Jim Cramer's Mad Money In-Depth, 3/18/08: ...And the Henry Potter Award Goes to...

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Stocks discussed in the in-depth session of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV program,Tuesday March 18. Click on a stock ticker for more analysis.

Hitting Bottom: Fannie Mae (FNM), Lehman Brothers (LEH), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bear Stearns (BSC), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), First Solar (FSLR), Visa (V), Mastercard (MA)

Cramer thinks Tuesday’s oversold rally is different from last’ Tuesday’s jump because he believes the market has finally bottomed. Cramer gave ten reasons for his assessment
1. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has finally resolved to do whatever it takes to save the system.
2. Mortgage bonds were trading up, and there may be a deal between the government and Fannie Mae that would allow it to buy back its bonds at low prices. As a result mortgage rates will drop.
3. GS and LEH reported impressive numbers. GS was up $24 instead of being down $24.
4. The “real” economy is in good shape, even though many financials are swooning, and some are at their 52-week highs.
5. It is safe to keep your money in an investment firm as demonstrated by Bear Stearns. Funds will not be wiped out.
6. There is a “life support system” for dealing with troubled banks and brokers.
7. AAPL, GOOG, ISRG and FSLR showed their first signs of life so far this year.
8. The Visa IPO is worth getting in and will be profitable. Cramer suggested MA as well.
9. Abbey Joseph Cohen, the bullish strategist who remained firm during down times, retired; “I always love a good irony trade,” said Cramer.
10. The market rallied in spite of the Ben Bernanke cutting only 75 basis points instead of 100.

Owens-Illinois, Inc. (OI)

Cramer called glass the next miniature bull market and would buy OI, the world’s largest producer of glass containers because of the growing shortage in the fragile material. Goldman predicted glass prices could rise 6 or 7%. OI trounced estimates by nearly double and obtains 70% of its revenue from international sales which are growing at a rate of 17%. Cramer predicts OI could reach $61 a share.

JP Morgan (JPM), Bear Stearns (BSC)

Cramer sang JPM CEO Jamie Dimon’s praises for his “ruthless brilliance” in acquiring the fifth largest investment bank in the U.S Bear Stearns at an amazing discount of $2 per share. JPM rose $6 since last Friday. Cramer gave Jamie Dimon the “Henry Potter* Prize” for take-no-prisoners banking. Dimon paid only $236 million for an acquisition worth $18 billion, and JPM now has Bear’s prime brokerage and clearing businesses, commodities and energy trading businesses, asset management business and the troubled mortgage operations.

Mad Mail: Wells Fargo, (WFC), US Bancorp (USB), Goldman Sachs (GS), Starbucks (SBUX), Hershey (HSY)

Cramer says WFC may be the next to buy a troubled bank, and thinks GS and USB may also be able to make a purchase. Concerning SBUX and HSY, Cramer said, “I believe in Howard Schultz turning around Starbucks. But I have said it’s an 18-month turn. So you have to be very, very patient. Hershey, I still don’t see a bottom in that.”

*The financially-astute villian in the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life."

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Comments

[venividivici]

Why do you promote this man? He gets away with the most horrendous mistakes and people in the industry rarely stand up to him. He should join that other untouchable guru, Abby Cohen and RETIRE.

[BobD]

The interesting thing about last night was the massive effort being made to cover-up all the horrible calls about Bear Stearns he has made over the last few months. With a skill similar to Bill Clinton he did some dissecting of what he really said and what the viewer THOUGHT they heard?? Rumor are that the thestreet.com has removed all the really horrible advice he has given on Bear Stearns. Now the honesty of this guy is front and center not just bad advice.

[Big onCredibility]

So, I guess we should listen to Kramer's advice now (NOT!!!). Within the past week his call on Bear Stearns (when the stock was still about $60-70) was that everything was OK. You know how that turned out. And now you want us to believe him when he says the economy is aok/all is well. Give me a break. He takes no accountability for his terrible calls. ZERO INTEGRITY! Bear Stearns is only one of many bad calls. One can only wonder as to Kramer's motivation for saying all is well, get into equities as it's a good time to buy. I think not...inflation is coming in a major way...our dollar is being flushed down the toilet by Bernanke and Paulson...the Federal Gov't throws around $200 billion bailouts like they are pennies...the housing/mortgage mess is far from over...next it's job losses...a world of hurt is coming for our economy and equities. Does anyone who understands economics and has some real integrity think the Fed's policy is a good thing? It clearly is not. We are going down the same path that Argentina followed in the late '90s. And you know how that one turned out too. All to keep the Wall Street insiders from taking a bath on their equity bubble investments. So sad!

[NormanLepoff, M.D.]

CNBC should get rid of Cramer!

[WSRNTRVLR]

Cramer has called the bottom at least 8 times since last August. If he calls it every week, eventually he will be right!

[User 147322]

It is a TV show, you can make up your own mind. Cramer tells you to do your own homework. If you don't like it turn off the TV. I find it very interesting, but do not buy everything he says. For instance, I remember when he said do not buy ISRG, and when he said do not buy MA - things change.