In this article, we will list Jim Cramer Stock Portfolio: Top 5 Stock Picks. Please visit Jim Cramer Stock Portfolio: Top 10 Stock Picks, if you would like to see the extended list and the methodology behind it.
5. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Funds: 256
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) ranks fifth in our list of Jim Cramer’s top 10 stock picks in 2026.
Jim Cramer has been recommending investors to own the stock, but he has also publicly shared his concern about Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)’s rising spending on AI. He said a few months back that Meta does not have an AI platform that can compete with ChatGPT or Gemini, nor does it have a Cloud business like Google or Microsoft.
“It would be great to have more clarity on what Meta is doing with it beyond making better targeted ads,” Cramer said. “Meta is still dominant in digital advertising. And between Instagram and Facebook, and then don’t forget WhatsApp, they have a massive user base, which gives them a gigantic advantage.”
Read more on why Cramer continues to like Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) here.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) shares fell sharply in October despite the company reporting strong quarterly results. The reason behind the stock decline was simple: Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) said it now expects between $70 billion and $72 billion in CapEx, versus prior guidance of $66 billion to $72 billion. Wall Street is spooked by this heavy spending. Cramer said on CNBC that many investors think Zuckerberg is “living dangerously.”
YCG Investments stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is the largest social media company in the world with over 3.5 billion daily active users of at least one of its four core products (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp). It’s also a former holding of ours that we have just recently repurchased.
Because of its incredible delivery and measurement infrastructure, Meta has created a virtuous cycle where more users enable the company to deliver more targeted content and ads which then leads to more engagement by users and more spending by advertisers. Meta’s recent quarterly reports are excellent examples of this dynamic. They reported strong growth in new users, user engagement, and ad prices. Most impressively, they grew all these metrics despite increasing ad impressions faster than daily active users…” (Click here to read the full text)
4. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Funds: 264
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) remains a core holding in Jim Cramer’s stock portfolio. In December, he reiterated his call for investors to own the stock for the long term and criticized the market for overlooking positive developments related to China. Cramer said investors had previously viewed restrictions on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s ability to sell chips in China as a key reason to stay cautious. But when NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) later received approval to sell certain chips there, the market showed little reaction and the stock did not move higher, he said.
“Nvidia is what’s known as a retail stock owned heavily by you, by individuals who are easily scared,” Cramer said. “Do you know why I say own Nvidia? Don’t trade it? Because this kind of thing has driven regular individual investors, including perhaps you out of the stock since it was trading at two bucks when I recommended it. And that was a few years ago. I view it as my job to stop the trading madness, to grip so many people, to dispel the needless fear, to quell the rebellion against simply owning a stock.”
Baron Opportunity Fund stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“At Baron, we are deep research, evidence-based investors. We are positive about AI because it is real. It is the most significant change to the global economy since the internet itself. Every digital interaction of today forward will have AI as the brains of the application. We have investments across all the layers of the AI stack and spanning industries. Our most successful investments to date have been in the infrastructure or compute layer. We were early investors in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), over four years before the ChapGPT moment of November 2022, and it has been more than a 10-bagger for the Fund. Several of us spent a full day with founder and CEO Jensen Huang in the Fall of 2018, where he went to the white board to teach us about AI and why NVIDIA would win.”
3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Funds: 288
Jim Cramer has openly regretted selling Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares due to AI-related threats and regulatory pressures. Cramer was uncertain whether the company would be able to keep its search dominance as more and more people turn to chatbots for answers. But the remarkable turnaround Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) made with its Gemini product made Cramer rethink his decision. He later bought back the stock for the Charitable Trust.
In November, he explained the story and comeback of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
“Alphabet already had a big leg up on other challengers to OpenAI,” Cramer said. “That’s because they figured out how to link Google the search company to Gemini, the AI company, in a seamless way. It’s a remarkable feat that many people thought there’d be a ton of cannibalization, but they just combined them onto the same page. The geniuses behind Alphabet and I mean geniuses, managed to figure out how to take advantage of Google to build Gemini, so it was never hard to find. But it’s only with this Gemini three that there’s a real breakout in the stock.”
Cramer said that the market realized Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) remains undervalued among the Mag. 7 group and started piling into it. However, he said the stock has more room to run. In a separate program, he said the stock can rise to $400.
“I don’t think Google stops here,” Cramer said. “I think Alphabet goes straight shot to 400. Straight shot.”
Jensen Quality Growth Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“The leading individual contributors during the quarter were Eli Lilly (LLY) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Alphabet was another key contributor in Q4 as the market placed greater weight on evidence that its AI strategy is strengthening – rather than threatening – its core franchises, while also improving the medium-term growth profile of Google Cloud. Investors responded to signs of steady advertising fundamentals (Search and YouTube) alongside continued cloud momentum, including better visibility from contracted demand and a clearer path to operating leverage as the business scales. The quarter reinforced Alphabet’s “quality growth” attributes: durable demand, scale advantages, and disciplined cost management that can support attractive earnings power even as the company invests aggressively.
We continue to view Alphabet as unusually well positioned across the AI stack – owning differentiated infrastructure, frontier models, and global distribution – allowing it to monetize AI through multiple channels (ad relevance, consumer features, and enterprise cloud). Near-term results may remain somewhat noisy given elevated capex and depreciation associated with data center and AI build-out, but the strategic logic is intact: fund long-duration opportunities from a highly cash-generative core. Ongoing regulatory scrutiny and competitive dynamics are real but appeared more “known” and less incremental during the quarter, enabling fundamentals and execution to drive the stock’s contribution.”
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Funds: 312
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks second in our list of the top stock picks of Jim Cramer in 2026. The Redmond giant has been a long-term holding of Cramer, but he has shared some doubts around Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s relationship with OpenAI.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has about 27% equity stake in OpenAI but concerns started to spread on Wall Street amid some friction between the two companies after some reports said OpenAI explored working with other providers like Amazon to reduce its dependence on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Earlier this month, Reuters reported Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was considering legal action against OpenAI and Amazon over a $50 billion deal that allegedly violates its exclusive cloud partnership with the ChatGPT maker.
In September, Cramer called Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) one of the “elite eight” stocks and said the company stands to benefit if speculative AI plays keep dropping and the market turns to quality stocks.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is down 20% so far this year.
Ironvine Capital Partners stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2025 investor letter:
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a crucial partner for millions of businesses, governments, and other institutions around the globe. Its reach is broader than any other enterprise software provider in the world with roughly 1.4 billion Windows customers, a quarter of which are paying subscribers to its Office 365 productivity apps. It also holds the second largest share of the cloud computing market behind AWS and is growing faster, thanks in part to the strategic partnership CEO Satya Nadella architected to power OpenAI’s ChatGPT and enterprise workloads. In addition to a significant equity stake in the company, this relationship has created a valuable source of new customers as many of the early enterprise adopters of OpenAI’s tools were not historically Microsoft cloud customers. Demand for Microsoft’s server fleet continues to be robust, with Azure growth accelerating in recent quarters (Click here to read the full text).
1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Funds: 381
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the top stocks in Jim Cramer’s latest portfolio. In October, Cramer explained why he plans to hold on to the e-commerce and Cloud giant’s stock despite its relative underperformance over the past four years. Cramer said that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) remains one of the high-quality businesses and he is bullish on the stock for the long term. He said AWS growth above 20% would reinforce his bull thesis. Last month, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s results showed AWS rose 24% year over year in Q4.
“You need stocks that you can work for over long, long periods of time,” Cramer said at the time. “I am a huge believer that Amazon stock will eventually catch up with my judgment.”
Cramer said he likes Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s plan to lay off thousands of workers to save money and use AI to boost efficiency. He said he learned a lesson after selling Alphabet shares on concerns about AI and regulatory risks and missing the stock’s strong rally later. He added that he would not repeat the same mistake with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
“The bottom line dumping Alphabet was a huge mistake, and I’m not going to make the same mistake a second time,” Cramer said. “A gigantic company run by brilliant people figures out a way to win.”
Ironvine Capital Partners stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q4 2025 investor letter:
“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)is one of the most successful companies ever built, yet with all its accomplishments, we believe its businesses are only growing in importance with the passage of time. Over the last three decades the company has established its position as an advantaged infrastructure provider in two huge markets: e-commerce and cloud computing. These physical investments make it difficult for competitors to meaningfully encroach on Amazon’s turf, while providing opportunities to layer high margin complementary offerings on top of the foundation. These add-on services have made the network more valuable to customers, encouraging greater usage and generating incremental revenue that can be reinvested to strengthen the underlying infrastructure.
Amazon’s leading e-commerce marketplace connects a massive customer base on one side with millions of third-party sellers on the other, providing umatched breadth and depth at competitive prices with a nearly effortless checkout process. Its increasingly dense fulfillment network enables faster delivery speeds at a lower cost than others. Efficiency efforts in the U.S. produced a 10% reduction in average travel distance for a package, with 10% fewer touches compared to 2024. As most readers can attest, the net result leads consumers to choose Amazon more often. Alongside this marketplace the company has methodically built an advertising business that reaches over a billion people each month and generates nearly $40 billion in annualized revenue (up 30% in the most recent quarter). Overall, Amazon’s retail profitability has inflected materially faster than we anticipated four years ago, and we expect the company’s best days still lie ahead…” (Click here to read the full text).
While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some 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 AMZN and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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