In this article, we will look at Jim Cramer’s stock calls on Mad Money recently. The host of Mad Money said Monday that the stock market’s relatively calm response to the Iran conflict suggests investors are concentrating on forces that outweigh geopolitical developments.
When you saw the news this weekend that the Iranians voided the agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz, the very thing that sent us to new all-time highs last week, you had to believe we were just going to get clobbered today, right? After all, the market vaulted 4 and a half percent last week after two straight weeks of 3% gains. But the averages barely blinked today… The stock market’s responding to the bond market, not to the Strait of Hormuz. It’s not unusual. Bond market is much bigger than the stock market. It’s a forecast of a host of things, from inflation to what the Fed might do next.
READ ALSO Jim Cramer’s 16 Stock Calls, Including NVIDIA, Coterra, and Honeywell and 20 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Game Plan, Including Tesla and Vertiv
Cramer also said that concerns about rising fuel costs may be overstated. He said there is a growing realization that gasoline no longer carries the same weight in everyday life as it once did, which could explain why spikes in oil-related tensions are not rattling investors as much as in the past. He also noted that corporate earnings have come in strong, which provides further support for stocks. Lastly, he points to advances tied to the artificial intelligence revolution as another driver that is powering the market.
So here’s the bottom line: I’m not saying that the Iran war doesn’t matter. If something catastrophic happens in the next 48 hours, of course, it’s going to impact the markets. But otherwise, all these key stories are totally separate from the Gulf. And they’re what controls the day-to-day action, which is what you come to me to find out about. Until the war gets bad enough to impact the bond market, don’t expect it to matter to the stock market.
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 17 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 20. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them.
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 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
Jim Cramer’s 17 Stock Calls: Applied Materials and CoreWeave
17. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was among Jim Cramer’s stock calls on Mad Money recently. Cramer highlighted buying the stock for the Charitable Trust, as he stated:
We bought the stock of Johnson & Johnson today for the Charitable Trust… Are we crazy? No, we’re not crazy. We’re buying what may be the best drug stock, or at least the second-best if you’re Eli Lilly. We’re buying it into free fall. You don’t get a chance to buy the best at a discount very often. When you do, you buy some, then you let it fall a little more, and you buy some more. And we’ll likely get that opportunity because pharma is so out of favor… Why J&J right now? We’ve had a lot of noise in healthcare. It’s obscured a major FDA approval for a new J&J drug, Icotyde, an autoimmune drug for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis, which is a gigantic market…
Doesn’t hurt that the company decided to spin off its orthopedics business as a standalone company. This is a slower-growing piece of the pie, so the breakup will help unlock value. In the past, JNJ might have gotten credit for these moves, but right now, buyers have deserted the stock. I like that, too. Always remember, though, that this is the kind of stock that gets cheaper as it goes lower, which is why we’ve left plenty of room to buy more JNJ on weakness for the Charitable Trust. More important, your portfolio always needs to have a decent mix between what’s hot and what’s not… Here’s something I was taught at Goldman Sachs: They don’t all go up at once. To which I always said, but something should go up in your portfolio. And that’s why you buy J&J, one of the greatest drug companies out there, one of the greatest American companies out there, when everyone else is selling it.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) develops and sells healthcare products, including pharmaceuticals and medical technologies, with treatments in immunology, oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular care, and infectious diseases.
16. Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) was among Jim Cramer’s stock calls on Mad Money recently. Toward the end of the lightning round, a caller asked what Cramer thinks of the stock, and he commented:
Well, I read the upgrade today by Wells Fargo, and it talked about a bunch of revenue streams. including Alzheimer’s, and it was very impressive. I actually said, you know what? I got to reopen the file on Biogen. It looks pretty… good. I also like Gilead, for that matter.
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) develops therapies for serious neurological and autoimmune conditions, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and spinal muscular atrophy. Patient Capital Management stated the following regarding Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
This quarter we entered three new positions and exited one position. We increased our exposure to Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) in the quarter by buying long-dated call options expiring in 2028 with a strike price of $150. We continue to think Biogen is an attractive asset over the long term. The company has a number of late-stage pipeline assets that should reach the market over the next few years, at the same time that its Alzheimer’s franchise should continue to ramp as blood-based biomarkers and subcutaneous injections broaden the potential treatable universe. Longer term, we believe Biogen is positioning itself to own multiple stages of the Alzheimer’s disease lifecycle, similar to its historical approach in multiple sclerosis. With a cleaned-up cost structure, a more focused research effort, and a growing late-stage pipeline, we continue to view the risk/reward as attractive.
