credit. How do you know that Reddit’s not the next Meta?…”
4. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75
American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. Cramer suggested to “buy the dip”, as he said:
“Sure enough, when Amex reported last Friday morning, the company delivered a strong quarter, and the stock still tumbled $7 or 2.3% before slipping another 1.6% today. My gut instinct says that this will once again prove to be a good buying opportunity, but my brain says we need to do the homework and make sure the stock’s still worth owning first… Let me tell you the three big things that I liked about the quarter. First, I remain impressed by how American Express is doing on the credit quality front…
When you’re looking at, you’re trying to game the long-term business here, the health, well, with the success of young consumers, I think that’s incredibly important, and this company has figured out because you want to know what’s the long-term, some of these guys are going to max out when the baby boomers are gone.
Still, why is American Express doing so well with younger people in particular? That leads me to the last thing that I really liked about Amex’s report last Friday, which is the way CEO Steve Squeri talked about some of the competitive dynamics of the credit card space. He explained that his company is winning because it offers the best value proposition, even if that’s with a fee-based product…
So here’s the bottom line: Once again, American Express sold off in response to what looked like a good quarter, and just as predicted, my gut instinct says, you know what, this was what we said all the time, we said it would go down. We called it a buying opportunity. We waited till today, and history says that tomorrow’s the day to buy. After looking through the quarter, I’m now confident my gut instinct was right. Buy the dip for American Express tomorrow.”
American Express (NYSE:AXP) provides a wide range of payment, financing, and expense management products and services, including credit cards, banking tools, and travel benefits. The company also offers merchant services, fraud prevention, loyalty programs, and airport lounges.
3. The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 96
The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. When a caller mentioned that they have a position in the stock, Cramer commented:
“Get more Boeing. Get more Boeing. They report this week. I think it’s going to be a terrific quarter. Let the stock come in. If it comes in down, let’s say it comes to $220, here’s what you want to do: [buy, buy, buy] Pull the trigger.”
Boeing (NYSE:BA) designs and produces commercial aircraft, defense systems, satellites, and space exploration technologies. Additionally, the company provides maintenance, logistics, training, and digital services for both commercial and defense sectors. During the July 9 episode, Cramer said that the “stock’s going much higher.” He remarked:
“Let me give you another one many missed. Boeing just announced some huge second-quarter deliveries, and deliveries are the chief determinant of its stock price. The company delivered 150 planes, up from 92 a year ago. Fantastic. They booked 427 orders, up from 241 in just the previous quarter. If you paid attention, I bet that most didn’t, you could have caught a 14-point move that was there for the taking. But who was thinking about Boeing? I think the stock’s going much higher by the way.”
2. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 111
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. A caller asked if Cramer thinks the stock is a buy, sell, or hold, and he replied:
“Boy… I gotta tell you, this is a tough one. One, it keeps going down, but two, Figma is about to come, and you know a lot of people have switched from Adobe to Figma because it’s much cheaper. Let’s let the Figma deal come and then see what happens. Might get this thing at a cheaper price.”
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) develops software and cloud-based platforms for content creation, digital experiences, and document management. The company provides subscription-based tools, analytics solutions, and services for publishing, advertising, and customer engagement. During an April episode, Cramer called it “a great company.” He said:
“Adobe, what a great company. Its stock is down almost 35% from its high set last year […] Adobe has come up with a few AI tools of its own headlined by Adobe Firefly – it’s a Lamborghini, wow! It’s a really impressive technology. But the problem is OpenAI can also do these things too. So is Adobe being hurt or helped by AI? It’s really hard to say. […] I’m not sure I’d stick my neck out for Adobe with its generative AI threats.”
1. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared thoughts on. Cramer called the company “best of breed streaming platform,” as he commented:
“Coming into the quarter, Netflix had been on fire, up a whopping 43% year to date. I even ran a segment defending the stock when it pulled back from its highs in April. After that, it rallied 29% before the company reported last week. But then, after the numbers came out on Thursday night, Netflix’s stock tumbled 5% the next day before erasing some of that loss today, but not all of it… Once again, you’re given a chance to buy a terrific stock at a discount…
Because of these great results, Netflix was able to raise their full-year revenue outlook by $1 billion at the midpoint. Management also gave great guidance for the current quarter. So why on earth did this stock plunge 5% on Friday? Now, part of it comes down to great expectations… With the stock up 43% for the year, going into the print, sometimes even a beat and raise quarter just isn’t enough. But part of it relates to some legitimate worries about engagement…
Netflix said its users have watched 95 billion hours of content this year…That gave the bears enough ammo to argue that future growth for the streaming giant could indeed be slowing. Okay, I think that’s shortsighted. Netflix’s content slate for 2025 is heavily weighted to the second half of the year. This, combined with membership growth picking up late in the second quarter… sets the stage for a strong second half…
At the same time, Netflix is seeing great success… for local content strategy… Management estimates that Netflix has contributed $125 billion to the US economy from 2020 to 2024… Meanwhile, their ad business is scaling rapidly. Netflix ad suite, their proprietary first-party ad tech platform, has rolled out globally, and management expects ad revenues to roughly double this year, double…
The bottom line: Netflix sold off after the quarter because the stock came in too hot, and the conference call only made me feel more confident about the future of the business, so did, by the way, the Q&A. I think you’re getting a chance to own the best-of-breed streaming platform at a discount. Please read both the shareholder letter and the Q&A to be sure you don’t make a mistake.”
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) delivers entertainment through TV shows, films, documentaries, and games. The company allows users to stream content through internet-connected devices.
While we acknowledge the potential of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that 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 NFLX and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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