RealMoney Radio: Regional Cooking

It's time to take a look at the regional banks, Jim Cramer told listeners on his "RealMoney" radio show Wednesday.

Cullen/Frost (CFR Quote) recently bought out its Fort Worth, Texas rival, Summit Bank , and now it is at a 25% premium from where the stock was last week, Cramer said.

This is a terrible environment for banks, and the rate hikes keep hurting them, Cramer said. As people struggle with home costs and construction projects go awry, Cramer said, the bank sector will be negatively affected.

Although he does not believe that lightning will strike at J.P. Morgan (JPM Quote)or Wells Fargo (WFC Quote), Cramer told listeners to look at their regional banks and consider buying shares there.

If these regional banks are a target of larger banks, what happened with Summit could happen to you, he said.

When the market is down Cramer advised listeners to look for anomalies. An example, he said, is ConocoPhillips (COP Quote), which is up 90 cents on a bad day, or McGraw-Hill (MHP Quote) which is doing well, when the magazine business is awful.

Cramer also pointed out PepsiCo (PEP Quote) and MasterCard (MA Quote), which Prudential recently upgraded, as anomalies.

"When there is a new-found recommendation or an upgrade, that's where the safety is on a down day," he said, adding that if the market rallies, these stocks will go up.

And if it goes down, they will stay cushioned.

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