Jim Cramer Blog

Shares of Altria Group Inc. rose to a new all-time high Thursday after a UBS Investment Research analyst raised his price target on the tobacco and food maker's stock, saying it didn't rise as much as other cigarette makers in 2006.
Altria Group gained about 13 percent last year, roughly inline with the overall stock market. However, competitors in the cigarette industry rose more. Reynolds American Inc., which makes Camel and Winston, added 37 percent and Carolina Group, which makes Newport and Kent, rose 38 percent.
Analyst Jonathan Leinster raised his price target on Altria to $94 from $81 to account for higher stock values in the cigarette sector. Investors haven't rewarded Altria as much as other cigarette companies because profit growth is slower, he said.
Through its Philip Morris division, New York-based Altria makes the Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, and Parliament cigarette brands. Altria also makes food through majority owned subsidiary Kraft Foods Inc.
Leinster said Altria will probably finish spinning off Kraft Foods to shareholders by May. This will be good for the company, he said, but investors have already anticipated the benefits and priced them into the stock.
Shares of Altria rose $1.15 to a new high of $90.50 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange before slipping back to $90.26, up $1.27.
Published by AP

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New York Times (NYSE: NYT - News) and Tribune (NYSE: TRB - News) - Cramer would use the news of Hank Greenberg's purchase of NYT stock as an opportunity to sell, since the company has two classes of stock which will " stop just the kind of maneuvering that is being done now to get The Times to do something to make itself more profitable," Cramer said. "So, why try to force a takeover when you can't?" With its A class and B class shares, NYT is like a "a private institution masquerading as a public stock," comments Cramer, who says that Greenberg would be more successful buying a university. Cramer takes the extension on the sale of Tribune's newspaper as a sign that it doesn't generate cash flow; "The private equity guys will ditch the papers fast, bring TV public quickly and sell the Cubs for much more than Tribune would know how to." Cramer also criticized Tribune's "stupid, highly leveraged buyback."
Related: Lon Juricic notes the jump in NYT's shares on the news of Hank Greenberg's purchase.
Something's Brewing: Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD - News) - Contrary to popular belief, BUD says that it is not in decline, and after finding that the news was better than he expected, Cramer agrees. Although The Wall Street Journal reported problems in the BUD's international brewing, Cramer points out another article mentioned the stock was up 75 cents after reiterating its earnings-per-share growth projections. "Buy it today, the press got it wrong," he said.
Bogus Perceptions: Verizon (NYSE: VZ - News) and Tiffany (NYSE: TIF - News) - In spite of the "bogus perception" that Verizon is clueless and is spending too much money on wireless, Cramer comments Verizon is a "low-risk stock to play some really terrific stuff," such as its mobile deal with YouTube, its ringtone downloading business and "terrific" dividend. Another "bogus" idea is that oil's rise is behind recent selloffs, but Cramer pointed out that both oil and the market are up, and the real culprit is in an "incredible amount of shorting" by hedge funds. For example, hedge funds were bearish on Tiffany on Monday because of talk about its weakness in Japan. However, the U.S. business has compensated for this weakness and the stock is up.
Related: Steven Towns discusses Tiffany's comments on its Japanese business.
Bullish calls:
McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP - News): Cramer called MHP a "phenomenal" diversified stock with the the "best business model of any media company," and recommends buying up to $67.Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT - News): Cramer likes this company better than CHTR.Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ - News): JNJ has a "fantastic story," says Cramer, and has been unjustifiably hammered because of its stent business.Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP - News): The credit belongs to CEO Fred Hassan, a "bankable guy" who has improved SGP "brick-by-brick."Companhia Vale do Rio (NYSE: RIO - News): "Don't sell it here, it's too darn cheap."
Neutral/Bearish calls:
Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR - News): This company needs to refinance its debts so its shareholders can make money.Novartis (NYSE: NVS - News): This stock is not best-0f-breed, according to Cramer, who prefers JNJ and SGP.
Published By SeekingAlpha

Labels: CGTR, Jim Cramer, JNJ, LVLT, MHP, NVS, Real Money, RIO, SGP