The CNBC Investment Club held its April monthly meeting on Thursday, where Jim Cramer and Director of Portfolio Analysis Jeff Marks offered their opinions on each stock in the portfolio. The meeting came a day after the S&P 500 index closed at its highest level since late January, interrupting a dramatic recovery from the decline caused by the Iran war. The war-induced bottom in the broad index actually fell one trade after the monthly meeting in March. We met on Friday March 27th and had another day of selling the following Monday. I’ve been racing ever since. Throughout the war, Jim has appealed to investors to remain calm and continue investing. The speed and magnitude of this rebound further reinforces the pitfalls of throwing in the towel. Honestly, who would have predicted this rally would come on the day of the March conference call? Of course, the war is not officially over. But with first-quarter earnings season in full swing, the market is doing its best to refocus on what companies are doing and saying. That’s the context for Thursday’s meeting. No one knows what will happen in May. So let’s take a look at what Jim and Jeff talked about. Big Mistake Nike: There’s a big case of buyer’s remorse, but you don’t want to mix it up with seller’s remorse. Turning around a sportswear giant has been a much tougher task for CEO Elliott Hill than we expected. It was a mistake to buy more shares in December in response to a wave of insider buying. I’m encouraged by another round this week, but I’m not buying along with Hill or Apple CEO Tim Cook, who sits on Apple’s board of directors. Hill will be given one more at-bat. If we have another bad quarter, we’re going to bail out sneaker and apparel makers. Tech giant Apple: The smartphone momentum in China seems to be continuing, and the upcoming launch of Google Gemini-powered Siri is a powerful combination. That’s truly a competitive advantage. In addition, a foldable iPhone will also be introduced. There is no reason to trade this stock. Just own it. Amazon: Stock price rebound is a lesson in patience. The emperor wore clothes all the time. It just took time for the market to realize the strength of its cloud arm, AWS, and its online retail business. We are not sleeping on our satellite ambitions. Broadcom : This week, we cut positions at this popular chipmaker twice. It’s not because CEO Hock Tan or the company’s AI business, which spans custom chips and networking solutions, has deteriorated. Stocks have only been parabolic since the March lows, and I wanted room to buy back some shares in case of a pullback. Alphabet: Despite some seller’s remorse, we took the plunge and reinstated our inventory at the end of last year. I’m glad I did it. From Google Cloud to YouTube to search to the promising Waymo robotaxi service, these businesses are booming. Alphabet probably has more ways to win than any other large company in this market. Metaplatform: Owning Instagram’s parent company here is also part of a bet by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that big spending on AI talent will pay off big. And we don’t like betting on Zuckerberg when it comes to making money. Those Ray-Ban AI glasses are just gravy. Nvidia: Our patience with the leading AI chip stock is paying off. The world is running out of computing power, and there’s a lot of talk about hyperscalers competing with their own chips, but in our view, Nvidia remains best-in-class. The company deserves to be the biggest company in the universe (and it is). Microsoft: The software and cloud giant is showing a renewed sense of crisis after a period of poor performance. It followed the lead of rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in launching exciting and effective AI tools. We would like to see the company increase its compute spending and allocate more of its available capacity to Azure rather than internal research or its AI assistant, Copilot. The data center is GE’s role. Vernova: Before the AI boom, the gas turbine business was in dire straits. Now it’s like magic. Power demand is higher than expected, turbines are in short supply, and there is little competition. That means you have plenty of pricing power. Don’t miss: If you want to jump on the nuclear power trend, GE Vernova is a real business, not a science project. Corning: JPMorgan on Thursday downgraded the maker of glass fiber-optic cables, saying the bottom line is that it’s been run too hard, too fast. Without a doubt, it was a big winner. Our desire to stay on board with this technology stems from the idea that copper wires in data centers will increasingly be replaced by fiberglass. Eaton: The company’s electrical equipment is in high demand in data centers, and we like that they took it a step further by acquiring liquid cooling company Boyd Thermal. This is an adjacent business that expands Eaton’s overall addressable market within AI Construction. AI servers emit a lot of heat, and voids help keep them cool. Qnity Electronics: This is another situation where we would like to benefit. But the company, which spun off from the DuPont conglomerate last fall, is now attracting the attention of a growing number of investors. Without advanced materials like the ones Qnity supplies to companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and South Korea’s SK Hynix, semiconductors cannot be manufactured and packaged. Industrial sector Boeing: The aircraft maker’s order book is full and it is poised to take back market share from its only real competitor, Airbus. Boeing was an incredibly good company and had a good stock price before it became sloppy. With CEO Kelly Ortberg at the helm, that’s no longer a concern. Dover : We’ll be hearing from Dover (and Boeing, for that matter) next week. I admit that I’m feeling impatient with the company this time around, even if its previous financial results were good. I’d like to see CEO Richard Tobin take some more concrete steps to ignite the stock, such as selling slower-growing regions or using some of that dry powder to make exciting acquisitions. This could be one of our names to be replaced by a promising bullpen stock. Honeywell: With the long-awaited aerospace spinoff just months away, the company should hang on to its stock price. The entire company is now worth just under $150 billion. As a standalone company, the aerospace business, which makes electronic systems for airplanes and the small engines that power planes on the ground, could be worth more than its own value. Linde: Although the stock price has stalled, Linde, which produces gas outside the Persian Gulf, sees disruptions in helium supplies from the Middle East as a tailwind. If we finally start to see improvement in economic growth, Linde should see increased volumes to offset the price increase, a winning combination that would raise guidance above expectations. DuPont: While we do not believe a reverse stock split is ideal from an optical standpoint, we believe in management’s broader strategy. Shareholders are expected to vote on the idea at DuPont’s annual meeting in May. If investors want to dump DuPont, it should be because of concerns about its fundamentals. For now, they look like a good fit for low-volume DuPont, which is exposed to global megatrends like water and health care. The remaining Costco and TJX companies: These two companies are the only retailers worth owning. Consumers are benefiting from the inflationary environment as they increasingly demand better value. With consistent store expansion and better products, these are long-term growth stories that continue to materialize. There is no need to sell these stocks here. If anything, you can buy TJX here. Home Depot : Our paper didn’t work out, but we haven’t lost all hope. Our worldview is that interest rates should eventually be lowered, opening up the housing market and reinvigorating this depressed inventory. But certainly, if Home Depot is one of, say, just five stocks that you own, you’re likely to see better earnings growth somewhere else for at least the next quarter or two. Eli Lilly: The pharmaceutical giant’s stock may seem stalled, but its long-term story remains firmly intact. Lilly’s leadership in GLP-1 therapy remains a major advantage, and its new GLP-1 tablets are a game-changer. When it comes to competition with Novo Nordisk, it’s a volume battle and Lilly is the clear winner in terms of manufacturing capabilities. Cardinal Health: Despite a less-than-ideal entry point, Cardinal Health’s story remains strong. The company’s pharmaceutical distribution scale, combined with its growing specialty pharmacy business, creates a durable platform for long-term growth. Although this stock has not yet reflected its potential, it is a favorite stock to buy right now in your entire portfolio. Johnson & Johnson : Strong results this week justified the recent decision to replace Bristol-Myers Squibb with this drug stock. The company has an excellent cancer treatment franchise and opportunities across autoimmune diseases and neuroscience. If there were no trading restrictions, you would probably be looking to add to your position on Thursday. Goldman Sachs: The bank had a strong quarter on Monday, excluding its fixed income trading desk. I don’t think they would make the same mistake twice. The environment for M&A is still in place. Wells Fargo: Unfortunately, after two rough quarters in a row, this game had to be sent to the penalty box. Have we overstayed our welcome? It still expects the Federal Reserve’s removal of the asset cap last year to lead to higher profits. Execution needs to be improved. Capital One: When the credit card issuer reports next week, I’d like an update on the Discover and Brex acquisitions and assurances that it’s putting the brakes on M&A. Now is the time to start making the most of these deals instead of getting more of them. Procter & Gamble: The maker of Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste has served as an important hedge against a potential economic slowdown, even if execution under its predecessor’s leadership has been less than ideal. Now that we have a new CEO, we want to own this name more. CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks: Investors are concerned that these cybersecurity companies will be harmed by AI-built alternatives. However, more advanced AI models should be a big tailwind for these companies. At the same time, you want to free up slots in your portfolio to own other companies. So our plan is to eventually sell Palo Alto and redeploy at least some of those funds to CrowdStrike. Salesforce: The enterprise software stock still has a way to turn things around despite widespread skepticism about its ability to compete in an AI-disrupted environment. The next quarter will be the difference between winning and losing. We’ll be keeping an eye on CEO Marc Benioff’s comments in May to determine whether momentum is returning or whether the company is at further risk. Starbucks : I like what CEO Brian Nicol is doing. He closed unprofitable stores in the United States, established a joint venture in China and increased the company’s focus on rebuilding the United States. Despite the competition, traffic and comps are improving, but it will take time for margins to recover. A rebound to the low $90s would be an attractive level to make additional purchases. (See here for a complete list of Jim Cramer Charitable Trust stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
