Here's a rapid-fire update on our stock portfolio, including the 5 names to buy

Here is a story making headlines in the economy: On Thursday, Jim Cramer and portfolio director Jeff Marks convened the CNBC Investing Club's July Monthly Meeting. They ran through each stock in the portfolio — calling out names to buy and places where we'd look to trim — before taking some questions from members. One of the big themes throughout the hourlong meeting: stocks that make parabolic moves must be trimmed.

Emotion carries them higher to unsustainable levels, and emotion can be why they collapse without warning. That's what is happening to a number of artificial intelligence winners in recent days, but Jim emphasized he doesn't believe the fundamentals have deteriorated in those names. In fact, he said he sees an opportunity to buy stocks like Corning, GE Vernova and Eaton.

Economic Details

Away from the AI trade, we're also tempted to add to our positions in FedEx Freight and Johnson & Johnson. On the other side, Home Depot and Starbucks are two stocks that Jim and Jeff discussed trimming. We took action on the Home Depot side of things after the meeting ended.

Now, here's a closer look at our latest thinking on the portfolio. The memory buyers Jim said the big four hyperscalers are in a bind with all their AI spending: the totals have gotten so large that people are worried about whether they'll generate enough profits to justify them, especially as soaring memory prices push up the cost of building data centers. But, at the same time, there's a concern that they cannot afford not to spend on what they believe to be a revolutionary technology.

Nobody knows how this tension will resolve, Jim said, but it is fluid. Alphabet : Thankfully, it has Google Search, YouTube and Google Cloud to help fund its spending. Those properties also give Alphabet the possibility to earn its way out of the data center money pit.

Analyst Views

Having Warren Buffett on its side is a nice vote of confidence . Amazon : The springtime momentum has evaporated, and we're concerned that the debt market may have had enough Amazon bonds , raising the prospect of an equity sale. We all hope that Amazon starts to recoup this spending next year and beyond.

Microsoft : Need to see more AI monetization from this one. It shares the same characteristics as Salesforce and IBM , selling software that doesn't fit into this new world. An improved Copilot, as Citi argued Wednesday , would help the narrative.

As tempted as we are to trim, we're mindful there is some optionality. Meta Platforms : The social media giant gave us what we wanted with its foray into selling compute power. Jim had believed a cloud plan would warrant a big pop for the stock because it eases concerns about excessive AI spending.

Economists are analysing what the news means for the markets.