Watch the Annual Meeting: Cramer on the fate of the AI buildout and stocks to buy now
HS 06/11/2026
Jim Cramer was hoping for one of those sleepy November days where not much happens for the Investing Club’s 4th annual meeting. So much for wishful thinking. After the most consequential midterm elections in years, in which Democrats flipped both houses of Congress and won several key gubernatorial races, the stock market has been swinging wildly as investors try to make sense of what’s next. “It stuck a dagger into the heart of the bulls, that heart being one of the greatest investment stories ever told, the multi-trillion-dollar data center buildout,” Jim said in his opening address of the meeting, held at the historic New York Stock Exchange. What makes this sell-off particularly troubling is that, unlike previous market downturns, there may not be a quick fix. When stocks plunged in April 2025 following President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements, the president quickly softened his policies, paving the way for a powerful rebound. This time, Jim said the concerns threatening the market’s biggest growth engine may be harder to resolve. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t moves to be made. “I want to circle the wagons around the best and redeploy capital into other, less risky, stocks, continuing my paring, going for the best and taking losses if we have to, to get to higher ground,” Jim said. The Club has trimmed its AI exposure and exited some buildout winners all together, such as Arm Holdings , Corning and Broadcom . But Jim said he believes in some cases the repositioning didn’t happen fast enough. “Not fast enough into Kimberly-Clark ,” he said. “Not fast enough into Cardinal Health .” Jim said the Club has ample cash and he’s not necessarily eager to put it to work. “It’s not burning a hole in my pocket,” he said. That may not be our approach forever. Jim said he won’t stay as cautious as he is on the market if it keeps going lower — especially for non-tech. “I will also be more sanguine if the giant Anthropic deal comes public and it can show people how valuable compute can be.” Portfolio highlights When talking with portfolio director Jeff Marks, Jim started with Apple and reiterated his “own it, don’t trade it” stance on the stock, highlighting the iPhone maker’s ability to capitalize on AI without spending billions building its own data centers. “Apple is the very clear winner. They’ve got the best products. They have tremendous customer satisfaction,” Jim said. “Apple, I think even up here at 38, 39 times earnings is one of the best stocks we own.” They also talked about Amazon , Boeing , Salesforce , Intel , and Eaton . Jim also declared: “I want to buy FedEx right here.” Following our trim of Cardinal Health , Jim pointed to FedEx as a potential place to redeploy cash, particularly as oil prices start to decline. He praised CEO Raj Subramaniam’s cost-cutting efforts, focus on higher-value shipments and use of robots to load and unload trucks. With management optimistic about the holiday season, Jim sees FedEx taking share from rival UPS . “Oh boy, I like that stock,” he added. Jim emphasized his confidence in some of our defensive stalwarts: Johnson & Johnson , Eli Lilly and Kimberly-Clark . J & J has a robust drug pipeline, and Jim noted that one of its existing cancer drugs, Rybrevant Faspro, on Thursday picked up a second approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The stock has had a good run, so Jim said he’s looking for a little more weakness before pulling the trigger. “I’ll buy more J & J if it’s down one more day,” Jim said. Jim offered a similar view on Lilly: more selling makes it a buy. Kimberly-Clark, on the other hand, is worth buying right here, Jim said. If your goal is to own 100 shares, he said start with 25 shares on Friday. He’s optimistic that Huggies parent has a bright future as it integrates the recently acquired Kenvue, which owns Band-Aid, Tylenol and other consumer-health brands. Despite Nvidia’s decline this year, Jim remains firmly committed to the stock. “Own it, don’t trade it. I am not deviating. This will be the last that we will sell because it’s the best,” he said. Jim urged the chipmaker to take greater advantage of its $235 billion share buyback authorization during periods of weakness, pointing to former Apple CFO Luca Maestri’s aggressive approach to repurchases as a model. He argued that Nvidia buying more shares when the stock is under pressure could help bolster investor confidence. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. 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