Stock guru Jim Cramer's latest maverick move is buying banking stocks.

"Don't hate bank stocks," Cramer tells his viewers.

"The bottom was July 15. Banks are still getting downgrades. But their stocks have moved up a great deal. The short sellers have moved them up."

Cramer even has some early picks. "JPMorgan, they are down a lot," he says. "That's an opportunity."

Other banks in the same situation include, according to Cramer, Bank of America. Also worth considering is US Bancorp. "They're the best managed," Cramer says.

Cramer had some surprise stock picks, too.

"Wells Fargo is still working off its bad business," said Cramer. "They are still working off another couple of billion dollars. Morgan Stanley is having a decent quarter. They are taking away market share from UBS. A lot of people are taking away market share from UBS."

Cramer's advice for investing in financial stocks now is straightforward.

"Watch and wait till the short sellers play their hands," he says.

As for banking stocks to avoid, there are still a few, even for a contrarian.

Stay away from Fannie and Freddie, Cramer said. "They are too easy to take down," he said. "AIG and Lehman Brothers are ones that you really do not want to own."

Look for the presidential election to impact banking stocks soon, Cramer adds.

"I'm waiting for the presidential candidates to recognize that we need a new Resolution Trust Corp. That's what took us out of the S&L crisis and got us into the 1990s," Cramer says.