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Oct.08

10:49 AM ET

Monday, 8 Oct 2007

Game Plan: Trading the Jobs Report

Posted By:Tom Brennan

Topics:Stock Market | Stock Picks

Back in July, Cramer recommended a basket of stocks he said should climb all the way to $120. He had a theory that, in a bull market, $80 stocks usually reached $100. Then from there they moved another 20 bucks – as long as that bull market continued.

And then August happened.

Cramer apologized on Aug. 23 for recommending those stocks – Boeing, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Air Products, Apache, Terex and Energizer – when they were at their peak. He said the stocks were attractive after the credit-crunch-inspired sell-off, but the bottom line was that he had been wrong.

Now, on the whole, the $80-to-$120 group is still up from when Cramer recommended it. Five percent versus the S&P 500’s 1.6%. Investors who bought the group the day Cramer apologized for the bad timing would be up 9.7% versus the S&P’s 5.5%. But, still, the only stocks he likes at the moment are Caterpillar and Terex.

Both are seen by Wall Street as classic American cyclical stocks, Cramer said, which means CAT and TEX are more attractive after today’s strong jobs report. The better-than-expected number is a sign the U.S. economy could be getting healthier, and that could embolden some investors to put money in the market.

Cramer's $80-to-$120 Stocks

These two stocks are great international plays as well, thanks to the weak dollar, and Cramer said the global machinery bull market is still chugging along. The potential for more rate cuts should give a boost to TEX and CAT too.

Cramer’s Four Horsemen of Tech – Research in Motion [RIMM Loading... () ], Apple [AAPL Loading... () ], Amazon.com [AMZN Loading... () ] and Google [GOOG Loading... () ] – are up 45% since he recommended them on June 6. The S&P is up a paltry 2.6%. RIMM hit a new high. So did Apple. Amazon is just a point below its high. And Cramer said his new price target for Google is $700.

“It’s good to own the Four Horseman,” Cramer said.

Jim’s charitable trust owns Caterpillar and ConocoPhillips.

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