Once again, CNBC’s Jim Cramer is helping set the stage for investors this week, highlighting a combination of dividend-paying real estate plays and high-growth consumer and tech names as the market grapples with inflation pressure, trade tensions and earnings uncertainty.
A Few of My Favorite Things: And then, there’s Jim Cramer – the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” – who last week recommended Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG), a retail REIT that boasts a solid dividend, as one of the market sectors that can rev your profits historic trading FridayOf course, the retail REIT space isn’t completely impervious to trade turmoil.
“Yes, they have retail exposure and some tariff exposure,” Cramer said, “but Simon is a great company. With a 5.7 percent dividend, I think that’s a buy here.”
Amid the volatility that is rocking Wall Street, Cramer has kept urging investors to stick with high-quality dividend-paying stocks that not only provide income in the form of a dividend payment but also provide income safety during the worst market storms. Simon Property Group is a beacon of stability for income focused investors in a world of disarray, thanks to its fortress balance sheet and the strategic retail assets in its control.
A Whipsaw April Ends, but Cramer Says It’s Too Early to Celebrate
It’s been a bumpy April for many investors. Aswath Damodaran, a professor of finance at NYU Stern, said the same thing in a CNBC interview recently, saying short-term response to news has cost investors. That the media was the villain in the story and if you had simply turned it off, if you had fled the stock market and tuned out the news cycle entirely, you would have been better off, were the financial markets’ explanation at the time.
Cramer shares that sentiment closely. In his Monday market wrap-up, he cautioned viewers not to be “distracted by what’s going in and out on the day-to-day” and to focus instead on the longer-term fundamentals — especially as mega-cap companies like Apple, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft report earnings this week.
“These companies are unbelievably malleable,” Cramer said. “They’ve survived COVID, inflation and changing global supply chains. I wouldn’t count them out.”
Cramer’s Other Top Stock Insights This Week
On some days the market seems to just jerk up thanks to companies including the closely held Simon Property Group,” and in addition to Simon Property Group, Cramer said, there are several sectors and names that are being upgraded by analysts or are showing strong momentum:
Eli Lilly (LLY): On promising data for its diabetes and obesity treatments, JPMorgan reiterated a Overweight rating. Cramer made the same point, labeling the drugmaker a “leader in the space with fantastic growth.”
TJX Companies (TJX): As the pinch of inflation squeezes wallet, value-oriented retailers such as Marshalls and TJ Maxx are pouncing. TJX is “the most resilient pick in the entire group,” Cramer said of the consumer sector.
Boeing (BA) – Bernstein upgraded the aerospace giant to “market perform” from “underperform,” saying Boeing has made “measurable progress” in addressing operational headwinds. Cramer said the upgrade was a “vote of confidence” in the beleaguered manufacturer.
Take-Two Interactive (TTWO): With the next Grand Theft Auto just around, the next edition of the popular game series just ahead, Bank of America lifted its price target on TTWO to $250. Cramer called it “a sleeper hit ready to run.”
Supersize tariff fears, however, are casting clouds over apparel and department store names. Macy’s was given that neutral rating, and Kohl’s downgraded, because of increasing cost pressures — yet more evidence that traditional retail needs to evolve or lose out.
As Cramer’s been telling viewers, the best offense for uncertain markets is a good defense in the form of solid company fundamentals and long-term thinking. If April rattled confidence, meanwhile, investors now have a crucial earnings week — plus the opportunity to reset their outlook for May — staring them in the face.