Cramer Remix: Hold off on Caterpillar at these levels
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Caterpillar did a stellar job of throwing cold water on the rally of its stock, Jim Cramer said. Shares of Caterpillar stopped in their tracks on Thursday when the company said consensus expectations for fiscal 2017 earnings per share were too optimistic. It was a total buzzkill for Cramer, yet the stock still managed to close up on Thursday. "I say you bust the whole dichotomy. This is a moment where you want to bet on the mechanics of the market as much as the fundamentals of the economy," the "Mad Money" host said. However, with Caterpillar up more than 40 percent for the year, this is too hot for Cramer. He said to wait until analysts downgrade the stock from the tepid guidance, and then start buying.



Jim Cramer introduces Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to Mad Money on Nov. 10th, 2016. Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Cramer knows that Starbucks' success is "deeply linked" to CEO Howard Schultz and said his coming departure as the company's chief signals the end of an era. "I don't want the era to end, because the era was a great one," he said on CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Thursday. Starbucks COO Kevin Johnson is slated to replace Schultz, who will become executive chairman. Cramer said he has known Johnson for a long time and always knew when he came in that Schultz could transition out of the role. "Howard Schultz built an empire, a fantastic company. He has stepped aside once before and the stock did not do well," Cramer said. Cramer also took a look at the stock of Henry Schein , the largest distributor of dental and veterinary products in the world, as well as a major supplier of vaccines. When Henry Schein reported a month ago, it delivered a small earnings beat with a slight revenue miss. What really caught investors' attention, though, was that management gave very strong guidance for 2017, causing the stock to roar 6 percent on the news. However, in the past few weeks, the stock has fallen back to almost where it was before it reported. Cramer suspected the drop could be related to the rotation associated with the Trump rally, where investors swap out of the safety stocks like Henry Schein and into cyclical companies. He spoke with Henry Schein's chairman and CEO Stanley Bergman, who said that health care has fallen out of favor on the Wall Street fashion show. "Health care stocks for some reason are just not fashionable, having said that, we are a consistent earner. We generate good sales, good EPS growth and we turn our profits into cash," Bergman said.



Then-President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Governor Mike Pence visit the Carrier air conditioning and heating company in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 1, 2016. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images