Cramer: Drug stocks are dangerous until after the election. Here's why
The decline in drug and biotech stocks took away Jim Cramer's breath on Tuesday. He pinned the decline to uncertainty surrounding the presidential election.
The staggering fall of Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) to $73, down from a 52-week high of $111 left him speechless. The company has made fortunes on its Hepatitis C treatment, and yet the stock still trades at six-times earnings.
Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) and Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) were also crushed, despite having strong sales and new drugs in the pipeline.
How is that possible?
"I almost hesitate to answer this question because it touches on the third rail that is politics … Hillary Clinton 's bite could be every bit as bad as her bark when it comes to controlling drug pricing," the " Mad Money " host said.
It seemed possible to Cramer that the Republicans could lose not only the presidency, but the House and Senate, too. If that is the case, Cramer expects a Democratic wave to take over.
Right now the uncertainty and consequences of the election are so great, the market is screaming that it will not pay as much for drug stocks anymore.
"Given that the Republicans will still be able to filibuster in the Senate even if they lose their majority, this seems like an extreme reaction, but I can understand the sentiment," Cramer said.
The situation could go from a president that bullies as a form of teaching, to one that will bully the entire industry around, Cramer said. Regardless of what the political outcome is, the new narrative in the market is that investors are not comfortable buying drug stocks on the way down until after the election.
To make matters worse, it seemed to Cramer that money had no place to hide on Tuesday. In addition to drug stocks, the reverberations of a weak quarter from Alcoa (NYSE: AA) were felt across the board — especially in aerospace companies.
Usually investors will turn to packaged goods as a default, but with a strong dollar and low yields they weren't a safe haven. The same went for banks, real estate investment trusts and utilities.
"I think a lot of what happens in this market is that because there is no new money coming in, it just sloshes all over the place. On a day like today, there is nothing to slosh into," Cramer said.
On a tough day, stocks in most sectors were tough to own. The only silver lining Cramer found was that when there is usually nowhere to run and hide in a big sell-off, bargains will surface on the second day, with technology giving investors the biggest bang for their buck.
"It's important not to be too big a slave to any one day, because otherwise with the S&P 500 (INDEX: .SPX) selling off badly and at a three-week low, you'd think 'who needs this?' The answer is someone who wants to make money a little longer term, that's who," Cramer said.
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