Jim Cramer thinks investors have gone too far.
As the tech slump dragged into a new week, the CNBC host said in a post on X that the negativity around Marvell, Apple, and Palantir “is pretty thick,” adding, “No matter what they say, it isn’t enough.”
He made the remark as all three stocks slid on Nov. 2.
His comments landed in a rough market. Chip and memory stocks have lost about $3.7 trillion in market value since Oct. 6, and Intel suffered its worst day since 1974 on Oct. 30, falling nearly 29% after a disappointing forecast.
The chip group shed more than $400 billion on Nov. 2 alone, as reported by Yahoo Finance. In a market this nervous, even good news is getting sold.
Marvell’s mega-deal spooks investors
Marvell took the hardest hit. Its shares fell sharply on Nov. 2 after it announced an all-stock deal to buy Lumentum for $115 billion, and the stock has pulled back significantly since reports of the deal surfaced on Oct. 28.
Also read: Jim Cramer has a new way of thinking about the biggest tech stocks
The size of the bet explains part of the worry. Lumentum holders will get 4.5 Marvell shares for each share they own, leaving them with roughly a third of the combined company, and the deal is more than 10 times bigger than Marvell’s previous largest purchase.
Marvell CEO Matt Murphy acknowledged that in a stock deal, the buyer’s share price is the real price tag. “You take more risk when you do it,” he said.
Murphy is not backing away. Marvell wants Lumentum’s optical connectivity technology, which links the chips used to train and run large language models.
He called the deal “a double-down on supporting Nvidia, who is the ecosystem leader in this area.” Meanwhile, investors appeared to view Marvell as overpaid, sending Lumentum down almost 19% after its stock had soared more than 450% over the past year.
The deal’s final value will depend on Marvell’s share price when it closes, according to CNBC. The deal is not expected to close until the first half of 2028.
Apple beats, but its memory costs bite
Apple’s numbers were good. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue hit $114.48 billion and earnings came to $2.10 a share, both ahead of Wall Street’s forecasts.
It wrapped up what Apple called its strongest fiscal year on record. Even so, the stock drifted lower after hours, with investors fixated on slowing growth.
What really spooked investors was the guidance. Apple expects a gross margin of 45% to 46% in the December quarter, down from 47.9%, and blamed most of that drop on pricier memory chips, Reuters reported.
Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, pointed out the irony in a post on X: The same DRAM boom helping Micron and SK Hynix is pinching Apple right as it leans into on-device AI.
CEO John Ternus called the memory situation “unprecedented” on his first earnings call, MacRumors noted. Still, Apple expects December-quarter revenue to grow 7% to 10%, which would make it the company’s best quarter on record.
Services also hit a quarterly record of $31.6 billion, though Mac and iPad supply will stay tight.
The memory squeeze is good news for chipmakers. SK Hynix said DRAM prices rose in the high 20s percent from the second quarter, helping it post a record operating profit, while DRAM shipments grew about 10%, according to its Q3 2026 earnings.
What fills a memory maker’s pockets drains Apple’s margins.
Palantir’s bookings spark doubts
Palantir also beat on both lines in the third quarter. Revenue came in at $2.31 billion against estimates of $2.18 billion, and adjusted earnings were 44 cents a share against 41 cents, yet the stock closed 3% lower.
The growth itself was huge. It was Palantir’s first quarter above $2 billion. Revenue rose 96% from a year earlier, and U.S. commercial revenue climbed 148% to $984 million, passing the $953 million from U.S. government work for the first time, as reported by TechCrunch.
Investors zeroed in on bookings instead. U.S. commercial total contract value fell to $1.46 billion from a record $2.13 billion in the prior quarter. Boloor said in a separate post on X that he genuinely does not think anyone knows how high the ceiling is for this business.
More Jim Cramer:
- Jim Cramer says Scott Bessent is fighting a flood with one finger
- Jim Cramer spots something investors may be missing on Wall Street
- Jim Cramer calls one major data center play a no-brainer buy
Karp had an explanation for the slowdown. He said customers are adopting faster but signing shorter contracts, with “an ability to expand that contract dramatically,” and Palantir raised its full-year revenue guidance.
That suggests the slowdown may reflect how deals are being structured rather than weaker demand.
AI spending fears hang over tech
The bigger backdrop is anxiety about AI spending. Last week’s two-day rout erased hundreds of billions in market value from Alphabet and Intel as investors punished cash-draining AI investment.
That set a sour tone heading into the Nov. 2 session.
Alphabet’s report showed why. Its free cash flow came in at negative $9.07 billion in the third quarter, following a negative $5.86 billion in the second, while capital spending reached about $51.4 billion.
The stock then suffered its worst post-earnings sell-off on record, though some managers still see value, citing strong Google Cloud growth and a rapidly expanding order backlog.
That is the kind of disconnect Cramer is pointing to at Apple, Palantir, and Marvell, where solid results are being drowned out by fear.
Related: Jim Cramer has a new way of thinking about the biggest tech stocks
