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Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Gone Bottom-Fishin'

TheStreet.com Staff

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

The current situation looks a lot like 1990 did at the bottom of one of the worst recessions the market has ever seen, Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday.

Cramer urged investors to take a page out of the playbook he used then, and look for stocks to buy.

In 1990, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia bought a major stake in Citigroup (C Quote), a stock Cramer owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, to make it solvent, he said. This time Abu Dhabi is buying a small stake in the bank.

In a similar vein, the Fed finds itself in the same situation it was in then, when it realized it had to get involved and ease rates. Moreover, as the financials collapsed over a six-month period in 1990, the Dow declined 11% and bottomed, Cramer said. Right now the index is down by more than 10%.

During 1990, colossal banks merged, Cramer said. Today, market players learned Bank of America (BAC Quote) is talking about getting together with Citigroup.

All of these signs mean the financials are beginning to bottom now, Cramer said.

"We've been operating on the 1990s playbook for months in Cramerica and we cannot ignore it now," he said. Not everything bottomed in 1990 and not everything will bottom now, but people must get more positive and look for things to buy, Cramer said.

In 1990, Citigroup worked, but right now Goldman Sachs (GS Quote), which he also owns for his charitable trust, is the best of the financials and should be bought, Cramer said. People should also consider getting into Apple (AAPL Quote), Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) and Google (GOOG Quote).

For the short term, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG Quote) and Amazon (AMZN Quote) work, he added.

Cramer also said he sees a hidden trend in natural gas. There his favorite plays are Halliburton (HAL Quote) and XTO Energy (XTO Quote), which he owns for Action Alerts PLUS, Cramer said.

Furthermore, in the video-game arena, he said he likes Electronic Arts (ERTS Quote) and Activision (ATVI Quote).

"The 1990 playbook hasn't steered us wrong yet," Cramer said. It's time to spend less time worrying about losing money and spend more time looking for opportunities.

Gen-Probe an Exciting Story

If market players want "protection combined with a really long-term trend," the best place to look is diagnostics, Cramer said. "These stocks are the holy grail of defense [and] are the ultimate health care-cost containment names out there."

Gen-Probe (GPRO Quote), which has a fast technology for detecting infectious microorganisms, is a diagnostics company Cramer likes.

Recently, the company's trial of a new HPV test was pushed back a quarter, and its food-testing deal with partner 3M (MMM Quote) fell apart, Cramer said. Consequently, the stock went from $72 to $65.

Cramer brought on Henry Nordhoff, the CEO of Gen-Probe, to explain what happened with 3M.

"3M is a fantastic company, [but] we just had a difference of opinion," Nordhoff said.

After doing some research, 3M believed that when its and Gen-Probe's profits were added to the cost of making the food-testing product, the price point would be too high, the chief said. However, half the food processors in the business hold inventory while they're waiting for test results, and Nordhoff believes these companies would be willing to pay more to offset the cost of food going bad because of delays.

Further, the HPV test has become a problem only because the Food and Drug Administration keeps changing its rules and trying to come up with a gold standard for HPV testing, Nordhoff said.

These two negatives are why the stock has come down, Cramer said, and they already are priced into Gen-Probe. However, the positives of two tests the company has for prostate cancer are not priced in, he said. Therefore, the stock should go up.

Cramer called Gen-Probe "a very exciting" story that is also safe.

Am I Diversified?

During the "Am I Diversified?" game, Cramer's first caller named the following five stocks: Intuitive Surgical, ValueClick (VCLK Quote), AT&T (T Quote), Saks (SKS Quote) and Hologic (HOLX Quote), a stock Cramer owns for his charitable trust.

Cramer suggested the caller get out of Intuitive Surgical or Hologic and pick up a defensive stock instead.

The second caller asked if he was diversified with these five plays: ING (ING Quote), Google (GOOG Quote), Anheuser-Busch (BUD Quote), Bank of America (BAC Quote) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI Quote).

Cramer said the caller shouldn't have two banks in his portfolio. He advised the caller to sell ING and pick up a defensive play.

The last caller said she owned these five: Kraft Foods (KFT Quote), Tyco (TYC Quote), Lexmark (LXK Quote), Garmin (GRMN Quote) and Pfizer (PFE Quote).

Cramer blessed the portfolio as diversified.

Sudden Death

During the "Sudden Death" round, Cramer was bullish on First Solar (FSLR Quote), Monsanto (MON Quote), and CVS (CVS Quote), which he owns for his charitable trust, and AT&T.

He was bearish on Evergreen Solar (ESLR Quote), American Oriental Bioengineering (AOB Quote), China Nepstar Chain Drugstore (NPD Quote) and Virgin Mobile (VM Quote).

Mad Mail

During the "Mad Mail" segment, when an Office Depot (ODP Quote) employee asked if he should keep buying ODP stock as it gets cheaper. Cramer recommended against it and told him to diversify his holdings.

Lightning Round

Cramer was bullish on First Solar (FSLR Quote), Costco (COST Quote), Blue Coat Systems (BCSI Quote), Boeing (BA Quote), XTO Energy (XTO Quote), ConocoPhillips (COP Quote), Nike (NKE Quote), Garmin (GRMN Quote), Yum! Brands (YUM Quote), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG Quote) and Layne Christensen (LAYN Quote).

Cramer was bearish on LDK Solar (LDK Quote), TXCO Resources (TXCO Quote), Smithfield Foods (SFD Quote) and American Railcar (ARII Quote).

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

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