Jim Cramer Blog

Shaw Group (SGR), ABB (ABB)
Infrastructure is one of Cramer's favorite bull markets, and nuclear energy, particularly for emerging economies like India and China, is the sweet spot. Cramer's pick in this sector is Shaw Group, which reported a "beautiful quarter" with a 40% increase in revenue and a backlog of projects which is up 57% since last year and is triple the size of the company. Cramer prefers Shaw to ABB and added, "Given its diminutive size, I would be shocked if it was independent a year from now. But anyhow we like this one for the long haul."
Good as Gold: Yamana (AUY) Barrick (ABX)
Cramer reiterated his two favorite gold picks, Barrick and Yamana, as insurance against inflation. He stressed these are stocks to hold onto and should not be sold if one doesn't see immediate results. He noted AUY has a large mine in China, and ABX succeeds finding and producing more gold when other companies in the sector have stalled.
Sell Block: Peabody Energy (BTU), Massey Energy (MEE), Arch Coal (ACI), International Coal (ICO), Apache (APA), XTO Energy (XTO) Andarko (APC), ConcoPhillips (COP)
King Coal has been dethroned by a recent bill in Congress which threatens to raise dramatically the costs of burning the fuel, and will render stocks in the sector as "untouchable." While investors have been "coining money" with BTU, Cramer would sell the stock, as well as MEE, ACI and ICO. At the same time, Cramer declared "2008 is going to be the year for natural gas," and recommended buying XTO, APC, APA and COP.
CEO Interview: Matthew O'Connell, GeoEye (GEOY)
Matthew O'Connell announced the launch of the company's third satellite, and mentioned Boeing, General Dynamics and ITT participated in the production and launch of the satellite. "We paid up to get a great team," said O'Connell. Cramer said GEOY is and will remain a great speculative stock.
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Labels: ABB, ABX, ACI, APA, APC, AUY, BTU, COP, GEOY, ICO, Jim Cramer, Mad Money, MEE, SGR, XTO

Barrick Gold (ABX), Cramer: "the best gold stock to buy right now." Gold is breaking out because of the weak dollar, lower short-term rates and worries about inflation. Cramer prefers Barrick over other gold companies, because they have a lot of gold reserves and are "totally prepared for higher gold prices." The next call was about Freeport McMoran (FCX). Cramer thinks it will keep going up to $120.
Overlooked IPO's:
AthenaHealth (ATH). Cramer likes its subscription revenue and growth prospects. Athenahealth has 42% growth. He then took some more phone calls.
A caller asked about LDK Solar (LDK); Cramer doesn't like because he thinks there is a big sell off in China stocks coming. He also likes First Solar (FSLR) better.
Another caller asked about Blackstone (BX). Cramer thinks the stock has bottomed out and that there is a short term trading opportunity here.
Am I diversified?
First caller named the following five stocks: SAP (SAP), Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Nvidia (NVDA), BEA Systems (BEAS) and Honeywell (HON). Cramer said too many tech stocks. He said to keep BEA and consider buying a health care stock.
Second caller had Apple (AAPL), Trimble (TRMB), Xoma (XOMA), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and Goldman Sachs (GS). He suggested selling Trimble and, again, picking up a health care cost-container like Hologic.
The last player's five picks: Monsanto (MON), PepsiCo (PEP) Research In Motion (RIMM), U.S. Steel (X) and Exxon Mobil (XOM). Cramer blessed the portfolio as diversified.
Mad Mail: Responding to an email, Cramer called Walgreen (WAG) "still too expensive," and said he likes the cheaper CVS (CVS), which he owns for his charitable trust, better. He said, "Stay away from Walgreen."
Sudden Death: Cramer was bullish on Flotek Industries (FTK), Celgene (CELG) and Crocs (CROX).

Labels: AAPL, ABX, ATH, BX, FCX, FSLR, Jim Cramer, LDK, Mad Money, Mad MOney Recap, NLY, SAP

New economic data offered a relatively stable level of inflation, but investors took a pessimistic view of the numbers and sent stocks lower on the day. The disappointment stemmed in part from the fact that, while recent data has been pointing to a softening economy, inflation pressure is still being felt. All three major indexes closed moderately lower on the day
Looking at the numbers, the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February, ahead of the 0.3% expected by Wall Street. The closely watched core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 0.2%, matching expectations. Coming on the heels of yesterday's Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers, which pointed to some inflationary pressure, the CPI numbers left investors on edge.
In corporate news, several subprime mortgage stocks once again posted outsized gains as the crisis in that sector continues to shake out. Accredited Home Lenders (Nasdaq: LEND - News) added another 16% on top of yesterday's big gains after announcing that it would sell some of its loans at a discount, enabling it to meet looming margin calls. Fremont General (NYSE: FMT - News) tacked on 20% after its credit line with Credit Suisse was boosted by $1 billion.
Elsewhere, in the wake of the January announcement from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. delaying its review of bank charter applications from Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - News), the retailer has scrapped long-held plans to establish a bank. Wal-Mart's plans had come under fire because, among other arguments, some believe a Wal-Mart bank would have an unfair advantage over traditional banks. Wal-Mart has argued all along that it never intended to open its own bank, but that it sought to be classified as one in order to reduce credit and debit card transaction costs. Home Depot (NYSE: HD - News), which also has a pending application, has not abandoned its efforts.
In other news, CVS (NYSE: CVS - News) moved one step closer to completing its marathon effort to acquire pharmacy benefits manager Caremark Rx (NYSE: CMX - News) after Caremark shareholders approved CVS' $26.5 billion offer. CVS had been engaged in a long-running bidding war with Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX - News) over Caremark.
Elsewhere in M&A, crude oil tanker company OMI Corp (NYSE: OMM - News) jumped 14.5% after management said it was considering putting the firm up for sale. Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM - News), meanwhile, posted a modest gain after a BusinessWeek report suggested it might be a target of Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX - News), the world's biggest gold producer. Barrick, however, dismissed the speculation.
Finally, tech giant Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News) announced the biggest stock buyback in its history, authorizing the repurchase of $8.0 billion in shares. The new authorization comes on top of the $3.3 billion HP had remaining, as of January 31st, under its prior $6.0 billion repurchase plan, which was approved in August 2006. The tech leader finished the session only slightly higher on the news.

Labels: ABX, CMX, CVS, ESRX, FMT, HD, HPQ, LEND, NEM, OMM, WMT

Golden Opportunity: Yamana Gold (AMEX: AUY - News), Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX - News), Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM - News), Compania de Minas (NYSE: BVN - News)
Cramer observes that investors are flocking to gold because when they see that the dollar is down and bonds are rallying, they assume that the economy is in decline and "They want to sell all of their stocks and buy gold." Although Cramer believes that the economy is still healthy, perceptions of weakness will be good for gold, since "yellow metal will always be the refuge when times are tough." His favorite stock in the sector is AUY which is "on a roll" at its 52-week high, even though other gold companies such as Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining do not have strong growth prospects. He prefers AUY to BVN because the latter is not a pure play and mines in Peru, which is shaky politically.
Stock of the Year: Allegheny Technologies (NYSE: ATI - News) and Boeing (NYSE: BA - News)
Cramer predicted that ATI would be one of the best-performing stocks of 2006, and with a 144% increase to $88.06 from $36.05 last year, ATI has been rated as the top performer of the S&P 500. Investors should take some profits from ATI, but it's success is still a "cue to buy" and is worth picking up because steel and titanium are still in bull mode and ATI produces metals for BA, and will benefit from gains in the aerospace sector. Cramer reassures investors that these metals are less cyclical than regular steel and not to be worried about ATI's huge run: "Don't be scared --- be a buyer!"
Allegheny Tech (NYSE: ATI - News), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA - News), OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX - News), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG - News), and Nucor (NYSE: NUE - News)
Usually Cramer avoids relying on past trends since stocks behave differently from year to year, but he noted that from 1985 to 2005, the S&P index has been up at the beginning of December, and the trend has been most notable in the past three years. In spite of worries about the market, Cramer suggested investors check out the top five stocks in the index: Allegheny Tech, Nvidia, OfficeMax, Big Lots and Nucor. Cramer says that Nvidia, which is up 94% since last year, is a buy as a play on video-game graphics. Although OMX faces fierce competition with Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS - News), it is a good momentum trade, and also prefers it to Big Lots. Cramer would pick up ATI instead of Nucor, which is up 80%. Cramer suggested putting half a position in ATI, Nvidia and Office Max, to buy the other half if the numbers are low on Friday, and to hold the stocks at least until December 31.
CEO Interview: Mackey McDonald VF Corp (NYSE: VFC - News)
When asked about the apparent bubble in apparel stocks, Mackey McDonald replied, "If you're marketing stronger brands with great new innovative products then there's a lot more room for improvement. And I'd put VF Corp into that category." McDonald said that the North Face brand has a "broad" appeal among consumers, especially those who are interested in the outdoors. When Cramer commented that perhaps VF should buy Timberland (NYSE: TBL - News), McDonald was reluctant to discuss specific acquisitions. Cramer gave VF Corp two thumbs way up.
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Labels: ABX, ATI, AUY, BA, BVN, Jim Cramer, Mad Money, NEM, NVDA, TBL