Jim Cramer went on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Tuesday morning to defend the memory names getting hammered after South Korea’s market dropped nearly 5% overnight. Samsung posted a record quarter, missed a whisper revenue number by roughly 1%, and got sold off 7%.
Cramer sees profit-taking and a specific reason to slow-play SK Hynix. Neither Samsung nor SK Hynix trades on a US exchange, so American investors must consider spillover into NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), the two US-listed names most exposed to the same HBM cycle.
The Beat That Still Tanked the Stock
Whisper numbers are the unofficial consensus that trades on desks above the posted analyst estimate. When a stock has run roughly 380% in a year, the buyside quietly bakes in a higher bar, and merely beating the Street becomes a miss against what people actually expected. Samsung cleared the printed number and fell short of the whisper by a hair. That is enough to knock a stock down when it is already priced for perfection.
Cramer’s read is that the 1% revenue miss is immaterial next to the earnings power. Samsung made more money in one quarter than in the prior two years combined, which is strange to sell aggressively. The stock is still up around 130% year to date. When you have a run like that, any excuse works.
More Profitable Than NVIDIA, in Absolute Dollars
Samsung’s operating profit of $55.8 billion topped NVIDIA’s last quarter at $53.5 billion. NVIDIA reported $53.536 billion in operating income in Q1 FY2027, on $81.615 billion in revenue at a 75.0% non-GAAP gross margin (SEC filing). In raw operating dollars for the quarter, Cramer is right.
Valuation is a different question. NVIDIA carries a $4.73 trillion market cap at a forward PE of 22x because the market pays for durability and margin structure, not just this quarter’s dollars. Samsung’s operating profit includes handsets, foundry, and consumer electronics baggage that NVIDIA does not carry. Cramer is arguing that if the memory names can print this kind of profit at what is arguably still an early stage of the HBM cycle, the multiple on the operator has room to expand.
The $28 Billion SK Hynix Wrinkle
SK Hynix is up about 680% over one year and 225% year to date, and fell 6% the prior day. Cramer flagged that the company is preparing to raise $28 billion in new capital, and he thinks the deal may price lower than expected. His advice was to wait rather than chase, since new investors might get in cheaper through the raise itself.
A capital raise of that size dilutes existing holders and signals that management sees enough incremental HBM demand to justify a build-out competitors will have to match. That is where Micron enters the frame. Micron just reported a 245.24% year-to-date rally and posted $24.89 EPS against a $20.98 estimate on June 24, 2026 (SEC filing). Micron’s forward PE of 7x already prices in some fear that SK Hynix’s added capacity eventually meets a softer market. That fear is the whole point of Cramer’s warning.
The Verdict on Cramer’s Framing
Cramer’s take is to buy the dip on Samsung and wait on SK Hynix. The Samsung leg is defensible on absolute earnings, and pointing out that operating dollars now exceed NVIDIA’s is a fair jab at anyone claiming the memory boom is fake. The SK Hynix leg is the sharper call.
Overhangs from a $28 billion raise usually price in slowly, and a stock up 225% year to date has plenty of holders who will trim into the deal. NVIDIA’s own $48.554 billion in free cash flow in a single quarter is the reference point. Suppliers scaling capacity to serve that customer command attention. Paying up the day before the deal prices is a different question.
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