Jim Cramer names five investing themes and 13 stocks tied to them

Jim Cramer’s five investing themes center on areas he believes recent earnings reports have strengthened, from consumer spending to healthcare innovation. The CNBC host named 13 stocks across those themes on Thursday, while cautioning that no theme is assured to beat the market.

For individual investors, the list is a snapshot of Cramer’s current market view, not a personalized recommendation or a guarantee of returns. His approach is to group companies by a shared business trend rather than pick stocks in isolation.

What are Jim Cramer’s five investing themes?

• A resilient consumer: Cramer said results from banks, travel businesses and retailers point to stronger spending than concerns about inflation and a slowdown might suggest. He highlighted Capital One, American Express, Ralph Lauren and Williams-Sonoma.
• AI infrastructure: Cramer said shortages of data-center memory make this an important theme, but he favored semiconductor-equipment suppliers rather than companies seeking to buy memory. His picks were Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials.
• Cybersecurity: Cramer said cyber threats have reinforced the case for dedicated security software, despite earlier questions about whether artificial intelligence could reduce demand for it. He named CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks.
• Mergers and acquisitions: Cramer expects more deal activity and said companies are pursuing transactions while he views the regulatory setting as favorable. He pointed to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two banks that advise on transactions.
• Healthcare innovation: For investors seeking exposure beyond technology while retaining an innovation angle, Cramer highlighted Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson.

Why did Cramer focus on themes after earnings season?

Cramer told CNBC that a theme can help investors narrow a large stock market into a smaller set of businesses benefiting from the same condition. In his view, the latest quarterly results offered current evidence for consumer demand, AI-related infrastructure spending, cyber-defense needs, dealmaking and healthcare innovation.

That framework still requires company-by-company research. A broad theme can be right while a particular business faces weaker results, greater competition or a valuation that does not fit an investor’s goals and risk tolerance.

Trust holdings provide context

CNBC said Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns Capital One, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson. Those holdings are relevant context when weighing his commentary. The report did not identify Trust positions in the other stocks on this list.

This is also different from Cramer’s separate July 6 market-rotation list, which named Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Constellation Brands and TJX as companies he believed had been pulled lower by broad institutional selling. That earlier list was tied to a market rotation, rather than the five earnings-season themes.

Cramer said investors should not assume any theme will outperform. His view was that the current quarter’s information gave investors a basis to assess businesses linked to these areas through the rest of 2026.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.