In this piece, we will look at the stocks that Jim Cramer recently discussed.
In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer commented on the growing amount of stock buybacks and how the buybacks during April-May were the third best historically of the year. “Well, I’ll tell ya, the banks are the ones that are going to do it. They’re gonna start it and the banks have an appetite for their stock that is crazy,” he said.
Cramer also commented on President Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro. Navarro is an ardent believer in the trade imbalance that the US faces abroad and Cramer agrees with the assessment. “Well, Peter’s got, strong views. Peter’s a person with strong views,” according to Cramer.
Despite the fact that markets were roiled in April due to the President’s tariff announcements, when his co-host remarked that Navarro might not have the President’s ear, Cramer replied: “Well if that’s the case, death by China is winning right now. And death by China is Navarro.”
Another news bite that was brought up on the show was the decline in foreign arrivals in the US and the President saying the decline in foreign arrivals wasn’t a big deal. Cramer agrees with Trump as he said:
“So far, not. I think that the dollar being cheap for the first time in our lifetime is gonna make people. . .but when you listen to Proctor, you’re very conscious of the fact that the dollar’s weak and IBM and I think that people in the end, they’ll be excited. Excited to come to a place where the dollar’s finally not crushing them. And that does matter.”
However, he added:
“Well look, it’s not, obviously I think that there’s issues involving our country and how people view us and, look, you don’t need me to tell which way the wind blows. But I would have thought there would have been more weakness in travel. I’m just surprised that it’s just not bad.”
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on April 24th.
For these stocks, we also mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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).
18. Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 26
Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI) is a business consulting and recruiting company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its shares have lost 37.5% year-to-date, with the latest dip coming in April after the firm’s latest quarterly earnings. The report led to a 13.9% drop in Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI)’s stock as the firm’s profit dropped to an unbelievable $17 million from the year-ago quarter’s $64 million. Here’s what Cramer said as the shares were falling:
“No that was the Robert cut in half. And when I looked at it I said, are you kidding? I mean what are you doing and you know they had a very bad morning. And I look at it and I just say, it’s a pretty traditional stock. They usually don’t. miss by that much, so it did take me by surprise.”
17. Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 44
Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV) is an industrial components provider whose products are used in the aerospace, automotive, and other industries. Its shares have lost 8.9% year-to-date with most of the losses occurring during and after the Liberation Day stock market selloff. Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV)’s latest earnings report has seen the stock jump by 3.3% since then even though management cut full-year guidance to $9.20-$9.40 per share from an earlier $9.30-$9.50. Here’s what Cramer said about the results:
“Okay so here’s a good example of the craziness of this market. Dover reports. Dover did what RTX did the other day. They actually said okay listen the tariffs are hurting us. Okay, here’s how they’re hurting us. Stock was immediately down seven bucks. Down 7. And I was like I own it for my charitable trust and I’m like meumughmhgm . . .and then well people figured out, wait a second, they told the truth! Now the stock’s up nice.”
16. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 60
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is one of the oldest and largest computing companies in the world. It is an enterprise computing firm that provides hardware and software services to businesses. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s shares have gained 5.7% year-to-date, which is in sharp comparison to the stock price performance of big tech stocks. It has benefited from positive earnings tailwinds, but the shares dipped by 6.6% in April after the firm’s software business missed analyst estimates. Here’s what Cramer said about International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM):
[IBM on contracts cut by DOGE] “They’re trying to stress, look, it could be tailwind coming forward, but they’re not really going for it. Look now I want to take the other side of the trade of this. This is their first quarter and they tend not to guide up. There was a little deceleration in Red Hat, which is this great acquisition that they made a few years ago. But I would tell you, I’m a free cash flow guy when it comes to IBM. And this was like the best free cash flow first quarter and, I think Arvind Krishna’s done a great job. David, you know that they still do all the banks in this country. I mean they have never lost this business. And they have a new mainframe coming out. So there are many reasons why you want to buy the weakness here in IBM.”
“And I’ll tell you. IBM has become one of the steadiest players, maybe I don’t want to leave it because it’s been so consistent. But this is I think an overreaction, what I’m saying. I don’t think it’s a, it wasn’t a great quarter, it was good. . .”
15. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 60
The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is an American retailer. Its stock has bucked the market’s poor performance in 2025 as the shares have gained 13% year-to-date. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has benefited from investor flight to safety particularly due to its domestic exposure. Cramer has commented previously that rival Costco might be a better buy. This time around he wondered whether The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has benefited from a weary consumer deciding to eat at home:
“When I listened to that I said okay now I know why Kroger goes up every day. . . . There, Scott Boatwright had a very, this was the Chipotle call, it was a very straightforward call basically just saying, they didn’t mention the actual price of different things, but people would rather just have a couple of meals at home. Where it’s just cheaper.”
14. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 64
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is an enterprise analytics firm that was one of the most widely discussed stocks in Cramer’s morning show up until its recent share price weakness. The CNBC TV host has fluctuated between being confident that the firm can benefit from DOGE cost-cutting efforts to wondering whether it could become their victim. Recently, he remarked that while Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) was a meme stock, viewers could buy it. Here are his latest thoughts:
“Okay so these are companies that are now perceived as being secular winners. You bring them in, they figure out ways to save money, and everybody likes them.”
13. Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 66
Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN) is a chip manufacturing company that makes and sells power management chips, microcontrollers, and other chips. Its products are geared primarily towards industrial users. As a result, Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN)’s shares are down 12% year-to-date as investors worry about the economy and data center demand. However, the shares jumped by close to 11% in April after the firm’s Q1 revenue jumped to $4 billion from an earlier $3.7 billion. Here are Cramer’s latest thoughts about Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN):
” Texan is so non-promotional, it was like, look we’ve had the customers don’t have enough inventory so things are better.”
12. PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 69
PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) is a well-known American food and beverage firm. Cramer has discussed the firm several times in his morning show. In several of these, he has praised PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s CEO Ramon Laguarta and commended his appreciation of the fact that weight loss drugs change the firm’s market dynamics. Here are his latest comments about PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP):
“PepsiCo, by the way, Ramon Laguarta, I bet you that stock is barely down, because that stock had been prepped, from a level of negativity. Yeah, it’s not even down. A level of negativity you can’t believe. And when you speak to Ramon, can I just say, Ramon who I happen to like very much . . .Ramon is one of guys who has to accept the fact that we have a secretary of health and human services that is basically just saying you gotta get a lot of beetroot, you gotta get a lot of natural colors. And remember, PepsiCo, Pepsi, like Coke, it’s got a kind of yellow. A yellow that David, frankly, there are other liquids that are yellow.”
“I think Ramon’s got the toughest hand of anybody that we’re going to see today and he’s doing the best with it. Okay. He has the toughest hand. He has a health and human services guy who wants to take the color out of everything that they make, okay. Now Doritos, I mean Doritos’ got a little stuff that makes it look a little more hot than the other guy. So you got to figure out how to make something look hot without. . .and do it naturally.”
“Also when you hear that potato chips are a discretionary item in people’s diet. What it says is people are very, very worried. They’re very worried about their job. And I’ve never equated a small bag of chips. . .I have never equated that with economic uncertainty.”
“I am saying that when you listen to the food guys and they are talking about how people are nervous and they’re cutting back on eating. When I’m nervous, I eat more. . . .who cuts back on eating. . .I eat a lot less because I’m nervous, who says that?”
11. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 79
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is a consumer goods company. Its shares are down by 2.9% year-to-date as they’ve hedged against the losses that high-growth tech stocks have faced. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s shares fell by 3.7% in April after the firm’s latest earnings report. The results saw the firm warn about price hikes and reduce fiscal year profit outlook to $6.72 to $6.82 per share from an earlier $6.91 and $7.05 per share. Here’s what Crmaer said:
“Proctor and Gamble, has never, you know never misses. And people think it missed.”
10. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 83
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is a restaurant chain that specializes in Mexican cuisine. Cramer’s previous remarks about the firm have shared that he isn’t concerned about the company and added that investors have cooled on the stock as they wonder if it can deliver robust same-store sales growth. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)’s shares jumped by 6% in the days following its earnings as the firm overcame the initial post-earnings share price drop. Here’s what Cramer said:
“[CMG and consumer headwinds] When I listened to that I said okay now I know why Kroger goes up every day. Now I know why Costco’s strong. There, Scott Boatwright had a very, this was the Chipotle call, it was a very straightforward call basically just saying, they didn’t mention the actual price of different things, but people would rather just have a couple of meals at home. Where it’s just cheaper.”
“Remember McDonalds came out with a $5 burger and their numbers spiked? Well, you have to address, if I were Chipotle right now, I’d be thinking, okay, I gotta come up with a limited-time only offer that is, that’s cheaper. Now Scott, to his credit said, listen we gotta have people smile more. Okay. I like smiles.”
9. Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 84
Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) is an American semiconductor company that makes and sells chip manufacturing equipment. It is one of the few firms of its kind in the world, which provides it with a wide moat in the industry. Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s shares are down by 1.4% year-to-date as they struggle to recover from a massive 19.9% drop in April after tariff announcements. Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s latest earnings report saw it grow revenue by 8% annually to $4.7 billion. Cramer was full of praise for the firm:
“. . I thought Lam was great. I mean Lam was just chock-full of really good numbers.”
“You know Carl, a lot of people feel like we don’t make anything in this country. . .but Lam Research is probably the greatest semiconductor capital equipment company other than Taiwan Semi. And they reported a monster quarter. And Tim Archer, the CEO, came on Mad Money, he’s fantastic, Doug Bettinger . .the CFO. . .just fantastic. This was an amazing quarter, I know it’s up three, it’s gonna go up more. They are just a remarkable company. You can see ADI up today, you can see obviously Texas Instruments up today. On Semi up today. That’s where the rally is coming from. These are industrial, a lot of industrial semis. But Lam is trying to get into the most high-end stuff too. We should be proud. This is where all the intellectual property really lies. With these companies. That’s how they can make these chips. And I think if we were, if Jensen Huang were here or something I think he would say something like you know what we are great because of the companies that make the capital equipment machines. And Lam’s an amazing company.”
“What the administration needs to do among many things is to start celebrating the guys who really have stayed and done great things. Make people feel better. Stop making people feel bad. Lam is a gem. Just a gem.”
8. Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 89
Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) is a major American regional bank that has been in the news this month due to its acquisition of Discoer Financial receiving the go-ahead from the Federal Reserve and the OCC. Ahead of the approval, Cramer had predicted that the deal would go through. After it was approved, he pointed out the potential of the new entity. Here are his latest thoughts about Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF):
“We own Capital One. Now I don’t know. . people. . .in your world, this Capital One, it got approved, and, and, Fairbank is gonna stand there after this thing closes, and I think he’s gonna buy back a ton of stock because his stock is really cheap and he’s a reaallyy good banker.”
“Capital One, they’re supposed to be missing the quarter, people are supposed to be defaulting. It is the oddest time, it’s the strangest angst, David, I see people having angst and doing crazy things. They have angst and they’re paying off their credit. You know when you have angst, you default.”
7. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 91
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It is a regular feature of Cramer’s morning show. In his previous appearances, the TV host has lamented that China is creating hurdles for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s drugs in the country. Cramer is also a fan of the firm’s CEO Rob Davis. Here are his latest thoughts about Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK):
“You know David, this is an earnings season so far where a lot of big ones, that look like they’re just shockingly bad, or disappointing, everyone knew. I mean, Merck reported a quarter, I think we all kind of knew that KEYTRUDA had slown a little bit. we know that there were some GARDASIL problems, WINREVAIR, a drug that they bought, pulmonary arterial hypertension, I thought it was terrific. 280 million. So I think that this is an example where we can just say, oh my god, Merck down almost 40%, I gotta take a hard look at it, Merck’s a good company.”
“You know how people are David, when you get to within a couple of years of a major drug like KEYTRUDA, that is so big. I mean KEYTRUDA by the way, accrued 4%, 7.2 billion. . .and to me, I look at this and I say, look, they’re gonna have a lot of money. And they’ll go do what’s right. Other people look at it and say, Pfizer had a lot of money and what did they do? So you Merck and Pfizer, you have one and two for long time that’s been the great ones. . . I look at Merck and say, the reason why it’s not down, is people just say, it just can’t be that bad at Merck. And I think that that’s actually probably a good sentiment.”
6. Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 93
Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) is a major railroad operator that has operations in the US and in Canada. Its shares are down by 6.9% year-to-date as they have struggled to recover from the 12.7% drop in April after tariff announcements. In his previous comments, Cramer has warned that an economic slowdown could hurt the company. Here are his latest thoughts about Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP):
“There’s a lot of things where things will take you by surprise. Union Pacific should have been bad and it was good.”
5. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 96
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is one of the biggest banks in America. Its shares are flat to date and might have been in the green had it not been for the post-tariff 15.6% drop. Cramer has discussed Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) several times in his morning show. He is confident in the firm’s CEO and added that the recent share price dips are unwarranted. Here are his latest remarks about Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC):
“Now we own Wells Fargo, for the charitable trust, and if they would ever remove that darn tack, it’s now been seven years on, that would be fantastic for Wells.”
4. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 96
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) has been one of Cramer’s top retail stocks throughout this year. Some of the reasons he likes the firm include its scale which Cramer believes can help it navigate through tariff-induced inflation and its efforts to reduce prices amidst the current inflationary environment. This time around, Cramer commented that Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) might also be benefiting from inflation forcing consumers to eat at home:
“When I listened to that I said okay. . .Now I know why Costco’s strong. There, Scott Boatwright had a very, this was the Chipotle call, it was a very straightforward call basically just saying, they didn’t mention the actual price of different things, but people would rather just have a couple of meals at home. Where it’s just cheaper.”
3. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 110
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is an enterprise software company. The shares have lost 10% year-to-date, partially due to an 11% dip in January after the firm cut its 2025 growth estimates. Growth is the holy grail for enterprise software firms, and naturally, investors didn’t react well, as ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s 2025 subscription revenue forecast of $12.7 billion missed estimates of $12.9 billion. However, April’s proven to be a good month for the stock as the shares surged by 16% after ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s first-quarter results beat estimates and it lifted its full-year forecast. Here’s what Cramer said:
“The only one which was blow away was ServiceNow, Bill McDermott. . . .But, ServiceNow is what we’re talking about for a second because a lot of people felt they were gonna miss because of DOGE. I’m now thinking they made it because of DOGE. I think people have just said you know what, we bring in ServiceNow, we can really make this company. . .”
“Okay so these are companies that are now perceived as being secular winners. You bring them in, they figure out ways to save money, and everybody likes them. What I didn’t count on was that ServiceNow was also going to move into customer relations management. Moving into the Salesforce territory. So we have maybe a new. . .death match.”
“I told people ServiceNow could be up 200 dollars in the next two days. That’s how great that quarter was.”
“I remember going to, listening to a panel, and it was actually a panel that was, CNBC, had very very strong panel where they talked about SBC. . . .and the speaker was saying if you have this kind of thing that David is talking about, stock-based compensation, forget the earnings, I don’t even wanna see them. I don’t even wanna see them. So I think you’re absolutely right to mention it, particularly because that quarter would not have been nearly as great.”
“The reason I say that in this case I don’t want to focus that much on it is because they have this rule, the rule of 50 so to speak. They have great growth and they have great margin expansion. And that is very, very hard to do and most of these enterprise softwares cannot do it. It was an excellent quarter by the way.”
2. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 144
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the largest video streaming company in the world. Cramer frequently discusses the stock in his morning show and rarely has he expressed any pessimism about the firm. The CNBC host has pointed out that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has consistently demonstrated strong earnings power and fawned over its robust subscriber base. Here are his latest thoughts:
“Well I’m so glad you brought them up. I don’t if you ever read Jonathan Haidt, any of his books about rewriting your childhood. You know they did a show, I don’t know if you watched Adolescent, they’re Britain, Netflix. Look we do cops and shows, we do hospital shows. And they do shows about the relevance of trying to be able to have a kid that’s in school and you’re a parent. Like, Haidt wrote an article about it. I’m just saying that this is the most unlikely kind of thing to watch. And the country’s transfixed. Because they understand what we want. We do not want another Chicago fire hospital!”
1. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 234
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is a mega-cap technology giant known for its search engine, video streaming, and cloud computing platforms. The shares have lost 14.5% year-to-date but were dealt with respite in April after they rose by 4.3% after the firm’s latest earnings report. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) benefited from the fact that the firm’s advertisement revenue beat analyst estimates and management expressed optimism about AI investments bearing fruit. Here is what Cramer said about the firm before the earnings release:
“Okay, I’m glad you mentioned it because I think that Google, has to beat this 200 billion dollar search and they have to try to explain how, by the way I think they’re actually going to put on a good, a good clinic on how Gemini is not being cannibalized or cannibalizing Search. But, will they bring up and discuss how much they’re paying you know this is the Samsung issue, of how much they’re paying by default, because that was brought up in one of the remedy section of the feds. . .in this most recent trial. They’re not doing so well in the, in the federal courts. But I would say that the stock is inexpensive. I just think that we’re gonna, all you’re gonna hear about is whether, whether there is cannibalization or not. And this is the quarter that. . .demonstrate that. I think that they had much rather talk about YouTube which is doing spectacularly well.”
“[on CapEx] I think resolute. I think that they are, they have a lot of different irons in the fire that they don’t just have to do. . .data center for Gemini. But, look, I was on Gemini yesterday just trying to find out what’s, why Gemini, is at all interesting or important versus the others. And I just, I came up with nothing. I came up empty-handed. Gemini has no personality. Gemini is just, it’s just kind of matter-of-fact.”
GOOGL is a stock Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GOOGL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires
Disclosure. None. Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and investors. Please subscribe to our daily free newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email address below.
