Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Teflon Stocks

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If people want to make money in a market in which a brokerage house just reported a nearly $8 billion loss and in which their houses seem to be worth less each day, they should look to the "indestructible" and fast-growing stocks that worked in the 1990s, Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" show Wednesday.

Merrill Lynch's (MER Quote) $7.9 billion writedown reminded Cramer of the gloomy market days of the 1990s.

Back then, he told viewers on his "Mad Money" TV show on Wednesday, most of the great American banks traded down almost every day because commercial real estate fell apart that year due to overbuilding.

Cramer doesn't see why anybody would want to own Merrill now, because in some ways the current environment is even worse than the 1990s. The federal government, he said, doesn't want to save residential real estate.

He called the companies that issue mortgages and those that insure mortgages, such as PMI Group (PMI Quote) and MGIC Investment (MTG Quote), "frightening." Cramer said he expects these stocks to continue to go lower.

In this kind of economic situation, Cramer said he tries to invest in companies with "incredibly rapid growth and in the indestructibles, the stocks that make money in almost any environment."

"What fits the bill now?"

Coca-Cola (KO Quote) and Altria (MO Quote), the latter of which he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, are the indestructibles, he said.

Moreover, Celgene (CELG Quote), Inverness Medical Innovations (IMA Quote) and CME Group (CME Quote) have grown rapidly, said Cramer, who owns Inverness Medical for his charitable trust.

Out of them all, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG Quote) and Google (GOOG Quote) are the fastest-growing, he added.