Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, discussed on Monday how investor sentiment surrounding tech stocks has shifted over the past three months. He pointed out that not long ago, tech was seen as the leader of the market. However, that is no longer the case. Cramer noted that he had hoped for a thriving AI infrastructure space.
“Three months ago, I thought we could be in for all sorts of exciting new technology. We went out to that GTC conference with Jensen Huang, but so far this year AI has only evolved in the direction of lower stock prices.”
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Despite the tech stocks getting hit, Cramer expressed that he has not abandoned his belief in the potential of AI infrastructure. He encouraged investors to focus on the strongest companies within the AI space, especially since prices have dropped significantly. He noted that it makes it less of a chase and more of an opportunity. Cramer also noted that while he had initially expected that enterprise software companies utilizing AI would perform well in 2025, it has not played out as he expected.
“I figured we’d see a group of enterprise software companies that harnessed AI tools to make big money this year. No, that didn’t happen at all. I’m not giving up hope but look at the enterprise software companies who seem to be leading the way in AI. They’ve become some of the worst performers in all of tech.”
Cramer also touched on the global trade situation and specifically addressed the impact of President Trump’s trade policies. He recalled that back in January, he was more focused on the tech-specific trade restrictions imposed by former President Biden, such as bans on advanced chip sales to China.
However, he noted that the situation has escalated into what looks like a full-scale trade war. Cramer said that while it appears that the U.S. might be emerging victorious in some ways, the cost could be high and he called it a “Pyrrhic victory”. He remarked that the current administration under President Trump does not appear in any hurry to reverse the trade limitations. He added:
“Given the new president’s attitude toward our trading partners, I bet he’ll double down before rolling this stuff back. He is more likely to ban the selling of any chips, even potato chips at this point.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 8 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on March 31. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment 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).
Jim Cramer’s Lightning Round: 8 Stocks in Focus
8. The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 33
Pointing out The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) PE of around 16, a caller inquired about the company, and in response, Cramer said:
“Okay and when I see that dividend, that’s almost 7%, that is what I call a red flag. You can’t really have a dividend that high apart from…. unless you’re a utility company. I don’t trust Wendy’s. Eat the Baconator, don’t own the stock.”
Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) operates and franchises fast-food restaurants famous for their hamburgers. It also manages real estate and property leases. The company focuses on restaurant management and franchising. Cramer was similarly bearish on the company in February as he remarked:
“Wendy’s? No. You’re gonna sell Wendy’s tomorrow and you’re going to buy Texas Roadhouse because that’s the one. We had them on Friday. They’re monster good. We bought it for the Charitable Trust. You’re buying, you’re buying TXRH tomorrow.”
7. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
A caller asked what Cramer thought of Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) going into the second quarter and Cramer remarked:
“Look, I think… Can I just call the bottom in Dell right here right now? Do you mind if I do that at $91? I mean… it’s at nine times earnings. Mike, someone wake up Michael Dell…. Dell is at $91, I have to say fine and by the way, just on Nvidia, let me just say, it surprises you the most when it’s the most hated, and when I woke up this morning, I said it was the most hated stock I can recall in all of 2025.”
Dell (NYSE:DELL) designs and sells a variety of products and services, including storage, servers, networking, desktops, workstations, and cybersecurity solutions. The company also offers customer financing, support, and consulting services.
6. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 86
Highlighting ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) stock’s recent 9% decline, a caller inquired about the company and in reply, Cramer said:
“Remember they’re a Dutch company and the president is, the president of the United States will not help a Dutch company do business in China, and that business in China is what’s really necessary and he just will not let that happen. By the way, that’s not new. Previous president felt the same way. So there are real issues with our trade partners in ASML because they own one of the most crucial parts of the entire semiconductor food chain.”
ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) designs and makes advanced semiconductor equipment including lithography, metrology, and inspection systems. The company helps chipmakers produce various semiconductor technologies and offers customer support and system upgrades. Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) is a Dutch company that designs and manufactures photolithography equipment for semiconductor manufacturing. While ASML is the leader across all types of lithography, most importantly, it is the only manufacturer of extreme ultra-violet lithography tools, which are critical for the manufacturing of leading-edge chips. Shares fell 16.6% during the fourth quarter (finishing the year down 7.7%) on reduced guidance for 2025 as well as growing investor concerns about the potential impact of U.S. government restrictions on Chinese demand and the possibility of peaking lithography intensity. Despite near-term noise, we believe that the growing demand for chips in general and AI chips in particular will continue to support long-term growth for the wafer fab equipment industry with ASML’s competitive positioning remaining unassailable. While lithography as a percentage of capital expenditure may decrease from current levels, the chip layer count requiring lithography will continue to increase, in our view, as chips continue to become more complex. As a monopoly on critical lithography tools supporting an industry with growing demand fueled by the proliferation of AI, we see strong long-term upside for ASML.”
5. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 92
A caller asked if Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) “is dead money” and Cramer replied:
“Is Pfizer dead money? I mean I think it’s been mummified. I don’t know. I mean it’s like, wow. Look at that thing. Close the casket… Alright, Pfizer is unfortunately dead money. Dr. Bourla’s a terrific guy… what can I say? He’s a terrific guy. He’s a terrific guy.”
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) specializes in discovering, developing, producing, and distributing biopharmaceuticals. The company works in areas like cardiovascular health, infectious diseases, oncology, immunology, and vaccines. On February 19, Cramer said:
“[on Pfizer suffering from Trump’s pharma tariffs] Last night I had Jabil building Croatian plants, GLP. I think you have to kind of sort things out, in the end you want to do, you want to buy, you want to make it, for it, you want to make it in a country, for that country. And that’s where we’re going.
… I mean I know that we’re stunned by a lot of [inaudible] coming out of the White House. But a lot of it has happened before, a lot of it is a repetition and it’s been done to us. So I’m not saying that it isn’t a little bit odd the way it comes out. I am saying that every one of these at one time or another has occurred. Or has occurred to us. So I get it. I do think you have to make it there for there. Essentially Bourla didn’t mention that he offered to give the Chinese all the COVID vaccines they wanted. And they wouldn’t take it. I don’t know, I would have mentioned that in that interview.”
4. Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 105
Noting Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) stock’s recent decline, a caller asked what they should do with their position. This is what Cramer had to say in response:
“Okay, Marvell has experienced a historic decline, which is incredible because it’s actually, in earnings, having a historic advance. At this point, I have to tell you, I think Matt Murphy’s stock has been punished enough. It does have a, I know that without a doubt, someone’s gonna say, Jim, did you not see the head and shoulder pattern here? I don’t care. I think you buy a quarter position now and then if it gets to 50, you buy a little more and use a five-point increment after that and I think you’ll do fine. Remember, he bought a ton of stock. Remember he bought a million dollars worth of stock above here.”
Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL) is a semiconductor company that provides solutions for data infrastructure and offers products tailored to the needs of modern data centers.
3. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 144
A caller asked how Cramer saw Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) in the future and in response, he said:
“Okay, now I saw someone today talk about a head and shoulder in Netflix. All I can tell you is I watch Netflix and I know everybody else watches Netflix and Netflix is a great worldwide company and it’s done a lot of things right. It’s only up 5% for the year. I think you can buy some Netflix. I think it’s a really good situation because I like subscription model situations and I’ll throw in every subscription model I think is good. Literally, all of them. I’m even, I’m even thinking about Peloton for heaven’s sake.”
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is a global streaming platform. It offers a variety of movies, TV shows, and original content to millions of subscribers.
2. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was mentioned during the episode, and here’s what Cramer had to say:
“I think you have to wait for it to come, that, it is one of those red hot stocks. Jeff Marks and I were talking today about whether to chase these red-hot stocks that do well at a time when things are slowing down. United Health’s up, certainly one of them. I’ve gotta tell you, AbbVie’s another, J&J’s another. I want you to wait because, what’s happened every time it’s spiked is it then goes down. I want you to wait but I think it is the best of breed and that does matter.”
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is a healthcare company that offers a wide range of services, including health benefit plans, care delivery, pharmacy services, and health management solutions. It also provides software, consulting, and information products to various organizations in the healthcare sector. Toward the end of February, Cramer extensively commented on the company as he said:
“Well look, I’ll go over the math of what it does to UnitedHealth. This is gonna be one of those long battles, government may win, may not, stock’s down as if, all the stocks are down as if this is the government really cracking down on them. I hate to say it because I think that there are a lot of people that feel that they, uh, that Medicare billing practices, if you read the article, are wrong. Carl, these companies, they’re survivors. And, uh, you buy this uh, yeah you buy it because UnitedHealth is very powerful. I’ve often felt that UnitedHealth is every bit as powerful as the government. Because they are, strong, sprawling, and ready to fight. And the government has historically not been able to take on this group. They haven’t really taken on the middle-man either. Look I mean we have strong corporations in our country and you know UnitedHealth is not going to have to, in the end, I am telling you that I do not think this is going to be significant to their earnings. That’s what I’m saying.
… Yeah look, I mean again, I come back, why do we have higher payments for Medicare Advantage. I mean this stuff is so opaque. Uh, they, these companies have had a lot of scrutiny against them. You’re gonna need legislation. I don’t think you’re going to be able to do anything with the Justice Department. Civil fraud division by the way. You have the legislation. Then there’s an issue. But when you have these lawsuits it tends not to bring about any sort of practice. Look, I’m not being cynical. I know that there are people that just say how can you not, how can you not think that this is gonna break up everything? Well, I mean, think about the history of the government. Winning against these big companies, they don’t. And I am saying that, down twelve percent, you buy UnitedHealth. We’ll have portfolio managers come on within the next six days, and there’ll be a huge number of people who bought em. Cause well, it’s been these, it’s been these long lawsuits. So I’m just saying, get ahead of it right now.”
1. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 181
A caller asked Cramer’s opinion on Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and in response, here’s what Mad Money’s host had to say:
“Absolutely, my feeling on the stock of Visa is that is what I call an up stock. I’m going to give you twofer. I like MA too, which is MasterCard. They have no credit risk and they’re doing incredibly well. I like them.”
Visa (NYSE:V) is a payment technology company, which provides services like transaction processing, credit, debit, and prepaid card products. The company also offers solutions for cross-border payments, fraud prevention, digital services, and payment integration for e-commerce platforms. Meridian Hedged Equity Fund stated the following regarding Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is the world’s largest retail electronic payments network. We hold Visa in the portfolio because of its formidable competitive moat, built on network effects spanning billions of cards and millions of merchants globally. The company continues to benefit from the secular shift toward electronic payments while expanding its portfolio to include high-growth adjacent offerings. While U.S. market penetration is mature, international markets—particularly in emerging economies, where cash usage remains prevalent— offer significant growth opportunities. Visa’s operating model demonstrates strong leverage, with incremental revenue efficiently flowing to the bottom line. This quarter, Visa outperformed expectations across key metrics, with payment volumes and transaction growth proving resilient despite macro uncertainties. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued momentum into fiscal 2025, driven by the ongoing transition to digital payments, international expansion, and the scaling of newer business lines.”
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