Jim Cramer's Wall Street Confidential Picks, Feb. 8

Recap of Jim Cramer’s comments on Wall Street Confidential, Thursday February 8. Click on a stock ticker for more analysis:

HSBC (HBC), JP Morgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), ING (ING), New Century (NEW), Accredited Home Lenders (LEND), Countrywide (CFC)

There is a British Invasion of Banks as HSBC moves in and takes business from BAC, JPM and causes concerns about the mortgage market. Cramer contrasted the strategies of ING, which has the "best, most sophisticated online approach" with HSBC which "is trying to buy your business by being the lender of last resort." Cramer adds that HSBC made a big mistake in not buying another major American bank. In addition, there are worries about NEW's 25% yield and that LEND is going to have more defaults than expected. However, Cramer says CFC is "right" but would wait until a bottom in the sector before buying.

J.C. Penney (JCP), Saks (SKS), Federated Department Stores (FD), Nordstrom (JWN) and Ralph Lauren (RL)

Cramer says that "the winners keep winning" in retail, except for JCP. He adds that SKS had a "monster month," FD is recovering, and JCP has "a lot of things going for it." Meanwhile, high-end retailers JWN, SKS and RL are "on fire." Although there is a large short position on RL, Cramer says its brands are fantastic, it has great accelerated revenue growth and it is a major momentum stock for 2007.

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