Jim Cramer Praises Cintas Corporation (CTAS) as a Top Performer with Strong Margins

We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Discussed These 9 Stocks Recently. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed.

On Wednesday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, took a closer look at the state of the market and the stocks that saw gains and losses that day.

“It’s time to praise the winners, the ones that don’t need to wait until April 2nd to find out whether their business will be slammed by tariffs when President Trump announces whose earnings will be cut and who stay the same in a host of industries because tariffs are like taxes and they can cut deep into profits. Today, it all came together even as the averages got hit.”

READ ALSO: Jim Cramer’s Latest Lightning Round: 7 Stocks in Focus and Jim Cramer Recently Put These 10 Stocks Under Spotlight

He noted that Wall Street, for the most part, chose to rally around domestic companies, especially those in the service sector. The trend, according to Cramer, made sense after the president revealed a 25% tariff on all cars made outside the U.S. The news came after the market closed, and while some had anticipated tariff increases, few had expected such a severe measure.

Cramer noted that he even predicted earlier in the day that it might happen, but he did not find many who agreed with him. Now, with a new tariff on 7.38 million cars coming into the U.S., he suggested it would create a significant disruption in the global market, possibly starting that very evening. Despite the uncertainties caused by these new tariffs, Cramer pointed out that there could still be winners in such a situation once the dust settles. He referenced the S&P leaderboard, highlighting stocks that had shown resilience. He added:

“I bet the data center build-out continues to pace, but very few people believe right now in my view. We’re in a curious moment here where any reassurances that the industrial revolution of AI is still on just won’t cut it. Every single stock in the sector is being mauled by the bears.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 9 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on March 26. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56

Cramer highlighted Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) as a top performer on the S&P leaderboard, calling it an “old Cramer favorite”. He praised the company’s strong and consistent performance.

“It’s the uniform rental play. It aids more than a million companies, mostly small, and medium-sized businesses with much more than their clothes. Used to be just uniforms, now they got natural accessories, mats, mops, first aid equipment, all sorts of restroom supplies. Cintas crushed the numbers today with much better than expected revenue growth, the highest gross margins the company’s ever had.

CEO Todd Schneider reached out to me to tell me, ‘There is some uncertainty in the marketplace, which we are carefully monitoring, but our value proposition continues to resonate.’ See, service business, small-cap, not worried about tariffs. Now, I was bummed to hear that they’re no longer pursuing a merger with UniFirst, but the target didn’t want to play ball. Too bad, could have been an unassailable giant that we’d all be talking about. But after looking at this quarter’s book of business, I know that Cintas can live without them and is not impacted by tariffs.”

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) provides business uniforms along with a range of associated services, as well as products and solutions for first aid, safety, and fire protection.

Overall, CTAS ranks 1st on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of CTAS 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CTAS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.