Posted Jul 2nd 2009 6:00PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Major movement, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, General Electric (GE), Indices, Diageo plc (DEO), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, Commodities, Anglo Amer ADR (AAUK), S and P 500, DJIA, Stocks to Buy, Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG), NASDAQ, Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Best Stocks for 2009, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), EZCORP (EZPW)

The second quarter is now behind us and for the most part it was a positive one in terms of the market pushing higher almost 40%. This is the second review of my 2009 stock picks through June 30 (see:
Chasing Value: 9 picks for 2009 -- APC, GE, ISRG, WFC and more). There was a lot of talk about
green shoots this past quarter as Wall Street was looking for any small bit of optimistic data to support the market.
The federal printing presses continued to run at full speed pushing the dollar lower and oil prices higher. While the feds were printing money to cover their deficits, the States do not have that same luxury and many of them are having trouble balancing their budgets to the tune of billions of dollars.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2009 picks 731% better than S&P -- 2nd quarter review
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 10:10AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Wells Fargo (WFC), Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the rally here seems too strong for the news and data we're getting. Just as when Doug Kass says, "Tell me something I don't know," I think this market knows something we don't know, either about a turn in commercial real estate to rival that of residential -- the real estate investment trusts are holding in well -- or a second stimulus plan, a real one that will put more people to work.
The employment numbers aren't good enough to merit this kind of rally, and we know the layoffs for June were preposterously high. We know that the auto build will be slightly better than expected a few months ago, but it's still pathetic and the auto idlings are about to start.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: This market knows something we don't
Posted Jul 1st 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), PepsiCo (PEP), Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), General Mills (GIS), Honeywell Intl (HON), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stock prices may roll back, but techs and financials should be fine. The pain of the aftermath of mark-ups never goes away. We knew what was in store for us, as the mark-up folks don't like to play on the last day, especially with the newly vigilant Securities and Exchange Commission. I have to believe that this SEC will now become more interested in "the tapes," which would show clients asking brokers to take stocks up as much as they can, something that we know is against the law.
What comes up from mark-up must come down, and the most important "come-downs" should be in the industrials, because we have the least visibility in them. I do not believe the techs have as much to worry about, nor the banks, because both have excellent earnings prospects for the coming quarter. Why sell
Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL) (
Cramer's Take) here? Why sell
Microsoft (NASDAQ:
MSFT) (
Cramer's Take)? And why dump
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take) or
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take) or
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:
JPM) (
Cramer's Take) when those have the best possibilities of good news ahead? I can see locking in some
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS) (
Cramer's Take) gains, but that's going to be the best quarter of all.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: The post-mark-up could sting industrials
Posted Jun 30th 2009 6:30PM by James Cullen
Filed under: Wells Fargo (WFC), Green Stocks
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and solar technology company SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) teamed up today with an agreement for Wells to finance up to $100 million in new solar energy systems. SunPower will create agreements with end power users and handle operational issues, and Wells will finance and retain ownership of the systems, according to a pair of press releases from the two companies.
The Business Insider says that a research note from FBR Capital says this amount will allow SunPower to add about 20-25 MW of capacity, and that pricing for the solar power will be at competitive rates of under $0.15/kwh. The overall effect on earnings is expected to be immaterial. The average estimate for EPS for the 2009 fiscal year is $1.07, but with a wide range of $0.03 to $1.48. EPS last year was $2.28.
Continue reading Wells Fargo to finance up to $100 million in new SunPower plants
Posted Jun 29th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Bank of America (BAC), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that to go higher from here, we need some bearish bets that are currently MIA. We need some doom-and-gloomers to go higher here. I didn't hear any last week and it is worrisome. Without some avowed bears, we could be stalled here until we see some earnings even though seasonally this is a terrific time.
I say that because as I looked for things to talk about on Friday's show, I was hoping to find some stocks where there have been big negative bets made and really couldn't. Natural gas had been thick with bears and those stocks are still going down, but I don't see a lot of bearish bets being made. We had some in retail, but they seem to have dried up since
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:
BBBY) (
Cramer's Take). Tech? Boy, I don't see any bears at all going into what should be a remarkably negative period, at least historically.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Bears, we miss you
Posted Jun 26th 2009 9:30AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Economic data, Wells Fargo (WFC), Housing, Cramer on BloggingStocks, Recession, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the endless worries will prove bogus, and jobs creation could spur a real lift. Alt-A. Endless bank foreclosures. Commercial real estate. These are the big three worries that will not be killed by data, rigor or common sense, no matter what happens.
Doesn't it occur to anyone that there already should have been a big spike in commercial real estate losses by now? That the decline in the economy has lasted long enough that it should have manifested itself? Doesn't anyone think that there should have been a big commercial real estate bad-debt bump at a
Citigroup (NYSE:
C) (
Cramer's Take) or a
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:
JPM) (
Cramer's Take) or a
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take)?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Real estate turnaround
Posted May 27th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Research in Motion (RIMM), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you may hear reasons why the rally shouldn't have occurred, but you can't deny it did happen. On Tuesday I wanted to shoot myself, as always when I woke up and went online to see what was going on. Here's a partial list of the beautiful data points that were in my purview in the first hour of looking over the market:
1. A trenchant note from a major strategist at a bank I trust who is talking about why the market must be avoided because private-equity valuations are collapsing, so what's the point of owning equities.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Believe it, there's money to be made
Posted May 23rd 2009 10:30AM by Ted Allrich
Filed under: Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Comfort Zone Investing
Banks need it. Home builders need it. Car companies need it. More banks need it. "It" is capital. Also known as equity. In reality, it's money. Banks need lots of it.
As we all know, there is a finite amount of everything. There is only so much money available for investing. The large banks have been at the trough and dipped, pulled out billions (names like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). That was over the last few weeks. Stock was issued. Money flowed in. Things looked pretty good.
Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: The race for capital is on
Posted May 21st 2009 10:10AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: General Motors (GM), China, Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Commodities, Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says commodities don't tell the real story -- look at wages and prices of finished goods. Commodity inflation is not real inflation. Commodity inflation is China- and speculation-driven inflation of imperfect commodities by fearful or greedy customers and traders.
Yet "inflation" is on everyone's lips as if the plummeting prices of cars and homes and wages don't even matter. You read about the not-even-nascent recoveries in countries like those in Eastern Europe or Mexico or Germany, and you have to wonder whether we need to be as fearful of the price of copper as we are. If you own
GM (NYSE:
GM) (
Cramer's Take) bonds, you are not experiencing inflation, and believe me -- there are more GM bonds being bought than there is of the red metal.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: It's still not inflation
Posted May 20th 2009 9:40AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Ford Motor (F), Market matters, Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this deal is hugely important -- today is the last stand for the bears. Today is make or break for the short-sellers, the SKFers, the bears on banks. I cannot stress how important the
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take) deal is. The syndicate desk placed this stock with great hands, restricting flippers to one-fifth of their orders and giving mutual funds only about a quarter of what they wanted. Plus, given the stealth selling that BAC did ahead of this, the company seems done for now -- maybe forever -- although it can't give back TARP funds. However, it should be able to do bond financing that will put it in a good position to do so. And with the velocity of sales picking up at the same time as the new housing starts go down -- stunning figures there -- it is possible that we could see a reversal of some of Bank of America's soured loans while we see what happens with a big lender begins to get a major share of what can be a lucrative mortgage market. We might look back at BAC at $10 and say, "That was our last good chance to buy it," as there are many, many analysts set to reiterate their buys this morning.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Bank of America is now the fulcrum
Posted May 13th 2009 9:40AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Market matters, BB and T (BBT), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says he's a bit wary of both, but the pricing here is sound. At least they knocked them down to where the shorts have to get in on the deals to cover. That's what I am thinking about
BB&T (NYSE:
BBT) (
Cramer's Take) and
Ford (NYSE:
F) (
Cramer's Take).
Both deals were widely telegraphed, so the shorts were able to really do a number on them. But I think because they were widely telegraphed and they had time to tell the story, both BB&T and Ford have real buyers even on the huge size of these deals --- Ford, especially -- which could make the shorts have to do some scrambling initially.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: BB&T, Ford secondaries have real buyers
Posted May 12th 2009 12:30PM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Analyst reports, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Financial Crisis

Meredith Whitney, bank analyst extraordinaire, reiterated what she's been saying from long before the financial crisis propelled us into the worst recession in most people's memories.
Banks are overvalued, she said, and the government enabled them to have better first quarter earnings than they should.
Whitney said that "the underlying core, earnings power of these banks is negligible," and added that as consumer liquidity retracts and consumer credit contracts, "consumer spending is going to be less than people expect going forward."
Continue reading Whitney calls bank rally 'the great government momentum trade'
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