Jim Cramer, the charismatic host of "Mad Money" on CNBC, has made numerous intriguing stock picks. Recently, he opened up about what he calls a "disturbing experience" related to his commentary on a particularly hot tech name.
"A friend came to me recently at a party and said he had figured out why I was so darn hated," he said in a video posted by CNBC on Instagram. "I was hated because of Nvidia."
Cramer was not pleased, saying he doesn't like friends to tell him he's hated.
"And I certainly don't want to hear that I'm hated about a stock called Nvidia when I'm at a cocktail party," he said.
Cramer said that at one time he was among the top 10 most-hated people on Twitter, saying it was a toss up between him and Putin.
‘I Am Often Taken Out Of Context'
Rivaling Putin wasn't the thing that bothered Cramer the most.
Instead, it that his friend said he is hated because while professing to like Nvidia, he was telling people to short it.
Cramer took issue with that statement because he never recommends shorts.
"It was clear that the knowledge of my work was second hand, perhaps from one of those odd sites made by people who have somehow created a craft of building ETFs to bet against me," he said.
To be sure, there are now exchange-traded funds (ETFs) designed both in favor of and against Cramer's stock picks.
If you want to follow Cramer's recommendations, you can check out The Long Cramer Tracker ETF (LJIM). If you want to bet against his picks, you can look into The Inverse Cramer Tracker ETF (SJIM).
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Cramer explained that one of the hardest things about his job is that he can make statements "that give the appearance to the uninformed or biased commentator of not liking a stock when it's really quite the opposite."
This can be frustrating.
"I am very easily slagged, I am often taken out of context, and I'm constantly derided for doing things and saying things that I haven't," he said.
‘Play With A Gun To My Head'
So what does Cramer actually think of Nvidia?
He likes the company. He even likened Nvidia's CEO and Co-Founder Jensen Huang to Leonardo da Vinci.
Nvidia is one of the biggest beneficiaries of investors' increasing enthusiasm for artificial intelligence this year.
Shares of the chip-making giant have surged 220% so far in 2023, allowing the company to cross $1 trillion in market cap.
Cramer said that his take on Nvidia has been consistent: "I say don't trade it, own it."
What called into question Cramer's view was that he didn't tell people to buy the stock before the company's last earnings report — the one that smashed expectations and sent the stock to new highs.
His reasoning was that if an investor didn't already own the stock, they could wait to see whether they could get a better price later on. It's all part of his show's theme of being prudent.
"Did I mean to keep people out of Nvidia after that last quarter? No. I just don't like to play with a gun to my head. I don't like the gun to the head game about buying something ahead of a quarter," he said.
Whether you like Cramer or not, it's hard to argue that exercising prudence can serve stock market investors well over time. And if you don't like the large swings in stock prices, you might want to look into reliable income plays outside the stock market — such as investing in rental properties with as little as $100 while staying completely hands-off.
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