Jim Cramer's Portfolios of the Week
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By Roberto Pedone
PEWAUKEE, Wis. (
) -- According to Jim Cramer, the recent
tell a good story. He pointed out that business segments such as corrugate boxes, caustic soda and chlorine, which are building blocks for basic infrastructure, are starting to look bullish.
Another area that Cramer sees bullish activity in is the makers of bricks such as
Vulcan Materials
(VMC) - Get Report
and
Martin Marietta Materials
(MLM) - Get Report
. This would indicate that demand is picking up for the building of roads and new homes.
Also, the
Federal Reserve
numbers show that we are still destocking inventories, which makes Cramer believe that a W-style recovery isn't in the cards and a U-style is. All of these pickups in early economic recovery data lead Cramer to believe that employment numbers are going to do much better.
Despite all of that optimism, Cramer said he's done
. Cramer isn't turning into a bear, but he did advise investors to wait for stocks to come down before jumping into an overbought market.
Recently, Cramer found opportunity in stocks to play off an economic recovery, natural gas stocks and stocks with trapped short sellers. Here are some Cramer highlights from over the past week as aggregated from his "Mad Money" TV show, the "Stop Trading!" segment on
CNBC
and his
RealMoney
blog posts (these blog posts might require a
RealMoney
subscription).
: Cramer thinks the economic recovery is at hand and that the bears are in trouble. On
Wednesday's "Mad Money" episode
, he told viewers that the proof of a recovery is in the companies that make the things we need to make things. The
portfolio includes
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
and
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
.
Cramer's Stocks With Trapped Shorts
: Cramer has spotted a number of Chinese plays with trapped short-sellers. In a
, he wrote: "There is a remarkable rally going on here with our Chinese plays. The shorts are caught. Maybe that's the levitation." The
Cramer's Stocks With Trapped Shorts
portfolio includes
Las Vegas Sands
(LVS) - Get Report
and
Bucyrus
(BUCY)
.
Cramer's Bullish Nat Gas Outlook Stocks
: Cramer believes that the days are numbered for lower prices in the nat gas stocks. In a
he wrote: "I look at this group, which I endlessly proselytize, and I wonder when people will realize that the price for next year is signaling a better year." The
Cramer's Bullish Nat Gas Outlook Stocks
portfolio includes
EQT
(EQT) - Get Report
and
Devon Energy
(DVN) - Get Report
.
Cramer's Hold-Your-Nose-and-Buy Stocks
: Cramer thinks it's time to buy a group of stocks that are immersed in bad news. In a
, he wrote: "The reluctance to buy these stocks is simply because they are crummy, but crummy's king here, which is nauseating to people." The
Cramer's Hold-Your-Nose-and-Buy Stocks
portfolio includes
Fifth Third
(FITB) - Get Report
and
Regions
(RF) - Get Report
.
Cramer's Low-Nat-Gas-Price Winners
: Cramer knows exactly which stocks will be the winners off of depressed nat gas prices. On
last Friday's "Mad Money" episode,
he told viewers that there are plenty of ways to make money from low nat gas prices, including from the companies that use the most of it. The
Cramer's Low-Nat-Gas-Price Winners
portfolio includes
Dow Chemical
(DOW) - Get Report
and
U.S. Steel
(X) - Get Report
.
Cramer's These-Things-Matter Stocks
: Cramer thinks that market players are ignoring the things that matter. In a
, he wrote: "Do you mind if I mention that inflation ex-fuel -- a difficult component -- is tame?" The
Cramer's These-Things-Matter Stocks
portfolio includes
Ford Motor
(F) - Get Report
and
Genworth
(GNW) - Get Report
.
-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Pewaukee, Wis.
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(Editor's note: At the time of publication, Cramer owned Devon for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)
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Roberto Pedone, based out of Pewaukee, Wis., is an independent trader who focuses on stocks, options, futures, commodities and currencies. He is also an outside contributor to Beconequity.com and maintains the website Maddmoney.net, which he sold to Blue Wave Advisors in 2008. Roberto studied International Business at The Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he spent a year overseas studying business in Lubeck, Germany.
