There is a battle going on right now on the stock exchange floor. It is a battle between the consumer benefiting from the cheap-gasoline stimulus plan and the overstretched oil companies threatening the U.S. economic recovery.

Jim Cramer's got his money on the consumer, especially on the all-American diner that has made a major comeback; Denny's.

"The cheap-gasoline fueled consumer might be able to repel any weakness that the producers of oil in this country may cause it," the "Mad Money" host added.

That battle was won on Thursday when the retail sales number came in and saved the day with a 7 percent growth in retail sales for the month of November. That excellent gain was due in part to better employment and low gasoline prices.

In Cramer's perspective, there were various signals that indicated that the consumer is winning this battle. He outlined the six newsworthy signs of a strong consumer that occurred.

What the heck is going on with Exxon Mobil? Cramer is scratching his head over the fact that the world's largest oil company is going up when the rest of the oil patch is going down.

Perhaps investors are starting to realize that there are both winners and losers of the oil industry. Finally!

Cramer has been waiting for oil stocks to bifurcate, and that is exactly what is happening. Looks like Charles Darwin was right.

Here is Cramer's theory: "There's more than $200 billion in high-yield paper from the oil patch. We know there are plenty of loans, too. But let's say half of that high-yield corporate paper goes bad. What will happen? How about this: It will give a production challenged company like Exxon the chance to come in and buy pretty much anything it wants to."

As Thursday closes on another solid day on the stock market, it looks like Denny's stock is quite the grand slam. It has seen a major comeback as of late, thanks to both low oil prices and its own turnaround initiatives.

Denny's is a low-end chain of more than 1,700 restaurants that has managed to gain 44 percent for 2014. The stock has jumped from $6 to $10 in the past five months.

"When you take a step back and look at Denny's, in a way it's the perfect fit for the current moment, an almost totally domestic play that benefits from lower gasoline prices," Cramer said.

But this restaurant chain didn't just luck out because of low oil prices. It initiated a plan to turn itself around and has been working at it for years, such as when the board of directors brought John Miller in to be the new CEO in February 2011. They have also added a series of enhancements to make the dining experience better for the customer.

Cramer sees that this company is making a major comeback, and it's far from over. This stock is headed higher.

Arista Networks recently caught Jim Cramer's eye as a technology play—mainly, he's wondering if the maker of technology switches can break through the Cisco dominated infrastructure game. Or, can the two coexist?

Arista first went public in June at $43, and spiked 28 percent on its first day of trading. The company has continued to stay on fire, when it announced in the last quarter that revenues were up 53 percent, year over year.

Cramer thinks that Arista posted impressive numbers, considering that it makes hardware used in data centers and the cloud. Additionally, the company has developed a cloud-based software platform that is integrated into its switches.

However, the honeymoon came to an end Friday when Cisco sued Arista for patent and copyright infringement. It looks like they could be going for an injunction to potentially disrupt Arista from shipping any products.

To get further insight on the ability for the two companies to exist in the same market, Cramer sat down with Arista CEO Jayshree Ullal, who is also a former employee of Cisco.

"We were definitely blindsided and disappointed. John should have at least picked up the phone and called me. Instead it was in the press, and we only got it five days later. It is true that Cisco rarely sues, and it is also true that Arista is a rare competitor," she said.

The "Mad Money" host continued to detect those stocks headed higher and lower, when he commented on a few caller favorites in the Lightning Round:

Vale SA: "Vale and Ensco are two of the worst picks I've ever made. I will just have to own the fact that we did it ... we were wrong, made a mistake. Not yet taken the loss, let's put it that way."

Windstream Holdings: "They're doing this reorganization, and I think that 10 percent yield is a little too high for me, meaning that it makes me feel a little bit suspect. I know that a real estate investment trust is a good idea, but I think you should axe it.

Varchev Finance