Abbott Laboratories (ABT): Jim Cramer Calls It a 'Tour de Force' - Why He's Still Amazed at This Stock

We recently published a list of How Did Jim Cramer’s 12 Bold Predictions Play Out?. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer recently discussed.

During the most recent episode of Mad Money, Jim Cramer revisited the recent turbulence in artificial intelligence stocks, three months after the emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI firm that initially rattled markets. He noted that despite the broad pullback in the sector, many of the fears triggered by DeepSeek’s debut have not materialized, which has led to a reconsideration of the panic that followed.

“Three months ago, January 23rd is a day that will live in artificial intelligence infamy. That’s when we learned that a Chinese firm called DeepSeek had figured out a way to train high quality generative AI models using far less hardware. They claim their hardware costs were around $6 million versus $80 to $100 million for their enormous American competitors.”

READ ALSO: Did Jim Cramer Nail All These 9 Stock Predictions? and What Happened After Jim Cramer Talked About These 13 Stocks.

The announcement sent shockwaves through the market. Cramer recalled how NVIDIA saw its stock fall sharply over just two trading sessions. The market reaction spread quickly beyond and hit other companies tied to data center infrastructure, which eventually pulled down the broader Nasdaq. However, Cramer noted that the company then revealed plans to build $500 billion worth of AI infrastructure in the United States over the next four years.

Cramer noted that initially, it seemed to signal a renewed sense of stability. But soon after, the administration imposed a ban on selling AI chips to China, which forced the GPU kingpin to write down $5.5 billion tied to that entire initiative. Even so, Cramer emphasized that the company’s core business remained strong.

“We understand that they’re basically sold out for the year, even as they can only sell their best stuff in the United States and the 18 friendly countries.”

Cramer attributed the export restrictions to a policy from former President Biden, one that President Trump has not reversed. Despite the geopolitical constraints, Cramer stressed that demand for the company’s technology is still overwhelming. He argued that the stock never should have experienced such a steep drop in the first place. He added:

“Even with the trade war, the AI infrastructure theme seems totally back on track. In fact, it never left the track to begin with.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 12 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on April 30, 2024. We then calculated their performance from April 30^th, 2024, market close to April 29^th, 2025, market close. We have also included the hedge fund sentiment for the stocks, which we sourced from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of over 900 hedge funds. The stocks are listed in the order that Cramer mentioned them.

Please note that this article mentions Jim Cramer’s previous opinions and may not account for any changes to his opinions regarding the stocks that are mentioned. It is primarily an examination of how his previously provided opinions have panned out.

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).

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Number of Hedge Fund holders: 66

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), the global healthcare company known for its diabetes care products and medical devices, was brought up by Cramer in that older episode while discussing the ripple effects of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. At the time, he countered prevailing concerns that Abbott’s diabetes business would be negatively affected by these treatments. Here’s his analysis:

“We heard that Abbott’s diabetes management franchise will be hurt by GLP-1s but the company has seen no decline in sales from this new class of drugs. Again, Abbott says they’re complimentary. They’re doing even better, and in fact, the GLP-1s have helped sales of the blood sugar monitors because people want to know how this stuff-  whether it’s working. Plus, they’re selling protein shakes to help offset the muscle you lose when you take Lil’s weight loss drug.”

Jim Cramer was right to be optimistic about Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) back then, as the stock has risen by 21.66% since.

Cramer also recently discussed the company’s strong earnings report, applauding the CEO’s leadership. Here’s what he said on April 16:

“By the way, can we just be sure Abbott did not miss. That’s a COVID test that’s coming down. And Abbott is the first one that I’m beginning to see.  […]

Dollar weakness coming. It’s going to help them. Where do they build their factories? In the United States. For the United States. Overseas. For overseas. David, they are on fire when it comes to so many different line items, including heart. Diagnostics are pretty good. Baby food, if they continue to have a problem with it.

I’ve got to tell you with some of that stuff that they’re doing with that lawsuit, they’re not going to just sit there and take it. I thought that Robert Ford did a remarkable job. Tour de force quarter, people should listen to how you can raise numbers. Do it right. By the way, they kept numbers flat, but raised numbers on a weak dollar. And I just am just amazed at how good they are. That’s a Miles White legacy, Robert Ford keeping it going. The only week this was because of the COVID, the test you can still get. What a quarter.”

Overall, ABT ranks 1st on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer recently discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of ABT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ABT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this 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.