CNBC’s high-profile “Mad Money” host and former hedge fund whiz Jim Cramer urged investors to hold Nvidia and Apple stocks, as he believes money is flowing from these tech giants to fund fresh bets in overlooked sectors. He attributes the dip in the stock prices of the tech giants to the classic market phenomenon of sector rotation.
He also dismissed the Job reports released on Friday as uneventful, as they rendered space for investors to explore overlooked sectors of the market where a broad rally could be spreading.
Cramer’s Take on Why Apple and Nvidia are being Sold: Sector Rotation
Cramer believes a ‘sector rotation ‘ is underway in the market where the investors are using winners of 2025 ( high performers like Apple and Nvidia) as cash cows to fund overlooked sectors that they believe will climb back up. Hence, the price drops in their stocks are an isolated change in local valuation but just a part of broader market currents.
Nvidia (NVDA) became a $4 trillion company in 2025 and ended the year with an impressive rally of ~39%. The semiconductor giant stepped into 2026 with a drop in its stock prices and currently stands at $184.86, with a -2.62% YTD. The drop in its stock prices continues despite the relentless AI boom that has been pushing tech companies into unprecedented heights.
Apple (AAPL), on the other hand, took a dip of 4.76 % this year, with its stock price currently hovering at $259. The smartphone giant grew by around 30.71% in 2025 despite multiple strategic and sourcing challenges. Apple’s stock steeply fell to $198.85 in April 2025, following President Trump’s Tariffs on China. Apple was the hardest hit by the Tariffs since the company sources and assembles 90% of its products from Asia.
Despite being caught in the crossfire of tariff wars and actual wars and conflicts around the world, both the tech stocks performed well in the last year, ranking first(Nvidia) and second(Apple) in the S&P 500 index. The history, last year’s performance, and the ongoing AI boom suggest that Jim Cramer could not be far off the mark in explaining the stock price drops of the tech giants.
Broadening Rally Zones: Inflow Sectors and Triggers
Cramer mentioned that the money flowing out of Apple and Nvidia stock could be heading to relatively overlooked sectors such as data storage, semiconductor equipment, banks, and transport. His last “Mad Money” episode suggested that these sectors are seeing aggressive inflows while Apple and Nvidia stall.
Apart from the sector rotation phenomenon, the unproblematic job reports from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics also triggered the cash shift from traditional tech giants to underhyped sectors. He used established companies like Applied Materials (AMAT), Citigroup(C), FedEx (FDX), and DigitalOcean(DOCN) as examples for specific instances that are experiencing inflows within the overlooked sectors he mentioned. Notably, Applied Materials Inc. saw a 12.77% increase in the past 5 days and is at an all-time high of $301.
Cramer also highlights the upcoming earnings season, starting from the JPMorgan report scheduled on January 13th, and December CPI inflation data, as he believes they will also act as major triggers for the aggressive inflows into overlooked structures.
Analysts Take on Apple and Nvidia
Major analysts and firms largely agree with Cramer as they see significant upside for both Apple and Nvidia. Bernstein has a buy signal on Apple with a target price of $325, predicting a 25.30% upside. The consensus on Nvidia is a strong buy signal with an average upside prediction of 43.34%, and an average target price of $264.97.
