Jim Cramer reveals his ‘Mad Covid-19 Index’ of stocks for this ‘tricky environment’

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday doubled down on his preference for stock picking over index investing.

The former hedge fund manager presented a list of market bright spots that span more than one dozen industries he said are working in this coronavirus-plagued market.

“You want to remember this list the next time the market rolls over. The whole point of this exercise to demonstrate that stock picking makes more sense than traditional index investing now,” he said on “Mad Money.”

The hypothetical index of about 100 equities, dubbed the “Mad Covid-19 Index,” touch 17 sectors where investors can expect will produce a return in this “tricky environment,” he said.

Each stock is outperforming the S&P 500 since the start of 2020. As a group, the basket of stocks would be up nearly 10% year-to-date, Cramer said. The benchmark index, which has been reeling from the coronavirus outbreak, is down roughly 11% in the same timeframe.

“There are just so many obvious winners and obvious losers. Please don’t make life difficult for yourself by owning the losers,” he said.

Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Verizon, Marvell Technology, Nvidia, Costco, Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Abbot Labs, Clorox, Colgate-Palmolive, Take-Two Interactive and Salesforce.com.

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