People often ask Jim Cramer about favorite stocks. But lately it appears a handful are generating more interest than others.
It's a trend the Mad Money host couldn't help but notice as he traveled around the region, talking with fans about his new book Get Rich Carefully.
In his brief conversations with individual investors, he found the stock more people wanted to know about – more than any other – was Bank of America.
And Cramer added the typical question was 'will it catch up to the other banks?' to which Cramer replied "totally." That is, he believes this bank remains undervalued.
After BofA, Cramer said book buyers have been asking him about Express Scripts, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson, "three health care cost containment plays that many people are picking as big winners off of the Affordable Care Act."
Also, he said people ask about Yahoo!
In addition, "Many want to know if Google can go higher and whether Apple's better or worse than Google. You don't have much time to answer the question before the line starts surging, but I plaintively say they are different, Apple a value play, and Google a momentum story, albeit one of the cheapest of that ilk out there."
And Cramer also got a lot of questions about Celgene and Gilead, two stocks that he believes are long-term holds.
Although the phenomenon may seem more like cocktail party conversation than anything else, dig down and Cramer thinks you'll find a valuable theme here.
Individual investors are all talking about the stocks of companies with smart leadership and promising long-term prospects.
That says to Cramer that individual investors have returned to the market for the long haul. "They want solid stocks that can go up for years, not days or minutes."
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In turn, that phenomenon suggests the fear created by the financial crisis may finally be waning.
And that's a good thing. As Cramer so often says, the stocks of quality companies, with experienced leadership, good balance sheets and strong market positions provide Americans with a path to long-term prosperity.
But you have to get in the game.
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com
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