Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Little Orphan Antes

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Though he's no Angelina Jolie, Jim Cramer told "Mad Money" viewers on Thursday that they need to adopt some orphans.

Orphan stocks, that is, meaning public companies that Wall Street has decided to ignore.

"Perfection is anathema in moneymaking. ... Perfect stocks are massively overcovered by analysts," he said, referring to names such as Intel(INTC Quote), Cisco(CSCO Quote), Dell(DELL Quote) and Microsoft(MSFT Quote).

Here Comes the Sun

It's hard to make money in the big guys because you can't get an edge, he said, adding that they're in the spotlight of "too much money, too many analysts and too much information."

That's where the orphans come in, he said -- unknown stocks with no sponsorship that have the potential to be the next Ciscos and Dells once they get support.

If you pick well, Cramer said that "the sun will come out tomorrow," but that some orphans are "out and out dangerous," even if they're sweet on the surface.

To distinguish between orphan and already adopted, and good from bad, Cramer said to start with companies covered by two analysts or fewer. Plus, the company can't be worth more than $2 billion. He prefers plays that are worth $1 billion or less.

These stocks are "absolutely more risky," he warned, "but going to the orphans is risky business."

He also said to look for companies in "the provinces" rather than in large cities, since this increases the likelihood that they'll be unknown.

A good kid is often identified by insider buying, he added, while a "problem child" is a company full of executives lining their pockets with options.

You want the people at the top to be in it with you and own stocks, he said.

The company should also not have a lot of baggage in the form of debt, he said, and should have organic growth that's paying for itself.