On Tuesday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer addressed the topic of investing in speculative stocks.
“For years, I’ve hesitated to embrace speculation on the show because so often the most beloved speculative stocks turned out to be nothing more than, well-disguised pump and dump efforts.”
READ ALSO: 10 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar and Jim Cramer Picked 10 Stocks For His Fantasy Stock Portfolio.
Even in the case of meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which saw massive price surges, Cramer said the mechanics behind those rallies often resembled sophisticated pump-and-dump operations. Investors could profit if others bought in at higher levels, but the underlying story rarely justified the valuations. He said his view started to shift when Palantir went public.
Furthermore, Cramer pointed out that in the current market, investors need to pay attention to speculative names that actually gain traction. He noted that there is a significant amount of money chasing these kinds of stocks, and when a company puts out a strong headline, its share price can skyrocket beyond what anyone would reasonably expect.
“There’s never been a market like this, people. It’s certainly going much higher than anyone would reasonably expect, and that money can be yours for the taking.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 9 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on September 9. 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 Weighed In on These 9 Stocks
9. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 159
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer weighed in on. A caller asked what Cramer thought of the stock, and he commented:
“Okay, UNH reminds me, I don’t want to say analogize too much to Google, but you know, when the government gets involved, you do get very, very nervous that something’s really wrong, but UnitedHealth has been going up. If there’s something really wrong, I think the CEO at this point would’ve disclosed it. They did talk about the rankings today. The rankings are good. What can I say? I don’t like to buy stocks that are under investigation, but it does seem to be that, well, I don’t want to say the worst is over because it might not be, but there are some people who seem to know that the worst is over. How about that?”
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) provides health benefit plans, Medicaid and Medicare services, and coverage for underserved populations. Moreover, it delivers care management, health technology, consulting, and pharmacy benefit services.
8. AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer weighed in on. During the lightning round, when a caller asked about the company, Cramer said:
“No, I don’t like AGNC. I think you’re going to find, over time, you’re just going to get your money, you get the dividend, you’re never sure what they really own. It is not a growth vehicle. I like growth.”
AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) is a real estate investment trust that invests in residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations backed by U.S. government agencies. On September 4, the company launched a $300 million offering of 12 million depositary shares, each tied to its 8.75% Series H preferred stock, and underwriters may buy up to 1.8 million more within 30 days. The shares are expected to trade on Nasdaq as “AGNCZ,” and the funds will go toward buying mortgage and real estate-related assets, hedging tools, and other general uses.
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