Getting flack for all the time you're spending on your Fantasy draft card? Just say you're practicing your stock picking.
An admitted sports nut, Jim Cramer has found distinct parallels between making shrewd Fantasy Football selections and finding great stocks for your portfolio.
For example, just as every team needs an exceptional running back to drive advances on the field, Cramer says every investor needs the stock equivalent to drive advances in the portfolio.
Looking at the current season, if LeSean McCoy is your pick for running back, then Cramer says Apple should be your pick for strategic stock mover.
"This stock, like McCoy, has been the ultimate stalwart, catching passes in the traffic of tablets and jumping over defenders like Samsung and Blackberry with new phones, all the while cementing its way beyond the consumer via an amazing tie-up with IBM to take the enterprise by storm," Cramer said.
However, there's another parallel, and this one may be extremely telling.
"Two weeks ago, after tearing up the Steelers with a couple of pre-season riffs, McCoy suddenly left the field." Speculation suggested McCoy was injured and he might sit out for quite some time.
Similarly,, in the form of a 4 percent decline after intimate photos of celebrities, including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, were leaked online through the apparent hacking of individual iCloud accounts.
In McCoy's case, the injury turned out to be nothing serious. "He just had a booboo," said Cramer. And in Apple's case, Cramer thinks the injury will take a similar turn. "It's just another booboo."
And just as Cramer believes McCoy will make gains week after week, he also believes Apple will make gains, if not week after week, at least year after year.
"So, once again, as I've said for 30 points now, Apple's a franchise player so just own the darned thing. If it goes down buy some more. It's the ultimate player."
Of course McCoy isn't the only great running back in the NFL and Apple isn't the only Cramer pick in the S&P 500.
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For your draft card, Cramer says Bears running back Matt Forte could also get the job done; as could Microsoft.
"This Forte of a stock has so much going for it, including the ability to break open, with a utility business, an entertainment business and a cloud business. Like Forte, I see Microsoft possibly paying big dividends. And I think that, like Forte, who got an astounding 77 percent of the Bears touches in the red zone, Microsoft's touching all sorts of PCs, which are back in ascendance after being written off and left for dead. I think its cloud business, often chided as faux cloud, is real. Plus, it has a strong server refresh cycle and its Office Products are accelerating."
And there's also Kansas City Chief's running back Jamaal Charles, who Cramer compares to Dow Chemical.
"Both Dow and Charles are consistent bruisers," Cramer said. "Now, I don't know if Dow can get you five touchdowns in a day, like Charles did against the hapless Oakland Raiders last year. But I do know that under CEO Andrew Liveris this company has become one of the most resourceful competitors in its league."
All told, if you're still putting together your draft card, Cramer thinks you'd be well served by any player mentioned above. And if you're looking to put together or revamp your portfolio, Cramer thinks Apple, Microsoft and Dow are all facing multiple quarters of quality play.
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