Cramer’s sell-off strategy: Don’t own oil stocks for the long term

CNBC’s Jim Cramer doesn’t exactly have a rosy outlook on the future of the oil industry.

“You know what? Long term in the oil world’s quite bad,” the “Mad Money” host told a caller in a sell-off strategy session after Tuesday’s market drop.

Cramer referenced his Monday segment on Wall Street’s newfound hate of natural gas stocks, noting that the commodity seems to be peaking when it comes to heating use in the United States.

“I think that oil and gas are falling out of favor with new young portfolio managers,” Cramer said. “So the answer is, if you have a … 10, 15, 20 year horizon, oil and gas is going to be quite bad. So I would not own those stocks even though they look like value.”

The “Mad Money” host also offered a short-term strategy — or non-strategy — to a homegamer asking whether a trading vehicle called a “put spread” would work in this sell-off.

Cramer instantly recalled his experience during the crash of 1987. The firm he worked for had employed a put strategy ahead of the crash.

“When the market crashed, they owned everything and they didn’t have the money and they went under. I came in [and the] office was locked up,” Cramer said.

“Most people haven’t been around that long, so they think that’s a terrific strategy,” he continued. “When you’re trying to get into your office and it’s locked because it closed, it tends to concentrate your mind. So those that think that that’s a safe strategy, … they’re not old enough. I am.”

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