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Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Uranium, Your Portfolio

TheStreet.com Staff

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

"Don't let living in the great U.S.A. lull you into missing out on the future," Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Thursday.

There is a "sad bias" against nuclear power in this country, and while Americans protest nuclear power, the rest of the world is embracing it, "leaving us in the dust," Cramer said.

This means it's time to get into some uranium, he said. In the last few years, uranium has "skyrocketed" to $75 a pound, and the price is increasing fast. Energy Metals (EMU) is an "unexploited" stock that Cramer believes should benefit from the price increase of this radioactive element.

He called Energy Metals an "early stage" company that's speculative and not for the "faint of heart." The Canada-based company is young, Cramer said, with no revenue. But while there's some risk involved, he believes buying Energy Metals could pay off.

Plus, with the recent flood that knocked out one of Cameco's (CCJ) biggest facilities, it makes sense for that company to buy Energy Metals, Cramer said.

Energy Metals is the uranium play people should get into, he said, while warning people to use limit orders and not pay more than $12 a share for this stock. Energy Metals closed at $11.91 Thursday.

"I heart nukes, and I heart uranium," Cramer said.

Welcome Back, Charter

Imagine a world where "ugly is beautiful" and debt becomes one of the reasons to buy a stock, Cramer told his viewers. It is this "Bizarro Cramer" world in which he believes market players should buy Charter Communications (CHTR).

Although Cramer said he's "hated" Charter for a long time, now he's telling people the stock demands to be bought for one reason: It can refinance its mountain of debt at lower yields.

This is the same reason Cramer says he's liked Level 3 Communications (LVLT), which had debt that it refinanced, causing the stock to bounce.

Charter "deserves to be higher," but people don't like it on Wall Street, he said. However, the company is paying back its high-yielding debt with low-yielding debt, and Cramer believes every time Charter refinances, the analysts following the stock will be able to raise numbers. There are lot of potential upgrades that could cause the stock to go higher, he said.

But this isn't the only reason Cramer likes Charter, he said. While it has been playing catch-up with the rest of the cable companies, now, because of its ability to get a better balance sheet, Charter should be able to get in on the triple-play (phone, Internet and TV service) action, Cramer said.

The CEO Wall of Shame

In the show's "Sell Block" segment, Cramer stressed that IBM (IBM) is a sell so long as CEO Samuel Palmisano is at its helm.

IBM is among a unique group of companies whose stocks Cramer believes would go higher if their CEOs retired right now. Cramer put Palmisano on his "CEO Wall of Shame" and told people to stay away from the stock until Palmisano gets out.

People who look at the stock and think of it as a "performer" don't realize that since Palmisano became IBM's CEO in 2002, the stock has gone from $103.02 to $98.50, Cramer said. The recent run in the stock has just brought it back to a little under $100.

Compared with that, the total return on the S&P 500 since 2002 is up, Cramer said. "Your bank account is outperforming this stock," he said. Plus, it looks as if IBM has decelerating growth, which market players should know to stay away from, Cramer said.

Medical Waste, Want

Cramer welcomed Mark Miller, Stericycle's (SRCL) CEO and president, to the show and asked him if the company's acquisition in the U.K. means it is saturated in the U.S.

Miller said it does not mean that. Instead, he said, the company is in a "fortunate position" with strong free cash flow that allows it the opportunity to look at acquisitions constantly to "supercharge the company's growth."

When Cramer asked if there are any restrictions on medical waste that the government could put in place that would benefit Stericycle, Miller said that "regulatory framework always tends to help us" because Stericyle's business model is to outsource services from health care customers to be in tune with regulations. "More regulations create opportunities for us," he said.

Further, Miller called transportation cost a "constant area for improvement" for the company and said it keeps getting better at it.

Cramer said the stock is in "triple-buy mode."

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

During the show's "Sudden Death" round, Cramer was bullish on MetLife (MET) and The Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG).

He was bearish on Pfizer (PFE).

Lightning Round

Cramer was bullish on Anglo American (AAUK), Yamana Gold (AUY), Continental Airlines (CAL), Arris Group (ARRS), Crocs (CROX), Gardner Denver (GDI), MRV Communications (MRVC), Cisco (CSCO), Syngenta (SYT), Deere (DE), Bunge (BG), Monsanto (MON) and Landec (LNDC).

Cramer was bearish on Netease.com (NTES), Baidu.com (BIDU), IPG Photonics (IPGP), IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), AirTran (AAI), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), NovaStar Financial (NFI) and Florida Rock (FRK).

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

Want more Cramer? Check out Jim's rules and commandments for investing from his popular book by clicking here.