We recently published a list of Jim Cramer’s Game Plan for Next Week: 25 Stocks in Focus. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed.

On Thursday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, walked viewers through what he described as an important week ahead for Wall Street, with earnings season hitting full stride and a flood of quarterly reports expected from companies spanning multiple sectors.

“The fact is the president wants lower interest rates to help offset the pain from higher prices that  gonna be caused by the tariffs, but higher prices represent inflation.”

READ ALSO: 12 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar Recently and Jim Cramer Discussed These 12 Stocks Recently.

“The Federal Reserve never cuts rates when inflation’s out of control,” Cramer emphasized and added that it may very well become the case if tariffs continue to drive up costs. He made it clear that he respects Fed Chair Jerome Powell as he described him as a capable public servant who, in Cramer’s words, has “generally done a good job.” Still, he acknowledged Powell’s difficult position as he said the Fed chair is “stuck between a rock and a hard place.” He added:

“Now history says he should be doing exactly what he’s doing, but history is now in the eye of the beholder and there’s only one beholder in this whole country and it ain’t Jay Powell.”

While Cramer stopped short of diving deeper into political commentary, he admitted he is growing increasingly weary of the political noise surrounding monetary policy. As earnings reports begin to dominate the conversation, he highlighted how swiftly sentiment on Wall Street can shift based on results and noted that the market is entering a phase where “snap judgments” start flooding in after hours.

“Here’s the bottom line: I know it’s supposed to be a terrible time, right? I mean like woo, scary, but I don’t know. The companies themselves they keep delivering and delivering, and you know what? I don’t think next week’s going to be any different.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 25 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 17. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 hedge funds.

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. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 24

Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION) was mentioned during the episode, and here’s what Cramer had to say:

“Now it all starts with the banks, specifically two really incredibly boring banks, Comerica and Zions Bancorp. Now both are considered suspect. They have high yields, you can tell that. But the banks have been outstanding in this environment, no tariff exposure, low charge off, decent loan growth, and hopefully some boost from deregulation down the road, which is what a lot of people voted President Trump for.”

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) offers a range of banking and financial services, including commercial and small business lending, capital markets solutions, real estate financing, personal banking, and wealth management. On April 7, Morgan Stanley analyst Manan Gosalia cut the price target on ZION from $64 to $52 and maintained an Equal Weight rating.

The firm shifted its outlook on the midcap bank sector from Attractive to In-line. The analyst said steeper and faster-than-anticipated tariffs increase the risk of a recession. The pressure is expected to slow loan growth, which could affect future earnings and valuations. He noted that while the group trades at low valuations, sluggish loan growth and an inverted yield curve reduce the potential for gains.

Overall, ZION ranks 2nd on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discussed. While we acknowledge the potential of ZION as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ZION but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.