The majority of third quarter earnings reports have disappointed Wall Street, but Jim Cramer on Wednesday noted the companies that have delivered better-than-expected results have one quality in common: execution.
"When I speak about execution what I mean is that some companies are winning, even as others faced with similar circumstances are losing," Cramer said on CNBC's "Mad Money." "There are enough winners to keep the balls in the air and the bears at bay — barely — and those winners are triumphing because they're doing a better job than the losers."
In the chemicals industry, for example, PPG Industries executives recognized the threat posed by "a ton of companies overseas have lower costs because their labor is cheaper" and face fewer environment regulations, Cramer said. PPG aggressively switched into chemicals that require "ingenuity, research and technology to manufacture" and out of the "low-end non-proprietary businesses that boom or crash with the cyclical winds," he said.
(Read More: Earnings Cliff? Profit Outlooks 90% Negative.)
Rival DuPont is also getting out of commodity businesses, but executives revealed in its earnings conference call Tuesday that the company is still largely reliant on titanium dioxide, which Cramer said is "perhaps the least proprietary chemical of all."
(See: DuPont to Cut 1,500 Jobs as Earnings Miss Estimates.)
In Cramer's opinion, PPG's ability to execute better than the competition is why its stock is up around 40 percent year-to-date while DuPont's stock struggles.
(Related: Biggest Q3 Earnings Surprises.)
In the restaurant industry, Cramer said disappointing earnings from Buffalo Wild Wings and Chipotle Mexican Grill suggested a widespread slowdown. Panera Bread's earnings, however, showed significant strength even as the bakery-café operator has integrated price increases. To Cramer, Panera is simply doing a better job of executing.
From railroads to diversified global industrials, Cramer said there are many more examples of one company executing better than its rival. So while earnings season has been largely disappointing so far, he reminded viewers that there are "winners out there."
Read on for Cramer: How to View Earnings Season
—CNBC.com and wires contributed to this report
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