Jim Cramer’s 2 AI Stock Picks Are Up 460% and 1,300% Since 2023 — Should You Still Buy?
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Stock prices, analyst targets, and percentage gains are approximate and change constantly — always verify current figures and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Introduction
Some stocks get expensive-looking after a big run and investors assume the easy money is gone. CNBC’s Jim Cramer disagrees, at least when it comes to two AI stocks driving the current AI boom. Over the past month, the Mad Money host has repeatedly said investors should buy AI stocks Nvidia and Meta Platforms — even after both stocks have already delivered some of the most dramatic gains of the past three years.
Since January 2023, Nvidia has climbed roughly 1,300% and Meta has climbed roughly 460%. Those numbers alone would normally make a value investor nervous about buying AI stocks this late in the run. But according to most Wall Street analysts covering both companies, these AI stocks may still be undervalued relative to where their earnings are headed. Here’s the reasoning behind the calls, and what the underlying numbers actually show.
Table of Contents
- Who Is Jim Cramer, and Why His Calls Get Attention
- AI Stock #1: Nvidia — The Case Behind a 1,300% Run
- AI Stock #2: Meta — Betting Big on AI Infrastructure and a New Cloud Business
- How These 2 AI Stocks Stack Up
- Should You Buy AI Stocks Right Now? What Analysts Are Watching
- The Risk Side of Buying AI Stocks After a Big Run
- Conclusion
- Sources
Who Is Jim Cramer, and Why His Calls Get Attention {#who-is-jim-cramer}
Jim Cramer is best known today as the longtime host of CNBC’s Mad Money, but his credibility on stock picks traces back further than the TV show. Before he was a broadcaster, Cramer ran a hedge fund that reportedly generated an average annual return of roughly 24% over 14 years — a track record strong enough that his more recent on-air calls still carry weight with retail investors, even though his TV picks and his old fund’s strategy aren’t directly comparable.
His current thesis on Nvidia and Meta isn’t a single offhand comment — it’s a position he’s repeated multiple times over the past several weeks, both on-air and in follow-up commentary, as new developments at each company reinforced his view.
AI Stock #1: Nvidia — The Case Behind a 1,300% Run {#nvidia-the-case-behind-a-1300-run}
Nvidia’s rise has been driven almost entirely by one story: it makes the chips that power the AI boom. The company invented the modern graphics processing unit and has since become the dominant supplier of GPUs used to train and run large AI models — a position reinforced by what analysts describe as a “full-stack” strategy that bundles hardware with software and networking rather than selling chips alone.
Cramer’s recent argument is that investors have gotten too focused on potential competition from hyperscale cloud companies like Amazon and Alphabet, while missing a simpler fact: demand for Nvidia’s chips is currently outpacing what the company can supply. He’s described the stock as one of the more reasonably priced names in the S&P 500 once its growth rate is factored in.
The numbers back that framing up to a point. Wall Street currently expects Nvidia’s adjusted earnings to grow by roughly 56% annually through the fiscal year ending in January 2028. At a share price of about $211, the stock trades around 36 times earnings — a valuation that looks more reasonable set against that growth estimate than it would in isolation.
AI Stock #2: Meta — Betting Big on AI Infrastructure and a New Cloud Business {#meta-betting-big-on-ai-infrastructure}
Meta’s story looks different on the surface — it’s still primarily a digital advertising company — but AI is increasingly the engine underneath that business. With roughly 3.6 billion daily active users across its platforms, Meta has a significant data advantage that its proprietary AI models use to target content and ads more precisely, along with AI-powered creative tools that help brands build ad campaigns.
That AI push hasn’t been cheap. Meta’s capital spending totaled around $111 billion combined across 2024 and 2025, and the company has guided toward roughly $135 billion in spending for 2026 alone — money going toward AI infrastructure, custom chip design, and its own AI models.
Cramer initially recommended Meta in mid-June, and the stock has gained roughly 12% since that call. He’s continued to back the position since then, particularly after reports surfaced that Meta plans to launch a cloud computing business that would compete directly with Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet — a move that, if it materializes, would put Meta in direct competition with the same hyperscalers it currently buys infrastructure from.
How These 2 AI Stocks Stack Up {#how-the-numbers-stack-up}
| Metric | Nvidia | Meta Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Gain since January 2023 | ~1,300% | ~460% |
| Recent share price | ~$211 | ~$669 |
| Median analyst price target | ~$300 | ~$815 |
| Implied upside | ~42% | ~22% |
| Number of analysts covering | 66 | 68 |
| Market cap | ~$1.7 trillion+ | — |
| Key growth driver | AI accelerator/GPU dominance | AI-driven ad targeting + new cloud business |
Both stocks carry median analyst price targets meaningfully above where they currently trade, which is part of why Cramer’s calls aren’t a lone contrarian bet — they’re broadly in line with where most sell-side analysts already sit.
Should You Buy AI Stocks Right Now? What Analysts Are Watching {#what-analysts-are-actually-watching}
For Nvidia, the core debate isn’t really about demand right now — it’s about how long the current supply shortage persists and whether competition from custom chips built by hyperscalers (including Amazon and Google) eventually erodes Nvidia’s share of the AI accelerator market. The bull case rests on Nvidia’s full-stack approach being difficult to replicate quickly, even for well-funded competitors.
For Meta, the bigger question is execution risk on the cloud ambitions. Advertising still drives the bulk of Meta’s revenue today, and a serious entry into cloud computing — a market with entrenched, well-capitalized leaders — would be a meaningfully different business than the one Meta has run for the past two decades. Analysts assigning upside to the stock are largely betting on continued strength in the core ad business, with the cloud plan as a potential additional catalyst rather than the main thesis.
The Risk Side of Buying AI Stocks After a Big Run {#the-risk-side-of-the-story}
Big historical gains and bullish analyst targets don’t guarantee future returns, and it’s worth naming the obvious risks plainly:
- Valuation compression. Even a “reasonable” multiple relative to growth can still fall sharply if growth estimates don’t hold up or if market sentiment toward AI stocks broadly cools.
- Supply normalizing faster than expected. Part of Nvidia’s near-term bull case rests on a supply shortage; if chip production capacity catches up to demand faster than anticipated, pricing power could soften.
- Untested new businesses. Meta’s rumored cloud venture is unproven at the scale of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, and entering that market doesn’t guarantee success.
- Analyst targets are estimates, not guarantees. Median price targets reflect current expectations, not certainties — they get revised, sometimes significantly, as new information arrives.
None of this means the bullish case is wrong — it means the case, like any stock thesis, carries real uncertainty that a single TV segment can’t fully capture.
Conclusion
Nvidia and Meta have already delivered some of the most eye-catching returns of the past three years, which normally makes new money hesitant to buy AI stocks this late in the cycle. Cramer’s argument — echoed by the median analyst targets on both stocks — is that the earnings growth still ahead of both companies justifies current valuations, even after historic run-ups. Whether that holds depends heavily on execution: Nvidia sustaining its position as AI infrastructure scales, and Meta successfully expanding beyond advertising into a genuinely new business line. As always, past performance and analyst optimism aren’t guarantees — anyone considering these AI stocks should look at the numbers directly and weigh their own risk tolerance, ideally with the help of a licensed financial advisor.
Sources
- Trevor Jennewine, “Jim Cramer Says Buy 2 AI Stocks up 460% and 1,300% Since 2023 — Wall Street Agrees,” The Motley Fool, July 12, 2026.
