CNBC‘s Mad Money host Jim Cramer on Thursday praised Rivian‘s performance in the first quarter of the year while doubling down his bet on Tesla.
The comments mark a notable shift in tone from Cramer, who — throughout 2025 — repeatedly warned investors against buying shares of the Irvine-based brand and about the need to raise cash.
However, in late January, he softened slightly framing the stock as a better alternative than the other US EV maker Lucid Motors.
“I don’t [like it], but that’s the one you want to be in,” Cramer said at the time.
When a caller questioned Cramer about the Rivian stock, the CNBC host said the performance on vehicle production and delivery in the first three months of the year surprised him.
“That last quarter was good. That last quarter was good,” Cramer said during the ‘Lightning Round’ segment of the show. “I was surprised.”
“My wife was thinking about buying a Rivian — I don’t know. But it looks like they’re going to make it,” he added without detailing it. “And if they’re going to make it, then the stock goes higher.”
The ‘Mad Money’ host then pivoted to Tesla, offering what he described as a “twofer.”
“I like Tesla today,” Cramer said. “Those who don’t like Tesla, they can come see me. And they’re probably short Intel.”
Cramer’s comments arrive during a significant week for both EV makers.
Rivian officially started volume and saleable production of its R2 midsize SUV at its Normal, Illinois, plant — a milestone years in the making, and despite the effects of an EF-1 tornado that struck the facility days earlier.
Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe previously told CNBC that the R2 will make up the majority of Rivian‘s volume by the end of 2027.
Tesla, meanwhile, reported its first-quarter 2026 earnings on Wednesday, posting non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.41 — above the consensus estimate of $0.37.
Gross margins rebounded to 21.1%, the highest print in five quarters.
However, shares slid during the earnings call after CEO Elon Musk outlined softer timelines for the Cybercab and Optimus rollouts, and CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed the company’s 2026 capital expenditure ceiling had risen to more than $25 billion from the prior $20 billion forecast.
A Shifting View on Rivian
The Mad Money host has offered mixed and often skeptical assessments of Rivian over the past year.
Thursday’s tone represented a marked departure.
Last September, when shares were trading around $15, Cramer told investors to avoid the stock while criticizing spending on the company’s upcoming $5 billion Georgia plant.
“If we have a slowdown and the Fed doesn’t bail us out, I think you’re going to find that stock, you can buy that stock lower,” he said at the time.
By December, with Rivian shares having surged 44% in 30 days, Cramer said the company was “fatuous” and warned it needed to raise capital.
In January, he softened slightly — telling a caller to sell Lucid and consider Rivian as a better alternative, though he added, “I don’t [like it], but that’s the one you want to be in.”
A Consistent Tesla Bull
Cramer has been consistently bullish on Tesla since late 2025, repeatedly urging investors to view the company through the lens of robotics and autonomy rather than vehicle sales.
In late January, Cramer said the company’s stock was “going to go sky high” as it redefines itself as a non-car company.
“Next, repeat after me, Tesla’s a robot company. Tesla’s an autonomous driving play. It’s not just a car company,” Cramer stated at the time.
In early January, reviewing Tesla‘s 2025 performance, the CNBC host called it “an enigma” — acknowledging the core EV business was “awful” and down for a second straight year, but adding that “it doesn’t matter” because investors were focused on the robotaxi and humanoid robot opportunity.
Earlier this month, however, Cramer commented “Tesla can only trade on hopes about the future for so long.”
On Thursday, Cramer signaled his view on the Elon Musk-led company during CNBC‘s Squawk on the Street segment, saying he “would be a buyer of Tesla today” despite the stock falling nearly 4% following the earnings report.
The comments made hours later during the Mad Money show followed a similar thread: Cramer backing Tesla despite the stock declining on earnings day.
Stock Performance
Through the end of 2025, Rivian shares gained approximately 48%, recovering from a 43% decline in 2024 that saw the stock reach an all-time low of $8.26 in April of that year.
The stock had fallen over 82% in 2022 and posted a 27% gain in 2023 — its only positive year since the company’s November 2021 IPO.
Rivian‘s stock has been volatile for the past four months, falling roughly 40% in the first two months of the year.
The stock reached a low of $13.58 in early February, around the time of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. Shares have since recovered gradually to the $16–$17 range.
The company’s stock closed 4.5% down at $16.95 on Thursday, following a spike after R2 production was announced on Wednesday that pumped the stock to $18 for the first time in two months.
Tesla finished 2025 up about 11%, following a 63% rally in 2024 and a 102% surge in 2023 that came after a 65% decline in 2022.
The stock reached an all-time high of $498.83 on December 22, 2025.
In the first two months of 2026, the stock shed more than $100 — amid an escalation of NHTSA’s probe into the company’s FSD software, a first-quarter delivery miss, and broader market pressure from the Middle East conflict.
Tesla‘s shares spiked as high as $406.77 in after-hours trading immediately after the company posted the earnings results; however, they slid through the earnings call later that evening, bottoming at $374.64.
The stock closed 3.6% lower at $373.72 on Thursday’s session.
While Thursday’s segment focused on Rivian and Tesla, the Mad Money host has consistently urged Lucid investors to exit the stock.
In January 2026, when a caller mentioned being deep in the red on Lucid shares bought in 2021, Cramer interrupted: “Take the loss. Take the loss. Take the loss.”
A month earlier, in December 2025, the CNBC host hit his sell button before a caller could even finish asking about the stock.
Lucid has been in a persistent downtrend since its public debut, falling from its all-time high of $580.50 (adjusted for its 1-for-10 reverse stock split) to a record low of $6.22 on Thursday.
