CNBC's Jim Cramer has an idea why Microsoft's stock keeps rising, and it has more to do with muscle cars and hybrids than tablets and operating systems.
Speculation that Ford CEO Alan Mulally may succeed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the tech giant may have helped the stock reach a 52-week high on Wednesday, Cramer said Thursday. Mulally was as important to the good year Ford's stock had as he was to Microsoft's recent surge, Cramer suggested.
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"He's critical to the stock," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street," referring to Ford. "But I think Microsoft goes up pretty much every day, because they think this man is going there."
Cramer said Mulally helped Ford converge its varied models and lines under one brand as the storied U.S. car manufacturer struggled in the face of international competition, labor costs and changes in consumer preferences in recent years.
(Read more: Microsoft narrows the list for its next CEO)
"This company was a desperate jumble of brands, and one of the things that was really important was that Alan Mulally, said, 'Enough of that,' " Cramer said.
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust does not own shares of either Ford or Microsoft.
— By CNBC's Jeff Morganteen. Follow him on Twitter at @jmorganteen and get the latest stories from "Squawk on the Street"