Cramer: I'll Buy Caterpillar at 9X Earnings

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Jim, we've got to talk about Caterpillar's earnings. I mean, obviously they had guided us down...

Jim Cramer:
That's right.

Debra Borchardt:
...not long ago, and here they are, they delivered. I guess the only thing I liked in there was that the U.S. is buying some heavy equipment...

Jim Cramer:
Right.

Debra Borchardt:
...so I guess we're going to get our bridges and roads fixed?

Jim Cramer:
Yeah, that does look good, the U.S. can lead, tremendous decline in business in the United States. Here's what I liked about that quarter. I'm sick of reading that they think the turn is at hand, or that things are going to be great. They have said that over and over again for the last, like, five quarters, and I'm just sitting there saying, hey guys, I mean, come on. The U.S. hasn't come back, China going offline, Europe horrible, and yet they had been positive and positive and positive. So suddenly their real credibility was on the line, and when they did the right thing, that's why I think the stock has bottomed.

You know who else did this? Deere said things were bad, and that stock was in the 70s when they said it, and then suddenly Deere is doing well. Stock was up to 85 last week. So I think realism is what's defining positive here, versus Google, which was unrealistically positive.

So if you're negative, but you offer...if you're negative, and you've been positive, suddenly...this is a credibility quarter. Honeywell's credibility is intact because they made the quarter. Caterpillar's credibility is finally intact because they didn't say that things were great. Google has no credibility.

Debra Borchardt:
Let's clarify that because you're saying that this is a good thing that they fessed up, that they got real. That doesn't necessarily mean you're getting the stock?

Jim Cramer:
Well, I mean...

Debra Borchardt:
Or does it?

Jim Cramer:
Well because they said inventories were low, and Caterpillar's an inventory story, because if they have to start reordering, then Caterpillar's going to have a bottom. But what I liked was that they didn't predict a huge number in 2013, because it would have been totally out of sync.

That's interesting, GE had been predicting big. They lowered, ever so slightly, and that stock gets hit. Honeywell are predicting good. They deliver on the quarter a little bit more. That stock flies. People...the nuance here is really incredible, like, had GE not said what it said a couple weeks ago that stock would be up today. If Honeywell had said they didn't expect to beat the quarter, and then they did this quarter, their stock would be at 70. I mean, there's just a lot of people playing every little data point.

Debra Borchardt:
Well, we've seen Caterpillar pull back this year, so...?

Jim Cramer:
Caterpillar, because the company was...

Debra Borchardt:
Down seven percent, year-to-date?

Jim Cramer:
...missing, missing, missing, and yet it was being unrealistic, and now it's finally being realistic, and people are saying, you know what? The risk is taken out here, because Caterpillar has said things aren't that good.

Debra Borchardt:
All right, so what's the downside on this then?

Jim Cramer:
I think Caterpillar is bottoming right here...

Debra Borchardt:
Oh, okay.

Jim Cramer:
...that's why we're buying it for Action Alerts Plus. It's bottoming.

Debra Borchardt:
Okay.

Jim Cramer:
And it's really good, because if it can do nine and it sells at 82? Wow, I'll buy that stock at nine times earnings any day.

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