We recently published an article titled Jim Cramer Discussed These 7 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) stands against the other stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money, recently shared his thoughts on the market’s movements this week, focusing on the economic data that’s shaping the outlook. He highlighted the upcoming nonfarm payroll report on Friday, noting its potential to sway market sentiment. Cramer pointed out that the market has been shaken by the persistently high 10-year treasury bond yields, which refuse to drop.
“Friday’s employment numbers need to show lower wage growth and disappointing hiring. Now that could bring down the yield in the 10-year and therefore make people feel that the Fed will be back on schedule to start cutting the rates again. We gotta get them back into that groove, you know. On the other hand, if hiring and wages remain hot, well then anything good that happens next week could be repealed.”
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The labor report is especially critical, according to Cramer, because despite the strength in sectors like autos, housing, and materials, the overall economy may still be running too hot for the Fed to slow it down as needed. He turned his attention to other economic indicators, such as the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which is offering strong signals of economic activity. Cramer mentioned a recent report, including Monday’s release of the PMI composite index, as an important barometer for the economy.
This data, he explained, provides valuable insights into how the economy is performing across different sectors, with particular attention to manufacturing, which has shown particularly strong performance. In addition to these key reports, Cramer also mentioned the implications of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), specifically focusing on job openings.
“I’ve been mulling over these job openings numbers and I keep thinking about how President-elect Trump might reverse the high levels of immigration we’ve seen under the Biden administration.”
Cramer warned that mass deportations could create a labor shortage that would drive wages even higher, especially if the country cannot rely on enough workers to fill the gaps. In that case, Cramer mused, “robots may be our only hope,” alluding to the role of automation in addressing potential labor shortages.
“So here’s the bottom line: It’s a light week, but still impactful, accept that people will be on edge ahead of Friday’s employment report. Still, I think you should do some buying if the market gets hammered. As we saw today, it’s not nearly as bad out there as so many think.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 7 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on January 3. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the third quarter, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 hedge funds.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A financial advisor shaking hands with a client, representing the wealth management services of the company.
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Cramer called Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) a “winner” and mentioned that changes in the FTC can prove to be beneficial for the company.
“Then after the close we hear from an outfit that you may not know, but I follow pretty close. It’s called Jefferies Financial Group. This stock’s been a total winner. Get this, it ran from $39 and change this time last year to $81 today. That is stellar.
I think the change at the FTC where the chief who’s ideologically opposed to big business is about to be replaced by someone with a more traditional approach will mean many, many, many, many, many more takeovers and that means very big earnings per share for Jefferies, which consults on these deals, I wanna hear about their outlook for 2025.”
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) is an investment banking and capital markets firm offering a wide range of services while also managing diverse alternative asset management platforms across various investment strategies and asset classes. The company reported its fourth-quarter 2024 earnings on January 8, which showed mixed results. It generated $1.96 billion in revenue, surpassing analysts’ expectations.
However, its diluted EPS came in slightly below predictions at $0.93. Despite this, the company posted a profit of $205.7 million for the quarter, more than tripling the $65.6 million earned during the same quarter the previous year. In its annual shareholder letter, the company highlighted a strengthened M&A pipeline with a higher probability of successful deals, an expanding IPO backlog, increased capital demand from both companies and private equity sponsors and higher trading volumes as the firm entered the new year.
In 2024, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) played a key role in advising on several high-profile transactions, including the $26 billion merger between Diamondback Energy and Endeavour Energy, the $18 billion sale of SRS Distribution to The Home Depot, and the $5 billion sale of Darktrace.
Overall JEF ranks 4th on our list of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of JEF as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than JEF but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.