In a recent appearance on CNBC's Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer commented on President Trump's latest batch of tariffs. While the President did give automakers a 30-day reprieve later on and walked back some tariffs, the fluidity of the situation meant that Cramer made his comments before either development. Cramer started by comparing the current situation to Lewis Carroll's well-known children's story:
"Yeah, look I, maybe I'm in Alice in Wonderland. . . but I heard a President last night. That I think is intransigent and is in no mood to do anything other than raise tariffs. To help the American people and to pay for things. And then I hear people walk it back. I read Commerce Secretary Lutnick's comments this morning on Bloomberg, I listened to the idea that there might be a deal. I'm like 'huh'? . . .Did anyone listen to it? I mean it was ferocious. The American people obviously love, they voted, the American people voted for ferocity. They got ferociousness. Why are we saying that lesser people who are involved in this cabinet are saying there could be a deal, when the guy we heard last night, I think he's just saying you know what, not only are there no deals but everyone's going to have to take pain."
One immediate impact of the tariffs, according to the CNBC TV show host, will be on car affordability in America. According to Cramer:
"[I]t'll be much more affordable to buy something from Korea, from Japan. It's gonna shrink the new car volumes, customers are used to affordability. I don't, I guess what I'm saying is that it's not about Mexico and about Canada. It's about our car companies and whether they'll be crushed by this."
In response, Cramer's co-host asked him about his thoughts on the government's belief that the tariffs are supposed to enhance the car companies' future. "[T]hat's laughable," he replied. "They take years trying to get it so they can compete. That was what it was. People seem to forget that there was a big reason why we did this. The Republicans wanted our companies to be able to compete. On an even keel globally. . .the old Republicans. And that's over, okay," Cramer added.
After analyzing the immediate impact of the tariffs, Cramer somberly concluded that "Somebody has to be sacrificed" for the President to achieve his goals.
He also commented on Secretary Lutnick suggesting that autos might be compliant under USMCA. Cramer believes that "Lutnick is the, he's a private. And the President is a five-star general." He likes Lutnick and believes the Secretary is trying to be constructive. "But, I, the President is not about being constructive right now. He's about making a point. And hate him or like him, he's making a point. He's, this is not David, an everybody wins scenario," he added.
As to how the administration's belief about the benefits from tariffs to US companies contrasts with his view, here's what Cramer said:
"Well they got a longer term view. But, now. I mean the reason why we went to Canada is cause we can't make it as cheap here. That's why we went. To make these companies competitive against [Japanese car companies]. That's why we did it! We seem to forget why we did it! It was because our companies were being crushed by foreign companies. . . So we came up with this great plan to make it so we were competitive. And that was then and this is now. Look the President is very abject about saying there's gonna be pain. So I think that we as people who are trying to figure out things should really get in the pain business."
Our Methodology
To make our list of the stocks that Jim Cramer talked about, we listed down all the stocks he mentioned during CNBC’s Squawk on the Street aired on March 5th.
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).
Is Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) Among the Stocks That Took a Nosedive in January?
A close-up of a customer trying on a piece of apparel in the retailer's spacious dressing room, emphasizing the company's focus on personal care and experience.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) is a well-known American apparel retailer. The stock has lost a sizable 34% over the past year as the firm struggles to recover from a 16% drop in January. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)'s shares dropped after the firm's fourth quarter. The reaction left observers puzzled as the firm's 7.5% midpoint Q4 growth guidance was higher than the previous figure of 6% in an environment where the broader retail sector has struggled with inflation and low consumer spending. Here's what Cramer said about Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF):
"I thought Abercrombie, it had some good things to say, but overall they didn't."
Overall ANF ranks 1st on our list of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of ANF 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. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ANF but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
