Johnson & Johnson shares will keep falling on Monday and it could be an opportune time to buy, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Friday.
The stock plunged 10.4 percent to close at $133 a share on Friday after Reuters reported the company knew for decades that asbestos was in its baby powder.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to commit a lot of money, but you start buying stocks like J&J when they are down another 10 percent on Monday,” the “Mad Money” host said on “Closing Bell.” “I don’t think you’re going to get hurt that bad, I think it’s going to work for you.”
JNJ helped drag the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 500 points on the day, and the stock is now down nearly 5 percent for the year. It was the worst day for JNJ since July 19, 2002.
The company called the Reuters article “one-sided, false and inflammatory” in a statement on Friday.
“Simply put, the Reuters story is an absurd conspiracy theory, in that it apparently has spanned over 40 years, orchestrated among generations of global regulators, the world’s foremost scientists and universities, leading independent labs, and J&J employees themselves,” the company said in a statement.
Reuters reporter Lisa Girion stands by her reporting, telling CNBC Friday the report was based on the company’s own documents.
“I think that the sellers of J&J aren’t done, because they didn’t do any homework and they’re just buying entirely into a Reuters story that I’m not buying into,” Cramer said, “but you have to let the sellers finish.”
He also points to Costco as another buying opportunity, calling the grocery chain’s monthly numbers in its weaker-than-expected earnings report “fine.” Shares of Costco tanked nearly 9 percent, closing at $207.06.
“Get Costco under $200, you start a position. Get J&J under $130 and start a position,” Cramer argued.
Disclosures: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of JNJ.
