Cramer’s August stock winners included Moderna and software rebound names
Jim Cramer said August reversals lifted Moderna and beaten-down software stocks, while FactSet data shows mixed year-to-date results.
By Theo Nakamura · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
Jim Cramer’s August stock winners were largely companies whose shares had been hit by doubts about their businesses earlier in the year. On the month’s final trading day, the CNBC host described August as a rebound for stocks facing bearish narratives, with Moderna leading the S&P 500’s biggest gainers, according to FactSet data reported by CNBC.
The list is a record of one month’s market performance, not a list of investment recommendations. It also shows why investors should separate a sharp monthly move from a company’s broader stock-market record: several August leaders were still down for the year.
Which stocks were Cramer’s biggest August winners?
- Moderna: up 156% in August; up 375.89% year to date.
- Palantir: up 51.45%; up 4.86% year to date.
- Veeva Systems: up 40.2%; up 27.98% year to date.
- Salesforce: up 39.95%; down 2.78% year to date.
- Paramount Skydance: up 37.06%; down 18.58% year to date.
- Newmont: up 34.52%; up 26.25% year to date.
- ServiceNow: up 33.05%; down 3.39% year to date.
- Super Micro Computer: up 31.27%; up 27.37% year to date.
- Gartner: up 31.18%; down 21.47% year to date.
- Sandisk: up 28.96%; up 560% year to date.
- Coinbase: up 28.62%; down 16.81% year to date.
FactSet supplied the performance figures in CNBC’s roundup.
What drove the August rebounds?
Moderna’s 156% gain followed promising initial late-stage melanoma-vaccine results for an experimental treatment it is developing with Merck, CNBC reported. Moderna had spent years under pressure as demand for its Covid-19 vaccine declined.
Software supplied much of the month’s rebound. Palantir, Veeva, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Gartner had all faced concerns that artificial intelligence could damage their businesses or weaken demand for their products. Cramer said improving business evidence challenged those concerns. He pointed to Salesforce’s strong quarter, ServiceNow’s efforts to integrate AI into its existing business, and Gartner’s business performance, which he said did not bear out fears that AI research tools would displace its services.
Cramer also attributed part of the software move to the late-July unwind at Situational Awareness, a hedge fund that had taken substantial bearish positions against software. CNBC separately reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the fund was selling its public stock holdings after losses in AI-infrastructure investments and software short positions that moved against it. That reporting supports the fund’s unwind, while the extent of its effect on individual software shares remains Cramer’s interpretation.
Elsewhere, CNBC reported that Newmont benefited from a recovery in gold prices, though Cramer said he preferred Agnico Eagle Mines. Paramount Skydance rose as delays persisted around its proposed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition; Cramer said investors viewed Paramount as overpaying and saw the obstacles as favorable to the shares.
Super Micro and Sandisk gained amid demand for memory used in AI data centers, according to CNBC. Super Micro’s move came amid continuing scrutiny of its China business. Sandisk had fallen more than 46% in July and remained about 33% below its late-June closing high. Coinbase joined the group as cryptocurrencies recovered, with Cramer describing the company as a commonly used public-market proxy for crypto exposure.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
