Jim Cramer Calls Big Tech ‘Millstones’ and Names the ‘New Techs’ Taking Over
Jim Cramer just declared the companies that supply drug labs and research instruments the true heirs to the data center trade, and three stocks are already beating the NASDAQ-100 by a wide margin this year. The question is whether this…
“For the last few years we’ve been conditioned to think that tech will be led by an Alphabet or an Amazon, Nvidia, a Meta, a Microsoft. But those have almost been millstones around investors.” Jim Cramer made that call on Mad Money on November 3, 2026. He named a new set of leaders: the companies that sell instruments and supplies to drug developers and labs. The data mostly backs him up over the past year, with one longer-term caveat.
Why Cramer Is Holding Off on Tech
Cramer said he wants more confirmation before he goes back into the sector: “I like that the election will soon be behind us. That’s a positive. I would like to wait for the crescendo before I commit too much money back to tech because so many other areas are working.” On the election, he added, “Whatever ties up the government is good for stocks. Gridlock’s been good for the market.”
He also left room for hope. He pointed to strong quarters from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD | AMD Price Prediction) and Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET), saying, “I want to believe that the non-magnificent tech can lead us.” Recent prices support his caution. The megacap-heavy NASDAQ-100 benchmark fell 9.3% over the past month.
Meet Cramer’s “New Techs”
Cramer called life sciences suppliers the industry’s arms dealers: “They are the new techs, the ones that seem to be replacing the data center as the theme. If that’s the case, then I know they have a lot more room to run.” He said the FDA “seems to have gotten more interested in both encouraging innovation for new medicines and, probably most important, speeding up the new approval process.” The chief executive of Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO), speaking on Mad Money, said regulators “want to adapt to the technologies that exist today. That’s huge.”
Thermo Fisher Trades Near Its 52-Week High
Thermo Fisher sells mass spectrometers, electron microscopes, reagents, and lab supplies. It also runs clinical trials and manufactures drugs for pharma clients. The stock is up 20.5% year to date, compared with 10.6% for the benchmark. It is also trading close to its 52-week high of $781.62. In its third-quarter report filed with the SEC, revenue grew 9.1% to $12.137 billion, and adjusted EPS of $6.68 beat the consensus estimate of $6.40. The stock trades at about 25x forward earnings. The main risk is that academic and government revenue was flat in the quarter, and the company depends on customer capital budgets.
Agilent Leads the Group This Year
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) makes liquid and gas chromatography systems and ICP-MS instruments, and it earns recurring service and consumables revenue through its CrossLab group. Shares are up 28.9% year to date, the best of the three. GLP-1-related activity grew more than 70%, and PFAS testing rose 20%. Management raised fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $6.18 to $6.21. The main risk: about 110 bps of the quarter’s margin expansion came from a one-time tariff refund, and academic and government sales fell 3%.
Waters Shows Strong Organic Growth Despite GAAP Charges
Waters (NYSE:WAT) sells LC-MS instruments, columns, and Empower lab software. It added flow cytometry and diagnostics capabilities through its BD business acquisition, which contributed $896 million in the third quarter. Organic revenue grew 10% in constant currency, and Waters raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $14.60 to $14.70. The stock is up 22.1% over one year, though it slipped 1.9% last week. The main risk here is that purchase accounting cut GAAP EPS to $0.82, and quarterly free cash flow fell 58.0% year over year.
Does Cramer’s Rotation Thesis Hold Up?
In the near term, the data supports him. All three stocks beat the benchmark over one month and year to date. Over five years, the benchmark comes out well ahead. Thermo Fisher is up 8.7%, Agilent up 10.9%, and Waters up 32.2%, while the benchmark gained 62.3%. That makes this year’s run a recovery from a weak stretch. Each company’s growth now draws on GLP-1s, PFAS testing, and AI-driven lab demand.
Three things would weaken the thesis:
- Megacap tech taking back leadership
- FDA approval timelines failing to get shorter
- Pharma budgets tightening
Thermo Fisher plans to share more details on AI at its next investor day, and Agilent’s fiscal fourth-quarter report will show whether the momentum carried through to year-end.
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Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.
