By Rebecca Corvino
Updated at 12:35 p.m. EDT on July 14, 2009

Regardless of why a stock is in the news, it never hurts to hear what a professional investor has to say about it. The key is to gather as much information as you can in order to make the most informed investment decisions you can. As Jim Cramer often reminds, investors must do their homework.

So what has Cramer had to say lately about today's headline-makers? At Stockpickr, we've combed through his recent RealMoney blog posts, "Mad Money" TV show recaps and "Stop Trading!" segments to find out what he thinks about newsworthy stocks such as Goldman Sachs (GS), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Microsoft (MSFT). (A subscription might be required to read Cramer's blog.)

Goldman Sachs: Goldman is dominating headlines for the second day in a row, with an earnings beat and reports that execs have sold close to $700 million worth of stock after Lehman folded last fall. Yesterday, Meredith Whitney upgraded the stock to buy.

Cramer owns Goldman for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust. On last night's "Mad Money" show, Cramer noted that Whitney's finally changing her bearish tune on financials. Her investor following is great enough, he said, that her upgrade could send the market higher.

On CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment on Monday, Cramer said that he'd "actually be trimming" a position in Goldman because the stock was already up $7 for the day at that point. He predicted that the quarter, reported this morning, would be a good one. "Is there anyone who doesn't know that?" Indeed, Goldman posted earnings or $4.93 a share compared with the average estimate for $3.54 a share.

In a post to his RealMoney blog yesterday, Cramer wrote:

"Why is this Whitney call so important? Not because it is anything new. She's about the only analyst who isn't positive about Goldman Sachs, and if you listened to her before today, you are probably short this and a host of other banks because, despite protestations, she's been a bear through and through, except a momentary call to cover. No, the call is important because the media has relied on her nonsense for so long. Because the media has been at the forefront of writing that we should expect the vast majority of homes to be defaulted upon and everyone who has a mortgage to walk away from it. Because the media have insisted that you are going to lose your house -- yeah, you."

Here's what Cramer and Action Alert PLUS Research Director Stephanie link had to say about Goldman in a video yesterday.

Johnson & Johnson: J&J also reported its second-quarter earnings today and also beat analyst estimates. It posted profit of $3.2 billion, or $1.15 a share, down from $1.17 a share in the same quarter last year but above estimates for $1.11 a share. Sales fell 7.4% year over year to $15.2 billion.

On June 18's "Lightning Round" segment, Cramer said that he liked J&J, calling it a "buy buy buy" and advising viewers to "stick with it."

Exxon Mobil: In a partnership with Synthetic Genomics, Exxon plans to spend $600 million on developing next-generation biofuels.

Cramer discussed this news today in a video called "Algae in the Tank."

Last week in a "Lightning Round" segment on "Mad Money," Cramer recommended staying away from Exxon "until the yield is higher."

In a July 7 blog post, Cramer asked what would happen if oil went to $45. He said there'd be money to make in retail stocks such as Macy's (M), restaurant stocks such as Darden (DRI) and apparel stocks such as Nike (NKE). But, he wrote:
"Of course, the problem is you feel the decline in oil first as Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP) and BP (BP) are now hugely weighted in the market. And we don't know if $45 is right. We just know that that's the level the oil stocks are signaling."

Microsoft: Yesterday, Microsoft was in the news on talks to sell its digital ad agency Razorfish. Today, it's the company's competition with Google (GOOG).
On July 7, Cramer wrote in his RealMoney blog that the market's "too hated." He predicted that the "selloff slows down here and people begin to come back to tech, where nothing is wrong" and recommended Qualcomm (QCOM), Apple (AAPL), Intel (INTC), Oracle (ORCL) and Microsoft. "They have the best momentum and have the best quarters," he said.

For more of what Cramer's had to say lately about stocks in the news, check out the Cramer's Take portfolio on Stockpickr.

(Editor's note: At the time of publication and/or original publication of his posts and shows, Cramer owned Goldman Sachs, Chevron, BP and Qualcomm for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)