Outtanames999

Tracking Jim Cramer's Performance: January 2007 Stock Picks

Cramer is bozo the clown (I imagine he would say more like Soupy Sales from the 1950's), but always good for a laugh. He knows the market, but for a variety of reasons, can't give real trading advice that mirrors what he would actually do. For one thing, he doesn't address options, the only way to make money in a bear market. So while he normally has one hand tied behind his back, now both are tied. He must be very frustrated. Certainly his viewers are.

As others have pointed out, it is folly to look back at his picks a year later. You need to do more homework on his calls than that.

Now Cramer himself seems to claim on the show that he told you when to sell, but the truth is, most of the time he doesn't or it is so fleetingly mentioned that you will miss it and hold on too long.

At the end of the day, though, the net effect of Cramer's picks is really very little different than a stock touter. He may blather on for 20 minutes with a pitch about the finer points of some company, but when all is said and done, the Cramer effect will kick up the stock (usually instantaneous as can be seen on the scrolling ticker on the screen during the show) and then the stock will die down - just like a penny stock. In fairness, though, when the DOW itself is doing a dead cat bump and looks like a penny stock, how can anyone counteract that?

Cramer is at his best when he speaks about the controlling factors at work in the market, what is going on, and what should be going on. "They know nothing" proved to be right. He embarrassed the Fed into action. Now let's see if he can embarrass the entire market back into a rising tide. It's a big job, but I personally don't see anyone else out there who even comes close to being capable of doing it. Let's hope Cramer can. None of you turkeys hanging around here could possibly do it, that's for sure. If you can, get to work!!