We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Nailed These 12 Stock Predictions. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.
During a recent episode of Mad Money, which aired on Wednesday, the 7th of May, Jim Cramer gave some advice on how experts pick their stocks:
“I want to pull back the curtain and show you how a professional looks for stocks to buy and knows what to sell. There’s no magic. There’s no hidden talent. Just a bunch of disciplines, disciplines that can help you try to make mad money if you master them.”
READ ALSO: 13 Stock Predictions That Jim Cramer Got Completely Wrong
Cramer reminded investors to do solid research and only buy stocks they truly believe in, even if that belief comes with skepticism, as long as they think the price will go up. But he warned that belief alone isn’t enough if a stock is falling; the drop must be unrelated to the company’s actual performance to be a buying opportunity. Here’s his advice:
“Be certain you’re dealing with a momentarily damaged stock and not a troubled company that’s going down, down, down. How can you tell the difference between a damaged company and a damaged stock? The fundamentals haven’t changed, the stock probably hasn’t fallen from grace. It’s pulled back for mechanical reasons, profit taking, or some panic in the market in general.”
He then added that hedge funds often cause irrational market swings by treating stocks like short-term trades, not long-term investments. But if a company’s fundamentals do start to break down, it no longer belongs in your portfolio.
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 12 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during Mad Money episodes that aired on the 7th and 8th of May 2o24. We then calculated their performance for the past 12 months, until May 7th, 2025, market close. We have also included the hedge fund sentiment for the stocks, which we sourced from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of over 900 hedge funds. The stocks are listed in the order that Cramer mentioned them.
Please note that this article mentions Jim Cramer’s previous opinions and may not account for any changes to his opinions regarding the stocks that are mentioned. It is primarily an examination of how his previously provided opinions have panned out.
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).
A technician wearing a protective suit in a water treatment plant.
Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 59
Cramer was asked about Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL), a water and hygiene solutions company. He gave a positive take based on his personal experience and the company’s reputation.
“Haven’t been a customer of theirs—I mean, they just clean up. You gotta be—hey, I’m going to give David twofer. Why not give David twofer? He calls, he’s always good. I’m throwing in Cintas. I’m giving you Ecolab and Cintas. Kings of the small business world.”
Cramer’s endorsement aligned with a solid 9.19% gain for the year.
Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) provides water treatment, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions across industries like hospitality, food service, and healthcare.
Overall, ECL ranks 5th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of ECL 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 ECL 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. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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