Cramer Says “Sentiment Has Turned Vicious” As Previously “Red Hot Stocks Have Become Nightmares”

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By AJ Tiarsmith Published

Quick Read

  • Alphabet beat EPS by 199% yet fell 7% on earnings day, while SpaceX collapsed 31% from its IPO high in just one month.

  • Fleeing tech capital lifted J.M. Smucker 32% and Mondelēz 23% year to date, though both face declining margins or falling sales guidance.

  • Cramer warns the bias against tech is as negative as he has seen in decades, with August historically the sector's weakest month.

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Cramer Says “Sentiment Has Turned Vicious” As Previously “Red Hot Stocks Have Become Nightmares”

© Jimcramerphoto (CC BY 2.0) by Tulane Public Relations

Jim Cramer used his Mad Money segment on July 30, 2026 to argue that market psychology is driving the tape more than fundamentals. “You can’t underestimate the power of sentiment in this market. It’s driving a lot of the action, much to the despair of the bulls,” Cramer said. The same names that led the June melt-up have become July casualties, even where underlying numbers improved.

Cramer framed the shift as a one-month whiplash. “In June, we felt pretty darn joyous about everything. We knew that OpenAI and Anthropic, the two biggest private companies, had raised a ton of money that was positive,” he said. He pointed to Alphabet’s $84.75 billion fund raise and the SpaceX IPO priced at $135 per share that traded as high as $225 on its third day as evidence that “the market was willing to buy pretty much anything connected to the data center. Sentiment was terrific.”

Then the mood flipped. “One month later, sentiment has turned vicious. In all, the previously red hot stocks have become nightmares. If you didn’t sell the Google when it ran well, you’re buried in Google,” Cramer said. “Some of them are down more than 50% from their highs on the same numbers that would have sent them into the stratosphere earlier this year. That was a sentiment change.” Those characterizations are Cramer’s opinion on market psychology, not established fact.

Alphabet: A Beat the Market Refused to Reward

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) exemplifies Cramer’s disconnect thesis. On July 22, 2026, Alphabet reported EPS of $9.11 against a $3.0427 estimate, a 199.41% beat, on revenue of $119.80B, up 24.23% year over year. Google Cloud accelerated to 82% growth at $24.77B, and CEO Sundar Pichai told investors that “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100” are on Gemini Enterprise.

The market sold anyway. Shares closed down 7.13% the day of the release, the worst reaction to a beat in the dataset. The balance sheet detail in the 8-K filing revealed: capital expenditures of $44.92B, up 100.14% year over year, free cash flow of negative $5.86B, long-term debt expanding from $46.5B to $98.2B, and a suspended buyback. Reddit sentiment collapsed from bullish scores of 72–78 into bearish territory of 28–36 within 48 hours of the earnings report. Shares closed at $336.71 on July 29.

SpaceX: From IPO Darling to Puts Trade

SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) traced the same arc. After debuting near $135 and running to $225, the stock closed at $112.55 on July 29, down 31.45% over the past month. Reddit sentiment on r/wallstreetbets sank into very bearish territory in the 12–22 range, driven by an unlock post noting the first major unlock exceeded the entire IPO float and reports of short sellers notching $15.5 billion in profit.

The Rotation Into Staples

Cramer’s other observation: “The money moved over to companies with no real momentum. Companies like J.M. Smucker, the maker of Twinkies, up 29% this year. Mondelez, the maker of Oreos and Chips Ahoy, up 20% now.”

J.M. Smucker

J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) closed at $126.35 on July 29, up 31.89% year to date. The Q4 FY2026 report delivered adjusted EPS of $2.77 against a $2.64 estimate and revenue of $2.27B, up 5.8% year over year, though management guided FY2027 net sales to decline 3% to 4% against adjusted EPS of $9.75 to $10.25.

Mondelēz International

Mondelēz International (NASDAQ:MDLZ) closed at $64.99, up 22.83% year to date. The Q2 2026 report showed adjusted EPS of $0.73 versus a $0.6797 estimate, a 7.4% beat, and CEO Dirk Van de Put cited “robust top-line expansion, coupled with volume growth and share improvement.” Adjusted operating margin still contracted 120 basis points to 13.1% on cocoa costs, a reminder that defensive does not mean insulated.

What Cramer Says to Watch

The backdrop matters. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment fell to 44.8 in May 2026, down from 61.7 a year earlier, deep into pessimistic territory. Cramer warned the mood can flip. “It’s important to know that sentiment can turn on a dime. Maybe an Anthropic comes out and says it’s so profitable that it’ll come public right away”, he said, framing that as hypothetical rather than reported. OpenAI and Anthropic remain private and are not tradable securities. Cramer’s read: the bias against tech is as negative as he has seen in decades, and August is traditionally weak for the group.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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About the Author AJ Tiarsmith →

AJ has spent the past 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics,  that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.

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