Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Follow the Leaders

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- We've had a huge rally from the generational lows of March 2009, Jim Cramer told his "Mad Money" TV show viewers Thursday. And the leaders that have brought us this far will likely take us even higher, he continued, as he ran down the list of the top, and worst, performing Dow Jones Industrial Average components since those historic lows.

Topping the list of gainers was American Express (AXP) , which has risen 484% since March 2009. After experiencing terrible losses, Cramer said American Express is now a well-run company that's still very inexpensive.

Next on the list were Caterpillar (CAT) , up 286%, and Home Depot (HD) , up 276%. Cramer said that Caterpillar represents the best in American manufacturing but struggled as it customers required financing that simply wasn't available. Meanwhile Home Depot, a stock which Cramer owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, has reinvented itself and is now right at the heart of the housing recovery.

Rounding out the list of winners, Disney (DIS) and General Electric (GE) , another Action Alerts PLUS name. Disney has gained from great acquisitions like Marvel and Star Wars, while GE gets its strength from its exposure to everything from infrastructure to aerospace to oil and gas.

Among the biggest losers in the Dow were Alcoa (AA) , which gained only 58% since 2009, followed by Cisco (CSCO) , Wal-Mart (WMT) , Exxon-Mobil (XOM) and finally, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) , the only Dow component to be down over the past four years.

Cramer said that Cisco, also an Action Alerts PLUS name, could be a winner, but he's not a fan of Alcoa or Hewlett. Wal-Mart, he said, has run too high so far this year, so that stock is also no longer attractive.

Executive Decision: Marc Benioff

In his first "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer checked in with Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com (CRM) , which recently reported an 11-cents-a-share earnings beat on better than expected revenues.