Many investors assume that President Donald Trump's meeting with pharmaceutical executives back in January is behind the tremendous run that these stocks have had, but Jim Cramer pointed to something else.
"Let's recognize that some moves are simply related to bonds, and bonds aren't in the grips of the economy, they are being driven by this bizarre shortage of bonds from the developed world," the "Mad Money" host said.
Short sellers built up positions ahead of the meeting with Trump, betting that the stocks would go down afterward. After all, Trump had campaigned against outrageous sums that the U.S. government paid drug companies.
But the drug companies came to the table with powerful statistics surrounding employment, and after the meeting Trump began praising the executives and moved on to the next group. But just because the group bottomed, doesn't mean that explains the rally.
When Cramer studied the gains of Merck (NYSE: MRK), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Pfizer, (NYSE: PFE) he discovered that they simply rose because they were bond market equivalents. High-yielding dividend stocks followed bonds. As the bond prices rose and bond yields fell, investors crowded into them for income.
Cramer witnessed the most violent contrast in earnings he has seen in ages on Tuesday when Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) crushed estimates, while Target (NYSE: TGT) gave a forecast that was far worse than expected.
These two stocks are a perfect metaphor for the current environment of the stock market, thanks to what Cramer calls the " stay-at-home economy ."
This refers to thriving stocks — such as Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Domino's — that allow people to stay at home and save money.
Domino's delivers pizza and can be accessed from almost every device to order from home. Target requires people to leave the house and go to the store. Its prices aren't anything special, certainly not what they can get from Amazon, which delivers right to its customer's door for free if they are an Amazon Prime member.
"We have to question the entire relevance of Target, particularly if prices go up 20 to 25 percent … Three-year plan? How about a survival plan. There is no long-game anymore," Cramer said.
As the market eagerly awaits the IPO of Snap, the parent company of the popular Snapchat app, Cramer reviewed his playbook for investors to make a move at the right time.
"I totally get where the bears are coming from, but I believe that, at least initially, the bulls are going to triumph here, and they could potentially keep winning for a whole lot longer than that," the " he said.