Starwood Hotels reported a monster quarter with earnings of $0.51 per share. Wall Street analysts were only looking for earnings of $.22 per share. The resulting 132% upside surprise has gone largely unnoticed.

It is important to note that Starwood’s earnings performance was not just driven by aggressive cost cutting as we have seen from many other earnings “beats”. Business at the hotel chain seems much better than Wall Street anticipated and the company increased their guidance for the remainder of 2010. The company is already benefiting from improving economic conditions as both business and leisure travelers are starting to spend once again.

Cramer believes that Starwood is also well positioned to capitalize on the economic recovery as the company was active during the past recession by opening new locations and closing underperforming hotels.

With the vast majority of their hotels located overseas, Starwood seems like a perfect play on the return of business travel.

Cramer is clearly very bullish on Starwood Hotels and recommends that investors buy Starwood stock.

Here is a review of the performance of Jim Cramer’s key stock picks from Friday’s Mad Money show.

Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs (GS: 116.15 +0.15%) stock gained 0.6% today after Cramer forecasted “pain” for the stock in the near term. Cramer believes the financial giant is a great company, but would steer clear of the stock as long President Obama is targeting the Wall Street firm.

Healthcare stocks
Humana (HUM: 85.15 -1.18%) fell 2.8% after Cramer put the healthcare stock, along with United Health Group (UNH: 52.14 +0.21%) and RehabCare Group (RHB: 0.00 N/A), on the sell block. Cramer acknowledged that the easy money has already been made in these stocks after the huge rallies off their 2009-lows.

Apple
Apple’s stock jumped 2.7% ahead of their quarterly earnings report. Jim Cramer advised investors to start selling the stock now ahead of Wednesday’s release of their much-anticipated tablet pc.

After the close, Apple’s stock was down slightly despite reported blockbuster earnings with revenues jumping 32% over last year.

Cramer’s Lightning Round stock picks:

• Linn Energy(LINE: 36.43 -0.87%) dropped 1.9% – Although Cramer has recommended this stock in the past, he doesn’t recommend buying after the stock’s big rally.

• Huntington Bancshares (HBAN: 6.05 +2.02%) gained 2.4% – Cramer advised investors to look at HBAN since the stock is “roaring”.

• Webster Financial (WBS: 23.17 +1.36%) jumped 6.6% – Cramer prefers this bank stock as they have few bad loans on their books.

Here is a review of the performance of Jim Cramer’s stock picks from Wednesday’s Mad Money show.

Healthcare Reform Stocks
MedcoHealth Solutions (MHS: 60.82 +0.33%), Express Scripts (ESRX: 50.78 -0.42%), St Jude Medical (STJ: 43.51 +0.21%) and Boston Scientific (BSX: 5.95 0.00%) also posted nice gains today after Jim Cramer predicted that President Obama’s healthcare reform plan was unlikely to go through. Cramer was bullish on these healthcare stocks and urged investors to buy given the unlikelihood of Obama’s reform program getting through Congress.

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS: 24.28 +2.49%)
Skyworks Solutions stock jumped 12% today after Cramer interviewed CEO David Aldrich on yesterday’s Mad Money program. Cramer has been very bullish on the mobile internet revolution and included the stock in his Mobile Internet Index that he created on August 11.

The Skyworks CEO believes the company’s outlook is improving due to increasing consumer demand. The company is also benefitting from the increasing adoption of Wifi technology. Cramer reiterated his strong bullish views on Skyworks and the mobile internet sector in general.

Cramer’s Lightning Round stock picks:

XTO Energy (XTO: 0.00 N/A) jumped 3.9% – Cramer recommended that investors stick with the stock for the second consecutive day.
Brigham Exploration (BEXP: 0.00 N/A) fell 0.3% – Cramer was bearish on the stock and believes its run is over.

Follow the Leader
Every bull market has leading stocks and sectors that steer both market rallies and selloffs. So how do investors identify leaders? A good sign of a market leader is that they are among the first stocks to rally from a bottom. These stocks also tend to trade in a “V” formation. They are also the first stocks to get hit on a selloff.

Buy on Declines
Cramer recommends using market declines as opportunities to buy leading stocks on the cheap. However, investors need to be able to recognized when a stock’s decline is caused merely by investors’ panic over a minor piece of news that doesn’t relate to the stock’s fundamentals, It is important to be able to look beyond the headlines and the market hype to see that a bull market correction is an opportunity to buy and not a reason to give up hope.

Watch out for Fund Managers
All stocks are impacted by the behavior of hedge fund managers which often have more influence on a stock’s performance than the company’s underlying fundamentals. This phenomenon is even more pronounced with market leaders. Fund managers can often drive up the price of stocks by “panic buying”. Fund managers often panic when they are underinvested, on the sidelines or even short a stock. When they see the market heading up, they often pile in all at once and buy, especially when a rally hits 10%.

Breadth of Rally
Indexes like the S&P 500 and Dow Jones only tell part of the story; investors need to look for breadth in rallies if they want the whole truth. A ‘thin” rally is led by only a few stocks or a couple of sectors and does not give an accurate picture of the market as a whole. The rally in the summer of 2007 before the long period of decline was led only by commodities and was “thin”. The rally didn’t accurately represent what was really going on in the stock market. While the spring of 2009 rally looked “thin” at first glance, since it was led only by semiconductors, banks and oil stocks, the rally has continued and spread out to reach other sectors. It now appears to have become a broad market rally and has accurately signaled better times.

Technical Difficulties
Technical indicators such as oscillators and put/call ratios can indicate the direction of stocks in normal markets. However, in unusual times like the market crash of 2008-09, using technical analysis can actually cause investors to lose money. Technical indicators often tell investors when a stock “cannot” go lower or go higher, but in the decline of 2008, stocks defied technical wisdom and kept dropping lower and lower.

Technical analysis can also prove faulty during market rallies. Those investors who paid too much attention to technical data in the spring of 2009 and sold in April ended up missing the huge gains that followed. So in unusual markets, Cramer recommends against depending on technical analysis.

Bull Market, Meet the Matador
Of course every bull market must come to an end. The important thing for investors to know is what the most common bull market killers are. Jim Cramer believes that inflation is the “serial killer of bull markets”. As long as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates low and is actively trying to prevent inflation, the bull market can continue. However, once the Fed starts tightening…watch out.

Another indication of end of a bull market rally is super-extreme valuations. Once investors start ignoring fundamentals when valuing a stock and companies are measured by their page views or takeover values, that’s a strong sign that investors should run for cover.

According to Cramer, no bull market can last with sustained unemployment over 10%. While “streamlining” by getting rid of employees can bring a company short-term gains, the company can’t continue to outperform the market by simply relying on reducing jobs as a regular cost-cutting measure.

Finally, the decline of leading stocks or sectors will bring the bull market down as well. If a market rally is led by a single sector, when that sector falls that market generally becomes a bear market.

1. Watch the New 52-week High List
Many of the stocks that become Cramer’s top stock picks are taken from the new 52-week high list. Of course Cramer doesn’t just copy the list, but waits for the stocks to pull back and does additional research on the companies. It’s important to find out whether the stocks are just part of a general bull market rally or whether the individual stocks have merit. According to Cramer, the best stocks on the 52-week high list usually go higher. However, investors shouldn’t just wait for any pullback, but also make sure the stock didn’t pull back for a good reason.

2. Insider Buying Even at a 52-Week High
Insider buying of a stock that has reached its 52-week high is a very bullish sign, because it shows that company insiders do not believe that there will be a pullback in the stock. Of course not all insider buying is necessarily worthy of note. Sometimes it can simply be a confidence game being played by management, but when insider buying is “truly colossal” and the stock has already moved higher, then investors should sit up and pay attention.

3. Insider Buying and a Heavy Short Position
Insider buying and a heavy short position is also a sign to invest. This signals a potential short squeeze. Then the short sellers have to start buying the stock back just to protect themselves. While shorts may be smart, Cramer doesn’t believe that they know more about a company than its own management.

4. Trade Around a Core Position
Jim Cramer advocates that investors “find a stock that you believe will be going higher over the long term.” Such stocks may go up and down on market volatility, but should head up over the long term. For those who own 300 shares of a $100 stock as a trade, Cramer recommends selling 50 shares every time the stock rises 3%, taking some of the profits off the table in the meantime. Then, as the stock goes down, Cramer suggests buying it back in increments, such as purchasing 50 shares every time it falls by 3%. Cramer urges investors not to own less than 100 shares and not more than 300. “The basic idea is to avoid putting yourself in a position where you have too much on the table in case the stock gets swatted down, or too little on the table to take advantage of any upside that comes your way,” said Cramer.

5. The Inevitable Implosion of Hot Stocks
Cramer defines “hot” stocks as small stocks which rise fast, have little research and sparse analyst coverage. These stocks invariably climb too high too fast. Cramer believes the time for investors to jump off the bandwagon is when four analysts are covering the stock.

Anadarko Petroleum (APA: 105.11 +0.55%)
Jim Cramer interviewed Anadarko Petroleum’s CEO Jim Hackett on yesterday’s Mad Money show. Mr. Cramer has been very bullish on the prospect of natural gas being a bridge fuel from oil to wind or solar energy. Cramer feels that APA is one of the best natural gas stocks and believes that natural gas stocks could double. Despite the bullish endorsement, Anadarko’s stock slid 2.4%.

Fannie Mae (FNM: 0.00 N/A)
Another stock that seemed to buck the “Cramer effect” was Fannie Mae. Cramer said investors were foolish to speculate on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (FRE: 0.00 N/A) given their uncertain future. However, investors seem to shrug off the warning that these shares could eventually be worthless and Fannie Mae’s stock shot up 9.4%.

Banco Bilbao (BBV: 0.00 N/A)
Banco Bilbao, the Argentina bank stock, rose 5.4% on Tuesday after Cramer said he preferred the stock over Banco Santander (STD: 8.75 +1.86%).

TJX Companies (TJX: 34.42 -0.52%)
TJX rose 3.6% after Cramer featured the stock in his weeklong special feature on discount retailers. While Cramer likes TJX’s clean balance sheet and growth, he believes the stock has little upside left. The company is no longer benefitting from retailers dumping inventory at fire sale prices and is currently having trouble with their Marshalls and Homegoods stores. Cramer thinks TJX has seen better days and is bearish on the stock. However, bullish investors seem to have ignored his warnings.

Other Cramer stock picks:

First Solar (FSLR: 45.81 -1.67%) rose 3.3% – Cramer is bullish on solar stocks even though they are out of fashion right now.
Citigroup [[C] gained 1.1% – Again investors didn’t seem to heed Cramer’s warning that the stock has already gone up too much too fast.

Salesforce.com (CRM: 123.80 +0.81%)
Salesforce.com rose 16.2% after delivering better than expecting quarterly results yesterday. The stock also benefitted from the Cramer effect as Mr. Cramer interviewed Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff on Thursday nights show. Mr. Benioff was very confident that CRM will improve dramatically as the economy begins to recover. Cramer was very bullish on the stock as it was one of the rare stocks delivering a “double play” by beating earnings estimates by increasing their revenues rather than just cost cutting. Cramer recommends investors buy the stock and believes it will hit at least $70.

Triple-S Management (GTS: 23.73 +6.65%)
For the second day in a row, Cramer talked about Wellpoint (WLP: 64.83 -0.26%) and Triple-S Management. While Wellpoint rose only 0.8% today, Triple-S shares jumped 8.4% on the Cramer buy recommendation. Mr. Cramer believes that healthcare stocks will benefit as multiple expand and sees big potential in these HMO stocks. “We’ve been positive about this group since it became clear that the agenda’s stumbling, now it’s time to go pedal to the metal on this beaten down sector,” says Cramer.

Shaw Group (SHAW: 29.76 -1.26%)
Shaw Group CEO Jim Bernhard was also interviewed by Mr. Cramer on Thursday’s show. Mr. Cramer sees the stock as a great play on nuclear energy and believes the Obama administration is looking more favorable on the concept of nuclear energy. While the company delivered disappointing earnings last quarter, Cramer believes the stock is cheap and will see upside in the future.

Other Cramer stock picks:

Whirlpool (WHR: 70.20 -0.71%) rose 4.8% – Cramer believes the stock along with Sears Holdings (SHLD: 48.80 +3.17%) could benefit from the governments $300 million appliance rebate program.

Netflix (NFLX: 124.00 -3.03%) rose only 0.3% – Cramer recommended selling the stock.

Coinstar Group (CSTR: 57.37 -0.28%) rose 1.1% – Cramer recommended buying CSTR as a hedge against selling Netflix.

Two of the day’s big gainers, Citigroup and Clean Energy Fuels, received a nice boost from bullish comments by Mad Money host Jim Cramer on Tuesday nights show. 

Citigroup (C: 34.23 +3.51%) jumped 7.9% on Wednesday after Cramer said the stock is “red hot” and should reach $6. Cramer believes that investors who sell Citigroup stock right now are making a big mistake. The biggest issue that Cramer still has with Citigroup is the US government’s 34% stake in the company, but he believes the government will sell this stake on September 10. Once Uncle Sam is out of the company’s affairs, Cramer believes the stock will thrive. 

Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE: 16.41 -0.24%) was also lifted by the “Cramer Effect”, rising 7.8% in Wednesday’s trading session. Cramer has been a big proponent of natural gas and now thinks that Congress might finally begin subsidizing natural gas as a bridge fuel between crude oil and the cleaner energy alternatives. If that takes place, Cramer expects that Clean Energy Fuels will be one of the big beneficiaries. However, Cramer did warn investors that he considers it a speculative stock.

On Wednesday’s Mad Money show, Jim Cramer told investors that it’s not a question of whether or not to own gold, but how to own gold. Cramer believes that investors can capture some short-term gains by trading gold, as the metal seems to perform better in the second half of the year. Cramer recommended Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM: 35.50 -1.77%) as his favorite way to play gold sending the stock up 6.9%. The company continues to expand its production and has seen a 9% increase in its stock price since the beginning of the year. AEM stands to benefit from the rising price of gold since they don’t engage in hedging. Cramer continues to be bullish on gold overall with the uncertainty in the economy and the declining value of global currency. 

Another stock getting a boost from the “Cramer effect” was XTO Energy (XTO: 0.00 N/A). The stock gained 3.4% after a bullish recommendation from Cramer in the Lightning Round segment of Wednesday’s Mad Money show. Cramer called XTO “the signle best performing natural gas stock in history/”. 

Potash (POT: 46.46 +1.02%) jumped 3.0% after Cramer stated that fertilizer is one commodity that is immune to the influence of China. Potash is Cramer’s pick in the fertilizer space despite the falling demand seen in recent quarters. Cramer thinks orders will increase once again as the economy begins to recover and farmers see they can’t cut back on necessities like fertilizer for very long.