Revenge of the 'Magnificent Seven' — Jim Cramer says it’s time to buy

CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday it's time to revisit the "Magnificent Seven," declaring that months of underperformance have made many of these former market leaders too cheap to ignore.

"We're witnessing the revenge of the Magnificent Seven and most people don't even seem to know it," the "Mad Money" host said. "I think it's time to buy."

Stocks like Dell and Snowflake have surged this year, while many of the Mag 7 have fallen behind — even trailing the overall market as measured by the S&P 500's year-to-date gain of 13%.

With the exception of Apple, Cramer said Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla have become relative laggards as investors gravitated toward newer winners. Nvidia, like Apple, is beating the market, year to date, but its price-to-earnings multiple is so cheap that Cramer lumped it in with the rest.

"We have to go back and pick at this market's old leadership, the forgotten Mag Seven, because a lot of them have gotten real cheap," he explained. "On a price-to-earnings basis, they've fallen way behind and that's just plain wrong."

Here's a rundown of the catalysts Cramer sees across six of the seven Mag 7.

• Shares of Amazon are up just 12% this year despite strength across Amazon Web Services, advertising and international operations. While investors have worried about the enormous sums Amazon is spending on AI infrastructure, Cramer said those investments are approaching the point where they can generate substantial returns. "We've all kind of forgotten that there's a reason why a smart executive like Andy Jassy is willing to wreck Amazon's balance sheet like the old days," Cramer said. "It's because they're going to make fortunes with this spend. ... And that's why it's a screaming buy."
• Alphabet has similarly been left behind, he said, up more than 9% despite continued growth at Google Cloud and valuable businesses including YouTube and Waymo. For Cramer, the stock has simply gotten too cheap given the strength of the underlying businesses.
• Meta shares, meanwhile, are down roughly 7% this year even after the company resolved a major lawsuit brought by state attorneys general for $18 billion, removing what Cramer viewed as a potentially much larger financial risk. He also sees an opportunity for Meta to eventually monetize its excess AI computing capacity.
• Microsoft, which is up about 5% year to date, is providing investors greater visibility into its Azure cloud business while working to secure more power for its data centers, according to Cramer.
• Nvidia, despite gaining roughly 22% this year, trades at just 14 times next year's expected earnings, which Cramer said remains too cheap given its growth. He said if the chipmaker announced a larger buyback, that could further help the stock.
• Tesla is the most speculative of the group, according to Cramer. Shares have fallen roughly 16% this year, and Cramer said a potential combination with SpaceX could provide a catalyst for the stock.

Ultimately, Cramer said investors have turned away from the Magnificent Seven just as the companies could begin reaping the rewards of their massive AI investments. Years of data center spending have weighed on their balance sheets, but he expects that infrastructure to increasingly generate returns. "If the rest of the market was doing nothing, then it would be fine that the Magnificent Seven are doing nothing," Cramer said. "That's not the case."

Cramer's Charitable Trust, the portfolio run by CNBC's Investing Club, owns shares of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia.

Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer's every move in the market.

Disclaimer