Jim Cramer Blog

Bullish
5+ Consecutive Down Days: These are stocks that have closed down for five or more consecutive days and are trading above their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading above their 200-day moving average that close down for five or more days have shown positive returns, on average, 1-day, 2-days and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
SunPower Corporation (NasdaqGM:SPWR - News). SPWR's PowerRating is 7.
5+ Consecutive Lower Lows: These are stocks that have made a lower low for five or more consecutive days and are trading above their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading above their 200-day moving average that make lower lows for five or more days have shown positive returns, on average, 1-day, 2-days and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE:CY - News). CY's PowerRating is 6.
2-Period RSI Below 2: These are stocks that have a 2-period RSI reading below 2 and are trading above their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading above their 200-day moving with a 2-period RSI reading below 2 have shown positive returns, on average, 1-day, 2-days and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Laureate Education (NasdaqGS:LAUR - News). LAUR's PowerRating is 7.
Stocks Down 10% or More: These are stocks that have lost 10% or more over the past five days and are trading above their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading above their 200-day moving average that have lost 10% or more over the past five days have shown positive returns, on average, 1-day, 2-days and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Systemax (NYSE:SYX - News). SYX's PowerRating is 6.
Bearish
5+ Consecutive Higher Highs: These are stocks that have made a higher high for five or more consecutive days and are trading below their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading below their 200-day moving average that make higher highs for five or more days have shown negative returns, on average, 1-day, 2-days and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Intuit (NasdaqGS:INTU - News). INTU's PowerRating is 4.
2-Period RSI Above 98: These are stocks that have a 2-period RSI reading above 98 and are trading below their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading below their 200-day moving with a 2-period RSI reading above 98 have shown negative returns, on average, 1-day and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Foot Locker (NYSE:FL - News). FL's PowerRating is 3.
Stocks Up 10% or More: These are stocks that have gained 10% or more over the past five days and are trading below their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading below their 200-day moving average that have gained 10% or more over the past five days have shown negative returns, on average, 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Fremont General (NYSE:FMT - News). FMT's PowerRating is 3.
PowerRatings are courtesy of PowerRatings.net

Labels: CY, FL, FMT, Hot Stocks, INTU, LAUR, SPWR, SYX

Laureate Education (NasdaqGS: LAUR), The Gap (NYSE: GPS - News): The online education, paper and bank sectors are rising from the dead amid the frenetic M & A activity recently, commented Cramer who discussed LAUR as an undervalued stock which is not getting enough credit for its Latin American division. However, he doesn't think that leveraged buyouts are for every company, but sees GPS as a perfect LBO opportunity, because he believes it would perform better as a private company. Selling 500 to 1,000 stores would be "catastrophic for the company's earnings," said Cramer, pointing out that GPS would have the flexibility as a private company to undertake unpopular reforms that are necessary for a turnaround. Although many companies do well publicly, "the payday for private, I find, has been very positive," he said. He concluded by noting that not a lot of capital has been going into the market because people are "fed up with our country" and he thinks that Europe may be a safer place to invest.
Published by SeekingAlpha

Labels: GPS, Jim Cramer, LAUR

A spate of merger news, a handful of positive earnings reports, and a drop in the price of oil helped keep stocks in the black for the first half of today's session, but stocks weakened over the course of the afternoon, and the S&P 500 closed below the unchanged line, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq eked out small gains. Many investors, however, were looking ahead to Wednesday when the market will pour over the latest statement from the Federal Reserve. The Fed has kept interest rates unchanged at its last four meetings.
Reflecting the growing unlikelihood that the Fed will lower rates any time soon, bonds showed weakness and the 10-year Treasury note traded lower, pushing the yield higher on the day. Meanwhile, after a brief rally in oil spurred in part by the belated onset of cold weather across much of the U.S., traders took profits and drove the price of a barrel of crude down to below $54 a barrel.
In M&A news, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER - News) said it will pay about $1.8 billion in cash and stock to acquire First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC - News), a 44% premium to First Republic's Friday closing price. Citigroup (NYSE: C - News) announced that it will spend $1.13 billion to buy Egg, the online banking arm of U.K. insurance firm Prudential PLC (NYSE: PUK - News).
Forest products companies Bowater (NYSE: BOW - News) and Abitibi-Consolidated (NYSE: ABY - News) agreed to combine in an all-stock deal. Security software firm Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC - News) said it will pay about $830 million for Altiris (Nasdaq: ATRS - News), a maker of IT software. The offer is a 22% premium to Altiris' closing price on Friday. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY - News) jumped 5% after a report from a French newspaper said that the company is in merger talks with French conglomerate Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY - News). And, finally, education services provider Laureate (Nasdaq: LAUR - News) agreed to a management-led buyout deal worth $3.8 billion.
Verizon (NYSE: VZ - News) reported fourth-quarter results, posting a year-over-year decline in net income due to charges related to the sale of several non-core businesses. Excluding those charges, Verizon's results beat estimates by a penny. On the conference call, Verizon execs also said that they were happy to have turned down Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL - News) offer to be the exclusive partner for the new iPhone because of the onerous terms dictated by Apple. AT&T (NYSE: T - News; formerly Cingular) ultimately agreed to team with Apple.
Toymaker Mattel (NYSE: MAT - News) also reported fourth-quarter results, with net profit rising 3% year over year to 75 cents per share and revenue gaining 14% to $2.11 billion. The results easily beat analyst estimates. However, the company acknowledged that an impressive showing from toys related to the Disney (NYSE: DIS - News) and Pixar film "Cars" would make for tough comparisons in 2007.
In tech news, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - News) jumped 2% after announcing a technological breakthrough. The world's biggest chipmaker said that it has built working prototypes of new transistors using new materials that improve performance. IBM (NYSE: IBM - News) also announced technology using the new material, the element hafnium. Separately, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News) moved up 2% after positive comments from several analysts.
By the BullMarket.com Staff

Labels: AAPL, ABY, ATRS, BMY, BOW, C, DIS, FRC, HPQ, IBM, INTC, LAUR, MAT, MER, PUK, SNY, SYMC, T, VZ

Stocks see mild gains on several merger deals and ahead of FOMC meeting this week. Last week saw the major market indices all fall about 0.60 percent on concerns about interest rates. Rising bond yields have pushed long term rates higher mostly due to stronger than expected economic data of late. This week will see several economic reports, but the FOMC meeting will garner most the attention. The FOMC meeting will begin tomorrow, resulting in a statement Wednesday afternoon. With strength in recent economic reports, the feeling is that the committee will keep its focus on inflation pressures. They also are likely to hit on the rise in bond yields and the sharp drop in energy prices. Overall, the FOMC statement shouldn’t have a major impact on trading because it isn’t likely to change from the last one. In merger news, Merrill Lynch (MER) agreed to buy First Republic (FRC) for $1.8 billion. This deal values FRC shares at $55, which has resulted in a gain of more than 40 percent Monday. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2007. MER shares have fallen 1.5 percent on the news. In other merger news, Laureate Education (LAUR) shares are up 13 percent after succumbing to a leveraged buyout by Chief Executive Douglas Becker and a group of investors including KKR. Chip giant Intel (INTC) is seeing higher prices Monday, as is IBM (IBM). Both companies’ announced that they are working with new materials for chips that will speed computers up even more. Both are using “high-K” technology that will reduce electrical leakage and the size of the transistor. Intel expects to start making the chips in late 2007. IBM expects to use there new chips starting in early 2008. In earnings news, Deutsche Telekom (DT) cut its forecast for 2007 and this led to a decline of nearly 5 percent for the stock. The company is blaming tougher competition and recent weakness in the dollar. The news was enough to convince Citigroup to move the stock to a “Sell” rating. Later this week, earnings will be reported by Google (GOOG), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Altria (MO) to name a few. Economic news will also get plenty of attention with the release of the GDP report, the ISM Index, personal incomes and the always important employment release on Friday.
-Jody Osborne

Labels: DT, FRC, GOOG, IBM, INTC, LAUR, MER, MO, XOM

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

Stocks Ready to Surge: These are the stocks that today made new 10-day lows that are still in an uptrend as they are trading above their 200-day moving average. They are sorted in rank according to how over-extended they are vs. their 10-day moving average. For example, the top ranked stock is trading the furthest distance from its 10-day moving average on a percentage basis. Historically, these stocks on average have had larger than normal short-term upside reversals.
Kellogg (NYSE:K - News). K's PowerRating is 6.
Pullbacks from Highs: Most successful momentum-based traders and money managers like to buy strong stocks after they pull back. TradingMarkets.com uses a proprietary mathematical model to identify up to 30 (in weak or choppy markets there will be fewer) of the strongest stocks that have pulled back from recent highs. These stocks should be considered potential candidates to resume their longer-term uptrends.
Potash Corp (NYSE:POT - News). POT's PowerRating is 6.
Long Windows Candidates: These are stocks which are in a strong uptrend, as determined by a proprietary trend filter and whose current bar has its high below the 4-day moving average. Historically, these stock on average have had a larger than normal short-term upside reversals. In order for us to be a buyer of a "Trading Window," we must have a 10-period ADX reading of 30 or higher and a +DI reading above the -DI reading. Or we must have a 14-period +DI of 30 or higher (with no ADX reading required). "Single Windows" are the most common type of Windows. They are simply a single bar which has its high of the day below the 4-period moving average. You will enter if the stock trades above yesterday's high.
William Wrigley Jr. Co (NYSE:WWY - News). WWY's PowerRating is 8.
Trading Where the Action Is: This list contains the most volatile stocks over the past 50 trading days. These stocks are only for the most aggressive traders who are willing to assume a high degree of risk in order to capture larger gains.
NS Group (NYSE:NSS - News). NSS's PowerRating is 3.
Explosion List: An inherent feature of all markets is that periods of lower-than-normal volatility are usually followed by periods of higher volatility. These stocks are trading at one-third or less of their normal volatility and therefore have a high likelihood of exploding within the next few trading days.
Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - News). LAUR's PowerRating is 7.
Stocks Ready to Drop: These are the stocks that today made new 10-day highs that are still in an downtrend as they are trading below their 200-day moving average. They are sorted in rank according to how over-extended they are vs. their 10-day moving average. For example, the top ranked stock is trading the furthest distance from its 10-day moving average on a percentage basis. Historically, these stocks on average have had larger than normal short-term downside reversals.
AutoNation (NYSE:AN - News). AN's PowerRating is 4.
Pullbacks from Lows: Most successful momentum-based traders and money managers like to sell weak stocks after they pull back. TradingMarkets.com uses a proprietary mathematical model to identify up to 20 (in strong or choppy markets there will be fewer) weak stocks that have pulled back from recent lows. These stocks should be considered potential candidates to resume their longer-term downtrends.
Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX - News). ESRX's PowerRating is 3.
PowerRatings are courtesy of PowerRatings.net

Labels: AN, Autonation, ESRX, Express Scripts, Kellog, LAUR, Laureate Education, NS Group, NSS, Potash Corp., William Wrigley Jr. Co., WWY