Jim Cramer Blog

Exxon (XOM), Conco-Phillips (COP), Schlumberger (SLB), Ultra Petroleum (UPL), Apache (APA), Anadarko (APC), XTO Energy (XTO), Arch Coal (ACI), Peabody Energy (BTU), First Solar (FSLR), Applied Materials (AMAT), MEMC Electronics (WFR), Mosaic (MOS), Deere (DE), CSX (CSX), Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI), Jacobs Engineering (JEC), Shaw Group (SGR)
Contrary to popular belief, retail did not cause the rally in the Dow and the Nasdaq, but the culprit was oil, which is the umbrella that makes everything work. Not only did oil stocks like XOM, COP and SLB do well, but Cramer says oil will fuel other stocks the energy sector such as UPL, APA, XTO, ACI and BTU, as well as alternative energy plays FSLR (which reported a better-than-expected quarter and historically fabulous upside guidance), AMAT and WFR. Cramer considers ag stocks as members of the energy sector, given the development of ethanol, and would look at MOS, DE. He added rail such as CSX, and infrastructure, CBI, JEC and SGR will also rise with the oil umbrella.
Conviction Stock: FMC Corp (FMC)
A rally one day may spell a down day the next, and it is hard to know what a stock is really worth in this mad market, said Cramer. He was looking for a conviction stock which could give a little bit of certainty about what it was worth, and came up with FMC, a soda ash company in an underexposed sector which is currently enjoying a silent bull market. Soda ash is used to make glass, brick, water softener and most importantly, agricultural chemicals. Cramer says he feels certain that FMC will reach $70, a 30% upside.

Published By SeekingAlpha

Labels: ACI, AMAT, APA, APC, BTU, CBI, COP, CSX, DE, FSLR, JEC, Jim Cramer, Mad Money, MOS, SGR, SLB, UPL, WFR, XOM, XTO

Bullish Calls:
Aecom Technology (NYSE: ACM - News): 'This may be the cheapest of the infrastructure plays.'Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE: JEC - News): ' ... at $61, should have been bought today... buy, buy, buy! Infrastructure rocks, as does agriculture!'Wachovia (NYSE: WB - News): 'They just raised the dividend, and they said that the bad loans are under control.'Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB - News): 'SLB, to me, is the cheapest. It went down today, along with the whole group. I feel like you can trade up to quality... you can trade up to SLB.'Transocean (NYSE: RIG - News)Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM - News): 'I think, at $15, TTM makes a huge amount of sense.'E*Trade Financial (NasdaqGS: ETFC - News): 'I would buy some here, and let it come down a bit ... There are many companies that have really bad exposure to this mortgage stuff. ETFC is not one of them.'American Capital Strategies (NasdaqGS: ACAS - News): 'I think that this company is a survivor... a lot of people have tried to call it out a lot of times. They're not going to be successful.'Hudson City Bancorp (NasdaqGS: HCBK - News): 'I think we're in dangerous territory with FSLR. Don't buy, don't buy.'Level 3 Communications (NasdaqGS: LVLT - News): 'I like LVLT for one reason... because I believe there's going to be a bandwidth shortage ... I am picking this as a long-term speculation and, when we run out of bandwidth, I'm not backing away.'Tessera Technologies (NasdaqGS: TSRA - News): 'I thought the quarter was going to be good. I got the quarter wrong. I like the story longer term. now, in the low $30s, I would definitely buy it.'Principal Financial Group (NYSE: PFG - News): 'A very cheap stock ... I really like this stock. I was going to buy it for my charitable trust... I didn't get a chance.'LCA-Vision (NasdaqGS: LCAV - News): 'Upgraded today by Raymond James... a big buyback coming... just finished a buyback. I like it.'IBM (NYSE: IBM - News)
Neutral calls:
Dean Foods (NYSE: DF - News): 'This has become a very problematic story and I've got to tell you something... don't buy, don't buy... I don't think it's over, and the company doesn't think the pain's over too.'Banco Popular (NasdaqGS: BPOP - News)Parker Drilling (NYSE: PKD - News)Foster Wheeler (NasdaqGS: FWLT - News): 'On a day like today, up $7, sell, sell, sell... on the conference call, they made it very clear that contracts were lumpy...every time the stock runs a little, I think it's going to run into selling pressure.'First Solar (FSLS)
Published By SeekingAlpha

Labels: ACAS, ACM, BPOP, DF, ETFC, FWLT, HCBK, IBM, JEC, Jim Cramer, LCAV, Lightning Round, LVLT, Mad Money, PFG, PKD, SLB, TSRA, TTM, WB

Six Bulls: John Deere (NYSE: DE - News), Monsanto (NYSE: MON - News), Sociedad de Chemica (NYSE: SQM - News), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT - News), Terex (NYSE: TEX - News), Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW - News), Foster Wheeler (NasdaqGS: FWLT - News), McDermott International (NYSE: MDR - News), Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC - News), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA - News), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL - News), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM - News), Freeport McMoran (NYSE: FCX - News), Lundin Mining (AMEX: LMC - News)
Cramer dedicated the program to discussing six bull markets and recommending stock picks for each sector.
Agriculture: Cramer commented on a "disturbing" editorial in the New York Times which called for an end to agricultural subsidies, but he is confident the policy will never be enacted. Cramer calls Deere "money in the bank" and notes that it sells at 16x earnings and has a 12% growth rate. While Monsanto, which trades at 35 x earings "will never be cheap," Cramer says its 24% growth rate is worth the price at $60, and he would buy it up to $70. The Chilean fertilizer company, SQM, is the world's largest supplier of lithium which goes into batteries and will be in shorter supply as "the greening movement reaches its nauseating zenith."
Machinery While he confesses amazement that CAT is stalled, Cramer says it is "preposterously cheap" trading at 13x earnings with 12% growth. He adds CAT has great international exposure, will benefit from the collapse of its Japanese competitors, and is a solid infrastructure play. While he also likes TEX and MTW, Cramer thinks CAT is still best-of-breed.
Infrastructure: Cramer calls this the "wildest" bull market which will benefit from oil prices and the need to create alernative power plants and petroleum infrastructure. Even though Foster Wheeler and McDermott International have had "tremendous runs" Cramer notes FWLT sells at just 17x next years earnings with 34% growth, and MDR has 14% growth and sells at 17x earnings. He adds these stocks do not get enough coverage on Wall Street, and would buy them. Cramer gives Jacob's Engineering and honorable mention, although is more expensive than the other two.
Aerospace:Boeing is up only 10% when the rest of the sector has risen 22%, and Cramer comments, "It's a laggard. It should be leading." Boeing sells at 20x earnings and has 18% growth. He thinks the company has a good future given the health of the sector, its international business, and some "amazingly-terrible problems at AirBus."
Oil and Gas: After a run for this sector, it was down on Tuesday; "People are just thinking it's over, because oil is down 2 bucks," said Cramer and he expressed confidence that the sector would bounce back. In spite of its "giant" buyback, "robust" outlook for oil and gas and its international exposure, Cramer notes HAL is down 12% from last year. Cramer likes Royal Dutch Shell with 10x earnings, 8% sales growth, and a yield at nearly 4%. While Exxon Mobil was down on Tuesday, it is still "a go-name for big institutions."
Minerals: Cramer says rumors of full copper inventories are "nonsense," because the Chinese need more copper. He likes copper play FCX and says its gold is a good hedge against inflation. He notes the company sells at only 9x earnings, but he predicts a 12x multiple. Cramer added the quarter was not good due to strikes and the cost of its Phelps Dodge deal, but predicts it will benefit from copper demand. He also likes Lundin which he thinks will go from $12 to $15 on the Tenke Mining deal in late June.
Published By SeekingAlpha

Labels: BA, CAT, DE, FCX, FWLT, HAL, JEC, Jim Cramer, LMC, Mad Money, MDR, MON, MTW, SQM, TEX, XOM

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News): 'I think LMT is incredibly cheap. It's got a huge buyback. A question whether it even needs to be public. I would buy that stock hand over fist, every time it gets hammered. It's been a big winner, and it will stay a big winner.'Reliance Steel (NYSE: RS - News): 'RS is the cheapest stock left in the group. I look at RS, in the mid-$40s, and I think it's a travesty... The stock deserves to sell in the $50s... 'Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX - News): ' There are very few stocks that I feel have created value by merging in this country... FCX has created a giant colossus of copper... As the Chinese continue to buy copper, you are going to coin money FCX... I typically don't like the cyclicals right here. FCX is a buy, buy, buy, and I want you to stay long it. FCX, you rock!'Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC - News): ' It has reported two great upside surprises. And it does not get the respect ... JEC is best in show.... trades very difficult... I think $90 goes to $110. I like the infrastructure group. They're doing a great job.'Foster Wheeler (NasdaqGS: FWLT): 'I like FWLT.'Transocean (NYSE: RIG - News): 'I've got to go with best of breed RIG. Long Live RIG!'GlobalSantaFe (NYSE: GSF - News)
Neutral calls:
Riverbed (NasdaqGM: RVBD): 'It has now pulled back to $26. There is a sense that the stock is played out, and the reason is that there's been so much insider selling. I am now in 'wait and see' mode in RVBD.... I can't pull the trigger on RVBD, until I see the quarter...'
Bearish calls:
United States Steel (NYSE: X - News): 'Swap out of X and get into RS.'Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV - News): 'it was the once-great - because no one else had its recipe... and now everyone's got its recipe... and now, it's a don't buy ... LUV has got to come down before I can recommend it.'Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD - News): 'I've got to take the extraordinary step of pressing every single bad button there is! Sell, sell, sell! The house of pain... There is no reason for AMD to live! It has no purpose! It has nothing going for it! If you're in AMD, I give you permission right now to leave, and sell that stock!'GameStop (NYSE: GME - News): 'The new product's dried up a little, so I've got to tell you, I would not buy GME until we get closer to the Christmas season. I think it does nothing for now.'Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO - News): 'No. DO does not have the leverage to the world that RIG has. It has a little too much Gulf of Mexico for me ... I cannot bless that stock.'
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Labels: AMD, DO, FCX, GME, GSF, JEC, Jim Cramer, Lightning Round, LMT, LUV, Mad Money, RIG, RS, X

Abitibi-Consolidated (NYSE:ABY - News) shares rose after the company agreed to merge with Bowater (NYSE:BOW - News) to form the No. 8 publicly traded global forest-products company. The combined company will have pro-forma annual revenue of US$7.9 billion and an enterprise value of US$8 billion, they said in a statement. The new entity, AbitibiBowater, will be held 52% by Bowater's shareholders and 48% by Abitibi's. In the deal, each Abitibi share will be exchanged for 0.06261 share of the new company. Each Bowater share will receive 0.52 share of AbitibiBowater. David J. Paterson, chairman, president and chief executive of Bowater, will be president and CEO of AbitibiBowater. John W. Weaver, president and CEO of Abitibi-Consolidated, will take the post of executive chairman at the merged entity.
Altiris (NasdaqGS:ATRS - News) shares soared after the company agreed to be acquired by Symantec Corp. (NasdaqGS:SYMC - News) for $830 million, or $33 per share.
British Airways Plc (NYSE:BAB - News) said it welcomed the decision by the cabin crew branch of the T&G union to call off the strikes scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday and for two 72-hour periods next month. BA said the details of the settlement will be released in due course. BA said it will attempt to reinstate as many flights as it can for Tuesday and Wednesday but regrets that the decision to cancel the strikes has come too late to prevent disruption to the travel plans of thousands of customers.
Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC - News) shares extended a recent rally following a report in U.K. newspaper The Financial Times that the company has held talks about an alliance or merger with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - News).
Cummins Engine (NYSE:CMI - News) said its fourth-quarter net income rose to $189 million, or a $3.75 share, from $167 million, or $3.31 a share, a year earlier, helped by higher engine sales. A Thomson Financial survey of analysts, on average, expected earnings of $3.77 a share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates usually exclude items. The Columbus, Ind., maker of engines said revenue rose to $3.03 billion from $2.75 billion a year earlier. The company forecasts 2007 earnings of $11 to $11.50 a share. Analysts expect earnings of $10.02 for the year, on average.
Educate Inc. (NasdaqGS:EEEE - News) agreed to a management buyout at $8 a share, or $535 million. Private equity firms Citigroup Private Equity and Sterling Capital Partners are also taking part in the deal, which values the Baltimore educational services firm at a premium of 39 cents a share, or 5% over its closing price of $7.61 on Friday. The transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter, is subject to approval by the company's stockholders. Apollo Sylvan, LLC and Apollo Sylvan II, LLC, holders of approximately 53% of the company's common stock, have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the proposed merger.
First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC - News) shares rose after the company agreed to be acquired by Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER - News) in a cash and stock deal worth about $1.8 billion. The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter, values First Republic at $55 per share. First Republic is a private banking and wealth management firm focused on high net worth individuals and their businesses. According to a joint press release from the two companies, as of September 30, 2006, First Republic had assets of $10.7 billion, loans of $7.6 billion, deposits of $7.9 billion, and assets under management or administration of $16.4 billion.
Gentex Corp. (NasdaqGS:GNTX - News) shares jumped after the auto parts maker posted higher fourth-quarter profit and sales thanks to increased demand for the company's higher margin mirrors. Mirror shipments rose 5% despite the steep automotive production cuts that slammed the domestic auto industry. Gentex posted a profit of $30.8 million, or 22 cents a share, up from $29.6 million, or 19 cents a share, a year ago. Sales rose 8% to $149.6 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected a profit of 18 cents a share on sales of $145.7 million.
HealthSouth Corp. (NYSE:HLS - News) has agreed to sell its outpatient rehabilitation division facility for about $245 million to Select Medical Corporation, a privately-owned operator of specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation facilities, as part of a strategy to position itself as a pure play post-acute care provider. The deal is expected to close in 60 to 90 days, and is subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE:JEC - News) said it has approved a 2-for-1 stock split, to be effected in the form of a stock dividend. The additional shares will be distributed on March 15 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 15.
Laureate Education (NasdaqGS:LAUR - News) said its board has agreed to a $3.1 billion buyout led by Douglas Becker, its founder and CEO, and backed by private equity consortium including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Citigroup Private Equity and hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Management LLC. Under the deal, announced Sunday, Laureate shareholders would receive $60.50 a share in cash, an 11% premium to the closing price of the stock Friday. Including assumed debt, the total value of the deal is $3.8 billion.
Mattel Inc. (NYSE:MAT - News) reported fourth-quarter net income of $286.4 million, or 75 cents a share, up from $279.2 million, or 69 cents, earned in the final three months of 2005. Average shares outstanding were 384 million in the latest quarter, down from 402.5 million a year earlier. Quarterly sales for the El Segundo, Calif.-based toymaker reached $2.11 billion, up 14% from the prior year's $1.84 billion; currency contributed two percentage points to the growth rate. Worldwide gross sales for the company's Barbie doll brand were up 3%, Mattel said. Operating income for the latest quarter came to $388.7 million, up 21%. Analysts, on average, had been looking for Mattel to earn 67 cents a share on revenue of nearly $1.99 billion, according to estimates compiled by Thomson First Call.
Shares of M.D.C. Holdings Inc. (NYSE:MDC - News) rose after analysts at JMP Securities upgraded the company to market outperform from market underperform. "Based on our analysis, we believe M.D.C. is much closer to the bottom than its peers," wrote JMP analyst Alex Barron in a research note Monday. "Its strong balance sheet and free cash flow generation should put the company in a very strong position to start buying land again once the market bottoms and land prices begin to come down hard."
Molecular Devices Corp. (NasdaqGS:MDCC - News) shares rose after the company agreed to be acquired by MDS Inc. (NYSE:MDZ - News) for $615 million. The deal values Molecular Devices' common shares at $35.50 each in cash, compared to Friday's close at $23.88. MDS said the combined company will have more than 1,100 employees. Excluding items, MDS expects the deal to be modestly accretive in 2007 and significantly accretive in 2008 and beyond. MDS anticipates the transaction will close in the second calendar quarter of 2007. Molecular Devices, a Sunnyvale, Calif., provider of bio-analytical measurement systems, posted revenue of $45.5 million for the quarter ended in September.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS - News) said second-quarter net income rose to $65.9 million, or 15 cents a share, from $55 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. The average earnings estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Thomson was 15 cents a share for the latest quarter. The Plymouth, Minn., phosphate and potash company said revenue for the three months ended Nov. 30 rose 2% to $1.52 billion.
Published By MarketWatch

Labels: ABY, ATRS, BAB, BAC, BOW, CFC, CMI, EEEE, FRC, GNTX, HLS, JEC, LAUR, MAT, MDC, MDCC, MDZ, MER, MOS, SYMC