Jim Cramer Blog

Research In Motion (NasdaqGS:RIMM - News) reported Q3 net income more than doubled, and raised its Q4 guidance above estimates.
Jabil Circuit (NYSE:JBL - News) reported a 50% rise in Q1 profit, and provided guidance for Q2 and FY08.
Cisco Systems (NasdaqGS:CSCO - News) announced that Chief Development Officer, Charles Giancarlo, is leaving the company to join Silver Lake Partners. Giancarlo was seen by many as a possible successor to John Chambers, the company's CEO.
Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM - News) sold its royalty assets and certain other non-core investments to Franco-Nevada Corporation in a transaction valued at $1.3.
Sun Bancorp (NYSE:SNBC - News) announced a $1.1 billion share buyback.
Tibco Software (NasdaqGS:TIBX - News) Q4 profit declined, but on a non-GAAP basis, earnings rose from the year-ago.
KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY - News) announced a Q4 charge, but increased its dividend for the 43rd consecutive year.

Labels: CSCO, Hot Stocks, JBL, KEY, NEM, RIMM, SNBC, TIBX

Citigroup (C) fell 5% Monday after news of more write-downs and CEO Chuck Prince’s departure. Charlie Gasparino joined the show to give his opinion on Citigroup. He thinks that Citigroup didn’t pop on the news of Prince leaving because Chairman Robert Rubin failed to communicate the new Citigroup vision that everyone on Wall Street was looking for. Macke thinks that Citigroup has to clear the deck and bring in somebody new to run the company.
Chartology: Technical analyst John Roque of Natexis Bleichroeder was on the show to give his analysis on the technical signs in the market. Roque still likes the longer term trend line on the S&P moving average. He predicts that the financials will be under performers for a long time. Roque also points out that the trend for oil, silver and gold remains up and if history is a guide that up trend will continue. He is positive about Newmont Mining (NEM) and thinks the stock can trade into the high $80’s.
Ethanol: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is set to report earnings on Tuesday. Najarian tells investors to look to at Deere (DE) and Bunge (BG) instead. Adami would rather be in Potash (POT) for an ethanol play.
IAC/InterActive Corp (IACI) announced plans Monday to split up into 5 separate companies. Also, Kraft (KFT) is looking to sell its Post cereal business for $2.8 billion. Finerman is happy with the news. Macke also likes Kraft's plans, but he wasn’t a big fan of IAC/InterActive’s plans to spin off divisions. Najarian thinks that Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) could benefit from a break up.
Technology: Google (GOOG) announces plans to create an open platform, Android, for the mobile phone market. Sun Microsystems (JAVA) falls after hours on lighter then expected revenue numbers. Macke thinks companies like VMware (VMW) and its technology could put JAVA out of business in the future. Dell (DELL) announced plans on Monday to buy virtualization software maker EqualLogic for $1.4 billion. Activision (ATVI) reports a second quarter profit as revenue soars.
Word on the Street: Time Warner (TWX) CEO Richard Parsons will step down on January 1st and be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Bewkes. Finerman likes the retail stocks better than financials. She bought call options on Friday and Monday on Crocs (CROX) and also thinks Under Armour (UA) and Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) are interesting here. PetroChina (PTR) topped $1 trillion in market cap surpassing Exxon Mobil (XOM). Adami likes that Chevron (CVX) preformed okay in a lousy tape today.
Pops & Drops
Pops -First Solar (FSLR) traded up 10% after hours on news of a $1 billion module supply contract.
Marvel Entertainment (MVL) traded up 16% on a strong profits report.
Mattel (MAT) traded up 4%
Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) traded up 12%
WellCare Health Plans (WCG) popped 22% on a 67% increase in profits.
Sysco (SYY) traded up 2% after reporting a 16% rise in profits.

Labels: ADM, ATVI, BG, BLDP, CROX, DE, DELL, DKS, Fast Money Recap, GOOG, IACI, JAVA, JNJ, MAT, MVL, NEM, POT, TWX, UA, VMW

The S&P 500 is now up 7.6% on the year, and the Dow is up 11.3%.
The commodity sector had its best monthly performance in 32 years. Adami: Scared that a gold company like Newmont (NEM) is down 8% from its high, while gold is near 27 year highs. Finerman suggests that the poor stock performance is due to company specific problems unrelated to the gold market. Najarian maintains that gold is going higher, but advises keeping an eye on coal stocks. His coal plays are BHP Billiton (BHP), Consol (CNX) and Peabody (BTU).
The Chinese Stock Market: put in its best quarterly performance ever. Everyone keeps calling a top in China, but Najarian feels there's still room on the upside. He favors China Mobile (CHL), China Unicom (CHU) and Baidu (BIDU). Adami continues to advise investors to take profits in China Mobile.
Technology: 52-week highs were achieved by leading technology stocks like Research In Motion (RIMM) and Apple (AAPL). Najarian: "the wireless run that isn't over". He also steers investors to memory plays like SanDisk (SNDK) and Micron (MU). Macke owns Intel (INTC) for PC growth and continues to hold it. He sees it going to $30, if the consumer hangs in. Adami's attention is set on Microsoft (MSFT) and he is calling for it to trade up through $32.
Solar stocks: exploded higher this week. Najarian offers Cypress Semiconductor (CY) which owns a chunk of SunPower (SPWR).
Word on the Street: General Motors (GM) traded higher after striking a deal with the United Auto Workers. Macke: Says that it was a great deal for General Motors and the labor union took it on the chin. The deal will also benefit Ford (F). Finerman: prefers the auto suppliers and picks Lear (LEA) as the best choice.
Consumer Stocks: Warnings from Target (TGT) and Lowe's (LOW) helped to put pressure on consumer stocks this week. Macke points out that the consumer is a mixed bag right now, and regardless of the warnings, investors should own a best of breed stock like Target. Contrarian Najarian says sell Target and buy Kohl's (KSS)
Unknowns: The unknowns are the US economy, the housing market and the credit crunch. Najarian: picks included Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), Manitowoc (MTW) and BHP Billiton. Adami: says Dell (DELL) is the best name. Knowing that commodities are a sure thing, he also recommends a farmer trade with Potash (POT) and Agrium (AGU). Macke: stick with stuff that has been working like McDonald's (MCD), Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and Intel. Finerman: lower risk with big multinationals that have safe balance sheets. Kraft (KFT), Estee Lauder (EL) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) come to mind.
Chartology: Louise Yamada, the highest ranked technical analyst on Wall Street from 2001-2004 was on the show. Yamada thinks the S&P 500 could go through the all-time highs, but the volume is less than impressive in her eyes. Adami: the market is setting up for a nice rally into next year. Yamada took a look at the chart of Cisco (CSCO). She declares that CSCO is a buy right now and is poised to go much higher. Macke agreed and said that big cap tech is under owned. Lastly, Yamada analyzed the chart of Centex (CTX). She thinks that CTX can rally back to $40 and then investors should sell because ultimately, it's going to $10.
Fast Fire: Finerman recommended buying Brown Shoe (BWS). Since her call, BWS has dropped 7%. Finerman won't give up on BWS. Adami proposed buying Masco (MAS). Masco has traded down 5% since his call. Adami is more patient and says you can buy it down to $22.50. Najarian told traders to buy St. Jude (STJ). The stock has fallen 4%. Najarian won't budge on STJ.
Bulls: EchoStar (DISH). Macke nailed it and DISH is up 8% since his call. On August 17th Finerman gave out Daimler (DAI) for a buy. She was on the money and the stock was up a whopping 25% since her call. On August 18th Adami recommended getting long China Mobile. Adami hit this one out of the park. The stock is up 45% since his call. Najarian proposed solar plays with Trina Solar (TSL), Suntech Power (STP) and SunPower (SPWR). All three went up double digits since that recommendation.
Pops & Drops
Pops- eBay (EBAY) popped 22%, Amazon (AMZN) popped 35%, and Blue Nile (NILE) exploded up 56%. Macke says these are the toughest shorts on the planet. Najarian loves Apple (AAPL). Whole Foods (WFMI) traded up 27%.
Drops- Wal-Mart (WMT) fell 9%. Adami says if they can get margins higher WMT goes to $60. Merrill Lynch (MER) fell 17%.
Final Trade
Adami: Target even in light of the warnings.
Najarian: gave out Cypress Semiconductor as his solar play.
Finerman: likes Yahoo (YHOO)

Labels: AAPL, BHP, BIDU, BTU, CHL, CHU, CNBC, CNX, Fast Money, Fast Money Recap, INTC, NEM, RIMM, SNDK

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

Here are 7 stocks for traders for Thursday:
Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM - News) beat earnings Wednesday after the bell, with $0.10 EPS over a consensus of $0.07 EPS. CRM's PowerRating is 7.
Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF - News) matched earnings expectations Wednesday after the market closed, announcing $2.14 EPS. ANF's PowerRating is 6.
Whole Foods (NasdaqGS:WFMI - News) missed earnings on Wednesday afternoon barely missing with $0.38 EPS versus an expected $0.40 EPS. WFMI signed an agreement to acquire Wild Oats Markets (NasdaqGM:OATS - News) after hours on Wednesday. WFMI's PowerRating is 5.
Ballard Power (NasdaqGM:BLDP - News) is expected to report -$0.15 EPS on Thursday before the market opens. BLDP's PowerRating is 3.
JC Penney (NYSE:JCP - News) announces quarterly earnings on Thursday morning; watch for $1.97 EPS. JCP's PowerRating is 5.
Analysts are looking for Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - News) to report $1.13 EPS on Thursday before the market opens. SRE's PowerRating is 6.
When Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM - News) reports quarterly earnings on Thursday morning, look for $0.38 EPS. NEM's PowerRating is 4.
PowerRatings are courtesy of PowerRatings.net

Labels: ANF, BLDP, CRM, Hot Stocks, JCP, NEM, OATS, SRE, WFMI

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - News) named Jon Stonehouse its chief executive. BioCryst, a Birmingham, Ala., drug development company, said Stonehouse succeeds Charles Bugg, the company's founder and CEO. Bugg will become nonexecutive chairman. Stonehouse had been senior vice president of corporate development at Merck KGaA.
Caremark Rx (NYSE:CMX - News) rejected an unsolicited merger proposal from Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX - News) and affirmed its support for a deal with CVS (NYSE:CVS - News).
Compucredit Corp. (NASDAQ:CCRT - News) said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it now expects earnings for the fourth quarter to come about 20% below its previous projections.
Delta Apparel Inc. (AMEX:DLA - News) said it expects second-quarter sales of $72 million to $73 million, down from a previous estimate of $74 million to $78 million, and earnings of 5 cents to 7 cents a share, down from a prior projection of 14 cents to 18 cents a share. Delta Apparel also cut its forecast for the year's sales and earnings.
Dynavax Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:DVAX - News) shares fell after the Berkeley, Calif.-based biotech company said interim one-year data from its two-year ragweed allergy trial indicated that "no meaningful ragweed-specific allergic disease was observed in the study population," making it impossible for the company to measure the impact of its Tolamba treatment. "This result was unexpected, though these challenges are well known to occur in allergy drug development," said Dino Dina, president and chief executive, in a statement. "Due to the fact that no clinically significant disease was seen in the study population, it was impossible to measure the effect of our intervention."
Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - News) was downgraded to hold from buy at BB&T Capital Markets.
Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN - News) was downgraded to neutral from buy at D.A. Davidson due to valuation concerns.
GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (NYSE:GOL - News) said its passenger traffic rose 48% in December while its capacity rose 65% for the month, compared to the same period last year. That caused its load factor, or percentage of seats filled with paying passengers, to fall to 67.4% from 75.2%. The Brazilian low-cost airline also forecast a drop in fiscal year earnings to 3.15 to 3.30 reals a share, down from 3.40 to 3.65 reals a share.
Heartland Payment (NYSE:HPY - News) was downgraded to underweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel Partners.
Hertz (NYSE:HTZ - News) plans to cut roughly 200 jobs in the first of "a series of initiatives" to improve its competitiveness. The layoffs will come at headquarters in Park Ridge, N.J., a service center in Oklahoma City, and in U.S. field operations. The car-rental company expects to save as much as $15.8 million annually from the job cuts and expects restructuring charges of $3.3 million to $3.8 million in the first quarter.
MarineMax Inc. (NYSE:HZO - News) sees a first-quarter loss of 20 cents to 25 cents a share; the First Call-derived average forecast stands at a loss of 6 cents. The company also lowered its profit outlook for fiscal 2007.
Medecision (NASDAQ:MEDE - News) shares plunged after the Wayne, Pa.-based a provider of software and services to healthcare payers said late Friday it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $10.3 million to $10.6 million. MEDecision said it signed five contracts during the quarter, resulting in lower-than expected term license revenue of between $1.1 million and $1.3 million.
Methanex Corp. (NASDAQ:MEOH - News) was downgraded to sector underperformer from sector performer at CIBC World Markets.
Microsemi (NASDAQ:MSCC - News) was downgraded to equal weight from overweight at Lehman Bros. The firm cited a lack of catalysts for the stock.
Molex Inc. (NASDAQ:MOLX - News) lowered its second-quarter earnings and sales outlook citing lower-than-anticipated gross margins, which is due primarily to lower sales and higher price erosion in its mobile phone business. The Lisle, Ill. electronics components maker now expects to earnings of 34 to 37 cents a share vs. its previous forecast of 39 to 43 cents a share. Revenue is expected to be $830 million to $840 million, revised from a previous projection of $830 million to $850 million. The company also sees new orders slowing to $770 million to $780 million.
Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN - News) said a clinical trial of MPC-7869, designed to evaluate its safety and potential efficacy in slowing the rate of progression of prostate cancer, didn't show statistical significance in either endpoint. The primary clinical endpoints of the trial were the time to systemic disease progression and the change in velocity of prostate specific antigen levels. The company said it does not intend to pursue further development of the compound in cancer. Myriad said it will continue to concentrate its efforts on the compound's activity in Alzheimer's disease.
Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM - News) was downgraded to underweight from neutral weight at Prudential, which cited weak earnings power even at optimistic assumptions for metals prices. Analyst John Tumazos also lowered his stock price target to $40 from $50. "While heretofore we have 'disbelieved' how badly the company's costs deteriorated, and expected a future cost turnabout, we have given up hope in large part," Tumazos said in a research note to clients. "We expect a higher gold price outlook owing in part to higher gold mining costs and output erosion, but the profit margin at those higher prices is much lower than envisioned several years ago."
Northwest Airlines Corp. (Other OTC:NWACQ.PK - News) said traffic in December rose 1.1% to 6.38 billion revenue passenger miles. Load factor, or the percentage of the plane filled with passengers, increased by 0.7 percentage points to 80.7%. Capacity rose 0.1% to 7.9 billion available seat miles, the Eagan, Minn.-based carrier said.
Novastar Financial (NYSE:NFI - News) was downgraded to market perform from market outperform at JMP Securities.
Nu Horizons Electronics (NASDAQ:NUHC - News) said net income rose 59% to $2.4 million, or 13 cents a share, for its fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 30 with sales up 26% to $186 million. From the last quarter, however, sales fell at the electronic components distributor, due to a decline in the company's systems business related to a substantial customer-specific decrease, as well as to market weakness related to some end customer and manufacturing channel inventory builds.
Panacos Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PANC - News) named Alan Dunton M.D. its new chief executive. Dunton has also been added to the company's board of directors. Dunton replaces Peyton Marshall, Panacos' chief financial officer, who had served as interim CEO since the sudden death of former Chief Executive Samuel "Skip" Ackerman last June.
P.F. Chang's China Bistro (NASDAQ:PFCB - News) was downgraded to underperform from peer perform at Bear Stearns.
Schnitzer Steel Industries (NASDAQ:SCHN - News) reported first-quarter earnings of $21 million, or 69 cents a share, down from a year-ago profit of $42 million, or $1.34 a share. The year-ago results included a gain of $34 million related to an asset disposition as well as a charge of $11 million from an investigation reserve. Excluding items, Portland, Ore.-based Schnitzer earned $19 million, or 61 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose in the latest three months to $510 million from $341 million in the same period a year earlier. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call was for a profit of 99 cents a share in the November period on revenue of $511.9 million. The company said it saw lower volumes and higher costs per ton in the latest quarter due to the installation of mega-shredders at its metals recycling facilities in the Oakland and Boston areas. In addition, margins were hurt by higher raw material costs in the quarter, and its auto parts business saw lower vehicle purchases due to higher prices.
Targeted Genetics Corp. (NASDAQ:TGEN - News) agreed to sell 2.18 million shares to institutional investors at a price of $4 each. The transaction includes warrants to purchase up to 763,000 shares, exercisable at price of $5.41 per share. The Seattle-based biotechnology company expects net proceeds of $8.1 million from the transaction, which is expected to close Jan. 11. Targeted Genetics plans to use the funds for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Published By MarketWatch

Labels: BCRX, CCRT, CMX, CVS, DLA, DVAX, ESRX, FAST, GOL, GRMN, HPY, HTZ, HZO, MEDE, MEOH, MYGN, NEM, NFI, SCHN, TGEN

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.
Published By SeekingAlpha

Labels: ABX, ATI, AUY, BA, BVN, Jim Cramer, Mad Money, NEM, NVDA, TBL