We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Calls Market Decline ‘Man-Made’ and Breaks Down 15 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.
On Monday, April 7th, Jim Cramer opened the Mad Money episode with a message of calm in the midst of chaos. After nine straight lower openings and another bruising session for stocks, Cramer made it clear that while the pain is real. He acknowledged the likelihood of a recession but rejected the notion that we were on the brink of another global financial collapse, saying:
“Do we have a problem that’s systemic meaning there’s actual weakness in our a rot in our institutions that can’t easily be undone? Now my partner David Faber and I discussed this very point this morning and we agreed that we needed to take the financial crisis scenario off the table because our institutions are strong, and we don’t believe that the whole economic system is in jeopardy. We don’t believe that major banks will fail, we definitely don’t like this situation for heaven’s sake. It’s likely we’re headed for a recession because of the president’s ill-advised plans, but we’ll pull out of it one way or another. It’s not going to be the global financial crisis number two.”
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Warns of a 36% Market Drop & Reviews These 9 Key Stocks and Jim Cramer’s Game Plan: 10 Stocks in Focus
Rather than being caused by inflation, interest rates, or even earnings weakness, Cramer insisted the market’s decline was driven by leadership decisions. He called the downturn “man-made,” emphasizing that it could be reversed just as easily as it began, if the administration changed course:
“Then we get back to the approximate cause of the decline: it’s all man-made! Wall Street’s terrified by the tariffs but we have an arbitrary material president who can declare victory, roll these tariffs back with the stroke of [inaudible] and then where would we be? We would have bought nothing. And at some point, the White House won’t be able to tolerate a crashing stock market.”
What concerned Cramer most was the deeper agenda behind the tariffs. In his view, the administration wasn’t just trying to rebalance trade but to reverse decades of globalization, forcing companies to return manufacturing to U.S. soil — even if that meant permanent economic disruption.
“The job isn’t just to coerce China; it’s to cause US manufacturers to come back here. Away from Vietnam, that’s why Vietnam had that huge tariff. Those are two agenda items that not just one that’s important it means there’s no possible negotiation because that would encourage companies not to come back here. Sure, the tariffs could raise some revenue or promote domestic manufacturing, but they can’t reverse history, and Trump wants to reverse history. It’s a tall order – an ill-advised one – he wants to do it quickly.”
Finally, Cramer laid out the daunting checklist of what would need to happen for the current strategy to succeed:
“There are many things that have to go right for Trump to successfully reorder the global economy in order to bring back domestic manufacturing and bring China to its knees. First the high tariffs can’t cause a spike in inflation or else the Fed won’t be able to bail us out with rate cuts. Second, he has to negotiate new trade deals very quickly for congressional members who are supposed to control the tariffs wake up. The lower the market goes the more likely the Republicans in Congress actually throw the president’s agenda under the bus. Third, he has to do it without causing a big spike in unemployment. I think if he does get all three, he isn’t going to press his bet with these tariffs, instead, he’ll find some reason to declare victory and roll them back. which is why the market didn’t collapse today.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 15 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 7. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 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).
Photo by Timothy Hales Bennett on Unsplash
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262
While analyzing the Magnificent Seven stocks, Jim Cramer identified Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) as one of the top-tier names in the group. He noted that while a recession or tariff retaliation could impact the company, most of the negatives were already priced in, and its AI initiatives remained underappreciated. Here’s what he said:
“Meta Platforms looks like a relative winner from tariffs because they sell advertising so there’s little direct impact. Now that could change if Meta becomes the target of European tariff retaliation – always a possibility – or if the trade war throws our economy in a recession too, another real possibility. But with Meta stock now down more than 30% from its highs two months ago I think many of these negatives including a potentially soft advertising market are already baked in. Plus, Meta is not getting enough credit for its AI growth opportunities. Stock sells for just under 20 times this year’s earnings estimate. It sells below the average stock? Not much of a discount to historical valuation but it’s one of the highest quality stories in the formerly Magnificent 7.”
Nightview Capital stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Meta’s platforms—Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger—reach nearly half the world’s population daily, making it one of the most powerful advertising ecosystems globally. With investments in AI and augmented reality (AR), we believe Meta is also creating significant optionality for long-term growth.
In Q3, we saw Meta achieve a 23% YoY revenue growth,—a testament to strong user engagement across its ecosystem. The advertising landscape as a whole continues to evolve and we believe Meta’s existing platforms offer a defined advantage in this new world. Existing platforms in the age of AI continue to be the most powerful indicator of future success in our opinion.
Meta’s AI capabilities and the Llama AI model are driving efficiency and product innovation. In our view, these assets have been under-appreciated by the market while enhancing Meta’s ability to further scale and innovate its leading advertising business.
The success of Ray-Ban AI glasses and progress on Project Orion signal Meta’s growing influence in smart wearables, positioning it as a leader in the next wave of consumer technology.
Meta’s unparalleled reach and advertising expertise, combined with AI-driven product innovation, provide a durable competitive moat. As the company continues to optimize monetization and invest in next-generation technologies, it is at the forefront of growth in the evolving digital advertising landscape.”
Overall, META ranks 10th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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