Jim Cramer Blog

Erin Burnett hosted. Recession was the first topic of the show. Tobias Levkovich, a CITI equity strategist, says Tech sector is not headed toward a bubble. Also, when equipment orders are down, and companies are cutting capitol spending, it's a good time to buy chip stocks. Next, Steve Liesman speaks with President Bush. The President is urging business owners to offer free trade to their workers. Next, Google sees growth of 1000% since last year. Jeffery Lindsay of Bernstein Research says; he sees greater growth in Google’s overseas operation. The popularity of Google in Europe, as well as the hiring of European software engineers is the foundation for his prediction. Light bulbs were next. Chuck Swoboda of CREE says high performance light emitting LED's will make regular bulbs obsolete. A long lifetime and an eco-friendly light-emitting substance are the perks that they're aiming to appeal with. Cree’s LED's will be used in the swimming pool at the 2008 Olympics. Next, housing stocks still taking hits today. A homebuilding company; Beazer says that orders are down 58%, and that cancellations are up 68%. Next, after Gisele's story yesterday, the depreciation of the dollar has more people speculating on other currencies. Next, Under Armour (UA) CEO; Kevin Plank sells 1.5 million shares on Nov 1. Some are speculating that he has some doubts in his company. Despite a tough week [this week] and other CEO’s of other companies selling stock in possible preparation of problems to come, Kevin Plank assures everyone that selling shares is the main way that CEO’s make money. Stop trading with Jim Cramer was next. He says get out of Under Armour. Next, Pink slip software; Verve Optimize is a program that executives can use to fire employees. The software scans for possible lawsuit bi-products and tells you who you can fire within the company, without being sued. You can purchase this program for $100,000.

Labels: Beazer Homes USA Inc., CREE, homebuilders, street signs recap, UA

Home builders are getting increasingly pessimistic about future sales, a real estate trade group said Wednesday, as prospective buyers become more wary of jumping into a struggling housing market.
The National Association of Home Builders said its housing market index, which tracks builders' perceptions of current market conditions and expectations for home sales over the next six months, fell two points to 22 this month, the lowest reading since January 1991 and the sixth-straight monthly decline.
The group said widespread attention to the housing market's slump and the troubled home loan industry has led to a "wait-and-see attitude" among many potential buyers.

Labels: homebuilders

Sales of existing homes posted a tiny increase in October, the first gain in eight months, but the median price of homes sold last month fell by a record amount.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that existing home sales edged up 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.24 million. It marked the first sales increase since February.
However, the median, or midpoint, price for a home sold dropped to $221,000 in October, a decline of 3.5 percent from a year ago. That was the biggest year-over-year price decline on record. It marked the third straight month that home prices have fallen compared to the same period a year ago, the longest stretch of such declines on record.

Labels: Existing Home Sales, homebuilders

Home builder Technical Olympic USA Inc. reported Tuesday a third-quarter loss, reversing a prior-year profit, weighed by land deposit write-offs and asset impairment charges.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported a net loss of $80 million, or $1.34 per share, versus a prior-year profit of $70.3 million, or $1.18 per share.
The quarter's results include noncash pretax charges of $203.9 million to write down assets including investments in joint ventures, write-off of deposits, abandonment costs and inventory and goodwill impairments.
Revenue dipped to $611.7 million from $662.6 million in the year earlier period.
Wall Street had forecast a profit of 52 cents per share, the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on projected sales of $669.8 million.

Labels: homebuilders, Technical Olympic USA Inc., TOA

Home builder D.R. Horton Inc. on Tuesday said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell 51 percent as less homes closed in a sagging market, but results still came in ahead of Wall Street expectations.
Quarterly net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 sank to $277.7 million, or 88 cents per share, compared with a profit in the year-ago quarter of $563.8 million, or $1.77 per share.
Revenue fell 4 percent to $4.8 billion, from $5.02 billion a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 69 cents per share on revenue of $3.93 billion.

Labels: D.R. Horton Inc., DHI, homebuilders