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8 Stocks Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer Are Bullish On

Via Insider Monkey

8 Stocks Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer Are Bullish On Fahad Saleem Fri, November 13, 2026 at 11:55 AM EST 10 min read ^GSPC -0.70% PS +1.41% QSR +0.94% BN -1.33% UBER +0.55% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.

Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer are two of the most closely followed names on Wall Street. Cramer's stock picks already get plenty of coverage, and we just looked at five stocks he is bullish on. See the five picks here.

Ackman founded Pershing Square Capital Management in 2004. From 2004 through early 2026, the firm returned 15.9% a year after fees, compared with 10.7% a year for the S&P 500.

Ackman has been vocal about AI. In its Q3 2026 investor letter, Pershing Square said Wall Street worries too much about what big tech spends on AI and gives too little credit to the revenue and profit that spending could bring. Read the letter here. His portfolio also overlaps with Nancy Pelosi's trading disclosures, and we covered the two stocks they both own. Click to see the overlap.

In an interview with CNBC earlier this month, Ackman said he does not see a repeat of the Roaring 1920s in the stock market. Earnings expectations have risen meaningfully this year, and stock valuations look low compared with the market's growth, he said. He sees more froth in private venture markets, where fear of missing out drives deals, but said much of it is justified. He called AI a global race for superintelligence and said the United States cannot afford to finish second.

In a separate interview with the Milken Institute, Ackman said the impact of AI will be the story of 2026, 2027 and probably 2028. He said the cost of intelligence is falling and called intelligence the most valuable asset in the world. He believes the AI spending boom is sustainable because big tech companies have the cash and credit to raise capital, and because the return on computing power is well above the cost of capital. He worries more about pure-play neocloud companies, which he compared to highly leveraged real estate developers. He sees no repeat of the 1999 internet bubble because AI companies such as Anthropic run profitable, fast-growing businesses, he said.

Below are the eight stocks that appear in both Ackman's portfolio and Cramer's commentary, ranked by the number of hedge funds that hold them.

To compile our list of the 8 best stocks to buy according to Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer, we read Pershing Square Holdings' third-quarter shareholder letter, released on November 2, 2026. We picked stocks that Pershing Square holds and that CNBC host Jim Cramer has been bullish on. This gave us eight companies.

We ranked the eight companies in ascending order by the number of hedge funds that held stakes in them at the end of the second quarter of 2026. The hedge fund count comes from Insider Monkey's database of 1,006 hedge funds.

For each company, we also cover Ackman's investment thesis and the value of Pershing Square Holdings' position as of September 30, 2026. These figures show the fund's reported economic exposure, which includes shares held directly and exposure through certain derivatives.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Insider Monkey's quarterly newsletter strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 612% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 375 percentage points (see more details here).

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32

Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR) is one of the restaurant stocks that both Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer favor. Earlier this year, Cramer said he prefers Restaurant Brands to McDonald's, citing the improving performance of Burger King and the leadership of executive chairman Patrick Doyle.

Seth Klarman's Baupost Group also owns the stock, and we looked at why the value investor is buying it while the market chases AI. Click to read why.

Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings reported a Restaurant Brands position worth approximately $1.24 billion, representing 9.4% of its net assets, as of September 30, 2026.

In his latest quarterly letter, Ackman highlighted Restaurant Brands' improving operating performance, noting that the company had delivered five consecutive quarters of global same-store sales growth above 3%. He also expressed confidence in the company's return to a capital-light business model through the sale of company-owned restaurants, and he expects approximately 8% operating profit growth in 2026.

Even after these improvements, the stock traded at just 17 times earnings, which Ackman described as a material discount to his estimate of its intrinsic value. Pershing Square believes sustained earnings growth, financial leverage and share repurchases could generate mid-teens total returns even if the stock's valuation multiple stays the same.

Pershing Square highlighted Restaurant Brands again in its third-quarter investor letter, and we looked at the growth opportunity the company is pursuing. Read the full breakdown here.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43

Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN) is another company favored by Bill Ackman and previously endorsed by Jim Cramer. During a February 2025 episode of Mad Money, Cramer praised Brookfield's management, particularly CEO Bruce Flatt, and described its executives as exceptionally capable operators. Cramer said he would see weakness in Brookfield shares as a buying opportunity.

Ackman's conviction in Brookfield remains strong. As of September 30, 2026, Pershing Square Holdings had approximately $1.48 billion of economic exposure to Brookfield, representing 11.2% of the fund's net assets.

In his Q3 shareholder letter, Ackman defended the investment even though Brookfield shares fell 14% in the third quarter and 20% so far this year. He said concerns about higher interest rates and slower asset sales had weighed too heavily on the stock's valuation.

Brookfield also gets AI exposure through power, and it has a framework agreement to supply 10.5 gigawatts of electricity to Microsoft. Click to see the AI angle.

Ackman believes Brookfield is better positioned than many alternative asset managers because it focuses on real assets. He also pointed to its acquisition of Just Group, which gave Brookfield Wealth Solutions a roughly $40 billion long-duration liability portfolio.

Pershing Square expects Brookfield to deliver at least mid-teens distributable earnings-per-share growth over the next 12 months. The company has also set a five-year target of 24% compounded annual EPS growth.

Ackman considers Brookfield particularly attractive at about 11 times estimated earnings, a discount of about 20% to peers KKR and Apollo, even though consensus expects Brookfield to grow faster. We also made the case for why Brookfield is a cheap stock in Ackman's portfolio. Click to see why it looks cheap.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 151

Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is among the stocks that both Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer have recommended, though Cramer has raised concerns about its near-term performance.

On September 11, Cramer questioned Uber's earnings momentum. During his September 17 Mad Money program, he said he was not backing away from his recommendation and still believed Uber was a good investment.

Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings had approximately $1.86 billion in economic exposure to Uber as of September 30, making it the fund's second-largest reported position at 14% of net assets.

In his Q3 letter, Ackman argued that investors worry too much about disruption from autonomous vehicles. Uber shares fell 5% in the third quarter and 16% so far this year, even though he said the underlying business performed exceptionally well.

Ackman highlighted Uber's strategy of partnering with multiple autonomous vehicle developers. During the quarter, Uber launched or expanded autonomous vehicle operations in London, Dubai and Croatia, and it plans to operate in 15 cities by year-end.

He also dismissed concerns that AI-powered shopping agents could weaken Uber's delivery business, citing the complexity of local delivery, real-time inventory management and fulfillment.

Analysts expect Uber's earnings per share to grow about 30% in 2026 and 42% in 2027, and we looked at whether that growth can continue as robotaxis spread. Check the full analysis here.

According to Ackman, Uber's earnings were on pace to grow about 35% in 2026, and the stock traded at just 16 times earnings, its lowest valuation ever. Pershing Square expects the company's EPS to compound at 25% or more over the long term and believes the market assigns too high a probability to disruption from autonomous vehicles.

Uber also shows up in Nancy Pelosi's trading disclosures, where her husband bought call options on the stock. Click to see the details.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 158

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is one of Jim Cramer's favorite payment companies. During a CNBC Investing Club morning meeting in October, Cramer compared Mastercard with Capital One Financial, a stock held by his Charitable Trust, and said he considered Mastercard the better business.

Cramer praised Mastercard's growth potential and a business model that lets it benefit from payment activity without taking on the consumer credit risk that traditional lenders carry. He also expressed frustration that his investment club had not taken advantage of the stock's earlier valuation.

Bill Ackman shares Cramer's enthusiasm for Mastercard's business. As of September 30, 2026, Pershing Square Holdings reported a Mastercard position valued at approximately $650.4 million, equivalent to 4.9% of its net assets.

In his Q3 letter, Ackman discussed Mastercard alongside Visa, highlighting the resilience of both companies despite investor concerns about new payment technologies.

In the third quarter, Mastercard's organic revenue grew 14% from the same quarter a year earlier, supported by high-single-digit growth in payment volume and double-digit growth in cross-border volume. Its value-added services business grew about 19% and earnings per share rose 21%, both from the same quarter a year earlier.

Ackman also sees stablecoins and AI-powered commerce as opportunities for Mastercard's business. He pointed to the company's acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK and its work to let AI agents make secure transactions. Mastercard and Visa both face these same threats, and we compared how each one is responding. See the comparison here.

At about 24 times forward earnings, Pershing Square considers Mastercard attractively valued given its growth prospects. Ackman expects the company to generate mid-to-high-teens annual EPS growth and attractive investment returns over the coming years. We also looked at Mastercard's moat and the one growing threat to it. Read the full breakdown here.

Click the image below to watch our video featuring the rest of the top 4 stocks in this list. Prefer reading? You can also click here to read the full article featuring the top 4 stocks.

While we acknowledge the potential of MA as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.

Read original at Yahoo Finance News

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