Two great companies, two different standards. One totally rigorous and one not rigorous enough. I am talking about Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) and the way Wall Street perceives them.

First, Apple reported a number that was extraordinary by any means, except by the means of Wall Street, where it was considered horribly disappointing, as if the company were made up of a bunch of brainless, arrogant bozos who couldn't shine Steve Jobs' shoes. IPads, iPods, iMacs, iPhones, iTV all below to well below what the Street was looking for.

Throughout the call there were several undercurrents. Let me tick them down.

1. Apple has too many products, mostly at the wrong price points, that aren't selling well.
2. Apple has either made too many devices and they aren't selling or it didn't order enough and wasn't ready for the onslaught, two mistakes that are considered equally poor.
3. Apple's iPad sales are slowing dramatically, and there is a glut developing. The overpriced iPad Mini doesn't help the cause.
4. Apple's current iPhone is a bust, and Samsung's competitor is much better.
5. Apple's $120 billion in the bank is simply burning a hole in the company's pocket -- another sign that it doesn't know what it is doing.
6. Tim Cook is an empty suit, and we have seen the end of the Steve Jobs products.

Suffice it to say that these analysts think Apple is pretty much finished and its 11x on next year doesn't matter because Apple is about to report its first down quarter in Q4, with sales light and expenses heavy. It's a lay-up short, because we now have enough detail to know that the company is washed up and on the way to Hewlett-Packard-like​ oblivion. Nice to know you, Apple.

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Amazon, on the other hand, said nothing on its conference call. In fact, the company basically said its policy is to say nothing. It shouldn't even have had a call. There were no bright spots. It is selling like a drunken sailor, and who knows whether it is really adding customers.

The result? The stock, which sells at an indeterminate price-to-earnings multiple because who even knows whether Amazon cares about profitability, goes down for about 10 minutes to the low $200s and then spends the rest of the overnight session rallying. It is loved because, well, it is Amazon and it's doing really well. I mean, isn't it?

If we were to hold Apple to Amazon's standards, it would be at $1,200.

Now, I think you own Apple because its products are loved, if it can make them fast enough and it is storming the enterprise. I see its products triumphing in the enterprise, as users simply won't tolerate Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL) and Research In Motion (RIMM) anymore. They want the Apple ecosystem. All of the canards about staying on Microsoft-Intel weren't answered by Windows 8, but more than 90% of the corporate world is stuck on it, and the IT people don't even feel threatened. (Microsoft owns and publishes Top Stocks, an MSN Money site.)

Amazon, on the other hand, doesn't have to answer to anyone about how it is spending or even what it is doing.

To me, it's nuts. It should be totally the other way around, as we told subscribers Thursday night for Action Alerts PLUS. But it doesn't matter. The judgments are being rendered, and Apple falls short and Amazon is better than expected.

So it goes in this toughest earnings season since the crash of 2008-09, when the worst man wins.

Jim Cramer is a co-founder of TheStreet and contributes daily market commentary to the financial news network's sites. Follow his trades for Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust and is long APPL.

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