Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, said on Friday that February will be remembered as a “heartbreaker” as he talked about what he is watching in the week ahead.
Goodbye February. You will forever be known as a heartbreaker. You demolished software, you minimized hardware, and then you took apart the king NVIDIA, and you decided that the winners were these prosaic companies with popular brands like PepsiCo… Hershey, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, or a terrific drug company J&J… AbbVie or earth movers like Caterpillar and Deere… It was the month of indecision because inflation’s running hotter, but it was also a month that should have been better thanks to falling interest rates. The rates are really getting low again. On the other hand, it was a month where it dawned on people that obscure terms like private credit could spell real trouble if something goes wrong… Will the negativity continue into March?
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Cramer pointed out that markets may get clues over the weekend, as the president appears ready to escalate tensions with Iran. He noted that investors have not been shaken by the saber-rattling, even though oil prices have climbed 17% since the start of the year. However, he said that traders are starting to grow uneasy about how much further crude could rise.
Cramer also highlighted the Labor Department’s upcoming nonfarm payroll report on Friday. He mentioned that many continue to wait for artificial intelligence to disrupt hiring in a visible way, but that impact has not shown up in the data. He explained that it is because the companies are simply slowing hiring or freezing it altogether, rather than conducting sweeping layoffs.
Bottom line: This was a bruising week, capping off a bitter month. Let’s hope March doesn’t come in like a lion or a bear.
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 11 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on February 27. 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 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
Jim Cramer’s Game Plan: 11 Stocks in Focus This Week
11. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is one of the stocks in focus this week under Jim Cramer’s game plan. Cramer finished his gameplan with the stock, as he commented:
Now also on Thursday, very exciting, Caterpillar’s part of a fireside chat at CONEXPO. That’s that annual construction trade show that you and I probably don’t go to, but sounds like a real hoot. There’s CEO, Joe Creed, a total straight shooter, might talk about how people are using Caterpillar generators to power data centers. All very exciting. I kick myself daily for not getting into that one, and I don’t know if they’ll let me out from my job here to go attend CONEXPO. Maybe next year.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) provides heavy machinery, engines, turbines, and rail equipment. In addition, the company offers power systems, parts, and support that keep the equipment working. During the February 24 episode, Cramer mentioned the company and said:
What else do we need so badly that we’ll pay anything for? Well, how about Caterpillar? We like their stuff. Turbines, GE Vernova. Hey, how about things that move other things? FedEx is good, any trucker. How about value-oriented companies like Walmart, Dollar General, Costco, Dollar Tree, TJX, they report tomorrow. All those companies make things and sell them cheaper than the other guys. You know what? Johnson& Johnson’s good, Colgate, Procter & Gamble, Hershey.
10. Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) is one of the stocks in focus this week under Jim Cramer’s game plan. Cramer was bullish on the stock ahead of the company’s earnings, as he remarked:
Marvell Tech reports on Thursday, and people are expecting big things because of its partnerships with several hyperscalers, most notably Amazon Web Services, which is selling out of its chips. The demand is so big here that it was mentioned by name in today’s, when everyone was talking about it. Marvell CEO Matt Murphy does a remarkable job. I think the stock’s a buy going into the quarter. That’s right. I’m actually recommending buying Marvell ahead of the earnings.
Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) develops semiconductor solutions for data infrastructure, including system-on-a-chip designs, processors, and networking and storage products. A caller sought Cramer’s advice about the stock during the February 2 episode, and he responded:
They’re an excellent company, but they’re a derivative company. They make stuff that actually competes, the main part of the business that is a little like NVIDIA, frankly, and they’re also partnered with NVIDIA. They make special chips. They make some of the best special chips in the world, as does Broadcom, by the way. All these are on the negative side.
The long side are things like Western Digital, Sandisk, because these are not in shortage, okay? They just have enough chips. They’re not like that. So what people are doing is buying the shortage stocks and selling the ones, NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Marvell, that don’t have a shortage. It’s a really stupid way to invest, but that’s what the market’s doing right now. And I’m sorry, I wish I could reverse it myself, but I can’t because Matt Murphy is a fabulous CEO at Marvell.
