Being a television personality recommending stocks to buy and sell can be a tough job. Often times, viewers and investors will remember calls that were wrong and focus less on the winning callouts.
CNBC personality Jim Cramer knows this all too well and broke down over one of his stock picks live on air last year.
What Happened: In an emotional segment, Cramer apologized to viewers for recommending Meta Platforms META shares based on valuation.
“I come out here and I try to help people every day,” Cramer said on Oct. 27, 2022. “And I failed to help people and I own that.”
Cramer had been recommending Meta Platforms based on valuation many times in 2022. The recommendation came as analysts were beginning to back away from Meta due to its heavy spending on the metaverse.
“I made a mistake here. I was wrong. I trusted this management team. That was ill-advised,” Cramer said at the time.
Cramer previously called the bottom in Meta shares at the $190 level.
“The stock's trading like the whole metaverse thing is just one big joke,” Cramer previously said.
The comments in October from Cramer came after the company reported third-quarter earnings.
The CNBC host said he was not proud of his Meta Platforms recommendation and said he did a bad job with the callout and regretted it.
"The hubris here is extraordinary and I apologize. This situation is almost a rogue situation."
Related Link: Meta Platforms Q4 Earnings: Shares Soar On Reveneu Beat, Updated Guidance, Here's What Mark Zuckerberg Said
Investing $1,000 In Meta Stock: While he has made some great stock picks over the years, many have been critical of Cramer’s recommendations and his back and forth on some stocks.
Some investors even buy or sell stocks by doing the opposite of what Cramer says on television or on his Twitter account.
Investors who faded Cramer’s Meta call have seen a big winner in their account.
A $1,000 investment in Meta stock on the day Cramer apologized could have purchased 9.76 shares, based on an intraday high of $102.50.
The $1,000 investment would be worth $1,775.44 today, based on a price of $181.91 for Meta shares at the time of writing.
This represents a return of 77.5% in less than four months for investors.
In comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is up 7.7% over the same time period.
With many people betting with and against Cramer, Tuttle Capital Management is launching the Inverse Cramer ETFs with ticker SJIM and the Long Cramer ETF with ticker LJIM.
The ETFs will invest based on comments made by Cramer taking either the long or the short side.
Cramer called out the ETFs previously, putting his 40-year-plus track record up against the ETFs.
Benzinga's Take: The importance of this hypothetical investment is not to criticize Cramer but share that investors should do their own due diligence and invest in companies based on their own ideals and reasons rather than those of a television personality.
Read Next: Ark's Cathie Wood Says Bitcoin Is Going To $1M, Jim Cramer Says 'Yeah And I Walked On Water'
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