Mad Money 07/31/26 | Audio Only
Speakers
Jim Cramer
— Host, Mad Money
Summary
Jim Cramer shares his personal investing rules, emphasizing buying best-of-breed companies like Nvidia, Apple, Procter & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson while avoiding SPACs and low-quality stocks. He stresses monitoring bonds and market oscillators for timing, and advises never letting hope override reason. Cramer recommends a balanced portfolio of index funds and individual stocks, with gold as insurance, and reiterates his mantra of owning and not trading top tech names.
- Cramer advocates paying up for best-of-breed stocks such as Nvidia, Apple, Procter & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson for long-term outperformance.
- He advises investors to closely follow the bond market and the proprietary market edge oscillator to anticipate stock market corrections.
- He warns against SPACs, meme stocks, and low-priced single-digit stocks as high-risk and likely to cause losses.
- He recommends selling losers rather than winners to raise cash, and never speculating on takeovers of fundamentally weak companies.
- For portfolio construction, he suggests young investors favor the Nasdaq-100 (NDX) and older investors the S&P 500, along with a mix of individual stocks and index funds.
- He highlights gold, via physical bullion or the GLD ETF, as a hedge for portfolios.
- Cramer emphasizes discipline, articulating a thesis for every stock, and not hoping for turnarounds in losing positions.
- He reiterates his long-term conviction in Nvidia and Apple as prime examples of best-of-breed companies that have rewarded patient holders.
Ideas
PG is a best-of-breed dividend grower.
Procter & Gamble is an industry leader with a great balance sheet, a long history of dividend increases, and the best brands on Earth. It is a best-of-breed company that investors can count on for long-term reliability, even if they have to pay up for the stock.
NVDA is a best-of-breed generational winner.
Nvidia consistently delivers much higher than expected numbers, and its stock has always looked expensive on a price-to-earnings basis but turned out to be cheap in retrospect. It is a generational winner and investors should own it, not trade it.
AAPL is a best-of-breed core holding.
Apple makes the greatest products in history, has immense customer loyalty, a growing service revenue stream, and a large cash position. When its stock fell to a low P/E multiple in 2016, it was a huge buying opportunity that proved skeptics wrong, and it remains a best-of-breed long-term holding to own, not trade.
GLD as portfolio insurance.
Gold serves as portfolio insurance. Investors can use physical gold bullion or, if that is not possible, the GLD ETF, as a hedge alongside index funds and individual stocks.
Avoid any SPAC entirely.
SPACs used made-up forecasts, skirted regulatory scrutiny during the pandemic-era boom, and caused enormous losses. They remain terrible investments that investors should completely avoid.
JNJ has AAA balance sheet for kids.
Johnson & Johnson has a AAA-rated balance sheet, making it the safest stock to buy for young children as a long-term investment, alongside best-of-breed tech names.
