Was Jim Cramer Right About AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV)?

We recently published a list of 13 Stock Predictions That Jim Cramer Got Completely Wrong. In this article, we are going to take a look at where AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.

During a recent episode of Mad Money, which aired on Monday, the 5^th of May, Jim Cramer gave some personal anecdotes from his experience as an investor. He emphasized the importance of savings, starting early and investing as much as one can afford:

“If you don’t have enough money or the time to own a stock portfolio, you can only own one or two stocks, send the money in, as little money as you can, to an index fund, to one of these big mutual funds.”

READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Absolutely Nailed These 11 Stock Predictions and Did Jim Cramer Hit or Miss On These 13 Stock Predictions?

Jim Cramer gave advice to his viewers about stock picking and which investing accounts to use. He also warned them to not treat investing the same way as gambling and to not chase hype:

“So here’s the bottom line: You want to get started, go small, invest [in] what you know, research intensely, just research, research, research… It’s as simple as a keystroke and the information’s free, including up-to-the-minute financials, analyst presentations, brokerage research, and of course, the conference calls that I tell you are a must if you want to actually know what you’re doing. Simple? No. Lucrative? You bet it is.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 13 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during Mad Money episodes that aired on the 5^th and 6^th of May 2024. We then calculated their performance for the past 12 months, until May 6^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).

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21

A caller asked Cramer about AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV), a defense tech company known for its unmanned drones. Cramer praised its cost-effectiveness and saw it as a smart play in the current defense landscape. Here’s what he said back then:

“Absolutely, and here’s what you need to know: we have a lot of very expensive military equipment that is just way, way too expensive. And then we’ve got the stuff that AeroVironment makes, and that’s the bargain. And it’s about time that the Pentagon started looking at the guys who don’t cost us an arm and a leg—because our enemies have very inexpensive drones, we can have them too.”

Cramer’s bullish thesis didn’t pan out, with the stock falling 11.89% despite its defense appeal.

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) develops unmanned aerial systems and tactical missile systems for defense applications. Addressing the company’s struggles, Cramer had this to say a few days ago:

“Well, it was up seven today.  Look, I’ll tell you the problem here…. It’s a stock. I know that sounds a little soporific, but stocks are going down particularly high multiple stocks… We could have, we could have Wahid Nawabi on right now and he could tell us how things are going and things are going great. It just doesn’t matter. People don’t want to own the defense stocks right now. They feel that defense budget’s going to be cut. I don’t agree, but that’s what’s happening.”

Overall, AVAV ranks 5th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of AVAV 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 AVAV 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.