Jim Cramer’s Top 5 Bank Stock Picks This Year

4. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75

In January this year, Cramer predicted that Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) stock was “about to take off.” It’s also his charitable trust’s holding. Cramer at the time said that he’d told his investing club members that Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was about to “blast off.” However, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) has apparently not lived up to Cramer’s expectations, losing about 1% in value year to date through October 20.

Earlier this month, Baird’s David George gave bullish comments on Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC). The analyst said while Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) has not gained much this year, it has done an “okay” job on a YoY basis.

“They had to work out a lot of what I would call non-operational deposits over the last couple years, so that has positioned them as a counterparty of choice on the West Coast,” George said.

Here is what Tweedy, Browne has to say about Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:

“The Funds received very little in the way of return contributions from many of their financial, energy, media, and healthcare holdings. While it would appear that a crisis was avoided by the quick intervention of bank regulators in the US and Switzerland, some uneasiness still remains in the global banking community. This turmoil couldn’t help but have a negative impact on investor sentiment and in turn on Fund bank holdings such as Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).”