Jim Cramer’s Lightning Round Stock Picks Soar

The Dow Jones Industrial average finally posted a decline on Friday after eight consecutive gains. The Dow concluded a week of light trading volume by losing 36 points to close at 9,544. While traders were concerned about the stock markets massive rally since early March, the stock picks recommended by Jim Cramer in the Lightning Round of yesterday’s Mad Money show performed quite well.

Here is a review of the performance of Jim Cramer’s stock picks from Thursday’s Mad Money show that shows the “Cramer effect” in action.

Devon Energy (DVN: 66.26 0.00%)
Devon Energy posted a 0.7% gain after Jim Cramer interviewed Devon Energy CEO Larry Nichols on last night’s show. Mr. Nichols reinforced Cramer’s view that natural gas is likely to be used as a bridge fuel and that officials in Washington are just now realizing its value. Cramer iss bullish on Devon based on the company’s diversified energy portfolio that includes both oil and natural gas.

Ross Stores (ROST: 51.64 0.00%)
In part 4 of the weeklong series, Jim Cramer profiled Ross Stores as a potential candidate to be the next “discount king”. The discount clothing retailer has recently posted positive same-store sales and has aggressive growth plans to nearly double the number of existing stores. However, Cramer is worried that Ross Stores will face the same challenges as TJ Maxx (TJX: 34.42 0.00%) as department stores reduce their inventory providing fewer opportunities for the discount retailers.

In concluding this week’s search for the next “discount king”, Mr. Cramer crowned BJ’s Wholesale (BJ: 0.00 N/A) as the best candidate to take the crown. The retailer stands to benefit from its membership base and diversified product offerings and yet the stock still remains cheap compared to its peers.

Cramer’s Lightning Round stock picks:

EMC (EMC: 26.33 0.00%) gained 0.6% – Cramer is bullish on the tech stock because of their potential partnership with Cisco Systems. “That is one red hot sizzling tech stock.”

Chesapeake Energy (CHK: 22.11 0.00%) rose 1.7% – Cramer still prefers Devon Energy over Chesapeake Energy.

Yahoo (YHOO: 15.78 0.00%) dropped 0.5% – Cramer expressed his disappointment with Yahoo and CEO Carol Bartz, “I like Carol Bartz, but she hasn’t delivered yet. I can’t think of a reason to buy it”.

Principal Financial Group (PFG: 26.73 0.00%) increased 0.6% – While Cramer feels that the financial stock is “out of the woods”, he still doesn’t recommend investors buy the stock.

Rockwood Holdings (ROC: 54.21 0.00%) jumped 3.0% – Cramer gave this stock a very bullish recommendation and believes this “hot” stock will go even higher.