Buy Emerson Electric

Dividends, dividends, dividends. Cramer won’t drop the subject. But can you blame him? So few strategies work in this market that you can forgive the man for sticking with one that does.

His latest pick? Emerson Electric, which pays out 4.1%.

Here’s a company that handles everything from industrial automation to climate control to process controls that enable energy conservation to power transmission equipment. And because EMR helps other companies save money, this is a stock that works well in a recession. In fact, when the market was ailing during 1990-1991, EMR’s share price actually went up, not down.

Emerson has a 52-year history of increasing its dividend, and this year, which saw a 10% bump, was no different. And with the company reporting a great quarter Nov. 4, you can feel pretty confident that the dividend’s safe. Worst-case scenario here is that EMR has a terrible 2009. But even then full-year earnings expectations are double the dividend, so there shouldn’t be any problems making that payout.

Cramer recommended using his usual descending scale to take advantage of EMR’s dividend. Buy some at $33 for a 4% yield, then again at $29.33 where the yield jumps to 4.5%, and so on. Just make sure not to pay over $33 – Cramer doesn’t want investors going after dividends lower than 4%.

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