Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Bling's the Thing

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Americans gotta have their bling, and if you can't afford a diamond, you'll buy something from Charles & Colvard CTHR, Jim Cramer said Thursday on "Mad Money."

Charles & Colvard's synthetic moissanite jewels cost one-tenth the price of a diamond but are "more brilliant and more lustrous than diamonds," he said. Moissanite jewelry is carried at more than 700 J.C. Penney JCP stores, said Cramer, and it is being tested at Zale ZLC stores and Helzberg, owned by Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A.

Cramer doesn't believe moissanite will penetrate the high-end diamond market, which is in an "unbelievable bull market." He would recommend Anglo American AAUK, which owns 40% of De Beers, as the best play on real diamonds. But Cramer said high-end and low-end jewelry market can work at the same time as we become a class society, and because "at least in the medium term, America is not going to have a strong economy."

Charles & Colvard has posted triple-digit growth since the third quarter of 2004. For 2005, earnings are expected to be up 274%, Cramer said.

"This is the right kind of company with the right kind of product and the right kind of stock," he said.

In response to a question about the high short position in Charles & Colvard, Cramer said the stock "feels a little Hansen HANS-like" in that shorts "don't believe it can get better."

In response to a question about Tiffany TIF, Cramer said he believes Tiffany might be ready to bounce back, and he is "upgrading Tiffany right here, right now."

Water, Water, Isn't Everywhere

A natural resource even more scarce and precious than diamonds is water, said Cramer. That may seem counterintuitive, since 70% of the earth's surface is covered by water. But it costs money to make fresh water potable, and desalinization has yet to become economical on a large scale.