Jim Cramer says he likes these 6 travel and leisure GARP stocks

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday highlighted six stocks in the travel and leisure space that he believes are investable due to their affordable price and growth potential.

“With the [Federal Reserve] tightening [interest rates], the market prefers something called growth at a reasonable price, or GARP. … In other words, you want companies with better-than-average growth rates as long as their stocks have relatively cheap valuations,” the “Mad Money” host said. 

“Get used to the world according to GARP, okay? It’s the old, new way to invest,” he later added.

The Fed approved a 25 basis point interest rate hike in March, which is expected to be the first of several increases this year to tamp down soaring inflation. The minutes for the Fed’s March meeting, released April 6, signals that the Fed could raise interest rates by 50 basis points in upcoming meetings. Fed officials also plan to shrink the balance sheet by around $95 billion a month.

To come up with the list of investable travel and leisure stocks, Cramer first ran a screen for companies in the S&P 500 that can put up double-digit earnings growth this year and next year. Then, Cramer examined the companies’ price to earnings growth multiple, or PEG ratio. “This is a metric that tells you how much we’re willing to pay for a company’s growth rate. … When we’re talking about a reasonable valuation, anything at 1 or less would generally be considered cheap,” he said.

Using the two metrics to whittle down the list of companies, Cramer was left with 51 names. 

“We’ll be going through our favorites over the course of the week,” Cramer said. He added that he believes the travel and leisure stocks he picked will benefit from “the great reopening, even if the Fed really hits the brakes on the economy.”

Here are Cramer’s picks for the six “GARP-iest” travel and leisure companies:

1. Expedia
2. Booking Holdings
3. Marriott International
4. Disney
5. Darden Restaurants
6. Sysco 

Disclosure: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Disney.

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