CNBC's Jim Cramer is tired of analysts and commentators harping on the stock market has become.
"The more I think about certain calls, certain stocks, certain valuations, the more I recognize that we really have to stop relying so much on the idea of the 'market,' because the valuations for many big-capitalization stocks just aren’t that expensive here," the "Mad Money" host said on Thursday.
Besides some of the most talked-about stocks — specifically , and — the rest of the market, including high-profile plays like and , just isn't that pricey, Cramer argued.
, for one, has weighed on the social media giant's shares to the point of making the stock "cheaper than it deserves to be," he said.
"We're at a strange time," Cramer reflected. "The vast majority of commentators seem to think the market is ridiculously expensive. To me, the only way the market’s truly expensive is if you believe that 2019 is going to be a nasty, horrendous year where there’s a full stop to all businesses, a la the Great Recession from a decade ago."
But as it stands, 2019 doesn't look like it's going to be a difficult one for stocks or the companies behind them, the "Mad Money" host said.
"I’m making the case that perhaps we should just value the market as it is, with a lot of cheap big-cap stocks and some expensive ones," he said. "When you do that, you don’t need to fear or the tape. It’s a nice, benign and ... I think lucrative way to look at things."
Did China just blink in the trade war?
As Cramer watched an on Thursday, he realized that there was a key driver behind the bounce: China.
"I know I’m in the minority when I say this, at least among professional commentators, but today’s rebound was all about China blinking," he said.
Cramer posited this theory to help justify why so many different stock groups — the airlines, fintech plays, defense stocks, chipmakers and health care names included — rallied just one day after .
He argued that the fact that Chinese officials didn't immediately propose their own tariffs like they did after the Trump administration's of duties spoke volumes when it came to the market.
Find out how he reached that conclusion here.
Alternative plays on the China-plagued casino space
Scores of industries are affected by the , but for one sector — the international casino operators — the pain is localized, Cramer pointed out on Thursday.
Gaming giants like , and have all seen their stocks fall under pressure because the companies invest heavily in Macau, an autonomous Chinese territory and gambling haven widely labeled the "Vegas of China."
"You know what? Maybe they deserve every penny of it," the "Mad Money" host said. "In particular, Wynn and Las Vegas Sands have more exposure to Macau ... than they do to the United States. Yep, they're China plays first and foremost."
And with tensions between Beijing and Washington heating up, China, which still wields administrative influence over Macau, could crack down on the U.S.-based operators with higher regulations, license revocations or even boycotts.
But the "Mad Money" host didn't want to leave investors stranded. So instead of taking a risk and buying into the international casino giants, he recommended turning to the domestic gaming market.
Sage Therapeutics CEO on new way to think about depression
The medical community needs a reboot in the way it sees depression, Sage Therapeutics CEO Jeff Jonas argued on Thursday in an interview with Cramer.
"We’re really dedicated to thinking differently about depression and to [making] people think about depression like a disease and a disorder, not a lifestyle," Jonas said. "People with depression are very ill. Women with postpartum are very ill. And they deserve the same type of urgent therapeutic interventions like someone with a broken leg might need or someone with a seizure might need.”
Jonas' development-stage biopharmaceutical company is working on a number of treatments including for postpartum depression, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. Jonas said that in its trials, Sage's intravenous drug for postpartum had a nearly 70 percent remission rate after only two and a half days of treatment.
"We have a different theory of depression," Jonas said. "The brain’s not a tumor. The brain is a complex neural circuitry. You can’t biopsy the brain and find out what’s going on, right? You have to treat people. And when you treat people, we decided if we could calm the brain down, there might be an opportunity to reset the way the brain is working, almost like a reboot."
Sage's postpartum drug has passed Phase 3 of clinical trials and is currently in the registration period for trials on a wider group of patients. To watch Jonas' full interview, click here.
Vistra Energy CEO: California solar panels are generating 'too much power'
As one of the largest utilities in the United States, Vistra Energy has unique insights on how power generation is evolving around the country.
And when it comes to California, where Vistra is gearing up to build a massive battery storage plant, it's evolving in a somewhat counterintuitive way, according to Vistra Energy's President and CEO, Curt Morgan.
"California is way ahead of everybody else in terms of where they want to take their power business in California," Morgan told Cramer in a Thursday interview. "What’s interesting about California now [is] they have so much solar ... that they have too much power during the day, during the peak period, and they’re having to back off conventional generation in order to allow the solar to come in."
That problem — which Morgan remarked is essentially the "reverse" of other states that are trying to build out their solar capabilities — plays right into Vistra's mission.
"When the sun goes down, they need resources to come on, and that’s why they like this big battery installation, because it can come on instantaneous[ly] when the sun goes down and it can continue to produce power during the peak periods," the CEO said. "it’s going to be quite an opportunity for this company. It’s going to put us in a leadership role."
Watch Morgan's full interview here.
Lightning round: Is WWE punching above its weight?
In Cramer's lightning round, he delivered his take on callers' favorite stocks:
.: “I think it actually is a buy. I know it’s moved up a lot, but remember, [ CEO] Strauss Zelnick first introduced it to us and they’ve got a fantastic subscription model, and we love subscription models here on ‘Mad Money.’"
: “Remember, Lam on the conference call was not that bullish. They talked about the second half not being that great. Now, the stock has come down a great deal. It yields 2.5 percent, but not until it gets to 3 percent would I say, ‘You know what? We’ve got to buy.’ I think [CEO] Martin Anstice is fantastic, but the semi equipment stocks are not the right place to be at this point in the cycle."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Amazon, Facebook and Apple.
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