Cramer reviews the Dow’s five worst performers in the first quarter

CNBC’s Jim Cramer analyzed the market’s five worst-performing stocks on Monday. Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first trimester, indicating which ones he thinks are worth monitoring.

“Normally I don’t believe in the concept of a stock pivoting in such a short period of time – three months doesn’t make a pirouette,” he said. “But I think companies can lay the groundwork, and I see some of them doing that, so let’s talk about the five worst first-quarter performers and I’ll tell you at what levels their stocks might be attractive.”

Here are the five stocks, starting with the worst performing, according to FactSet:

1. Boeing: Boeing has benefited from some “well-deserved bad publicity” this year, Cramer said. Several of the company’s planes have recently experienced high-profile malfunctions, and Cramer said Boeing could be a “long-term lessor on the worst-performing list.”
2. Nike: Cramer noted that the shoe market has become very competitive and expressed concern for the company’s U.S. business. He said he’s waiting to see quarterly results because he thinks “the consumer has stopped paying for some things that they can get more cheaply from competitions.”
3. Intel: Cramer said Intel may be able to recover “just because of easy comparisons to last year,” adding that UBS raised its price target on the stock Monday morning.
4. Apple: Cramer maintains his philosophy that investors should own Apple, not trade it, saying it could be “a short-term loser, a long-term winner.” The tech giant is plagued by slowing sales in China and Cramer said there could be a developing inventory bubble in phones, but he claimed he had confidence in the management team of ‘Apple, adding that he was excited about NvidiaThe potential of working with the Vision Pro.
5. UnitedHealth Group: The nation’s largest health insurer has been hit by rising medical costs, according to Cramer. But he said he was willing to buy the shares because the company is well managed, and he said it might be the most likely to bounce back. Health insurance stocks were hit in extended trading Monday after the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services announced that the government is increasing payments for Medicare Advantage by 3.7% for 2025, less than what the the industry hoped.

“The Dow’s worst performers include stocks that … have both hairs and flies, in a market that demands an untouched story,” he said. “And there’s nothing perfect about this list; don’t kid yourself.”

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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust owns shares of Apple.