Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Dec. 23

Warm Up With Suburban

Cramer said investors looking for a play on the cold winter weather should look no further than Suburban Propane . This master limited partnership currently boasts a juicy 10.7% dividend yield and offers investors some stability to boot.

Cramer said the story at Suburban is a simple one: margins. While the price of natural gas has plummeted in recent months, it's not falling evenly. The result has been a 45% reduction in the wholesale price of gas, but only a 12% reduction in the retail price. That leaves a 33% increase in margins for Suburban.

Cramer said Suburban also offer stability, since the company is 90% owned by retail investors and not large hedge funds looking for quick cash. Suburban also focused mainly on heating and cooking products, which are far more stable than the oil and gas markets in general.

Finally, Cramer said Suburban's dividend is safe, with the company recently boosting its dividend for its 10th consecutive quarter. The company also has a great balance sheet, with $4 a share in cash and a large untapped credit facility at its disposal.

Outrage of the Day

In his "Outrage of the Day" segment, Cramer sounded off at recent Wall Street Journal story which dubbed the private equity firm Cerberus as a hero for turning around Chrysler (C Quote).

If Cerberus were a hero, said Cramer, it would have put up its own money to bail out Chrysler and not look to the government for a handout.

Cerberus, he said, has more money than just about any private equity firm out there, and if this was any company other than an auto, they'd have to use their own money.

Cramer advocated helping the shareholders of Ford (F Quote) and General Motors (GM Quote). He said if Cerberus loses its $7.4 billion investment in Chrysler, that's a risk it should've been prepared to take.

Mad Mail

Cramer told a viewer that he recommends companies like McDonald's (MCD Quote), which he also owns for his Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, or Disney (DIS Quote) for his young daughter's first portfolio.

He told a second viewer that he's still a fan of Yum Brands (YUM Quote) for the company's continued growth in China.

How Dividends Work

As a fan of high-yielding dividend stocks, Cramer took a moment to explain to viewer exactly how dividends work and what investors need to know about it.

Cramer said the two terms most often associated with dividends are the "ex-dividend date," the first day a stock trades without the right to a quarterly dividend, and the "record date," the date the dividend payment is actually made.

But Cramer said the most important date to remember is what he termed the "must-have" date. That date, said Cramer, is simply the one before the ex-dividend date, the date you must own a stock in order to qualify for the dividend.

Using U.S. Bancorp (USB Quote) as an example, Cramer said the company will pay its next dividend on Jan 15. The ex-dividend date, is Dec 29, but the "must-have" date is Friday, Dec 26, the day after Christmas.

"This is the date you need to own US Bancorp in order to get the dividend on January 15," he said. On Dec 29, shares of USB will likely trade down 42 cents since those shareholders will no longer qualify for the dividend.

Lightning Round

Cramer was bullish on GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Quote), Pepsico (PEP Quote), Pfizer(PFE Quote), Verizon (VZ Quote), Philip Morris International , Flowers Foods (FLO Quote) and Caterpillar (CAT Quote).

He was bearish on Vodafone Group (VOD Quote), Baidu.com (BIDU Quote), Boeing (BA Quote), National Oilwell Varco and Terex (TEX Quote).

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