Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- We've had a huge rally from the generational lows of March 2009, Jim Cramer told his "Mad Money" TV show viewers Thursday. And the leaders that have brought us this far will likely take us even higher, he continued, as he ran down the list of the top, and worst, performing Dow Jones Industrial Average components since those historic lows. Topping the list of gainers was American Express ( AXP), which has risen 484% since March 2009. After experiencing terrible losses, Cramer said American Express is now a well-run company that's still very inexpensive. Next on the list were Caterpillar ( CAT), up 286%, and Home Depot ( HD), up 276%. Cramer said that Caterpillar represents the best in American manufacturing but struggled as it customers required financing that simply wasn't available. Meanwhile Home Depot, a stock which Cramer owns for his charitable trust,
Executive Decision: Marc Benioff
In his first "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer checked in with Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com ( CRM), which recently reported an 11-cents-a-share earnings beat on better than expected revenues. Benioff started off by saying that after passing the $3 billion mark annually for revenues, his company has now set their eyes on achieving $4 billion. He said the analysts who have been negative on Salesforce has been dead wrong so far and will continue to be so. "It's a new world of computing," said Benioff, one with fewer PCs running Windows and more tablets and smartphones running Salesforce.com. Benioff also touted some of his company's recent client acquisitions including Philips Electronics, luxury retailer Burberry and General Electric. He said whether you're talking about a next-generation consumer electronics company, or a next-generation retailer or manufacturer, everyone is building their customer relationship system on the Salesforce platform.
Executive Decision: Patrick Doyle
For his second "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer checked in with Patrick Doyle, president and CEO of Domino's Pizza ( DPZ), a stock that's risen 20% since Cramer last spoke with Doyle in October. Domino's just released strong earnings and instituted a new dividend, bringing its yield to 1.6%. Doyle said that new technology and better recipes have been the winning combination for Domino's, and since his company still only has 10% of all pizza sales in the U.S., there's still a long way to go. He touted Domino's introduction of pan pizza as another bright spot for the company, as pan pizzas have always been one area that they haven't been servicing. Doyle also noted that for the first time, Domino's is allowing customers to save their profiles online, including credit card information, which will make the company's online ordering system even more streamlined and convenient than before. When asked about the company's newly-instituted dividend, Doyle said that after Domino's refinanced its debt last year, they began looking seriously as a dividend and there's still plenty of cash left over for stock buybacks and other initiatives. Cramer continued his recommendation of Domino's.Lightning Round
In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Hain Celestial Group ( HAIN), American Railcar ( ARII)and SeaDrill Limited ( SDRL). Cramer was bearish on CommonWealth REIT ( CWH).Executive Decision: Cheryl Bachelder
For his third and final "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer welcomed back Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of AFC Enterprises ( AFCE), a stock that's up 14% since Cramer last spoke with Bachelder, but also one that fell 5% in today's trading after analysts were disappointed with the company's store growth and full-year guidance. Bachelder commented on a few of the analysts' concerns, saying that her company did close 2% of their locations last year, but most of those were underperforming international locations. However here in the U.S., she said that Popeye's remains in the top three restaurants as far as new unit growth. She added that Popeye's is now advertising on a national level and is seeing tow-year comparable store sales up 10% as a result. Bachelder also commented on the company's forecasts, saying that it's difficult for AFC to offer three to five year guidance given their growth and innovation. Thus, she admitted, their longer-term guidance may be overly conservative. Bachelder had positive things to say about AFC's international expansion. Despite closing a few stores, she said that the Popeye's concept "travels well" and they're seeing strong demand in Canada, Korea and Turkey and have very high expectations for Peru and the rest of Latin America. Cramer said that its rare that investors can buy shares in a company that beat their numbers at a sizable discount, but that's exactly the opportunity the markets have provided in AFC.
