As the House of Representatives takes its next step toward the impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, CNBC's Jim Cramer said there are stock market lessons to be learned by looking at history.
Specifically, there are some companies whose stock performances are showing similarities to those during the impeachment proceedings of former President Bill Clinton, who was acquitted in early 1999, the "Mad Money" host said.
Those companies include Apple, Cisco, Walmart and Microsoft, among others, Cramer said.
While many of the stocks saw their gains wiped out during the dot-com bubble, Cramer said it is still a worthy exercise to look back to top performers in 1999.
"It's really pretty astonishing how much of what was working then is also working now," he said.
Apple
While Apple was not part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1999, it was the best performer of current components, Cramer said.
It rose more than 151% as part of a larger increase after Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, he said.
"You know what worked back then, and it works now: Own Apple, don't trade it, please," he said.
Cisco
Cisco's performance in 1999 was the second-best of current Dow components, although it flew a little too close to the sun, Cramer said. It rallied 130% that year, before the dot-com bubble hurt many of its clients and sent the stock back to the single digits.
While the stock, which closed at $46.64 Wednesday, still hasn't fully recovered from its early 2000s levels, Cramer said it represents a buying opportunity under CEO Chuck Robbins.
Robbins is helping turn the software company into a real player around the Internet of Things, Cramer said, and with low interest rates, Cisco's 3% yield is "so enticing."
Walmart
Walmart, which was a Dow component with the third-best 1999 performance, has remained on fire, Cramer said.
Its nearly 70% gain that year was a good entry point into the stock, despite concerns at the time that the retailer was overvalued, Cramer said.
"I'll take Walmart's $20 to $120 run since then any day of the week, or any day in the last 20 years," he said.
Microsoft
Microsoft still rose 68% in 1999 even as it faced antitrust investigations — which ultimately proved to be a long-term buying opportunity after the dot-com bubble burst, Cramer said. At that time, the stock fell from $50 to $13.
"I still like Microsoft up here in the $150s," Cramer said, adding that "the regulators no longer have these guys in their crosshairs."
Home Depot
Home Depot rose 68% in 1999, and it was hurt less by the dot-com bubble and more by the subsequent recession, Cramer said.
It took the stock about a decade to recover and it has continued to soar higher, Cramer said. At $218, Cramer said he still thinks the stock is cheap, especially since it was recently dinged by a lower guidance.
"I predict that will be a blip over the long haul," he said.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm was one of the tech stocks that led rallies in both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 after the Clinton impeachment, Cramer said.
It led the S&P with its rally of 2,619% in 1999 — though it took about 20 years for it to return to that "lofty and definitive top," Cramer said.
But the emergence of 5G technology, a next-generation wireless network, is good news for Qualcomm, Cramer said.
With a 3% yield and multiple that is too low, Qualcomm is a stock that "should be much higher," he said.
Verisign
It's not a surprise that Verisign, a domain-registration company, was the second-best performer in the 1999 S&P, rising 1,191%, Cramer said.
The company is still around, with strong ancillary businesses as part of a broader reinvention, he said.
"The stock peaked at $260 in 2000, then crashed to the single digits during the collapse, but like Cisco it stayed in business even if it took the stock 20 years to fully recover," Cramer said.
The bottom line
The lesson to be learned is that patience is important, Cramer said.
While many of the stocks listed above fell badly in the early 2000s, it turned out to be a strong buying opportunity for the companies that survived, he said.
"Oh, boy, did you need to be patient with some; not all," Cramer said. "And impeachment or no impeachment, I think that lesson still holds true today."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Facebook, Cisco, Microsoft and Home Depot.
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