We're trimming two long-held stocks that are difficult to own in the Trump era

Published Mon, Apr 21 20258:52 AM EDT

We will make two trades shortly after the opening bell on Monday. We wanted to make these sales last week but couldn't because of trading restrictions on the Charitable Trust. We are selling 200 shares of Apple at roughly $192. Following the trade, Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust will own 600 shares of AAPL, decreasing its weighting to slightly below 4% from about 5.2% We are selling 150 shares of Nvidia at roughly $98. Following the trade, the trust will own 900 shares of NVDA, decreasing its weighting to about 3% from 3.5%. These sales are consistent with what Jim wrote in his April 13 column, that Apple and Nvidia have become tough to own in the Trump era . For Apple, our concerns center around the risks to margins its massive supply chain creates in a high tariff world. "The company's shifting of some production to India, the default destination for the iPhone, may not be what the president wants. There are hardliners within the government who want no exemptions," Cramer wrote. "The potential saving grace would be if this means phones made in South Korea are also subject to tariffs," Cramer continued. "If so, Apple could steal more market share from Samsung. Of course, phone companies must continue to subsidize the selection of new phones to encourage switching. Again, that means we have a reprieve but it's going to be a new status quo, and it is one that I find untenable when it comes to investing. I believe it is an imperative to cut back this position tomorrow into any strength." We were not able to trim Apple the next day, April 14, due to the Charitable Trust's trading restrictions. As for Nvidia, Cramer voiced concerns about how the stock has become hostage to short-term investors who focus on high risk, leveraged ETFs and daily option trades, causing the stock to become divorced from its fundamentals. Last week's news that the U.S. government will require Nvidia to obtain export licenses to ship H20 artificial intelligence chips to China further complicated the investment case. It's unlikely Nvidia will receive those licenses, prompting the company to take $5.5 billion charge in its fiscal 2026 first quarter tied to H20 inventory, purchase commitments, and "related reserves." "I have lost more sleep on Apple and Nvidia than any two stocks in my life. And, the only solution is to make them smaller before they become smaller themselves," Cramer said last Wednesday during our April Monthly Meeting , when he "retired" his long held "own it, don't trade it" mantra for these two stocks. Both Apple and Nvidia have fallen more than 20% in 2025, but staying true to our investment discipline has helped. We trimmed our Apple position in late December 2024 near its all-time high, and we started 2025 off with a sale of Nvidia. From these sales, we'll realize an average gain of about 870% on Apple shares purchased in December 2013 and April 2014 and a gain of more than 675% on Nvidia stock purchased in March 2021. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AAPL and NVDA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 17, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters