Cramer's October Monthly Meeting Names Goldman Sachs, Starbucks as Top Buys, Marks Broadcom for Sale

The monthly review covers 32 stocks. For Apple, CNBC said the iPhone maker is defying the AI sell-off and trading at all-time highs, an oddity it attributed to Apple not spending tens of billions on data center capital expenditures. iPhone Duo preorders begin Friday and the foldable phone hits shelves next week; the team thinks it will be a big hit.

Broadcom was described as the toughest name. The portfolio slashed the position in August ahead of earnings, and its reliance on Anthropic and OpenAI as custom-chip customers made the team wish it had exited altogether. As long as AI financing concerns are in question, Broadcom's stock may struggle to rally, and CNBC said the name is marked for sale.

Intel remains a steadfast AI-era winner in the team's view, thanks to a renaissance in central processing units and the need for a manufacturing alternative to TSMC. But they are holding off on buying more until the low $80s, saying it is difficult to add in this neighborhood when price-to-earnings multiples are compressing.

Micron was bought partly on the belief that steadier earnings in the AI cycle would be rewarded with a higher multiple. The team still thinks earnings will come through, and a voracious buyback looms in December. It is harder, however, to count on multiple expansion when the AI trade is on the ropes.

Qnity, the DuPont spin-off that supplies materials used to make semiconductors, remains an under-the-radar play on the AI boom. As Qnity gets discovered, the team thinks it will be regarded as inexpensive versus peers, and that special-situation status keeps them invested. CNBC also noted an inside look at one of Qnity's facilities outside Boston.

Eaton and GE Vernova have made excellent money as industrials levered to the data center buildout. The team recognizes the stocks could fall much lower if debt problems emerge among data center builders. The counterbalance is that both stand to benefit from an electric grid overhaul that needs to happen irrespective of AI.

Alphabet needs to make its Gemini AI assistant more competitive against Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta, but the team would look to buy more as the stock goes down, not sell. Google Cloud and YouTube are described as cash machines.

Meta was the first of three hard-fought tech victories. It is back in Wall Street's good graces after the remarkably successful launch of its Muse personal agent app. Nobody has Muse in their earnings estimates, so the numbers are probably too low. Meta may have to spend more on data centers to support Muse, but the team thinks it has a responsible approach.

Microsoft was the second hard-fought winner and even tougher to hold than Meta. It clawed its way back and on Tuesday notched its first record close in almost a year. The Street was convinced Microsoft had nothing to offer in AI. The team trusted management, and now Copilot has momentum and Azure cloud growth is accelerating.

Salesforce rounds out the trio of tech names the team had to battle. CEO Marc Benioff has built a compelling agentic AI offering with Agentforce, and he used the “SaaSpocalypse” panic to buy back a bunch of stock at much lower prices in March. The stock still looks cheap, trading at a mid-teens multiple on forward earnings estimates, which should help shares grind higher.

CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks remain important cybersecurity holdings because companies need sturdy defenses to prevent agents from going rogue. At the same time, the team recognizes these stocks have had major moves and people are probably sitting on big profits. They have taken some off the table and cannot fault anyone for doing the same.

Nvidia remains an “own it, don't trade it” name. The team understands concerns about Nvidia's investments into other companies across the AI ecosystem and fears of “circularity,” but it still wants to bank on CEO Jensen Huang, who has a crystal-clear vision of where the AI revolution is going.