Jim Cramer says these five reopening stocks are being ignored by Wall Street

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday pulled back the curtain on five under-the-radar reopening plays as the stock market anticipates a resurgence in the American economy, turning his attention from the most talked-about recovery stocks.

The reopening thesis was furthered by federal authorization of a coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, the third inoculation to be distributed in the U.S.

“This is a less in-your-face, but possibly more potent, reopening [playbook] since they are being ignored, even though they should have a great year if we can just get back to normal by June,” the “Mad Money” host said. “At this point, the in-your-face reopening stocks — the cruises and the airlines — I mean, can we start swapping out of those and go into some less obvious.”

On the shopping list are fintech payments company Square, designer Ralph Lauren, cosmetics company Ulta Beauty, shopping center real estate investment trust Federal Realty and automaker Ford.

The more obvious reopening plays have been in cruise lines, like Royal Caribbean, and the airlines, like Delta. Investors will find stocks in these industries to carry risk via potential equity offerings, as Royal Caribbean announced Monday, or hobbled balance sheets.

As for his new recommendations, Cramer said he expects them to gain steam in the coming weeks.

“These aren’t exactly stealth reopening stocks,” he said. “They’re more like ‘The Purloined Letter,’ hidden in plain sight, and I bet they’ll seem a lot more obvious as they go higher in the next few months.”

The new suggestions come after the market rebounded Monday following a 3% decline in the S&P 500 over the past two weeks. The S&P 500 started the new week rallying 2.38% to close above 3,900. The 30-stock Dow index rose 603 points to close at 31,535.51, a 1.95% gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, after falling more than 6% in the past two weeks, surged 3% Monday to 13,588.83.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. As opposed to the two-shot approach in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, JNJ’s will have fewer logistical challenges to overcome in distribution.

CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC Monday morning that the company expects to deliver 100 million doses in the country by early summer and nearly 1 billion around the globe this year.

“That makes me think we’re much closer to the end of this long national nightmare, so it is time to unveil the less obvious reopening plays, if only because the more in-your-face ones feel a little bit overplayed,” Cramer said.

Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Ford.

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