A single weak jobs report moved more money on Wall Street on Monday than any independent company’s earnings ever could.That is what played out on Monday, July 6, 2026, and Jim Cramer thinks it handed patient investors a rare opening.The CNBC host argues that big investment funds sold off shares in several strong companies. Nothing was wrong with these companies. The funds were simply moving their money into other investments.Cramer’s message to viewers was simple: When you can spot a rotation and name what’s driving it, you can also spot the bargains it leaves behind.Five names topped his list, and each one is worth a closer look.Why Cramer calls these 5 stocks collateral damageOn the July 6 broadcast of CNBC’s Mad Money, Cramer named Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), PepsiCo (PEP), Starbucks (SBUX), Constellation Brands (STZ) and TJX Companies (TJX) as his five stocks to buy during the downturn, CNBC reported.The market conditions trace back to last week’s June jobs report, which pointed to slower hiring than the month before. Related: Jim Cramer surprises investors with his favorite stock pickCramer said that data pushed large money managers to pull cash out of steady names and back into red-hot AI winners.When big investment funds sell a whole sector at once, strong companies get swept out with the weak ones, even if nothing is wrong with their business.Cramer’s word for that was blunt. All five, he said, received collateral damage from indiscriminate rotation selling.Cramer told viewers a hiring slowdown, not weak fundamentals, pushed these five stocks lower.
Cramer told viewers a hiring slowdown, not weak fundamentals, pushed these five stocks lower.Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo head into earnings on the dipThe clearest near-term test comes from the two names announcing results first.Cramer called Johnson & Johnson a pure-play pharma company now. He pointed to its separation from consumer-health arm Kenvue and its pullback from orthopedics as the reasons why. He said that cleaner focus makes it more attractive heading into its July 15 earnings report.More Jim Cramer Stock Calls:Jim Cramer sends a strong signal to Nvidia stock investors amid rumorsJim Cramer says it’s time to buy another aerospace stock before it takes offJim Cramer turns bullish on health care stock after years of doubtPepsiCo is the other one on the clock. Cramer said the recent pullback erased much of the stock’s rally that followed a strong prior quarter. This opens a better entry point before the company’s second-quarter results land on July 9. Wall Street expects PepsiCo earnings of about $2.21 a share on roughly $23.96 billion in revenue, AlphaStreet reported.Earnings can cut both ways. A buy-the-dip approach works best when the quarter confirms the business is steady, so these two reports are the first real checkpoints.Starbucks, Constellation Brands, and TJX round out the listThe last three names lean on longer stories rather than a single print. Here’s what Cramer likes about each:Starbucks(SBUX): Cramer called it an accumulation play, with the decline finally giving investors a chance to buy as CEO Brian Niccol works through the turnaround.Constellation Brands(STZ): The higher-risk pick. Cramer said its recent earnings suggested the core beer business is stabilizing even as concerns hang over alcohol.TJX Companies (TJX): His favorite defensive retailer. A weaker consumer tends to help off-price stores as shoppers trade down, while bloated inventory elsewhere lets TJX buy quality goods cheaply.Constellation’s own numbers back the beer point. In its most recent quarter, the company said its beer division kept gaining dollar and volume share across U.S. tracked channels, according to its SEC filing.What has to go right before these dips pay offA discount only matters if the business holds up, so a few things still need to happen.PepsiCo and Johnson & Johnson deliver earnings that steady the story rather than shake it.Constellation’s beer momentum keeps offsetting the soft spirits market.The consumer stays weak enough to send shoppers toward TJX, but not so weak it drags down staples spending.The rotation into AI hardware cools before it pulls even more cash out of these sectors.There is a real risk worth naming. Cramer makes buy calls almost every night, and his record is debated enough that Quiver built inverse-Cramer strategies to bet against his most-recommended names.None of this is a promise of a rise. It is a framework for deciding whether a name got cheap for a good reason or a bad one.The bottom line for investors watching the rotationCramer’s core idea holds up even if you never buy a single one of these stocks. Rotations sell sectors, not businesses, so quality names sometimes drop for reasons that have nothing to do with how they operate.For readers, the useful move is to separate the two before acting. If a stock fell only because its neighbors did, the earnings reports and share trends will show it fast.Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo report earnings within days, so investors will not have to wait long for the first real answers.Related: Jim Cramer makes bold buy call on one booming energy stock