Jim Cramer takes a look at the top stocks of Q2

My mission is simple, to make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a home market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Man MONEY starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer, Welcome to man money. Welcome to Kramerica. I've been with my friends. I'm just trying to make a little money. My job, not just to entertain, but to explain, teach you. So call me at one 807 four three CBC tweet me a Jim Cramer. The monotony of greatness. That's what I think about as I scrutinize the stocks that led the S&P for the now completed second quarter of 2024. Today was dominated by potential winners under a potential second Trump administration in the wake of last night's debate. Doubt a dipping 45 points, S&P declining .41%, NASDAQ losing .71%. But I do not come to bury your praise, candidates. Although if you stick around, I do have the winners. I think the potential winners of last night's debate if you think it's an arbinger of November. But I do want to talk about the top ten stocks that led the SP500 to rally 3.9% for the quarter, which by the way, brings the first half to an outstanding 14.5% gain. Wowza, there's an awful lot of old friends in this list, starting with the company that's become the hallmark, frankly, of this positive year and yes, indeed of this show may have money. And I'm talking about yes, go ahead, say it with me. NVIDIA, this company widely perceived as the godfather, both accelerated computing and generative artificial intelligence, both trends. While it's often viewed as a part of the new, I prefer to think of NVIDIA as a mainstay, a company that's been lauding, but really what I've been lauding it for over a decade. By the way, wherever I go, people, thank you for recommending it. I say you are welcome. But the honors go to Jensen Wong, the redoubtable CEO whom I frankly have almost run out of superlatives when describing him. Oh, boy, if he's, if they do the same thing in the third quarter, I better come up with some. Remember when you used to have catharsis? I know going into this quarter there was a widely held belief that NVIDIA stock had moved too much and it was time for some. Could change, could change profit taking. I heard that several times a day this week on our network. You know me, I say own NVIDIA. Don't trade it because despite its $3 trillion market cap, I think Invidious unrivaled its ability to usher in this new industrial revolution that Jensen's explained to us many times and that's why it rallied almost 37% in the second quarter alone. Second is first solar. This is the all America maker of industrial scale solar modules up nearly 34%. This Remember, industrial scale means not on your roof. OK I this is the quarter where we separated the wheat from the chaff in the solar space. Plus it didn't hurt that the government doubled the tariff on cheap Chinese imports. Unlike so many solar plays, first solar is usually profitable and it's been a low cost producer for ages. As the chief of the CNBC investing Club, I love the solar theme and I believe that solar currently about 5% of the grid right now of the electric kit. Of course, I'm speaking about could go out to 25% by the end of the decade. Yesterday we added next tracker at exceed to the Chapel Trust. Take advantage of the industry because their technology let's you increase your yield from rows of solar panels. The stock is down. It's a great opportunity. Third, we're a moment where semiconductors are ascended and people may not know, but these small devices need to be tested to ensure that they work. Teradyne dominates that business. It always has, frankly, from as long as I've been in the game. And it also tests aerospace and automotive diagnostics. I followed this company for many, many, many, many, many years, and it has a seller reputation. The stock did jump 31% for it. The quarter House of pleasure #4 when GE broke itself up into GE Healthcare, which the Chapel Trust owns, GE Aerospace, and we got 1/3 of that company that initially seemed like it would have been an asterisk appendage, GE Vernova. And that was the long-suffering power business. And everyone knew the healthcare business was probable. Aerospace was incredibly probable, but this one wasn't. Turns out the ugly duckling was really a swan in disguise as investors flocked to the companies that can help the electric grid grow in concert with, yes, the growth of the data center. Remember, the grid hasn't grown at all for years, but suddenly it's growing. And who wins? Burn Nova. They mainly make that gas turbines but it has a wind and a nuclear plant let's say let's call small small form nuclear plant and it's arsenal. No they don't have a lot of orders and no nothing will be built by 20-30. But you know how hot nuclear is as some as a thesis for clean energy. At one point the fear here was that this company, Vernova wouldn't be able to produce a profit anytime soon. But demand for power is insane and Gee, Vernova turns out to be in the sweet spot. It's become a much sore after stock, hence is 25% gain. 5th is a company that we've talked about many times, but you still probably haven't heard of which is called Vistra. I know it sounds like a drug company, right? Vistra Hey, you know I got, I popped a couple of Vistra's. No, this one's up 23%. It's an independent power producer that I've talked about recently. Everybody in the space has been benefiting from the same thing as GE Vernova, a surge in demand for electricity thanks to the all power hungry data centers that we've been building out. The Texas based Vistra is also benefiting from the electrification of oil and gas production in the Permian. This was somewhat special because they recently acquired 3 nuclear pants on top of the one they already had. And right now, nuclear is beloved because it's the only way to get reliable clean energy at scale. You don't need the sun, OK? It doesn't have to be windy. It's just plain works. It wasn't easy to catch the six best performer because so many analysts written it off as it has been consumer company in a world dominated by artificial intelligence. It is Apple now. I mean, I've got to tell you, I've told people to own Apple. Don't trade it. For ages, it seemed quaint. It seems like it's an easy thing to say. Believe me. Do you know how many times I went home and I said, I, you know, tell my wife. I said, oh, my God, they're killing it. They're killing it. But I'm steadfast. And we held it through this period for the trust because we are still believers. Sure enough, when Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference, we learned that it had been able to offer the best of artificial intelligence because everybody in the industry wants access to Apple's massive user base. Billion. The stock soared when it dawned on the doubters they can have its cake access to the best of AI and eat it too, because they don't have to spend 10s of billions to build out their own collection of data centers. Don't wonder? Finish the quarter up almost 23%. So many of the top 10 have to do with the great data center build out. Like a net app which provides storage for Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. This stock just levitating because it is the kind of storage management the hyperscalers need. Think of Net App as the pick and shovel of the great AI gold rush. The stocks up 27 percent, 22.7%. Next we go right back to the data center with monolithic power systems. Monotone, monolithic, monochrome, monochrome you. It doesn't matter anymore, does it? Here's a term you need to get to know. Content share gain. Why? Because it's probably the most boring thing I've ever heard of, but it also makes you money. Monolithic power systems is gaining content share with the giant blank systems. Come on right NVIDIA including Blackwell Invidious next Gen. chip that will ship in bulk this fall. Power management has never been more important with chips that burn hot. Go ahead where is it? There you go and our real power gusters monolithic helps keep that under control. Yes, shovel and pick maker AI 21% up. Then there's #9 Broadcom. I don't mean to bore you, but I know I am. The semiconductor company is all aspects of tech with special emphasis on the cloud and cell phones, AI. There is a bit of a theme here. CEO Hawk Tan has done a mind mental job putting together companies that are indispensable under one roof. It's the $747 billion company that no one has ever heard of except for app members of the investing club. Because we have a real big position in it and we bought it last year. This thing's up 21% for the quarter, double from when we bought it. Finally, you're probably aware of networking star Arista Networks. You need to integrate NVIDIA to the Internet grid, so to speak, and that's what it rises networking equipment does. CEO Jayshu Jay Schreal has been on the show several times, is simply brilliant, and her team has seemed almost unstoppable for years now. Cloud networking equipment is in strong demand. A risk that has it. Look, when I first heard of it, I thought it was the record label for John Coltrane. What did I know? Driving its stock up almost 21% for the quarter. Bottom line, it's incredible. But if you were in alternative energy or the data center, you did insanely well this quarter. It's reminded if you waited until the market broadened out, like every joker said. I mean, what? Like many people claim, let's just say you missed the biggest winners that propelled the quarter. Maybe if you wait until it finally blinds out in the third quarter, you'll get to miss the biggest winners all over again. Game in Texas game. Mr. Kramer. Hope you're doing well, Gabe. I'm having time my life. How about you Doing great as I'm looking for stock to trade and I came across Starbucks and it's had a bad year so far but is this the perfect time to buy Starbucks on the No, it's not the perfect time. I know that because my Chapel trust owns it and it is killing me and every time I look at it I say why don't I ever like the triple It's him wet. It does yield almost 3%, thank heavens. But I've got to tell you this quarter they have to pull it out this quarter they have to pull it out. They have to offer a credible way to get this thing back on track because right now it is in a strong race with the stock of Nike. Starbucks is a 77, Nike's a 75. It looks like it's a race to 60. Let's go to Frank in California. Frank, Jimmy Chill, long time, first time my man chills in the house. What's happening? All right, so I've been in the stock since 2022. I'm up around 50%. It's a fintech. It's Sofi. Where do you see Sofi going long term? So far, so bad. Frankly, I have begun to, I have become to, let's just say, not be as big a fan of Sofi because I just, it's just something that just happened to me. I like stocks that go higher. I can't explain it. Maybe it's because I like to help you make money. Anyway, the top winners, the latest quarter stand is reminder that if you waited for this market to broaden out, you missed everything, you joker on that money tonight. Last night's presidential debate may be over, I think, but the implications for the markets may just be getting started. I'll tell you how to position your portfolio. Plus, I'm homing in on the humanization of pets. Boy, there's a good theme with Zoetis, but that's not going to move. It'll real real. It's time to buy, whether you think it or not with the CEO. But first, shares of Salesforce CRF have been quietly working their way higher of late. Remember when everyone told me what a fool I am to stick with it? You know what I'm carrier John Travolta. Yes, we are talking. Well, no need to go into it more than that. I'm going to circle back to it. I'm going to talk with Marc Benioff. So stay with Kramer. Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow at Jim Cramer on X Have a question? Tweet Kramer hashtag MAD mentions. Send Jim an e-mail to [email protected] or give us a call at one 807 four three CNBC. Miss something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com.