Jim Cramer's Mad Money In-Depth Stock Picks 5/23

Stocks discussed in the in-depth session of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV program, Tuesday May 23. Click on a stock ticker for more analysis:

Buyback Buzz

Cramer says that winners during an economic slowdown are those companies that buy back a good portion of their shares. He listed 15 companies with the most effective buyback strategies. The top five:

1. Sears Holdings (SHLD) - a good all-around stock to have in a portfolio.
2. Chevron (CVX) - this company is the cheapest of the integrated oils, and Cramer praises the company's 3.6% dividends for shareholders.
3. Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) - because of their high fees, these banks have a lot of extra cash to reward shareholders with high dividends and to buy back shares.
4. CBS (CBS) and News Corp. (NWS) - Cramer notes that CBS has some extra cash, because it has just sold some theme parks.
5. Nokia (NOK) - This company just bought back 1.4 billion euros of stock, and is expanding in China.

Cramer's other buyback picks include: Time Warner (TWX), Pepsi (PEP), Home Depot (HD), Amgen (AMGN), Texas Instruments (TXN), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and McDonald's (MCD)

Bird Flu : Don't Believe the Hype

Cramer is not worried about bird flu, and suggests buying Sanderson Farms (SAFM), which has recently surpassed the competition, kept production steady, and seems poised to raise prices. Since the company raises all of its chickens indoors, the chickens do not have a high risk of infection. Sanderson Farms trades at 6x next year's earnings, whereas the traditional multiple trades at 8x or 9x earnings.

Seeking Alpha publishes a summary of Jim Cramer's stock picks every day including: Mad Money Recap, Lightening Round, Stop Trading and his Radio Show.