Mad Money Recap

Return to Article

Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: The New 'Indestructible' Stocks

TheStreet.com Staff

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

When fear prevails, it's not high-growth plays but consistent stocks that the market favors, Jim Cramer told viewers on his "Mad Money" TV show Monday.

On Nov. 8, Cramer identified five so-called "indestructible" stocks: Foster Wheeler (FWLT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Medco Health (MHS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Altria (MO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), and Transocean (RIG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), the latter three of which he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS.

However, Cramer acknowledged these five bulletproof stocks have not held up at all. What has amazed him is that the companies with the best year-over-year prospects -- Freeport-McMoRan and Foster Wheeler -- have been down the most.

"Terrific earnings growth cannot make a stock bulletproof in this environment," Cramer said, noting that earnings, growth and upside just are not working in this market.

What is working, he emphasized, are the defensive stocks like PepsiCo (PEP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Coca-Cola (KO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Procter & Gamble (PG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Any business that can't be stopped by a recession is good now. Cramer said he's read the criticism on stockpickr.com about how he has changed his mind on Freeport and Foster Wheeler, but he asserted it's always better to stand corrected.

Cramer said these two are not going to work right now no matter how compelling their stories are. While he still believes in Freeport and Foster Wheeler over the long term, the market has abandoned these stocks right now, and if people can't take the pain, they should get out.

Instead, it's time to play defense with indestructibles like Pepsi, Coke, Procter, Medco Health and Altria.

Oprah's Picks

During the Christmas and Hanukkah season, Oprah Winfrey does a show every year dedicated to her favorite gift products. This year, Cramer has three Oprah plays that could make people a bundle for the holidays.

Among Oprah's favorite 2007 items are boots from Deckers (DECK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) (DECK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), the Scrabble board game from Hasbro (HAS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), the planet earth DVD from Discovery (DISCA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Cramer likes Hasbro the least of the three plays because toy-sale projections are not strong for next year. However, he said the toy manufacturer did make it through recalls with minimal damage, and investors should look at Hasbro as a two-year play.

Discovery Holding is a good play with two catalysts: a potential stock buyback in the works and talks under way to obtain 100% control of Discovery Communications, Cramer said.

But his favorite stock of the bunch, Cramer said, is Deckers, which is up by more than 400% since he first recommended it two years ago. The company, he said, is great at underpromising and overdelivering, has "strong brands," and is enjoying significant growth in direct sales. Cramer called Deckers "one of the rare growth stocks" he'd embrace right now.

"Between now and Christmas, Deckers is money," he said.

A Telecom Software Play

Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) is one behind-the-scenes telecom player investors should pay attention to, Cramer told viewers.

He welcomed Stephen Waldis, founder and CEO of Synchronoss, to the show and asked him to explain his company's business.

Synchronoss services all the major providers like Time Warner (TWX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Cablevision (CVC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Waldis said.

Whether it's Verizon (VZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), AT&T (T - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) or Comcast (CMCSA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), more than 80% of the time it's Synchronoss' software that is sitting behind that infrastructure, the chief executive said.

Moreover, the company, Waldis continued, is moving "very aggressively" into the European market.

Sudden Death

During the "Sudden Death" round, Cramer was bearish on Gmarket (GMKT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Lightning Round

Cramer was bullish on Coca-Cola (KO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), PepsiCo (PEP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Medco Health (MHS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Brocade Communications (BRCD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Cisco Systems (CSCO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Research In Motion (RIMM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Google (GOOG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Apple (AAPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Barrick Gold (ABX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Yamana Gold (AUY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Procter & Gamble (PG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Cramer was bearish on Daimler (DAI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Quintana Maritime (QMAR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Silver Wheaton (SLW - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Bank of America (BAC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

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

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