Playing Pairs Could Work Here

You've got a hilarious situation developing in that there were people building positions today in stocks like FedEx (FDX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Pepsi (PEP - commentary - Cramer's Take) because oil was plunging, and now these same buyers seemed to have turned sellers. Hence the hazards of playing the futures.

Me? I took profits in ConocoPhillips (COP - commentary - Cramer's Take). Big gain. And I am anxious to roll some of that money into XTO Energy (XTO - commentary - Cramer's Take), as I have been telling Action Alerts PLUS people.

Why XTO? It is growing. Made a big acquisition just this morning. Classic -- I waited for the conference call, and the homework kept me out of it on a price break.

I think that the way to go here, perhaps, with the stocks people are buying for when the oil futures are down, might be to run a more balanced play. You like Pepsi? Go against something like Campbell Soup (CPB - commentary - Cramer's Take), which missed the quarter, or Kraft (KFT - commentary - Cramer's Take), which has an even worse portfolio when it comes to commodity pressure. We have UPS (UPS - commentary - Cramer's Take) making a key partnership with DHL but FedEx doesn't have anything new. Another good pair.

Kimberly-Clark (KMB - commentary - Cramer's Take) has a big oil business in diapers, but ConAgra (CAG - commentary - Cramer's Take) has terrible ethanol exposure and Tyson (TSN - commentary - Cramer's Take) even worse. Another good pair.

You can't trade the futures with stocks here straight up. Not even the oils, given where refinery margins are.

I usually don't like pairs. But the action today says it might, for a short period of time, work better than just making a bet that can unravel so quickly as this morning's out of oil into the Pepsi-FDX trade.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long XTO Energy.

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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

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