Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Next Week's Game Plan

Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.

---

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's a treacherous time to trade on earnings, Jim Cramer warned "Mad Money" viewers Friday, but it's a great time to listen to what companies have to say.

Cramer said that's why his game plan for next week's trading includes a lot of listening but not a lot of trading.

On Monday, Cramer said he'll have his eye on the JPMorgan Chase (JPM) health-care conference, where both Celgene (CELG) and Biogen Idec (BIIB) are expected to present. Cramer said he expects to hear great things from both of these companies.

Tuesday brings earnings from Monsanto (MON) and Alcoa (AA). Cramer said Monsanto has rallied big, so he expects a sell-off, which would be a great time to buy. Alcoa will remain challenged, he said.

For Wednesday, it's the Walgreen (WAG) analyst day taking center stage and Cramer said he'll be waiting to hear about the company's international plans, which he expects to be good news for the stock.

Turning to Thursday, the Herbalife (HLF) analyst day will give the company a chance to respond to a rash of short selling, said Cramer, but he's continuing to stay far away from this heated battleground stock. Also on Thursday, Chevron (CVX) reports. Cramer said this would be a good name to pickup on weakness.

Finally on Friday, Wells Fargo (WFC), a stock Cramer owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, will report. Cramer said this bank is taking huge market share in mortgages and he'd buy more if the stock gets hammered.

Break Up Johnson Controls

Some companies are worth more in pieces than they are as a whole, Cramer reminded viewers. He said Johnson Controls (JCI), which was down 1.8% in a roller-coaster 2012, would be an excellent candidate for splitting itself into three separate companies.

Johnson Controls currently has three different divisions, each accounting for about a third of company sales. It's a big player in HVAC and building efficiency systems, it manufactures automotive seats and interior components and the company makes batteries, both old-fashioned car batteries as well as some newer hybrid batteries.

Johnson Controls currently trades at a discount to similar companies like Eaton (ETN) and Honeywell (HON), noted Cramer, and with easy comparisons the stock should perform well even without a breakup. But with a breakup, the stock would be worth a whole lot more.

Cramer said that Johnson Controls is fairly valued using 2013 earnings estimates, but said that's the wrong ways to value the company's businesses, all of where are late-cycle recovery plays that are just coming into their sweet spot. If the divisions were separate and easy for investors to understand, they'd be using 2014 and 2015 estimates to value the potential for a strong housing recovery and continued strength in the auto markets worldwide, he said.

Based on those "out year" estimates, Cramer said Johnson Controls' divisions would be valued at $39.80 a share, or a 27% premium from where they trade today.

Speculation Friday

For "Speculation Friday," Cramer said it's once again time to consider telco equipment maker JDS Uniphase (JDSU), a company with a long history of boom or bust, feast or famine cycles that is once again coming into favor.

Cramer explained that all of the telco equipment stocks live or die based on the capital expenditures of the major telco carriers. Over the past two years, those carriers have been reluctant to spend, making JDS Uniphase not investable.

But recently, equipment inventories have fallen to three year lows and carriers including AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and Sprint Nextel (S) have all signaled they're beginning to spend on new initiatives and major expansions of their networks.

Cramer noted that 40% of JDS sales stem from testing equipment, another area that will be in demand as carriers upgrade and expand their networks to the latest 4G service.

On a price earnings basis, JDS Uniphase is lagging its peers, trading at just 22.6 times earnings while the rest of the group has seen multiples expand from 20 times to 27 times earnings over the past few months. With a JDS Uniphase investor conference coming up soon, Cramer said he'd be a buyer of the stock on any pullback.

Lightning Round

In the Lightning Round, Cramer was was in a bearish mood and advised against owning Solazyme (SZYM), Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA), Harvest Natural Resources (HNR) and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP).

Mad Mail

In the "Mad Mail" viewer feedback segment, Cramer followed up on Natus Medical (BABY), which stumped him during an earlier show. Cramer said the company is speculative and hasn't shown a lot of growth. He advised waiting on the sidelines for now.

Cramer said he's also not a fan of WR Grace (GRA), nor Taser (TASR), which he said can only be owned if the stock pulls back below $8 a share.

Cramer continued the tough love with Burger King (BKW), saying he's not buying into the burger wars, and Phillips 66 (PSX), saying investors looking for a natural gas play need look no further than Southwest Energy (SWN).

No Huddle Offense

In his "No Huddle Offense" segment, Cramer said that he'd normally put a company like Google (GOOG) in the penalty box, after missing earnings and sending its share price plummeting nearly $100 last quarter.

But after the Federal Trade Commission concluded its investigation of Google without any major enforcement action, and in the face of an improving advertising market, Cramer said that perhaps the FTC's decision is the catalyst investors need to pull the trigger on the stock.

To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here.

To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC.

-- Written by Scott Rutt in Washington, D.C.

To email Scott about this article, click here: Scott Rutt

Follow Scott on Twitter @ScottRutt or get updates on Facebook, ScottRuttDC

At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a position in CVX, ETN, ETP, SWN, WFC.

Jim Cramer, host of the CNBC television program "Mad Money," is a Markets Commentator for TheStreet.com, Inc., and CNBC, and a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. All opinions expressed by Mr. Cramer on "Mad Money" are his own and do not reflect the opinions of TheStreet.com or its affiliates, or CNBC, NBC Universal or their parent company or affiliates. Mr. Cramer's opinions are based upon information he considers to be reliable, but neither TheStreet.com, nor CNBC, nor either of their affiliates and/or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. Mr. Cramer's statements are based on his opinions at the time statements are made, and are subject to change without notice. No part of Mr. Cramer's compensation from CNBC or TheStreet.com is related to the specific opinions expressed by him on "Mad Money."

None of the information contained in "Mad Money" constitutes a recommendation by Mr. Cramer, TheStreet.com or CNBC that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You must make your own independent decisions regarding any security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy mentioned on the program. Mr. Cramer's past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. Neither Mr. Cramer, nor TheStreet.com, nor CNBC guarantees any specific outcome or profit, and you should be aware of the real risk of loss in following any strategy or investments discussed on the program. The strategy or investments discussed may fluctuate in price or value and you may get back less than you invested. Before acting on any information contained in the program, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and strongly consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.

Some of the stocks mentioned by Mr. Cramer on "Mad Money" are held in Mr. Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio. When that is the case, appropriate disclosure is made on the program and in the "Mad Money" recap available on TheStreet.com. The Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio contains all of Mr. Cramer's personal investments in publicly-traded equity securities only, and does not include any mutual fund holdings or other institutionally managed assets, private equity investments, or his holdings in TheStreet.com, Inc. Since March 2005, the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio has been held by a Trust, the realized profits from which have been pledged to charity. Mr. Cramer retains full investment discretion with respect to all securities contained in the Trust. Mr. Cramer is subject to certain trading restrictions, and must hold all securities in the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio for at least one month, and is not permitted to buy or sell any security he has spoken about on television or on his radio program for five days following the broadcast.