There are many ways to win in this market, Cramer said Thursday.
The first winning trade is earnings, he said. Take apparel maker V.F. Corp , for example. Hedge funds bet the company's price increases wouldn't cover higher raw costs, but only hurt sales. Its sales remained robust, though, and cotton prices fell. In turn, the company delivered strong earnings and its stock has pushed higher.
Another winning trade is takeovers, Cramer said. Express Scripts plans to buy Medco , for example. One after another, firms raised their targets on ESRX based on the acquisition and the stock rallied. In the end, we saw a 5.3 percent gain for ESRX and a 15 percent gain for Medco.
Initial public offerings is another way to make money now, Cramer said. SunCoke Energy , a spinoff of Sunoco , gave investors a point-and-a-half gain.
So what's the bottom line? Cramer recommends investors own the stocks of "best of breed" companies that have good balance sheets and solid dividends.
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com
Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? madcap@cnbc.com
