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'RealMoney' Radio Wrap-Up: Bears Can't Win

TheStreet.com Staff

Bears can't kill this market, Jim Cramer said Wednesday on "RealMoney" radio show.

Cramer said health care stocks may be down due to HCA's(HCA Quote) disappointing second-quarter outlook, and drug stocks may be down on account of Abbott Laboratories' (ABT Quote) failure to overwhelm analysts' expectations.

But Cramer said neither event was bad enough to sink this tape. "Nothing sticks even when they try and slam it," he said of investors betting against the market.

Why is the market so resilient?

First off, Cramer said, it's summer and bankers are on the golf courses or at the beach. That means there aren't a lot of deals or new issues drowning the market. Next, mutual funds are making money and that becomes "self-fulfilling" in a bull market, Cramer said.

Finally, the macroeconomic backdrop is positive. The Fed is also on vacation and, as we learned Wednesday, the deficit is coming down. Those kinds of developments "let the bullish mind wander," Cramer said.

One bullish place of late has been the Eastman Kodak (EK Quote) option pit. Cramer said he has heard that people are speculating that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote) is looking to buy Kodak.

Don't believe the tale, Cramer said -- he said he believes it's just a rumor. And if you get a tip on Kodak, leave it on the table because "tips are for waiters." Cramer's instinct tells him that somebody probably wants out of Kodak because it is going to have a crummy quarter, he said.

What would he do in the face of this action? He said twist it around and buy HPQ. "If somebody really knew something, then it would be insider trading, but if it opens up an opportunity to get into technology, where the turnaround is real, then take it," he said.

A caller asked for Cramer's opinion on Charter Communications(CHTR Quote), a stock that has haunted Cramer -- he calls it perhaps his worst trade in five years.

Blood pressure rising, Cramer told his listeners how he was originally introduced to Charter by billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Following Cuban's introduction, he met with the now-departed CEO over a plan to cut debt and selling stock to raise cash.

But they didn't listen at Charter, Cramer said, adding that they chose instead to go to hedge funds that were shorting the stock.

The end result was a big loss for Cramer, and it still makes him upset to this day. "The anger brews," he said.

Am I Diversified?

Listeners must really be paying attention lately because they have been showing up with portfolios that Cramer doesn't need to tinker with at all. In the Am I Diversified? game, Cramer's listeners give him five stocks and he tells them whether they need to make any changes.

Cramer could do nothing but applaud when his first caller listed Lennar(LEN Quote), UnitedHealth(UNH Quote), Citigroup(C Quote), Altria(MO Quote) and ConocoPhillips(COP Quote), which he called "the best of integrated oils."

When pressed, Cramer said the only slight change he would make would be to sell a little Citi to buy more Lennar, which he said trades at 7.5 times forward earnings.

The next player fared equally well, offering up UnitedHealth, Procter & Gamble (PG Quote) -- a stock that's up more than $1.50 since Cramer's recommendation on Live With Regis & Kelly Tuesday -- General Electric (GE Quote) (remember that GE employs Cramer through its CNBC unit), LSI Logic (LSI Quote) and Valero(VLO Quote), which has been a favorite of the show for some time.

A third caller submitted another winning mix with Sears(SHLD Quote), Chesapeake Energy(CHK Quote), Marvell Technology(MRVL Quote), Whole Foods Market(WFMI Quote) and Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote).

And while it may seem like Cramer would have nixed this due to the appearance of two retailers, he surprised even himself when he blessed this portfolio.

Why?

Because he sees Sears as a real estate play and not just a retailer. And he views Whole Foods as "a health care company that's in the food business."

"People feel Whole Foods has the good housekeeping seal of approval," said Cramer. "It's a litmus test for what is natural and good."