Mad Money host Jim Cramer revealed on Wednesday, July 15, that Intel stock (NASDAQ: INTC) is his favorite stock.
In the endorsement posted on X, Cramer linked his bullish thesis on the chipmaker to the ongoing boom in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure spending, in particular Intel’s position as the third-largest customer of ASML, a Dutch semiconductor material manufacturer.
“We have a CNBC Investing Club meeting tomorrow where I will reaffirm that Intel is my favorite stock. Intel is the third biggest customer of ASML,” Cramer wrote.
Why is Intel Jim Cramer’s top stock pick?
The comments come as the Dutch company continues to benefit from strong demand for the advanced lithography systems required to manufacture cutting-edge chips.
Naturally, the backdrop supports Cramer’s bullish case for Intel, as he has already argued that CEO Lip-Bu Tan is positioning the company as a more credible contender in the AI and semiconductor foundry markets.
In other words, Intel’s relationship with ASML provides a tangible link between the American company and the broader AI infrastructure spending cycle. For the CNBC host, ASML’s aggressive capacity expansion serves as further evidence that demand for advanced semiconductor technology remains strong.
However, in what many saw as a natural turn of events, given Cramer’s reputation for being wrong, the company’s shares closed 4.4% lower and lost another 2% in pre-market trading at the time of writing, Thursday, July 16.
What made the crash even more notable was that the former hedge fund manager also urged investors to buy International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) stock too, only for it to crash 25% less than 24 hours later.
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