[ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start. or questions about protecting your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like to find the right attorney to help guide you along, answer any questions and offer advice. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau legalzoom helps you get personalized and affordable legal protection. in most states, a legal plan attorney is available with every personalized document to answer any questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected. i'm jim cramer. welcome to my world.

you need to get in the game. firms are going out of business and he's nuts! they're nuts! they know nothing! >> i always like it say there's a bull market somewhere. "mad money," you can't afford to miss it. >> hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money," welcome to cramerica. other people want to make friends. my job is entertaining, coaching, educating so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc. after today's not so hot action, dow dipping 21 points, s&p down .21%, nasdaq off .83% off worries the federal reserve may allow interest rates to rise because of a stronger economy, you got to ask whether the dow jones average in 2013, beyond that unsustainably fabulous first day of the year. despite yesterday's rally, you got to be a little suspicious, skeptical, critical, about how

poorly the dow performed last year versus the s&p and nasdaq, finishing up a pathetic 7.26%. while the nasdaq climbed 15.9% and the s&p gained 13.4%. who are the culprits behind the dow's underperformance? who did well, though, in a futile attempt to save the index? and what's next for the venerable but oh, so out of sync 30 dow jones stocks. let's rank them from best to worst, see how things ended up this way and see who is going to give us the oomph and drag us down next year. first is bank of america. it was the top performer in the dow, 108% gain last year. given how cheap it is and how the housing recovery is still in its infancy, i wouldn't be surprised if there were still bigger gains to come. now that the ceo is on record saying he's ready to step up his lending, they could outperform

other banks. and then there's home depot and frank blake, the management here has been taking share aggressively and i bet the post-sandy rebuild will be terrific for business. i see another fantastic year for the home despot. disney with remarkably resilient espn numbers. i think the stock can go up 10% from here easily. it's already started to recover, meaningfully from the so-called disappointing quarter. that fourth quarter rally in the financials gave new life to jpmorgan, american express, travelers the insurance company up 21%. i don't know if these can maintain that pace. i'm not as bullish. jpmorgan seems to fail at these prices. fail the stock, not the company. the company is doing fine.

unless they are allowed to return to shareholders, my hope, i fear the company won't be able to repeat the performance. american express seems tapped out, prefer mastercard, visa and travellers is a fabulously run company. it's not one you expected expect to go up 21% over 21%. how about general electric? it advanced 17% despite downbeat chatter, analysts being too downbeat if you ask me. and an oil and gas kicker could be rebounding because of china. pfizer was up 15% last year and i think that not only can they repeat that performance but best it as the giant company takes action to bring up value with its animal health business and does its best to return capital via an even higher dividend that yields 3.75%. i like the paint drying pfizer.

it lets you sleep at night and by day, too. i don't know in walmart can repeat its gains of more than twice the returns from the dow. the consumer market is a little weakened. 3m up 13%, united technologies up 12%. they are naturals to repeat their gains if not do better, given their strong asian exposure. 3m has been held back by a weak china. they can only improve from here after that tax bill. two well-run companies, perfect proxies for worldwide growth. at&t 11% gains, even the most boring of stocks can generate double digit returns. i think the same gain is in the cards for this year. cisco, for all its flaws, still beat the dow by a percentage point. i can't see this company returning to the days of yore, that's not going to happen. but up 8%, it can do that again.

cisco seems cheap enough. i think it can return to the mid 20s where it closed today. what's with merck falling so far behind an inferior pfizer going up at least historically. the pipeline needs improvement here or we'll see high single digits again. they will remain the order of the day if not the year until we hear about something that can produce multiple billions of dollars in the out years and i certainly don't see anything in merck's pipeline right now that can do that. verizon didn't help the cause. it's been such a good one. i think it will play catch up to at&t, which played catchup to verizon last year and the endless seesaw between the two. iphone sales will remain robust. you no longer need to worry about skyrocketing taxes on dividends. united health kept back by lack of small business formation. up just 7% last year. got hammered on the downgrade today. i don't see how much upside there can be without more job

growth. which brings me to the real cellar dwellers, what we call the dogs of the dow. start with johnson & johnson. 6.9% gain last year. i bet 2013 the ceo takes matters into his own hands, breaks up the company. it's one of my favorite dow stocks. ibm needs to show it's not falling prey to accenture's letdown. it's cheap, can easily double it's 4.2% gain from last year. the fact that coca-cola only increased 3.6% shows a weaker dollar. microsoft. hard to love given its pc-based earnings power. yet last year's 2.9% increase does seem a little stingy considering the company's new product cycle.

if you watch a football game, windows 8 is on there more than phil simms. i think the stock can return to the low 30s from 27 where it is now. if not, i suspect this will be a year of new management and reorganization. where's oracle when you need it? can you believe boeing's done nothing? next to nothing. plus 2.7% is next to nothing. despite its new product cycle, the dreamliner series, a tripling of that gain could be reasonable this year. i expect a terrific quarter, the first of many, though my trust likes united tech as a better play in the new worldwide aerospace cycles. i see boeing going to the mid 80s. chevron getting the edge for certain courtesy of its stronger production growth. my charitable keeps buying that one.

can alcoa repeat that miserable performance? alcoa will be helped only by the hideous expectations it has set for itself. a very low bar made of aluminum keeps it from advancing to the low teens. you want the best dog in the kennel? caterpillar. cat is the best dog. everyone seems to recognize it is undervalued after yesterday's sterling performance. this plus it is one of the great china plays, but it lost 1.1% last year after having to revise its bullish forecast downward. my charitable trust is betting it could go up at least 10%. the last time cat guided down big was a couple years ago and man, did that stock take off. how about dupont? down 1.7%. it's cheap, but unless this quarter gives us reaccelerated growth, something that could be impossible given dependence on commodity chemicals. color me nervous about double d.

the dow's real tragedies, mcdonalds. intel down 15%, hewlett packard down 44%. mcdonald's can recover some but maybe not all as it does seem the magic is gone. a weak dollar seems like the only tailwind. intel. we know what's bad. how about what's good? balance sheet, leverage to global economy, new ceo. i don't expect intel will be down in 2013. that would be a nice improvement. which leaves hewlett packard. this one put on a suicide vest with that negative 44% performance. i don't expect a hideous repeat but i still expect it can't help the averages unless it's knocked out of them, unless they kick it out entirely, which is a possibility or gets a bid from oracle. stranger things have happened. the bottom line is dogs will be dogs, except for cat and thoroughbreds are worth betting on even after last year's terrific runs. i expect a first quarter seesaw courtesy of washington, from the bottom's up analysis, the dow

should catch up to the other averages in 2013 and it will be a much better year than the index's performance in 2012. zach in new york. >> caller: hi, jim. i've got a big booyah for you. i'm a young startup founder and market investor. i was interested in transocean after their 6% pop today. there's been a lot of like ocean drilling mishaps recently. after seeing the percentage gain and the news that transocean reached $1.4 billion settlement with the justice department, is r.i.g. a buy? >> i want to congratulate you for getting in. a lot of people are leaving this market. i think it's a big mistake. secondly, you show the value of what i call certainty, okay? we didn't know, was it going to be 1.4, $14 billion. we had no idea how much they were going to have to pay. 1.4, now certainty. the stock can go higher.

it's a good story even now. mark in new york, mark. >> caller: hey, jim. how are you, buddy? >> real good. how about you, partner? >> caller: good, good. i'm hoping the bills get andy reid but i don't know. >> they're talking about it. the offensive coordinator for denver, i like jack del rio but that's a different show entirely. that's schefter. go ahead. >> caller: i asked you about this one about a month ago. i know this company, i know what they make, they're a great company, they make great stuff and the stock got hammered again today. >> why did we say mellanex when it got to a hundred? we bit the head off the bull. the cfo left, we told you to sell. i'm reiterating the sell. doesn't you touch that mellanex.

john in california. >> caller: i'm in the defense sector raytheon with the extension of obama and the defense sector. what's the play on the defense sector? >> cheap, cheap, cheap stock, even up here. i like raytheon. i like lockheed martin even better. these companies are made of teflon. even with military sequestration they do well. i like it, but not as much as united tech. don't give up on the dow. the dog days, they could be over at least versus the other indices. it may have lagged the averages in 2012 but i expect it to be a comeback year in 2013. be ready for a little washington instability and then -- >> all aboard! >> "mad money" will be right back. >> coming up, export economy? the u.s. has become one of the world's largest energy producers, but while natural gas production has increased, it's been largely ignored as a domestic fuel. but could exporting it help fill

up your tank? cramer talks with cheniere energy's ceo next. and later, smooth operator? spam maker hormel foods put another consumer brand on its plate today after it forked over $74 million to buy skippy peanut butter. could this layer another level of success to this story or will investors have an allergy? don't miss the ceo, all coming up on "mad money." >> don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on twitter. have a question? tweet cramer, #madtweets. send jim an e-mail or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com.

it's one of the great economic tragedies of our time. we have all this incredibly cheap, clean and abundant natural gas in this country yet it seems like nobody here wants to use the stuff. as long as it sells for less than 4 bucks per thousand cubic feet, nobody wants to drill for it.

it's currently selling for $3 and change, just had a horrendous decline. one more way in which we can't seem to get our priorities straight here in the united states. in the rest of the world, natural gas sells for $12, $15 per thousand cubic feet. that's where lng comes in. the only way to ship it overseas is to turn it into liquid natural gas. cheniere is the only company to get approval to build a terminal, in louisiana. cheniere, if you've been listening to me, it's made you serious money. just today, fresh 52-week high. stock is up 147% since we first spoke to the ceo in june of 2011, 18% gain just since this past september.

seems like the government might be starting to grant lng permits to competitors. let's talk to charif souki, the co-founder and chairman of cheniere energy. since we've seen each other last, other than making our viewers a lot of money, the department of energy has blessed this notion of export. i've always felt the great thing about you is you're the only guy at it. now, with that blessing, is it going to make it so you will have a lot of competitors? >> it's not that easy. you have to spend a lot of money and a lot of time to actually see if your site works and to do all the work that is required to make sure you do it in a safe manner and follow all the rules of the federal energy regulatory commission. so unless you are ready to spend $100 million in two years in planning, you're not doing anything. >> so it's possible you could have what amounts to a virtual monopoly for a decade? >> it's not going to be a monopoly.

other people are going to see that this is something that makes a lot of sense. there is so much gas in the united states and so much demand on the global basis that there is no limit to how much can be exported. >> now, i said on air that you have said that we're burning off more than we use. and no one even believes that. but it is that abundant? >> yes. and it's becoming a problem. in places like texas and dakota, you have to flare the gas because there's nothing to do with it. and you're producing it as a byproduct of oil and, therefore, you're not about to stop producing your oil. >> right. and people don't want you to know that they're flaring because it's not something that the environment -- that's great for the environment. >> i think the cat is out of the bag now. everybody knows about it and it's about to become a real serious problem as we continue to drift from exploring for dry gas to exploring to gas with liquids or oil. >> we had mark papa recently. he sees natural gas prices low

for a long time. that's perfect for you, right? in this country. >> it's perfect for everybody. it will encourage people to look for new ways to use natural gas. one way is export but there are other ways. >> okay. now, talk to me about if i were down on the ground right now at your facility, which you started building already, i'm considering this one of the largest job hiring sites in america today. can you even find enough people to do the work? >> yes. fortunately the area that we're active in is an industrial area. there's a lot of infrastructure there. a couple of larger refineries have finished their jobs so a lot of people have come on the market in the last 12 months and therefore we've moved in very seamlessly into an area where bechtel has done a lot of work. >> the biggest construction in the world. >> and they had 4,000, 5,000 people who have just finished

jobs in different bases between beaumont and southern louisiana. the timing is very good at the moment. >> in your slide show, you've been incredibly transparent about everything from raising equity to to the structure of the company to your time frame. you line up some comparisons and you're suggesting to me in the presentation that you could be finished ahead of time. >> we're looking like we're going to be about a year ahead of schedule. >> a year? >> yes. >> so it's not going to be 2016, it's going to be 2015? >> mid-2015 to late 2015 for the first gas. >> that's incredible. >> it's not surprising. we were very conservative for the purpose of the banks when we put projections together. we always knew that bechtel could perform better than they gave them. >> like egypt. >> yes. records and looked at the time i've gone through all the records and looked at the time it took them in egypt and

ecuatorial guinea. >> australia has been the site of major oil companies that had huge overruns. that's not happening here. >> no. the other news is that we finalized the cost with bechtel and we've announced it, and it is very much in line with what it cost us and is actually less. >> when we talk about these large companies that are your partners, okay, they can't get out of it, right? these are the kind of contracts they're going to be paying you for years. your cash flow -- >> for 20 years. >> is etched in stone. >> yes. >> they have to pay? >> yes. >> at the same time, you have said you will not raise equity, you do not need to raise equity for lng. maybe your mlp. you said do you not need to sell any more lng stock right now. >> we're sitting on a lot of cash, we have assets. we have management fees that pay

for more than our overhead. why would we raise equity? we don't have any debt. so -- >> i'm always careful, i don't want anything to be too good to be true. but the combination of incredibly low natural gas, the ability to be able to build these trains, which is the way they're shipped, cheaper than anybody else, is so far ahead of all the other times that you've been on air. >> yes. >> kind of dazzling. what can i say? it's just been a great story. you take my breath away sometimes, sir, because no one else is able to pull this stuff off except for you. i just think you're real good at what you do. >> but i think other people will follow and it will become a game changer for the u.s. and for the world. >> i hope it will. that is charif souki, chairman and ceo of cheniere energy. the guy has delivered consistently and has continued to deliver. stay with lng, stay with cramer. >> coming up, smooth operator?

spam maker hormel foods put another consumer brand on its plate today after it forked over $700 million to buy skippy peanut butter. could this layer on another level of success to this story or will investors have an allergy? don't miss cramer's exclusive with its ceo just ahead. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke.

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here on "mad money," we can't get enough of companies that will do whatever it takes to create value for the

shareholders and put money in their pockets. just today we found out one that's one of my favorite steady eddie food companies, hormel foods, maker of spam and jenny o turkey and many other brands, doing exactly that. they are buying skippy peanut butter. for $700 million, the deal should give hormel's earnings a boost as early as this year. why am i so excited about this peanut butter deal? because it makes me think back to the last big peanut butter transaction when smuckers bought jif from procter & gamble in a very similar deal in october of 2001. over the next 12 months, smuckers rallied 26%. if hormel follows the smuckers

peanut buttery footsteps, you can make a hefty chunk of change. even though the stock is at a 52-week high, i think it's got more room to run. don't take it from me. let's speak to jeffrey ettinger. welcome to "mad money." >> thank you for having me, jim. >> this is a deal that i think makes you the number one lunch company in this country. >> we're definitely going to be in a position to dominate sandwiches. we already were in ham and turkey, you add peanut butter in there and that's three of the top four. >> also, this is your first big foray, i didn't realize this until i listened to your excellent conference call, this company is really big in china, skippy. they like peanut butter. this could be a major launching pad for you into asia. >> we've had two facilities in

china for fifteen years on the meat side. skippy will be an excellent complement. we've been working on rolling out spam luncheon meat for distribution and sales into the stores. >> i was on twitter today, posting that i was so thrilled to have you. people ask a logical question. they say, jim, you think unilever is a great company. why do you think that little hormel can do better with skippy than big unilever. >> we've always been successful in niche categories. skippy goes beyond that. we've been able to compete in multiple categories, we're in mexican food and in the packaged food meat areas against the krafts and other companies. we're confident on a domestic basis. we can more than hold our own with the skippy brand and we're really excited about the global prospects for the brand, nearly $100 million in sales are outside of the u.s.

>> many are not aware that skippy is also a big player in natural foods, that this is not just something like spam in a can, which, sir, i've got to tell you, people think that's not all that natural. you guys are moving aggressively into the high-growth natural foods area for all of your brands. >> we've had good luck with the natural brands. that was one of the attractive things about the skippy brand. hats off to unilever for their innovation of the first no-stir, no refrigeration product. >> i've praised you repeatedly as being one of the great dividend payers on this planet. no change there, right? you're still committed to your dividend? >> absolutely.

we just ended up with -- i'm missing whether it was 47th or 48th consecutive year in a row of increases, we paid a dividend for every year since the company went public in 1947 and we have no intention of missing that record. we'll pay for this deal virtually all with cash. we continue to look for other property. if we can find something attractive, we certainly have debt capacity to do other deals. >> this is your largest transaction to date. i think that some people are saying integration risk, got to be putting you on the table. how are they so confident this is going to be a big financial deal for you next year and maybe as early as this year? >> it is the biggest deal from a deal size standpoint but we really had been looking to move into the higher levels and deal into the few hundred million range. we're now an $8 billion company. for us we think this makes a lot of sense. we also really like the fact that this helps two of our business segments, it enhances

our balance model by providing a great new franchise for our grocery products group in the u.s., but also for our international team. we are confident in terms of the kind of margins this brand can deliver and the growth that we'll be able to put against it when we have our team against the brand. we're very comfortable that we can achieve those accretion numbers. >> we're huge believers in this show in healthy eating. we're huge believers in the concept of what whole foods is doing, what trader joe's is doing. will you be able to expand your whole foods aisle space with something like this? >> we have a broad portfolio of items, jim. one of the ones i know you mentioned on your past shows, holy guacamole is a great product line that works very well on those channels.

we'll look for natural products with this product line to connect with that channel as well. we have a broad portfolio. this transaction will certainly enhance the packaged food side of that. >> we knew of another company we thought was going to be a bidder. was this one of those wars where you ended up paying far more than where you started or was this the level you were comfortable and you were able to get it for that? >> we were very comfortable with the level we paid. one of the aspects we talked about on the conference call, because it's an asset purchase, there's a tax cash flow advantage, adding up to a net present value of about $120 million to $125 million. if you net that out of the $700 million announced price, we're in a very comfortable position in terms of a dcf model. >> congratulations. great for shareholders. you've done a remarkable job, not just you but your predecessors. thank you so much for being on the show. >> thank you, jim.

>> like conagra, i think hormel is not done running. i would continue to pay up even at these levels. stay with hormel and stay with cramer. coming up, can you handle the heat? cramer gets you fired up for a searing hot lightning round.

it is time for the lightning round! are you ready skeedaddy? we'll start with jay in florida. jay! >> caller: jim, calling from the gainesville, florida area. not a very good mood after last night. but back to a stock that i've been looking for value in the oil patch, whiting petroleum, wll, has a lot of good points to

it, low peg, pe is around 13 but the value -- the earnings seem to be pretty undetermined. >> no, no, i like the call. i think it's going to go higher. that company is going to be hard pressed to stay independent given the fact they have so much oil. sorry about the gators. i thought they had it. let's go to tim in wisconsin. tim. >> caller: happy new year, jim. >> same. >> caller: my stock is medtronic, mdt? >> no, i don't think they have enough in their portfolio, that makes them cheap. that's why we by becton. deb in pennsylvania. >> caller: i own some shares, i was wondering if you think i

should hold onto geo. >> private correction companies are very difficult for me to gauge. every time i think a state is going to privatize, they don't. that stock's at a 52-week high. i would schnitzel a little. let's go to elizabeth in florida. >> caller: hey, jim. i'm calling about your little darling and mine, hain celestial. most of december, hain was in a downward trend. but i never understood why. seemed as though other stocks like whole foods were doing well. today i felt like a bobble head, up down, up down. can you please help me understand? >> i think the shorts are all over this thing. i usually don't blame the shorts for anything. however, i think hain is doing

well. better to shareholders at whole foods. i think hain is a buy. don't be persuaded by the intra day. i think ultimately they will head higher. john in new jersey. john. >> caller: hello. >> hello. >> caller: my stock is just energy, je. >> i just don't know about just energy. so i'm going to have to do some work and come back on that one. let's go to mark in the illini. mark. >> caller: hi there, jim, booyah from the land of lincoln. i'd like to hear your thoughts about maco surgical. >> no, man, i have disliked that stock. i'm not changing my mind. i think that was a much hyped stock. maybe they can come on and describe why i should be persuaded at 12. i'm staying away. rick in california? >> caller: rick from nevada city. my question is about amrn, amarin.

>> overrated stock. i know i'm going to be accosted on the street but it's not one of my favorites. i do my own work and i don't like the stock. it is not one that i want you in. let's go to jared. got to go to jared in florida. jared! >> caller: how you doing, jim? >> all right. how about you? >> caller: i'm okay. my stock is clear, clear communications. >> no -- clear wire communications, and you know what, that one's done, done, done, done, done. no, i do like sprint but i must tell you, sprint, remember, it's a very difficult transaction. stay through sprint at least till next year and by the way, dan hesse, i think notre dame takes the big one. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the lightning round! the lightning round is sponsored by td ameritrade. coming up, how do your stocks stack up in this mystifying market?

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from yesterday's roaring stock surge to today's tepid action, it's time you home gamers prepare your portfolios for a first quarter seesaw ride that's powered by washington. that's my fulcrum term for this moment. best way to do that? you know, diversification. add international exposure, invest in strong dividend players. the key to surviving the ups and downs of this market is making sure you don't have all your eggs in one basket. let's kick 2013 off right by playing am i diversified? you call me or tweet me and tell me your top five holdings and i tell you if you have to mix it up a little. let's start with a tweet from @etiger2011 who says starbucks, facebook, apple, pandora, mcdonald's, thoughts on diversity.

oh, i got some thoughts on diversity and you are not diverse. first of all, mcdonald's, i'm worried about the quarter. starbucks, i'm going to put them in the same category. starbucks, i think the stock goes to $60. tweeted that when i was on "morning joe this morning. we're going to take mcdonald's out and substitute united technologies, okay? apple and facebook. these are two stocks that believe it or not, they do trade together. i'm willing to bless this at this point because i'm so bullish on facebook. i shouldn't do it. but these do trade together to some degree. pandora, no. that's another internet play but it's a second rate internet play. let's put in pfizer, we have a drug, we got internet, computer restaurant and industrial. you got to make those changes. make them right now. do that first thing tomorrow morning. let's go to l.j. in north carolina. >> caller: bling, bling booyah to you, jim! >> liking that. what's up?

>> caller: i love you so much, man. been watching you for years. >> let's make money, let's make money. >> caller: as a 2012 graduate from the school of business at the university of rochester, aiming to make a foray into investment management, i need to know, am i diversified? my first stock is 3d systems. next is chico's spa. next is united rentals, uri. new star corporation, ticker symbol nsr and last but not least we'll bang out with the banks with wells fargo, wfc. >> first i want to congratulate you on picking that profession, which i think you're going to do fantastic in. i love rutgers. everybody knows that. oh, rochester. my bad.

rochester. i shouldn't have done that. that's larry kudlow. all right, let's take this. this is very difficult. i'll tell you why it's difficult. new star is a telco company but you could say it's a tech company. we'll get rid of new star and keep 3d. we're going to put a health care company in this one, too. we're going to add pfizer, give you the 3.67% yield you need. chico's is fashion apparel. united rentals is fantastic. wells fargo, and i got to tell you that i think that wells is going to be one of the better bank performers. we're going to have a financial, a tech, a health care, a retail and an industrial and that will do it. rochester, again, congratulations. >> let's go to logan in maryland. logan. >> caller: thanks for taking my call. appreciate the help. >> my pleasure. >> caller: i have key, cheniere

lng, valero, jarden group, jah. the last 20% right now is cash but i'm thinking about going gld and i'm 29 years old. >> it doesn't sound like it to me. i think they know if they left the market, they are in a checking account. i like the call. i think 10% does it right now because gold, put a second 10% as it drops. jarden, that's the housewares company. i like key corp bank, regional banks. cheniere, we know they'll be the natural gas exporter. i got to keep with this one name, this portfolio needs pfizer and then i think it will be in good shape. >> keep up with cramer all day long.

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talking about being too negative, i got to tell you, as one of the many people who were too negative about all of the retail coming out of the holiday, boy, i thought some of those stores were going to be just terrible. i got to say, one of many people, it looks like the hedge funds came in short on retail stocks, in part because of the warm weather and fiscal cliff worries and the horrible tragedy

at sandy hook put an extraordinary damper on selling during a key weekend during christmas. but when you see them jump huge, that's hedge funds throwing in the towel on what amounts to one more miserable day on the sector. retail remains case by case as always. one thing is certain, though. the better off spenders took no break ahead of a potential cliff jump that could really have cut into after-tax dollars for many. nordstrom's reported a standout quarter and clearly qualifies as best of breed among the department stores. walmart and target both came back strong from near term worry. tjx and costco continue to amaze me with their consistent reporting. gap, one of my absolute favorite

retailers for 2013 as it was for 2012, issued some terrific numbers and added intermix to its complement of other brands including old navy, banana republic and athletica. i assume lululemon will do its best to keep its distinctly nongap identity. the stock rallied this morning. that's what you're going to be looking for all the time, people. it went on to close up 72 cents. it's the stock i like the best after these terrific numbers. i think it's still a buy tomorrow. but not everyone came through for the holidays. we're seeing the wholesale destruction of the formerly beloved dollar store segment. with hideous numbers from family dollar, horrendous commentary about gross margins, joining dollar tree and dollar general expressing concern about the future. price wars. this could be from walmart

getting aggressive going after these companies with both barrels. a lot of it may be they're just all coming after each other, particularly over the consumables. the 2% payroll tax cut ended december 31st and the dollar stores will be hurt the most by that change. while the fourth quarter is the most important for retail, i'm reluctant to go whole hog on the group after the moves today. we got cross currents galore on what could impact the group on what could be horrible months upcoming. while retail stocks are cheap, most are not so cheap after today. i think the risk is gone that -- let's just say that christmas isn't going to be horrible but you know what? holy cow, the well-off middle class consumers are constantly being underrated by just about everyone, including me, but once again, the short sellers can't catch a break. sorry, no tears to be shed in this quarter for that crowd. i'm the 12th man for the long, not the shorts, and never forget it. let's go to weeks in georgia. weeks. >> caller: booyah, jim cramer.

>> booyah! >> caller: question centers around amazon. retail sales up 4.5%. nooks didn't do crap for the holidays. how much upside do you have think amazon has? >> first i play amazon, there's too much of a price break. i think nook might have been knocked for the loop. maybe the countdown there. i think amazon can go higher. always buy on weakness, never on strength. after today's big move, i say hold off. consumers still spending, stay away from the dollar stores. gap is my favorite. stick with cramer.

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