Jim Cramer Blog

Not so Cheesy: Kraft (NYSE: KFT - News), Altria (NYSE: MO - News)
Cramer admits he was wrong in thinking Kraft was just a "crummy" spinoff from MO, but says he's done well to own the latter company. He suggests piggybacking on activist investor Carl Icahn and master money manager Nelson Peltz, who keep buying Kraft; Cramer predicts Pelz may increase his position in the stock by another 3%. Since "activists, in general, tend to outperform the indices," Cramer would follow the leaders, and would wait to buy more when the stock dips a few points.
Up, Up and Away: Spirit AeroSystems Holdings (NYSE: SPR - News)
Cramer admits he was stumped when a caller asked about this stock, but since he has done some research on SPR, Cramer says the stock is a triple buy. SPR is the chief supplier of parts to Boeing's Dreamliner plane, which Cramer says is "the best thing since sliced bread." He added SPR has very clear growth potential if the plane is a success, and the stock sells at only 16 x next year's earnings. In addition, SPR could get some business from Boeing rival Airbus, and will go higher, since aerospace is in bull mode, according to Cramer. He suggests buying half a position before and half after SPR reports earnings.

European Play: ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB - News)
For Tuesday's pick, Cramer looked to Switzerland where "500 years of democracy and peace have produced nothing but the cuckoo clock, and ABB Ltd." He calls this stock "the single best pure play on infrastructure around the world." Since power plants are difficult to build, ABB's expertise is very much in demand, and the company just announced a strong quarter and has "tons" of cash to make an acquisition or raise its dividend.
Mad Mail: ConcoPhillips (NYSE: COP - News), Caliper Life Sciences (NasdaqGM: CALP - News) and Volcano (NasdaqGM: VOLC - News)
Cramer told one viewer not to be worried that COP pulled back after its 9% gain last week, and would use the decline as a buying opportunity. "I hope it goes to $80 so I can buy some for my charitable trust," he added. When asked about his recommendation of CALP last year, Cramer says while the company has solid technologies, the life sciences industry "just doesn't have it right now." Cramer said VOLC is in the same boat as CALP and added, "You can buy it here, but it probably won't move until the fall." For the remainder of the summer, he would buy tech and best-of-breed stocks in his five bull markets.

Published By SeekingAlpha

Labels: ABB, CALP, COP, Jim Cramer, KFT, Mad Money, MO, SPR, VOLC

Bullish Calls:
Ameriprise (NYSE: AMP - News): 'I continue to try to buy ... It keeps getting away from me. But it's still dirt cheap. I think this is a real winner.'AeroVironment (NasdaqGM: AVAV - News): 'I thought unmanned aerospace was going to be the next thing. ... I would actually pull the trigger right here. I would buy AVAP.'Portfolio Recovery Associates (NasdaqGS: PRAA - News): ' I remain bullish on Portfolio Recovery because anything that preys upon that weakened American consumer who needs help is a triple buy.'Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE: SPR - News): 'I think it's run too much. Can we put it in the Don'tBuy camp?'BE Aerospace (NasdaqGS: BEAV - News): 'the answer is bullish!'AAR (NYSE: AIR - News)Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP - News)Barnes Group (NYSE: B - News): 'It's got railroads, it's got precision instruments; in other words, it's got bulls running with it. I like letter B.'Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP - News)Companhia Vale Do Rio Doce (NYSE: RIO - News): [RTP, RIO BHP and FCX are the] ' four horsemen of another era, and you need to stay long these until I tell you otherwise.'BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP - News)Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX - News)Savient Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGM: SVNT - News): 'You know this is one of my favorite stocks. Why would you leave it now?'Amazon.com (NasdaqGS: AMZN - News): 'I think Amazon's an up stock. ... I would continue to buy it.'Crocs (NasdaqGS: CROX - News): 'We're gonna get out of Crocs when we have four analysts recommending it. Right now we only have two. ... I'm staying long Crocs.'
Bearish calls:
Staples (NasdaqGS: SPLS - News): ' ... I have put people in this thing for a year now, and it hasn't moved. Sometimes you have to admit you're wrong and move on.'
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Labels: AIR, AMP, AMZN, AVAV, B, BEAV, BHP, CROX, FCX, Jim Cramer, Lightning Round, Mad Money, PCP, PRAA, RIO, RTP, SPLS, SPR

Google Inc. (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Monday that Google and Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS:AAPL - News) are working together on "many more" new projects, which he did not identify. Schmidt made his comments at a technology conference in San Francisco. Google has nearly doubled the annual salaries of Chief Financial Officer George Reyes and three other top-level executives, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Health Management Associates Inc. (NYSE:HMA - News) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
The International Securities Exchange (NYSE:ISE - News) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Banc of America Securities. "The recent spike in volatility has driven surging option volumes. We expect volatility to remain at elevated levels in the near-term, and we could be at the start of a cyclical turn to a higher volatility environment, so we are raising ISE's volume growth forecasts to 24% in 2007 and 25% in 2008," the broker said.
Landauer (NYSE:LDR - News) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Hilliard Lyons.
Lifetime Brands Inc.'s (NasdaqGS:LCUT - News) fourth-quarter net income rose to $9.46 million, or 62 cents a share, from $7.22 million, or 60 cents, a year earlier. A Thomson Financial survey of analysts, on average, projected earnings of 64 cents a share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates usually exclude items. The Westbury, N.Y., maker of consumer products said revenue rose 26% to $157.3 million from $124.4 million in the year-ago period. The company forecasts 2007 earnings of $1.40 to $1.70 a share on revenue of $540 million to $575 million. Analysts are looking for earnings of $1.58 a share for the year.
Maidenform Brands Inc. (NYSE:MFB - News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $3.22 million, or 13 cents a share. During the same period a year ago, the company posted a net loss of $209,000, or a penny a share. The Bayonne, N.J.-based marketer of intimate apparel reported revenue of $85 million vs. $79.5 million. For 2007, Maidenform said it expects per-share earnings growth of 15% to 18% on total net sales growth of 6% to 7%.
Microchip Technology Inc. (NasdaqGS:MCHP - News) said it still expects fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of about 33 cents a share, or 36 cents a share excluding items. The Chandler, Ariz., provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors also said it expects net sales to be flat to slightly up from third-quarter sales of $251 million. In January, Microchip said it expected fourth-quarter revenue to be flat from the third quarter.
Monsanto (NYSE:MON - News) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup, which cited expectations of a Latin American recovery and a key regulatory change in Brazil. Citigroup said it expects Brazilian farming to recover due to higher grain prices, a greater share of the soybean market as U.S. production declines and the ability to turn more land over to agriculture. It added a recent regulatory change will speed up the process for approval of biotechnology traits.
Nissan Motors (Other OTC:NSANF.PK - News) said it has appointed Mark McNabb to head its global Infiniti luxury car division, effective April 1. McNabb, 45, is returning to Nissan after a one-year stint at DaimlerChrysler where he was vice president of marketing at Mercedes-Benz USA.
Novartis (NYSE:NVS - News) upgraded to neutral from underperform by Credit Suisse after winning approval from the FDA for Tekturna. "With Galvus and Tekturna catalysts out of the way, and the shares having profoundly underperformed and with last night's close being below our 68 francs a share price target, we raise our rating to neutral and our price target to 70 francs," the broker said.
Pozen Inc. (NasdaqGM:POZN - News) shares rallied after the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based pharmaceutical company announced positive results for its PA 325 proof-of-concept study. PA 325 is a formulation of 325mg of aspirin surrounded by a 20mg coating of an immediate release formulation of a proton pump inhibitor.
ResCare Inc.'s (NasdaqGS:RSCR - News) fourth-quarter net income rose sharply to $8.99 million, or 27 cents a share, from $596,000, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier. The Louisville, Ky., healthcare company's revenue grew to $337.1 million from $270.9 million. For 2007, the company expects to earn $1.24 to $1.28 a share on revenue of $1.43 billion.
Retalix Ltd. (NasdaqGS:RTLX - News), the Ra'anana, Israel, producer of software and solutions of supermarkets, food-service firms, and goods distributors, reported fourth-quarter net income fell 38% on 5.7% higher revenue. Earnings were $3.4 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with $5.5 million, or 28 cents, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted net for the period was 27 cents a share against 32 cents. Revenue reached $56.8 million from $53.7 million. In 2007, Retalix expects to earn about $9 million to $16 million, or an adjusted $15 million to $22 million. Revenue should range $220 million to $230 million, the company estimated. In 2006, Retalix earned $1.3 million, or 6 cents a share, on revenue of $203.8 million.
Ruth's Chris Steak House Inc. (NasdaqGS:RUTH - News), a New Orleans upscale steak house operator, will replace New Century Financial Corp. (NYSE:NEW - News) in the S&P SmallCap 600 index March 7. The market cap of the mortgage real estate investment trust fell to about $253 million, below the minimum of $300 million, S&P said.
Ryerson Inc. (NYSE:RYI - News) shares rallied after the Chicago-based steel distributor postponed its annual meeting, saying it continues to consider a possible sale or other options for the company.
Santarus Inc.'s (NasdaqGM:SNTS - News) fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $7.47 million, or 15 cents a share, from $15.8 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings for the most recent period included stock-based compensation expenses of about $2.2 million, or 4 cents a share, the company said. The San Diego pharmaceutical company's revenue surged to $20.5 million from $5.68 million a year ago.
Spirit Aerosystems Holdings (NYSE:SPR - News) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
Sykes Enterprises Inc. (NasdaqGS:SYKE - News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $8.14 million, or 20 cents a share, down 5% from $8.6 million, or 22 cents a share, during the year-ago period. The Tampa, Fla.-based provider of customer management products and services posted revenue of $158.6 million vs. $128.8 million.
Topps Co. (NasdaqGS:TOPP - News) agreed to be acquired by Michael Eisner's Torante Co. and private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners for $385.4 million, or $9.75 a share in cash. The bid for the sports-related cards maker represents a 9.4% premium to Topps' Monday closing price of $8.91. As part of the agreement, Topps can solicit better bids from third parties during the next 40 days. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter.
TransMontaigne Partners L.P. (NYSE:TLP - News) said it expects to increase its quarterly distribution to unitholders by about 7 cents to 50 cents per unit by the end of 2007. The current quarterly distribution to unitholders is 43 cents per unit. Denver-based TransMontaigne is a refined petroleum products terminaling and pipeline company
Visicu Inc. (NasdaqGM:EICU - News) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies & Co.
Xilinx Inc. (NasdaqGS:XLNX - News) raised the low end of its fiscal fourth-quarter sales outlook, and now expects sales of flat to down 4%, sequentially. The San Jose logic chip maker had predicted sales to be flat to down 5%, sequentially. Xilinx also reiterated its gross margin forecast, which is expected to be about 61%.
Published By MarketWatch

Labels: AAPL, GOOG, HMA, ISE, LCUT, LDR, MCHP, MFB, MON, NEW, NVS, POZN, RSCR, RTLX, RUTH, RYI, SNTS, SPR, SYKE

Three Chinese companies -- a casino operator, a solar-power company and a maker of plastic wrap -- led a pack of four new stocks in trading Friday, as the U.S. IPO market enters its final week of activity before a holiday hiatus that will last until mid-January. Three other stocks are expected to begin trading Wednesday.
Melco PBL Entertainment Ltd. closed at $21.55 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market, up 13 percent from its IPO price of $19 a share. The casino company, based in Hong Kong, sold more stock than expected -- 60.3 million American depository shares, up from 53 million -- at a price above the $16 to $18 range set by underwriters.
As a result of the increased size of the deal, Melco's $1.15 billion offering joins the ranks of a half-dozen U.S.-listed IPOs this year that have raised $1 billion or more, according to Thomson Financial. Excluding overallotment shares, it is the fourth largest in the United States during 2006, behind MasterCard Inc., Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc.
Melco is focused on fast-growing Macau, the only area in China where casino gambling is legal; it's a region that lags slightly behind the Las Vegas Strip and is well ahead of Atlantic City in terms of gambling revenue generated in the first nine months of this year.
The majority of the IPO's proceeds will be used to pay down its current debt, but the company could require more debt or equity financing in order to meet its future obligations.
The company is a joint venture between Hong Kong's Melco International Development Ltd. and Australia's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd. The two partners will continue to hold a majority of the company's shares after the IPO.
Trina Solar Ltd. closed at $20.28 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, up 10 percent from its initial public offering price of $18.50. The company sold 5.3 million American depositary shares at a price above its expected range of $13.50 to $15.50.
The Jiangsu-based company has been making solar modules since 2004, and plans to begin making its own solar cells by mid-2007.
In the first nine months of the year, revenue increased nearly sevenfold to $75.7 million compared with the same period of 2005; income rose at the same pace to $7.8 million, as the average selling price of its products increased.
Another solar-products maker, Solarfun Power Holdings Co., is expected to begin trading Wednesday.
The third Chinese company, Fuwei Films Co., closed at $11.08 a share on the Nasdaq, up 34 percent from its IPO price of $8.28 a share. The company sold 3.75 million shares at the low end of its $8 to $10 price range, which was set by underwriter Maxim Group LLC.
Based in Shandong, Fuwei makes plastic film for use in everything from consumer packaging to video and audio tapes. It began operating in 2003, and in the first nine months of the year, its revenue rose 35 percent to $39.5 million and income rose 13 percent to $5.6 million as it sold more film at higher prices.
The final debut of the day came from Claymont, Del., steel plate maker Claymont Steel Holdings Inc. That stock closed at $18.44 a share on the Nasdaq, up 8 percent from its IPO price of $17.
The company sold more shares than expected -- 8.7 million, up from the 6.25 million it had originally planned -- at the high end of its expected price range.
Claymont operates a non-unionized mill that specializes in customized steel plates, which allows it to charge higher prices than standardized commodity steel mills.
In the first nine months of the year, its sales rose 21 percent to $247.7 million, while net income declined 9 percent to $29.6 million, compared with the same period of 2005.
Claymont warns that it carries a substantial amount of debt -- a total of $243.8 million as of Sept. 30 -- and has a shareholders' deficit of $141.1 million.
Besides its debt level, Claymont warns in its prospectus that price of its primary raw material, scrap metal, has risen sharply since 2003, thanks to foreign demand from places like China.

Labels: HTZ, MA, MPEL, PLTE, SPR, TSL