Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, shared his outlook on the developments expected this week and focused on the upcoming nonfarm payroll report and corporate earnings.
“Sometimes you have to just take a breath and ask why things seem so momentous. Notice I said seem, because there’s nothing on next week’s game plan that should have us all that worried. Yet here I am at this wall, and I feel like I’m staring down the barrel of a gun, the gun being Friday’s nonfarm payroll report.”
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Cramer explained that a strong jobs report would likely eliminate any chance of a short-term interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. He said that in that case, not only would rate cuts be off the table, but longer-term yields could climb as well. On the other hand, even if the report shows weak job growth, he warned that the Fed might still hold off on easing rates, given the inflationary pressures linked to tariffs.
Cramer noted that he is hoping for a “Goldilocks report”. He stressed that we need a labor report showing neither job growth nor wage growth. According to him, it is the one setup that might not damage market sentiment. He acknowledged how strange it might sound to cheer for stagnation in employment numbers, but added that if that exact figure comes in, the market could stage a powerful rebound, potentially recovering recent losses and even extending the strength it showed throughout May. He emphasized the ideal outcome, ”No job growth and no wage growth,” and joked, “That’s something to root for, ain’t it?”
“Because the bottom line is: This ain’t baseball, it’s your money. Stay long but no fence swinging, please. It’s too momentous for that.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 9 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episodes of Mad Money aired on May 30. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the first quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 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).
Jim Cramer’s Game Plan: 9 Stocks in Focus
9. lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 48
lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) was part of Cramer’s game plan, and he commented:
“lululemon, there you go, ton of business in China, and as a matter of fact, it’s actually been a real bright spot. We did a piece earlier in the week that said that this could be a bottom for the stock, and I think it’s just too cheap. I’m sticking by that judgment.”
lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) creates and sells athletic clothing, footwear, and accessories for men and women. The company’s products are made for activities such as yoga, running, and training. On May 28, Cramer said:
“[The stock] sold off some more after Liberation Day because Lulu has a huge manufacturing presence in Vietnam, which was set to be hit with a 46% tariff…. Once those reciprocal tariffs got delayed, Lulu was able to mount a comeback. But can this rebound continue? I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m going to tell you why. First, I’m still hopeful that the tariffs on Vietnam won’t end up being anywhere near that 46% level that was announced on Liberation Day…
Second, I also believe that the consumer’s doing better than most of Wall Street seems to assume, in keeping with that much stronger-than-expected consumer sentiment number we just got yesterday. Even when consumer sentiment looked terrible, actually consumer spending never really took a hit, though…. The company has a strategic plan in place, which is focused on product innovation, the guest experience, and the market expansion. They’re very rigorous about this. They’ve been doing this for a couple of years. It’s been paying off…
Unlike the setup for the previous quarter where expectations were sky high after Lulu had raised its outlook just a couple weeks before the quarter ended, expectations feel very low right now. Oh, I like this setup…
I think it should be bought, given that expectations for the company are now lower than at any point dating back to mid-2024, which was a great time by the way to buy LULU. This is reflected in the company’s forward price-to-earnings ratio, which currently stands at just 21 times earnings. That’s nearly a 50% discount to the stock’s average valuation over the past five years. Good timing.
So the bottom line: lululemon is a beaten-down retail that I think can continue making a comeback. We’ll see what happens next week, but for the time being, I am inclined to take a chance here. Maybe do it with call options, deep in the money. Why not? The expectations for lululemon are so low that the risk-reward seems pretty skewed to the upside.”
8. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 158
Expressing optimism for Broadcom Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AVGO) upcoming quarterly report, Cramer commented:
“After the close, we get results from Broadcom, the trillion-dollar tech company that no one seems to have ever heard of. I think it’s having a bang-up quarter. We’re telling club members that it could be reporting an excellent quarter because if its software is getting great margins, that could help us.”
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) designs and provides semiconductor products such as custom chips, connectivity parts, and system-on-chips used in networking, broadband, and mobile technology. Furthermore, the company provides components for data storage, wireless systems, and industrial applications. On May 23, when asked about the company, Cramer remarked:
“Broadcom is good, my friend. It’s one of my biggest positions for my Charitable Trust. This stock has been a horse, and I gotta tell you, as far as I’m concerned [buy, buy, buy] even up here, because it’s in the data center and it’s taking names and taking share.”
7. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29
Noting that Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) is a “tale of success”, Cramer said:
“Thursday morning, we get a tale of woe and a tale of success. The woe, Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniels and Cracker Barrel’s the positive, restaurant turned around along with historically low prices.… As for Cracker Barrel, so many restaurant chains that offer value have seen their stocks pop, and we’ve seen Darden pop, Texas Roadhouse pop. I mean, these things are, did you see Brinker today? Looked fantastic. This one also has value, and the CEO understands that we need to reinvigorate the company’s stores. Works for me.”
Cracker Barrel (NASDAQ:CBRL) runs a chain of restaurants that serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each location includes a gift shop that sells home décor, clothing, food products, and seasonal merchandise. On March 7, Cramer extensively commented on the company as he stated:
“Next up is Cracker Barrel, another one I’m really interested in. This is a stock that’s fallen drastically over the past few weeks but that’s not without reason, either with management blaming not just the weather, but also macroeconomic uncertainty as the reason for some of the challenges in early February. That’s suboptimal. So what’s there to like about it then?
How about the stellar set of numbers that the company just reported yesterday morning with much better than expected same-store sales growth, macro uncertainty already baked in in Cracker Barrel’s four-year forecast at this point, which they raised by the way? While management admitted that February got off to a challenging start. They said the last two weeks have seen meaningful improvement. I like that. Not too surprised when you remember that Cracker Barrel also represents a stellar value proposition like the other two…
Now Cracker Barrel is still very much a work in progress. Something that CEO Julie Masino is quite candid about. On the conference call, she explained that this year is still an investment year before ‘financial results will significantly improve by the second half of fiscal 2026 and further accelerate into fiscal 2027’.
No wonder the stock’s been a hard hit, down more than 33% from its highs at the end of January despite yesterday’s 7% gain. Now we had Julie on the show and I point blank asked her if we can count on Cracker Barrel to be a refuge from all the craziness when you go to the stores, not the stock. She explained how the last two weeks have gone, mentioning that early February was only so bad because the weather was truly awful…
At this point, the stock’s almost pulled back to where it was trading when I started recommending it last summer, a U-turn. I think Cracker Barrel’s a buy. Remember though, this is a turnaround story which makes it a lot more risky than either Brinker or Texas Roadhouse.”
6. Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF-B)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Calling Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF-B) “a tale of woe”, Cramer remarked:
“Thursday morning, we get a tale of woe and a tale of success. The woe, Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniels, and Cracker Barrel’s the positive, restaurant turned around along with historically low prices. Now, I don’t think liquor’s bottomed. Beer was really bad last month, too much GLP-1s, too many younger people worried about their health and how they look, and prices that just won’t come down, so count me out of Brown-Forman.”
Brown-Forman (NYSE:BF-B) produces, markets, and sells a variety of alcoholic drinks, including spirits, wines, and ready-to-drink options. The company also handles contract bottling and sells whiskey and wine in bulk. Earlier in March, Cramer briefly commented on the company as he said:
“[On why BF-B wasn’t down on the tariff news] Because it’s been down almost everyday for the last two years! I mean because their sales are so bad. Plus you know they put all this money behind these different versions of Jack Daniel’s. Like the Tennessee Honey. And they forgot spending money on their main, on the main prize, which is Jack Daniel’s. And that really hurt them.”
5. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Explaining why he is “sticking” with CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD), Cramer stated:
“On Tuesday night, to back up, we hear from CrowdStrike and we know there’ll be plenty of nervousness here because we’ve had three cybersecurity plays in a row with poorly received quarters, Palo Alto Networks, Okta, and SentinelOne. Meanwhile, there’s only one winner, Zscaler… but what a winner that is.
CrowdStrike struck out in the last quarter, and we told investing club members that it was a buying opportunity. Now, the stock’s trading above where it was when that last quarter was reported. I fear that it would be difficult to meet expectations. I’m sticking with it, though. Why? Because we’re about to analyze the big glitch. Remember that one? The CrowdStrike clerical error shut down an awful lot of terminals worldwide… and then it made a stunning recovery. If it could survive that massive outage, you know what I say, just own CrowdStrike, don’t trade it.”
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) provides cybersecurity solutions through a cloud-based subscription model, covering endpoint and cloud security, identity protection, threat detection, data security, and AI-driven automation across IT and security operations.
4. Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
As Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) is set to report its first quarter earnings on June 4, Cramer said:
“Same as Wednesday, when you hear from Dollar Tree and Five Below. Hey man, these are so-called last resort retailers where you go when you have any trouble stretching your budget. They’re masters at finding low-price merchandise, but with the tariffs on China, previously low-cost merchandise, they gotta scramble to find the equivalent from countries that at this point might have more leverage than you’d expect. I mean, they never expected all these orders.
I think all three chains will have good quarters because they were able to bring in a lot of merchandise before the tariffs hit. It’s the guidance I’m worried about because the tariff regime means that either they need to raise prices substantially or accept a much lower level of profitability. Their stocks could be terrible. I wish they could be as adept as Costco, which reported this outstanding number.
But then Costco focuses on a relatively small number of items that it buys in extreme bulk, and it can always swap this stuff out if its suppliers get too greedy. Nobody else has that capability. My hope is that the dollar stores can raise prices once and then keep them there until they find cheaper sources. That might be tough, though, when the White House seems to want everything made here and anything made here will be more expensive than made there.”
Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) is a value retailer that sells a wide range of low-cost products, including clothing, beauty items, home decor, electronic accessories, toys, games, fitness gear, crafts, school supplies, party goods, snacks, and seasonal merchandise. Giverny Capital Asset Management, LLC stated the following regarding Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“We also exited Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE), our lamented value retailer. Five Below has one of the better retail store models I have ever seen. Unfortunately, prior management decided to move away from a successful value proposition where all merchandise in the store was priced below $5, and to introduce higher-priced items. I wasn’t skeptical enough of this move. Customers walk into Five Below expecting to find fun and interesting low-priced items, not $20 roll-aboard suitcases. On a simple level, when you sell trendy $2 and $3 items to kids, there is not much competition. When you start selling $15 and $20 items to adults, you find yourself competing with Walmart and Target. That’s a harder game to play.
Five Below was also hurt by shoplifting losses after some cities stopped policing petty crime. CEO Joel Anderson left abruptly last summer and I waited to see who would replace him. Unfortunately, the new CEO previously led two retailers that ended up in bankruptcy shortly after her departure. In our research, she did not garner strong reviews from former colleagues. On top of this, it was clear to us that Five Below would be hurt by plans to heavily tax Chinese-made imports. We did not foresee the extreme level of tariffs that were announced, but we did suspect China would be hit hard. We exited at a terrible price but not as terrible as the current price: about $86 vs. recent quotes in the mid-$60s.”
3. Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67
Discussing how companies that run dollar stores like Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) might face complications with tariffs on China, Cramer commented:
“Same as Wednesday, when you hear from Dollar Tree and Five Below. Hey man, these are so-called last resort retailers where you go when you have any trouble stretching your budget. They’re masters at finding low-price merchandise, but with the tariffs on China, previously low-cost merchandise, they gotta scramble to find the equivalent from countries that at this point might have more leverage than you’d expect. I mean, they never expected all these orders.
I think all three chains will have good quarters because they were able to bring in a lot of merchandise before the tariffs hit. It’s the guidance I’m worried about because the tariff regime means that either they need to raise prices substantially or accept a much lower level of profitability. Their stocks could be terrible. I wish they could be as adept as Costco, which reported this outstanding number.
But then Costco focuses on a relatively small number of items that it buys in extreme bulk, and it can always swap this stuff out if its suppliers get too greedy. Nobody else has that capability. My hope is that the dollar stores can raise prices once and then keep them there until they find cheaper sources. That might be tough, though, when the White House seems to want everything made here, and anything made here will be more expensive than made there.”
Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) operates discount retail stores offering everyday consumables like food, household items, and personal care products, along with toys, housewares, party supplies, and seasonal merchandise for major holidays.
2. Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 55
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) was mentioned during the episode, and here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“Tuesday is the kind of day that explains the pain of this moment. We hear from Dollar General in the morning, and Dollar General’s done a remarkable job at keeping a lid on prices, but how much longer can they do that? We gotta listen… I think all three chains will have good quarters because they were able to bring in a lot of merchandise before the tariffs hit. It’s the guidance I’m worried about because the tariff regime means that either they need to raise prices substantially or accept a much lower level of profitability. Their stocks could be terrible. I wish they could be as adept as Costco, which reported this outstanding number.
But then Costco focuses on a relatively small number of items that it buys in extreme bulk, and it can always swap this stuff out if its suppliers get too greedy. Nobody else has that capability. My hope is that the dollar stores can raise prices once and then keep them there until they find cheaper sources. That might be tough, though, when the White House seems to want everything made here, and anything made here will be more expensive than made there.”
Dollar General (NYSE:DG) is a discount retailer that offers a wide range of everyday products, including household essentials, food and beverages, personal care items, seasonal goods, home supplies, and clothing for all ages.
1. The Campbell’s Company (NASDAQ:CPB)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30
Cramer started the game plan with The Campbell’s Company (NASDAQ:CPB) as he said:
“Look, we’re going to get earnings from Campbell’s Monday morning, and there was a time when I would tell you, listen, if I get the stock at 11 times earnings with a four and a half percent yield, I gotta buy, buy, buy. Now, though, I want no part of it, given the gross margin squeeze from the rising cost on everything in the can and the can itself. Oh, let’s not forget the rise of GLP-1 weight loss drugs, which make you feel too full. They make you feel so you can’t have a lot of Goldfish. Goldfish, what did they do?”
Campbell’s (NASDAQ:CPB) produces and sells a wide range of food and beverage products, including soups, sauces, juices, frozen meals, yogurt, and a variety of snacks such as crackers, chips, and cookies. The company’s offerings span well-known brands and cater to both retail and foodservice customers.
While we acknowledge the potential of The Campbell’s Company (NASDAQ:CPB) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that 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 CPB and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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