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Cramer's 10 best S&P performers since the Great Recession

Cramer's 10 best S&P performers since the Great Recession

Jim Cramer is tired of hearing that the stock market's gains since the bottom of the Great Recession are only because of monetary policies put in place by the Federal Reserve .

"It is a bogus story that presents the whole move as a castle in the sand that could be washed away by the wave of the Fed's impending rate hikes," the " Mad Money " host said.

The bottom of the Great Recession is often referred to as the " Haines bottom ," when the late CNBC host Mark Haines called the bottom of the market on March 10, 2009 to signal the end of the market's free-fall.

In response to the market turmoil, the Fed aggressively cut interest rates to entice commerce in the U.S. However, Cramer disagreed with the notion that gains made since the Haines bottom were simply due to the Fed's actions. To prove his case, he reviewed the gains of the 10 best performers in the S&P 500 (^GSPC).

Watch the full segment here:

No. 1 Incyte Corporation (INCY): This is a biopharma company with a pioneering immunotherapy play that is up a staggering 6,543 percent. Unless former Fed chief Ben Bernanke was tinkering in Incyte's labs in his spare time, there's no way the Fed was responsible for this gain. While the company only joined the S&P last month, it is still a $25 billion company and could be a great takeout candidate for a company like AstraZeneca (London Stock Exchange: AZN-GB) or Bristol-Myers (BMY), Cramer said.

No. 2 United Rentals (URI): Up 4,002 percent in the last eight years, Cramer attributed the success to CEO Mike Kneeland's innovation.

No. 3 Regeneron (REGN): This biotech company created a drug called Eylea to treat age-related macular degeneration with a once-a-month injection in the eye that was much better than the alternative of once a week. The stock has now rallied 2,975 percent since the market's bottom.

No. 4 Alaska Air Group (ALK): Known as a niche company that knows its market well, the Fed didn't regulate the gates of the San Francisco airport that gave the company a leg up over the years. Its 2,631 percent gain is one of the reasons Cramer anointed it as the best regional airline.

No. 5 Wyndham Worldwide (WYN): The stock had 178 million shares at the Haines bottom and now has 108 million. Talk about a buyback!

No. 6 Netflix (NFLX): Janet Yellen didn't come up with the idea to create an internet platform that lets people binge watch TV. Cramer credits the 2,451 percent gain to the creation of shows like "House of Cards", "Orange is the new Black" and "Narcos".

No. 7 American Airlines (AAL): This company managed to come out of bankruptcy and become a top performer. Cramer gave some of the credit to the government for its 2,133 percent rally because regulators did allow major airlines to merge.

No. 8 Priceline (PCLN): You won't find anything in the Fed minutes about creating Priceline. The success of its business model was pure innovation, and what travelers were looking for. The stock is up 2,125 percent, and Cramer thinks it is headed much higher.

No. 9 CBS (CBS): Cramer attributed the terrific job of CEO Les Moonves for excellent programming and disciplined cash management for the stocks 2,101 percent gain. And as much as people want to think, Bernanke going on "60 Minutes" doesn't count as a Fed derived gain.

No. 10 Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): Cramer doesn't know if Fifth Third would have survived if the Fed didn't put its foot down. He attributed most of its 1,861 percent gain to free market American ingenuity, and a small portion to the Fed.

"Nine out of the 10 biggest success stories since the bottom really didn't need the Fed, and I bet the same will be said for the next generation of winners eight years from now," Cramer said.

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