Jim Cramer says it's time for investors to take some profits, 'it's the disciplined thing to do'

• CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday said the market's had a substantial run, and investors should take profits while they can.
• "I'm begging you to take something off the table if you haven't done so already," he said. "It's the disciplined thing to do."

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday said the market's had a significant run, and it may be time to ring the register.

One of Cramer's core tenets is to never be greedy and take profits when you can. He suggested it may be time to take some shares off the table in part because the Federal Reserve's rate cuts may not be as imminent as some on Wall Street expect, and some stocks with artificial intelligence exposure are starting to lose their luster.

"I'm begging you to take something off the table if you haven't done so already," he said. "It's the disciplined thing to do."

Cramer reflected on the CNBC Investing Club's decision to sell all of the Charitable Trust's shares of Caterpillar. Dupont pre-announced weaker-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, which Cramer said could be a harbinger of bad news from Caterpillar, its industrial peer. The trust bought Caterpillar stock in part due to the assumption the Fed would implement several rate cuts, which usually bodes well for industrials. But there are signs the fight against inflation is not over, including a gross domestic product — the measure of all the goods and services produced — that showed higher economic growth during the end of 2023 than expected.

According to Cramer, stock dips for PayPal and ServiceNow may signal losses for other stocks previously bolstered by AI initiatives. Cramer assumed the former's stock would soar after CEO Alex Chriss announced new AI products on Thursday. Instead, PayPal was down 3.67% by the close.

"Whenever we get these rarified moments, you know what, it's time for a gut check," he said. "It means you need to do some trimming, purely because your profits don't count until you ring the register."

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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of Dupont.

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