Stocks to Bet on Ahead of the Fed

We are getting some really telling action ahead of the Fed meeting.

For example, the rally in Procter (PG - commentary - Cramer's Take) is entirely related to people believing the Fed either won't cut or won't cut enough. It is the recession stock among the soft goods.

Then there is the rally in the AT&T (T - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Altria (MO - commentary - Cramer's Take) contingent. This is the "no cut or 50 basis-point cut" group speaking up. The dividends in this group look very comely on a 50 basis-point cut, and these stocks do great if the Fed does nothing.

Finally, there is the homebuilder stabilization/rally, and that's the textbook speaking: You buy the homebuilders once the Fed starts cutting.

Let me give you two others ideas that could fit and make you money but that people are not focused on: Vodafone (VOD - commentary - Cramer's Take) for telco and Unilever (UN - commentary - Cramer's Take) for P&G. Both have better yields than their cohorts and both have better non-U.S. growth paths.

As for homebuilders, if you want to roll the dice I'd go with Hovnanian (HOV - commentary - Cramer's Take) because of its big short position. But if you want a company that can last through the cutting, because the first four cuts won't mean much to the actual businesses, I'd pick Toll (TOL - commentary - Cramer's Take). And for the best housing play, I'd pick Wachovia (WB - commentary - Cramer's Take) because it has a giant mortgage business and a great dividend.

Those are all "will work" ahead of different scenarios and I wouldn't hesitate to do any of them today and tomorrow.

Random musings: Thank heavens the broker stocks are going down. I was beginning to regard them a potential catastrophes ahead of their earnings. ... Don't forget Adobe (ADBE - commentary - Cramer's Take) tonight; I like that one very much.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Altria.

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