What a week to have a Monthly Meeting. On Thursday, Jim Cramer and portfolio director Jeff Marks held our October Monthly Meeting. They ran through our portfolio during this cloudy moment for the AI trade. Nevertheless, as Jim explained to start the meeting, we have faith “the sun will come out again.” Jim called out Goldman Sachs and Starbucks as his two favorite stocks to buy right now (we also bought Bank of New York before the meeting began). Note: Jim and Jeff didn’t have a chance to talk about Johnson & Johnson during the meeting, though our latest thinking on the healthcare giant is included below. Tech and AI stocks Apple : The iPhone maker is defying the AI sell-off and trading at all-time highs. That seems like an oddity, but remember it’s not spending tens of billions on data center capital expenditures. Preorders for the iPhone Duo begin Friday (and the foldable phone hits the shelves next week). We think this will be a big hit. Broadcom : This is a tough one, maybe the toughest. While we slashed the position in August ahead of earnings, its reliance on Anthropic and OpenAI as custom-chip customers makes us wish we had exited it altogether. As long as AI financing concerns are in question, Broadcom’s stock may struggle to rally, and we’re marking this one for sale. Intel : We’re steadfast that the chipmaker will be a winner in the AI era, thanks to both the renaissance in central processing units (CPUs) and the need for a manufacturing alternative to TSMC . But we’re holding off on buying more until the low $80s. It is difficult to buy more in this neighborhood when price-to-earnings multiples are compressing. Micron : Speaking of P/E valuations, one of our reasons for buying this memory-chip maker was a belief that steadier earnings in the AI cycle would be rewarded with a higher multiple. At this point, we still think the earnings will come through, and a voracious buyback looms in December. It’s just harder to count on that multiple expansion when the AI trade is on the ropes. Qnity : The DuPont spin-off that supplies materials used to make semiconductors remains an under-the-radar play on the AI boom. As Qnity gets discovered, we think it will be regarded as inexpensive versus its peers. This special-situation status keeps us invested. If you haven’t yet, check out our inside look at one of Qnity’s facilities outside Boston. The company gave us a rare, in-depth look at its operations. Eaton and GE Vernova : We’ve made excellent money in these two industrials levered to the data center buildout. Nevertheless, in this moment, we recognize the stocks could fall much lower if there is, in fact, debt problems among the data center builders. The counterbalance is both Eaton and GE Vernova stand to benefit from the electric grid overhaul that needs to happen, irrespective of AI. Alphabet : The Google parent needs to make its Gemini AI assistant more competitive versus Anthropic, OpenAI, and now Meta, but it is a stock we would look…
Read More: Here’s our monthly update on our 32 stocks, including 2 more names to buy