Oracle shares should not have jumped 6% on Tuesday, Cramer said during Stop Trading!, regardless of the inside information that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd may bring with him to his new employer.
On Monday, Oracle announced that Hurd, who last month resigned from HP following accusations of sexual-harassment and the misuse of company funds, would be joining the company as a co-president and board member. Now, HP is suing Hurd, saying he has put the company’s trade secrets “in peril,” the civil complain reads.
That insider information may be the reason Oracle is up today, Cramer said, but it is still not enough to warrant the stock’s move.
“It’s still Oracle,” Cramer said. “It’s yesterday’s stock.”
As for HP’s suit, Cramer wondered why the company hadn’t assumed Hurd would find a spot within the technology sector in the first place.
“When you fire a guy,” Cramer said, “you ought to be thinking about the consequences. Unless you believe … he’s a real loser. I have always thought of Hurd as a winner” because he performed so well as Hewlett’s boss.
In other stock news, Cramer singled out restaurants as an outperforming group. The same sector that “led us out of the wilderness in December 2008,” he said, “looks like it’s playing a very positive role now.” Specifically, Cramer mentioned Yum! Brands , Panera Bread , Darden Restaurants and Chipotle .
Finally, Cramer recommended gold, saying the precious metal has shown an 8% gain every September for the last 19 years.
“I just think there are very few stats out there,” he said, “that are as convincing about buying a metal.”
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