Stocks closed slightly higher Monday as investors were reluctant to make major moves ahead of Tuesday's presidential election between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, but Jim Cramer argued the outcome is likely to have little effect on stocks, at least if recent history is any indication.

"For the most part, when I look at individual companies, I see stocks doing better where management excelled and stocks doing worse where management failed to execute," Cramer explained. "From my vantage point, stock performance had almost nothing to do with who occupies the White House."

(Related: .)

To illustrate his point, Cramer called attention to Hewlett-Packard and IBM, two technology companies that both decided to move out of hardware and into big data management, software and consulting at around the same time five years ago. In 2007, IBM traded at around $111 a share, but has enjoyed a 73 percent gain and now trades at roughly $193 a share. Five years ago, H-P sold for roughly $49 a share, but has since dropped around 71 percent to trade at $14 a share.

(Related: )