You can always tell a benign market by the comeback the doghouse names manage to give you.
Consider the errant cases of Pepsi (PEP) (Cramer's Take), McDonald's (MCD) (Cramer's Take) and Intel (INTC) (Cramer's Take). All three allegedly "disappointed," with Pepsi failing to please on the alleged guide-down after its bottling purchase, McDonald's stuttering on a bad month and Intel on a so-called failed quarter.
I think that all three are on the mend, or about to exceed where they were beforehand. First, the obvious: McDonald's. Every time this one swoons on a month of numbers, you have to remember the great secular story of growth overseas this stock brings to the table, plus the fact that it's awesome. McDonald's? Just think, "I'm lovin' it." This pattern is so ingrained as to be downright foolish to sell into.
Pepsi? I think that the stock is set for an unbelievably good 2010 after the reining in of numbers and the synergies both with Pepsi itself and with the Dr Pepper deal, which caused part of the sell-off. The idea that Indra Nooyi is in trouble is just plain laughable. 2010 will be her year.
Intel? I think, judging by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) (Cramer's Take), a huge user of chips, and Microsoft (MSFT) (Cramer's Take), which is on fire, that we could be in for a rocking good fourth quarter and great gross margin guidance for Q1. That will propel the stock to the mid-20s, in my humble opinion. Either way, it is back to where it was when the "dreaded" news came out about Q3.
One more to watch for: Procter & Gamble (PG) (Cramer's Take). I think it is ready to make its weak-dollar, better-cost-control-related move.
I'd pick some up as close to $60 as possible.
Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer was long INTC, PEP and PG.
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