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Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Fed and Breakfast

TheStreet.com Staff

Click here for an archive of Cramer's "Mad Money" recaps.

"You can never prepare for the worst," such as a nuclear war, Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Thursday. "But you can prepare for the second worst thing."

And to Cramer, that would occur if the Federal Reserve raises short-term interest rates to 6.5%, increasing the danger of the economy falling into recession.

With that in mind, he has decided to help viewers build a Fed fallout shelter.

The first thing shelter dwellers will need is food and beverage stocks, which typically benefit other stocks in the event of an economic slowdown.

But just buying any old stock isn't Cramer's style, so he decided to give the stocks a taste test. The three lined up for the food side were General Mills(GIS Quote), Kraft Foods(KFT Quote) and Kellogg(K Quote).

Cramer first discarded Kraft Foods as a "serial cereal underperformer." The stock trades at 17 times earnings and is an "untouchable." Next for the chop was General Mills, which he thought had slower earnings growth than Kellogg.

"Kellogg is the one to pick as the best in class," Cramer said.

Next on tap was what to drink.

The three companies in the lineup were Anheuser Busch(BUD Quote), Coca-Cola(COKE Quote) and Pepsico(PEP Quote).

Cramer said that Anheuser Busch was too expensive, trading at 18 times future earnings based on growth of only 8%. And the company's purchase of Rolling Rock was "too little, too late."

Coke's 8% growth and valuation at 19 times future earnings also made the stock too expensive. That left Pepsi as Cramer's favorite.

The stock trades at 20 times earnings and has a growth rate of 11%. Perhaps more importantly, the company's business is diversified outside the cola business, unlike Coke.

The Paper Chase

Cramer wondered what has been happening over at Toll Brothers(TOL Quote) to lead one family member to buy a newspaper company, The Philadelphia Inquirer. The personal investment doesn't impress Cramer.

Cramer added that the average growth of earnings at newspapers is not sustainable and could go as low as 2%. And Inquirer costs have already been cut by the previous owner, Knight-Ridder(KRI Quote).

Cramer believes that viewers should invest in the housing market. "The homebuilders are the place to be when the Fed is done tightening," he said.

"Higher interest rates will mean home sales will slow. But those slow sales are already baked into the stock price."

The outlook is so bleak, that when the Fed makes the decision to stop tightening, the stock will take off.

The next sector to catch Cramer's eye is biotech, which he says "has been left in the dog house this year like the red-headed stepchild."

"The biotech index is down almost 7% for the year," he said.

His picks for the sector are Genzyme(GENZ Quote), which just got upgraded, and Gilead Sciences(GILD Quote), which was the next biotech pick because of an anti-HIV triple-play cocktail that is making its way through the company's drug pipeline. "The company is the player for HIV treatments," Cramer said.

The third pick was Celgene(CELG Quote). "This is a $50 stock masquerading as a $40 stock," he said. It also has the only good remedy for multiple myeloma.

Finally, Cramer suggested BioMarin(BMRN Quote) as a good buy for investors because it has many good drugs in the pipeline.

Today "Mad Money" hosted Coach(COH Quote) CEO Lew Frankfort as a guest. Coach has been reporting good earnings, but because of some negative investor sentiment, the stock has been hurt recently.

"We reported record results," he said. "We had excellent same-store sales, but we were penalized and it defied fairness." As a result of the low stock price, Frankfort said he had cancelled his personal stock-selling program.

It was that move that has Cramer bullish. "Twenty-nine goes back to $37," he said. "Stay with Coach."

To view Cramer's interview with Frankfort, please click here.

Lightning Round

Bullish

Cramer was bullish on Baidu(BIDU Quote), Nektar(NKTR Quote), LCA-Vision(LCAV Quote), PetroChina(PTR Quote), Caterpillar(CAT Quote), Wheeling-Pittsburgh(WPSC Quote), Allegheny Technologies(ATI Quote), Martek Biosciences(MATK Quote), Panera Bread(PNRA Quote), UnitedHealth Group(UNH Quote), Starbucks(SBUX Quote) and Goldman Sachs(GS Quote).

Bearish

For more of Cramer's insights during the most recent Lightning Round, click here.

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