July 31st - XMSR

Very late in the posting tonight...sorry. I've added a new blog for a fast money recap at http://fastmoneyrecap.blogspot.com/ for anyone that is interested too.

Cramer started out with a comparison of AMZN Amazon.com Inc. vs. BGP Borders Group Inc. and BKS Barnes & Noble Inc. saying that AMZN is more expensive when comparing p/e ratios and that AMZN is too big to be a takeover target. There was no after hours trading for BGP or BKS, but AMZN was down. Again, I'm not a fan of shorting a sell pick from Cramer, even though high multiple tech stocks are getting hammered right now.

Cramer then compared what happened to T AT&T Inc. to what is happening with XMSR XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., how the stock kept going lower, but the analysts decided to hate it at its lowest point, when really at that point it was cheap and worth buying.

Closing Price: $11.60
After Hours High: $12.50
Percent Increase at High: 7.8%
After Hours Close: $12.45
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 7.3%
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Services
Short %: 16.7%
Days to Cover: 5.8
% Held By Insiders: 15.7

Lots of trades after hours with XMSR, but some before before Mad Money even aired and it looks like some people guessed it was being mentioned at the beginning of the show as there was several trades near the closing price before the price spiked. There was a steady increase in the after hours price before it peaked and settled down slightly off its high. I do hate to say it that this is an ANGO no-short rule since the high for the day was $12.55 and the closing price after hours and after hours high were slightly below that. XMSR was down pretty big today ($1.07 or 8.5%), I'm assuming on news that SIRI made a new partnership. Will SIRI buy XMSR? Can they afford it really? I think if they can get cash flow positive by the end of the year like they say then maybe, but not until then in my opinion. Why take on another company before that point? I don't know if it were a monopoly if people would pay much more for it? Any thoughts? Although my no short rule applies here, and I will stick to it, I'm very glad to see that there was some after hours volume and really good price increase and it gives hope to the shorting Cramer game.

Finally Cramer took a look at some defensive stocks that should continue to perform well for the next 3.5 months. The stocks were PEP GIS HNZ MO WFC. The defensive stocks haven't really made for great shorting opportunities due to their defensive nature and the market we are in, their size, and price per s

July 28th - Volatility Playbook (Repeats)

Be sure to check out the comments/forum HERE. There are some discussions on some other stock spike situations that could be short worthy from other gurus/analysts that have big followings.

As expected with no Stop Trading segment today on CNBC Cramer has compiled a "Best Of" for educational segments on playing a volatile market.

Cramer spoke about trading around core positions and used OXY Occidental Petroleum Corp. as an example. Of course this is an expensive oil stock that has no shorting potential based on a Cramer recommendation, which this isn't even a recommendation, just an educational example.

Cramer mentioned his speculation index again, but was clear at the opening that these were not to be bought here as picks. Last time he did this is when EZM shot up after hours and lost all the gains the following day as expected.
The speculation index is made up of the following:

RTK Rentech, Inc.
KRY Crystallex International Corp.
IVAN IVANHOE ENERGY INC
TMY Transmeridian Exploration Inc.
NXG Northgate Minerals Corp.
EZM EuroZinc Mining Corp.
JDSU
CNXT Conexant Systems Inc.
FNSR Finisar Corp.
CIEN CIENA Corp.

Brief Fast Money Recap

Approach segment:
Bullish
Oil Stocks/Refineries - Belief that oil will go to $100 a barrel
VLO
HES
XOM
STO
Natural Gas
CHK
Canadian oil sands
CNQ
USO
Tech rally in the fall
Bottom fishing in tech is risky
Tech stocks over owned
Tech can be tradable but they are not growth stocks
Next area of growth: Aerospace Defense

Next Segment: ETF Explosion (Exchange Traded Funds)
Bullish
GLD
USO
IYT
Brazil, Russia, Asia, and (maybe) South Korea ETFs
More "juicy" ETFs (ETFs with more volatility):
QID
SDS
Mexico ETF:
EWW

Stocks on Sale Segment:
Bullish
UNH
BA
TJX
AL
WAG

Bearish
SLE
AMZN
CSX (but bullish soon)
MMM

Mixed Reviews from the 4 analysts
MO
RAI
JNJ (Hold)
HES

FINAL TRADE - What the analysts are going to do tomorrow:
SMH
SWY
GLD
SLV
BA

July 27th - VLO

Cramer spoke of upside surprises and looked into his crystal ball and said VLO Valero Energy Corp. would be one of those stocks. This stock trades at $65.53 and is an oil refining stock, so not one that I am going to short with a 10 foot poll. My only question to this is....was anyone expecting poor earnings or just in-line earnings from this company? With oil being way up these days, shouldn't the refineries be sharing in those profits? And consider Cramer has mentioned several times that we have not built a new refinery in the last 25 years. Maybe I'm just missing something here, or Cramer is just trying to look like a fortune teller and win over a some new viewers. But maybe he just wants to point out the obvious to people who may be thinking too hard, but what if the upside is already priced into the stock? This was a $100 stock before it split not that long ago, and has climbed even more.

Cramer then looked at an analyst downgrade on HAL Halliburton Co. and how he disagreed (not only because he owns the stock for his charitable trust). Cramer says the analyst only downgraded the stock because it kept going down even when he had a buy on it. Cramer now says that HAL was bottoming and has even climbed a few points since. Although the stock is up from $32.35 to $32.70 after hours (on light volume) this is once again another oil/gas play, a sector which I don't short. And it may also be the conspiracy theory side of me, but any company that once had the vice-president on its payroll, I don't want to mess with.

Next Cramer created a Luxury Index to track how people might be spending. He believes this index is on the decline as a recession is looming and the rich are even spending less.

The index is comprised of the following stocks: COH, RL, TIF, FS, HAR, OEH, JWN, MOV, DEO, TOL, WYNN, RUTH

These were NOT picks from Cramer. These were simply a bunch of stocks that he can look at as a group to gauge the market and consumer spending. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that no one bought these stocks after hours (yet). I figured someone would just find the cheapest in the list and buy some, not realizing that they weren't really picks.

Update - Tech M&A Picks

So I thought I would post a comparative chart of several of the 10 Tech M&A potential picks Cramer made last night. Although it may be hard to read, it is quite clear that they all tanked later in the day as the overall market went south. Not shown on the chart is BRCM which did very well today and closed up 90-cents with a slow steady climb up throughout the day. WDC, PALM, WIND, WBSN, BEAS, FILE, AVID all closed in the red with ACTI and TIBX closing up slightly.

ACTI, the cheapest stock in the group, held up very strong today, but had no pre-market trading to get a gauge on what the price might do. It traded between $4.65 and $4.85 throughout the day.

July 26th - Cool Stocks and Tech M&A

Cramer opened his show talking about what really defines a stock price, and for once he said it wasn't just fundamentals...its "coolness". The more popular or cool a stock is, it will generally get a higher multiple, and therefore a higher price per share. He threw out a few stock names like HPQ, GM, WMFI, BBY, ZUMZ, SBUX, NWS and VFC that are cool, but didn't really focus on anything enough to prompt any buying after hours.

Cramer's next segment looked at the tech sector and the M&A activity that has been occurring recently. He listed 10 potential takeover targets as speculative buys. The picks were:

BRCM Broadcom Corp. $22.02 up $0.13 AH
WDC Western Digital Corp. $16.85
PALM Palm, Inc. $14.95 up $0.15 AH
WIND Wind River Systems Inc. $8.14 up $0.10 AH
WBSN Websense Inc. $18.47
BEAS BEA Systems Inc. $11.91 up $0.20 AH
TIBX Tibco Software Inc. $7.68 up $0.07 AH
FILE FileNet Corporation $31.08
AVID Avid Technology Inc. $34.61
ACTI ActivIdentity Corp. $4.55 up $0.24 AH

Not too shocking to see that the cheapest stock got the highest move after hours in ACTI but unfortunately it was after the show finished and on only 400 shares. Hard to get a short in at that level if there aren't enough buyers. BRCM traded a lot after hours, but not from the Cramer watchers as it was trading before the show aired. PALM broke through $15 after hours and held but on only 700 shares or so. WIND had a few trades and is another stock under $10 that might be worth a look with some early volume. BEAS had 2 bigish trades of 1600 and 2500 trades after hours at $12.00. It is a heavily traded stock though so I doubt there can be much Cramer effect. TIBX only had 1 trade while the show was on and only went up slightly. Strangely tonight there were several trades just after the show finished. I wonder if it was people that noticed there wasn't much run up and saw it as an opportunity to buy. Maybe someone that hasn't been watching the last little while and wasn't used to the lame after hours action we have been having.

Update - CSX WWY NTRI

Now I didn't follow any of these picks (CSX WWY NTRI) today, but wanted to make an observation that they were all down pretty big. CSX was down almost 6% and but was up as high as $63.65 before seeing lows of $59.07 during regular trading. I would also like to point out a comment that was made on the discussion board from "Cash King" that CSX looked like a long term short, and so far that prediction is dead on. Read the posts HERE.

WWY was down $1.36 on the day and NTRI saw continued selling pressure and was off another 6% or $3.25.

Now I don't really attribute any of this to Cramer since the stocks were all down very early in the trading sessions. CSX traded at around 3 times average volume (7,476,800 shares) so like I said, doubtful that increase in volume was the Cramer effect and more to do with other market sources considering today was pretty much a break-even day for the DOW, NASDAQ and S&P.

July 25th - CSX WWY NTRI

Cramer first looked at CSX CSX Corp. as a buy and WWY William Wrigley Jr. Co. as a sell in a look at secular vs cyclical stocks.

CSX is viewed as cyclical and WWY is viewed as secular and Cramer says this is wrong. Cramer says CSX is a secular growth story and WWY is a no-growth story. From a shorting perspective CSX is too expensive closing at $62.81 with a trade to $63.48 after hours. WWY, the sell pick closed at $45.47 and was up over $2 today. As I repeat every time Cramer makes a sell pick, I don't short them as these picks often times go up, and don't really get the same sort of attention as his buy picks. For a sell recommendation to really be effected by Cramer, a lot of the people that watch Mad Money would have to own the stock and decide to sell it ASAP. Yes, some people might read the news update on the Yahoo finance page from Cramer and decide to sell as well, but I don't see people rushing to sell like they do to buy his recommendations (although not so much recently). WWY may very well come down tomorrow as people cash in on their profits from today so it is hard to really determine why a sell pick moves the way it does the next day because it could be one of many factors, and not just Cramer. I also don't have confidence (yet) in the theory to always do the opposite to what Cramer says and buy his sell picks.

Cramer looked at NTRI NutriSystem Inc. after it reported what looked like fantastic numbers last night, but the stock got hammered. The stock is down almost 20% from last night. Cramer says this is still a sell because it was and is such a loved stock by analysts...but hated by investors which can be seen by a large short % already in the stock (28% according to shortsqueeze.com). And if a stock reports such great numbers and goes down, the stock will no longer go up. Of course I am not going to short both a sell pick and a stock that is already down 20% in one day, and buying certainly isn't that appealing of an idea either.

Update - AVP DZP

AVP only had 1 trade in the pre-market for $32.75 after trading after hours last night at a high of $33.20 but declined to $32.83. The stock then opened strong at $32.99 and saw an early high of $33.08 around 9:45am, stayed strong till shortly after 10:00am before declining to lows of $32.43 as the stock went into the red.


DPZ also only had 1 pre-market trade at $22.80 after the stock traded as high as $22.98 last night. The psychological price barrier of $23.00 was not broken all day as the stock only saw a high of $22.89 which was seen near the end of the day as the market closed strong. The stock opened at $22.69 and did have a strong day holding in a range between $22.65 and $22.85 before the stock took an afternoon drop to a low for the day of $22.50. Certainly not a typical Cramer effect chart/trading pattern, but with out much after hours/pre-market price action or a great spike at the opening bell it is really hard to say if Cramer was able to influence this stock at all. Certainly not enough interest for me to consider a short because if there is no Cramer effect then I personally have no other reason to be short the stock.

July 24th - AVP DPZ SGP

Cramer's first pick tonight was AVP Avon Products Inc.

Closing Price: $32.58
After Hours High: $33.20
Percent Increase at High: 1.9%
Price Level Off Point: $32.83
Percent Increase at Off Point: 0.8%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Consumer Goods
Short %: 1.8%
Days to Cover: 3.4
% Held By Insiders: 0.18%
% Held By Institutions: 85.8%

Not really a glowing recommendation and more of an example pick as Cramer mentioned, as a turnaround play. He still said it will work, but is risky. That really didn't help the after hours action on this pick since I don't think too many people were that excited by it. With only a few trades after hours this will most likely come down to what the overall market does tomorrow. The stock was up 86-cents or 2.7% on close to average volume. Large institutional holdings in this stock too though, which is always somewhat concerning. If the big boys are holding it, obviously it is in their best interest to keep the price going up, and we are nearing the 52-week high.

Cramer next spoke of his interview/recommendation of DPZ Dominos Pizza Inc. Although the stock is down over 16% since then, he is recommending to buy it again!

Closing Price: $22.50
After Hours High: $22.98
Percent Increase at High: 2.1%
Price Level Off Point: $22.95
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 2.0%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Services
Short %: 4.8%
Days to Cover: 4.6

Another new strategy from Cramer? In a tough market that is hard to make stock picks, pick a stock that has failed for you before so it doesn't look as bad if it keeps going down? A light volume, slow price increase after hours so far. The stock is only a few cents below the nice even $23 value. Normally I like to watch out for these whole price numbers and use them as a gauge of how high the stock might go. The dilemma here is that we are very close to $23 and it doesn't seem to want to break it after hours here, but if it doesn't we really don't have much of a price increase to bother shorting. So without a spike over $23.00 tomorrow then the opportunity isn't very exciting. But on the other hand, if it does break $23, how high might it go? The stock is down pretty hard from the $24 level in the last few days of trading. The stock is also capable of trading up over a dollar in a day as it has done so recently. Another bet on how the overall market will do tomorrow I think, and I don't have the answer to that.

Finally Cramer looked at sector rotation and how to spot the next move. In doing so he looked at how currently the Drug stocks benefiting from a current rotation. He mentioned SGP Schering-Plough Corp. as a stock that is up a lot and should continue to rise. Again, more of an educational segment vs. a stock picking segment, which Cramer even mentioned was the way the show was going. This really seems to put a cap on the after hours price (and I wonder if it puts a cap on his audience??). Currently there has only been 1 trade since Cramer mentioned the stock and the price is below the high for the day which gives an ANGO no-short rule which is just as well since the stock was up over 5% today on 4x the normal volume.

Update - ALJ

So Friday's pick of ALJ didn't draw much attention at all in the after hours on Friday or pre-market today. There was 1 trade at $31.85 at 9:06am for 100 shares after closing at $31.84 Friday, and that turned out to be a very good trade for the buyer. The stock hit an intra-day high of $34.81, although still down from highs seen on Friday. So with such small attention and in theory an ANGO no-short situation (because the stock was trading below the high from Friday...but didn't really trade at all) there was little reason to jump in with a short since the Cramer effect wasn't visible. The volume was slightly higher then average, but I would assume that had more to do with the up day in the market and not the Cramer recommendation.

July 21st - VMC MLM ALJ IR ASH

Cramer took a look at road builders tonight and first mentioned VMC Vulcan Materials Co. MLM Martin Marietta Materials Inc. VMC closed today at $67.00 and MLM closed at $76.46, and although Cramer said these were cheap (based on p/e), these are too expensive for shorting of the Cramer recommendation in my opinion. These were both down today $1 and $2 respectively. Even with these not being great opportunities in my opinion, it is still interesting to take a look at comparative charts of these 2 stocks versus CAT. They trade pretty much the same.

Cramer continued his road building theory and looked at an asphalt play in ALJ Alon USA Energy Inc. and a paving plays in IR Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd. and ASH Ashland Inc.

ALJ
Closing Price: $31.84
No Trades After Hours
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Basic Materials
Short %: 6.2%
Days to Cover: 2.5
Average Volume: 343,080

IR
Closing Price: $36.06
After Hours Price: $36.35
Percent Increase: 0.8%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Industrial Goods
Short %: 1.3%
Days to Cover: 2.2
Average Volume: 2,594,300
% Held by Insiders: 0.27%
% Held by Institutions: 73.3%

ASH
Closing Price: $64.22

The obscure pick as Cramer mentioned ASH is too pricey but is up over a dollar after hours on only 25 shares traded though. ALJ had no trades after hours but would be the only one to look at due to its lower price and low average volume. IR is held heavily by institutions and trades at a higher average volume and only has 50 shares traded after hours. Considering this is a bull market as Cramer put it, why is it all these stocks were down big today? ASH was down $1.16, ALJ was down $2.08, and IR was down $0.50. In the end, nothing really exciting here, which has been the case for a while now.

July 20th - Bank Stocks (MTU)

Cramer broke his business cycle rule about selling bank stocks when the interest rate is high but didn't come out and recommend any particular stock! His reasons for breaking the rule is that banks are buying back their stock, bankruptcy laws have changed, they are trading at low p/e ratios compared to the market, and after 17 rate increases banks had the fewest loan losses and mortgage problems in years. Is this possibly a new strategy? Teach and entertain about investing but hold off on actual stock names so he won't be held accountable? The more likely answer is that he has beat to death his defensive stocks on Mad Money and his Radio Show and can't really offer anything new right now in the current market. The closest thing to a "pick" was MTU Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. as a caller asked Cramer about it and Cramer said it was a buy, and a stock he just picked up for his Charitable Trust.

MTU
Closing Price: $13.13
After Hours High: $13.30
Percent Increase at High: 1.3%
After Hours Level Off Point: $13.25
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 0.91%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Financial
Short %: 0.02%
Days to Cover: 0.9

I've never looked at this type of "picks" in the past since it wasn't what was highlighted in the segment. The price is right for shorting, but there isn't much action after hours. Virtually no short holders now and the stock was down today. We are trading under the high for today of $13.41 so this is an ANGO no-short situation.

Cramer's next segment was about bad stock tips. He looked at a tip that would mean good thinks for AMLN Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., but on further investigation the tip was not relevant. He does like the stock, but on the short term he isn't high on it. With no trades after hours, it being a pricey stock, it not really being a true "buy buy buy" pick, and they are reporting on Monday I don't see any Cramer Effect potential here.

Finally Cramer mentioned a bad analyst downgrade on that was made a day before the company reported earnings. The stock was VFC VF Corp. The analyst was looking at the overall (macro) market indicators as a reason for downgrading the stock instead of having any company specific reason. Of course the company came out and beat estimates and short sellers and put buyers all lost out. Having said all that, the stock trades at $67.57 and I don't see as a Cramer Effect short opportunity since this was more of an educational segment rather then a pick.

July 19th - GIS MO PEP UTX

Cramer started out by picking some good stocks on the way down in the rally, identifying that these are good stocks on the way down. The stocks were GIS General Mills Inc. MO Altria Group Inc. and PEP Pepsico Inc. Obviously these are big stocks that I don't feel are right for shorting off the Cramer recommendation since they are too pricey and trade too heavily to be effected by Cramer.

Cramer then spoke of the industrial stocks and how to evaluate them to determine which are good picks. He mentioned UTX United Technologies Corp. as fitting the bill. Once again, an expensive stock ($61.07) that was up a few dollars today.

Cramer also spoke to the CEO of CSX CSX Corp. and it looks like people liked what they heard as the stock was up after hours. Again, this is another expensive stock that trades above $60 right now.

So what am I reading between the lines with Cramer's picks tonight? Well I think he doesn't believe today's rally is going to last for too long. Stressing defensive stocks and diversity is a pretty clear sign.

And a note from today's action on last nights picks. Cramer's 2 sell/avoid picks (PBH and SPC) were both up today, once again showing that shorting the sell picks is not a great idea. I still don't have the confidence to buy his sell picks since there didn't seem to be any selling pressure early. I think these stocks being at 52-week lows and having an up day today in the market might thrown these stocks a curve ball.

July 18th - Avoid SPC PBH - Picks: JNJ STJ BSX

Not a lot of opportunities these days with shorting Cramer's picks given the defensive, large cap stocks that are being picked. Tonight looks like no different as Cramer is once again looking at defensive stocks for the economic slowdown, and warning people from buying worst of breed. He warned people to stay away from Companies with the name "Brands" tacked on the end. He said to stay away from SPC Spectrum Brands, Inc. and PBH Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. for that very reason. No real picks here except JNJ Johnson & Johnson (which is too big and expensive to short at $60.60) and is basically just bashing on SPC and PBH. I have not really come up with a strategy on playing the "Sell Picks" from Cramer and have said several times that I won't short a sell pick. Anyone have a way to play the sell picks?? I would enjoy hearing some strategies. Maybe something with a longer time period with some put options? Maybe these 2 don't fit that option really due to their very low price and not having that far to fall.

Finally, Cramer spoke of homework. He mentioned an article that came out that gave old news that was already priced into several stocks. People then panicked and sold when they really shouldn't have. In fact Cramer mentioned that these hospital stocks are good defensive plays.
The stocks that Cramer then said were a buy were, once again JNJ Johnson & Johnson , STJ St. Jude Medical Inc. and BSX Boston Scientific Corp.

STJ
Closing Price: $32.27
No Trades After Hours
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Healthcare
Short %: 0.85%
Days to Cover: 0.8
Average Volume: 3,974,340

BSX
Closing Price: $15.59
No Trades After Hours
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Healthcare
Short %: 1.5%
Days to Cover: 1.3
Average Volume: 13,885,600

Even with some "affordable" stock prices here, I don't see any activity after hours. These both trade at pretty high average volume which makes the "Cramer effect" a difficult task since the supply (of shares for sale) will probably be ample to take on any extra demand tomorrow morning reducing any run up in the stock. I don't think people feel the need to break down the door to buy these picks without seeing that run up after hours as well.

July 17th - NBR LOW ABB

Cramer's first segment looked at beaten down stocks and which are buys and which are still sells. NBR Nabors Industries Ltd. was his buy and EBAY eBay Inc. was his sell. NBR, although only a $30 stock, is in a sector that I won't short (oil and gas drilling), and EBAY is a sell pick, and I don't short Cramer's sell picks as I have mentioned in several previous posts. NBR crossed over $31 after hours, while EBAY was taken down about 18-cents.

Cramer's next segment looked at finding how "cheap" a stock actually is. He compared Lowe's and Home Depot. LOW Lowe's Companies Inc. ultimately came out on top as the cheaper, better pick.

Closing Price: $27.94
After Hours High: $28.30
Percent Increase at High: 1.3%
Price Level Off Point: $28.28
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 1.2%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Services
Short %: 2.2%
Days to Cover: 3.7

Very small increase after hours on limited trading. Also a big, well known stock that trades over 8 million shares daily. I don't see much Cramer effect here tomorrow.

Finally Cramer looked at pin action off GE General Electric's earnings. He mentioned several stocks that should do well because they did well for GE. The stocks were:

ABB ABB Ltd.
CIT CIT Group Inc.
BA Boeing Co.
WHR Whirlpool Corp.
VAR Varian Medical Systems Inc.

Of these picks, only ABB fits the price range that is best suited for shorting Cramer's picks but it only had one trade after hours, and it was well after Cramer's show for a 1% increase from the closing price of $11.53.

Certainly some safer picks again this evening. Certainly hard to blame Cramer due to the uncertainties with the war in the middle east which could have major impacts on oil which in turn can turn the market either way in a hurry, not to mention the earnings season. No sense pushing for anything that might not be there for shorting.

July 14th - Baby Boomer Plays - Repeat

So Cramer had what I think was repeat show tonight. Pretty easy to spot that it isn't a live show since there was no Stop Trading! segment on CNBC this afternoon. I'm having a hard time finding the recap for this episode from when it has aired in the past. I wonder if they have removed these repeatable shows from their recap site in hopes that people won't be able to read ahead and try to buy the stocks early or do something to try to take advantage. Either that or I am losing my mind and this may be a new show?? It seems so familiar though, when he was mentioning his vaction and meeting "Jack Bauer" from 24...I know I've seen that before, unless he just said it again. Has anyone else seen this episode before?

Update: Confirmed. This was a repeat of the May 29th show.

The stocks mentioned in a Baby Boomer Theme were:

FS Four Seasons Hotels Inc.
AXP American Express Co.
BKS Barnes & Noble Inc.
OEH Orient-Express Hotels Ltd.
LVS Las Vegas Sands Corp.
IGT International Game Technology
SGMS Scientific Games Corp.
MRT Morton's Restaurant Group Inc.
RUTH Ruth's Chris Steak House Inc.
RCL Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
HOT Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Since Cramer was very specific to say that these were "buy on the way down" stocks only LVS, OEH, and FS had after hours movement, but only a few trades. RUTH and MRT might be ones to look at Monday since they are both under $20 assuming there is some sort of spike.

Update - SBCF HCBK CPK BND

SBCF had only 1 pre-market trade at $26.83 just minutes before the opening bell after the stock traded to a high of $27.27 on light volume after hours last night. The stock then opened at $27.00 and didn't have any real dip on the way up to %27.75. So as I mentioned last night in my post that this was a crap shoot and it appears that the down market was no match for the relatively high short percentage and days to cover and high insider and institutional holdings.


HCBK had a bit more volume in the pre-market (13,900 shares) and opened at $13.25 at 8:00am, after closing after hours last night at $13.43 and seeing a high of $13.60. The pre-market saw a high of $13.50 at 8:01am and drifted downwards towards the opening bell going to $13.29. The stock then opened at $13.30, had a short quick rise to the high for the day of $13.35 a few minutes after the bell and dropped to a low for the day of $13.03 by noon, for a drop from last nights high of 4%. Not a huge spike at the opening since a lot of the gains were already lost, but a typical Cramer effect drop. Volume on the day was around double the average.


CPK had no pre-market activity which wasn't much of a surprise since it only trades 8,000 shares on average. The real surprise came in the regular hours market when the stock went up over $2 dollars. The stock opened at $32.90, up from last nights close of $31.65. Volume on the day was 8.6 times higher then average. The stock climbed to a high of $34.65 on the day and closed around $33.50. Obviously something to take note of here. A stock that has such a low average daily volume can be dangerous. With no news that I can see, the early volume in the first few minutes (volume that surpassed the average for the entire day) that was up $1.35 must have produced some excitement in people. Maybe people thought there was a takeover bid??


BDN also had only 1 pre-market trade at $31.20 just moments before the opening bell, this is after the stock traded as high as $31.72 after hours last night. BDN opened at $31.50 at 9:30am, saw an early high for the day of $31.59 in the first few minutes of trading had showed a similar chart to that of HCBK and had its biggest drop seen around noon to $30.84. Here is another example of where the ANGO no-short rule did not apply, but I have come to realize that in a down overall market and light after hours volume the rule has little value, but not something I will ignore.

July 13th - SBCF HCBK CPK BDN RA

Another look at defensive stocks tonight. These are stocks who have dividends (dividend yields go up as stock price goes down remember!), stock buy backs or may be take over targets or companies in sectors with M&A activity. The 3 sectors Cramer looked at were Utilities, Real Estate Trusts, and Regional Banks. The Bank stocks in particular were:

SBCF Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida
Closing Price: $26.61
After Hours Price (only trade): $27.37
Percent Increase: 2.9%
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Financial
Short %: 3.9%
Days to Cover: 11.7
Average Volume: 43,065
% Held by Insiders: 13%
% Held by Institutions: 45.7%

Low volume, large number of days for short coverage, almost 60% of shares held by insiders and institutions, and only 1 trade after hours. The high for today was $27.35 so we are very close to an ANGO no short rule, but with no volume right now it really doesn't matter. A lot of signs here point to not shorting, but the fact that no one is buying and we are in a bear market it's really a crap shoot. Also, Cramer said he prefers HCBK.

HCBK Hudson City Bancorp Inc.
Closing Price: $13.16
After Hours High: $13.59
Percent Increase at High: 3.3%
Price Level Off Point: $13.47
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 2.4%
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Financial
Short %: 3.1%
Days to Cover: 4.7
Average Volume: 2,723,010
% Held by Insiders: 16.8%
% Held by Institutions: 54.6%

Much more volume here, most likely due to the price and it being the favored pick of the two banks Cramer mentioned. Much like SBCF we have large insider and institutional holdings (71.4%) so this takes away from the float if they are going to hold. This stock trades in a VERY tight range and hasn't closed outside of $13 since February when it closed at $12.84. The stock has also briefly touched $14 but did not hold. I think it is very unlikely this will hold these gains from tonight, even though they are minimal. If this even comes near $14 tomorrow morning it would present a great opportunity for a short in my opinion. Any spike at 9:30am on large volume should be worth a look.

Cramer's utility pick was CPK Chesapeake Utilities Corp.

CPK only trades at an average volume of 8,000 shares a day on the NYSE. It closed today at $31.65. No trades after hours to speak of. If by some chance this gets any action tomorrow who knows what it might do with such low average volume. People may be very excited to sell on any spike. My guess is that there won't be much buying to worry about.

Cramer also mentioned BKH Black Hills Corp. IDA IdaCorp, Inc. and CNL Cleco Corp. for the utilities sector. CNL is the only one that had a trade after hours but for only a slight increase of just under 1% on 100 shares. These all have higher average volume than CPK, but obviously didn't evoked much buying, and will probably be the case tomorrow as well.

Cramer's Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) picks were RA Reckson Associates Realty Corp. and BDN Brandywine Realty Trust

BDN actually had some trades below the close! The stock closed at $31.11 and had 500 shares trade after hours at $30.80. Somewhat surprising since the stock/trust trades over 600,000 shares daily on average. Not sure who would have a sell order at $30.80 sitting there. Maybe the seller put in a market sell and there was a buyer at $30.80, or maybe they meant to sell at $31.80? The stock has since traded above today's close reaching a high of $31.68. RA has 1 trade after hours up from a close of $41.03 to $41.60 on 100 shares.

BDN
Closing Price: $31.11
After Hours High: $31.68
Percent Increase at High: 1.8%
Price Level Off Point: $31.50
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 1.3%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Financial - REIT
Short %: 7.5%
Days to Cover: 10.1
Average Volume: 661,127

The high for the day for BDN was $31.71 and we are below that now after hours, so this would be an ANGO no-short rule. Looks like HCBK is the best bet for tomorrow.

Update - EZM

So much like last time Cramer mentioned EZM there seems to be some delays in trading of the stock the next day. Last time it was around 10:30 before there was real volume and today around 9:50am according to the chart, although there is pre-market activity recorded. Some other charts I have looked at don't have the gap like the one I have pasted below though. The stock opened in the pre-market at $2.74 and slowly drifted downwards from there to a low of $2.63 and closed the pre-market at $2.64. The stock then opened at $2.66 and only saw a high of $2.67. There was quick drop to $2.62 before another run back to $2.67 and then the air came out of the stock with an initial low of $2.56 coming right around 10:00am. The stock then hung around $2.60 till late in the day when it lost even more steam and found the low for the day of $2.48. So with highs last night of $2.78 and a low of $2.48, we had a nice drop of nearly 11% (assuming of course someone timed both the high and low perfectly, which would be impressive, but unlikely). Once again, having read the message boards last night, its amazing how people think this stock was going to the moon today off Cramer's latest recommendation...failing to realize that the last few times he has mentioned it has yielded similar results as today.

July 12th - Top Pricing Power Companies

Cramer's "Main Event" looked at companies with the best pricing power.

They were:
EOP Equity Office Properties Trust Closing Price $37.87
VNO Vornado Realty Trust Closing Price $100.56
BA Boeing Co. Closing Price $80.92
VLO Valero Energy Corp. Closing Price $65.26
APD Air Products & Chemicals Inc. Closing Price $63.92
BW Brush Engineered Materials Inc. Closing Price $23.76
DNA Genentech Inc. Closing Price 80.98
CELG Celgene Corporation Closing Price 48.25
LMT Lockheed Martin Corp. Closing Price 74.90
GD General Dynamics Corp. Closing Price $69.00
KEX Kirby Corp. Closing Price $38.00
RIG Transocean Inc. Closing Price $79.75
BHP BHP Billiton Ltd. Closing Price $44.15
EZM EuroZinc Mining Corp. Closing Price $2.57

So most of these are rather pricey and big stocks, and only 1 really had any good action and of course it was EZM as Cramer predicted. He was safe to put a "cap" of $2.75 and it seems people are respecting that since that is trading right around that number.

EZM
Closing Price: $2.57
After Hours High: $2.78
Percent Increase at High: 8.2%
Price Level Off Point: $2.73
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 6.2%
Trades on AMEX
Sector: Basic Materials
Short %: 0.33%
Days to Cover: 0.3

So its up over 6% which is only 16-cents. The stock was down 2-cents today but did trade as high as $2.68 intra-day. Last time Cramer did a segment on EZM (not including his conversation with the CEO) the following happened with the stock the next day:

May 11th 2006
"EZM was an odd one today. Apparently the AMEX was down, but it must have only been for certain brokers because there was trading all day long as far as the chart says. Apparently it came back up around 10:27 because there was some very large volume right then causing a spike in price that created the high for the day of $3.25. It came down quickly to $2.97 and went as low as $2.90. There was also shorting opportunities in the pre-market where the stock touched $3.10 and went down to $2.78. So the good thing is that the problem with the AMEX or brokers hopefully didn't hurt shorting, because I would hope no one shorted at the lows in the pre-market because it was down so much already by that point."

I'm not sure we will get the same sort of buying we saw last time since people can see how it is down from then. Much like then though, I think anything over $3 early would be a good opportunity for a short, assuming your broker allows for shorting that cheap of a stock. Hopefully no oddities with the AMEX exchange this time though.

What is the Squeeze Ranking?

Thanks to Brian - a poster on my blog for the following information on what the ShortSqueeze.com Squeeze Ranking really means. (Just an FYI too, the comments have been re-directed to a discussion page, but I missed some links to the comments. Sorry for the confusion, I will try to clean up, otherwise the comments might not be seen. I have copied this over to the discussion board as well.)

Short Squeeze has developed the Squeeze Ranking system used to gauge a stock's squeeze potential. We use a proprietary algorithm used to rank a stocks potential for either a bullish or bearish stock price move. Squeeze Theory is the creation of Dylan Wetherill, the founder of Short Squeeze. The theory seeks to identify the basic principles that cause a stock to experience a short squeeze (bullish) or a long squeeze (bearish).

For example, a Squeeze Ranking of 0 is neutral, with unlimited up or down values to mark bullishness or bearishness. A Squeeze Ranking of 2,000 would be more bullish than a Squeeze Ranking of 50. Conversely, a negative Squeeze Ranking of -3,000 would be much more bearish than a Squeeze Ranking of -50. As a Short Squeeze member you are able to search all stocks and find stocks with the highest Squeeze Rankings: short squeeze (bullish) and long squeeze (bearish). The process Squeeze Rankingâ„¢ system is designed according to the principles of Squeeze Theory.

Many people assume that short interest in a stock alone biases a stock to either upward or downward price moves. This is not the case. The potential for a squeeze is dependent upon two market forces: the amount of concentrated short interest that exists in a stock and the price action of the stock.

Part 1: A stock's Days To Cover (Short Ratio) and it's Short Percent of Float are both used to identify the amount of concentrated short interest that exist in a stock. The higher these numbers, the higher the amount of relative levels of concentrated short interest there is in a stock.

Part 2: The second factor in evaluating a stock Squeeze Ranking is the stock's price action. The stronger a stock's price performance is, the more pain will be felt by people who are short a stock. If someone is short a stock and the price action is relatively flat, there is little immediate incentive for a short to cover their position (buy stock). On the other hand, a stock experiencing powerful upward performance, or even making new 52-week highs, can cause an extreme desire by short traders to exit their trades. This is done by buying stock, which can initiate a chain reaction of buying interest to surge into a stock. This powerful market force is called a short squeeze.

July 11th - WAG

Cramer's first segment looked at how earnings are not always what is important for stocks. He used WAG Walgreen Co. as an example where the company reported some good numbers and fell, and didn't start to go back up again until the Federal Reserve continued to tighten with the interest rates. WAG then reported again recently and again reported good numbers and went up, even though they said the same things they said the first time the reported and went down. Since we were in a different part of the business cycle, that explains the difference in the reaction to the earnings reports. Cramer did say he expects WAG to continue to go up because of the economic slow down so he did give it a buy recommendation.

Closing Price: $46.80
After Hours High: $47.04
Percent Increase at High: 0.5%
Price Level Off Point: $46.95
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 0.3%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Services
Short %: 1.2%
Days to Cover: 2.7

Very small price increase and an expensive stock, not to mention being just to big a stock for Cramer to influence too much.

In Cramer's second segment he mentioned FCX Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. as a company that will report well, but not to buy because the market will not react favorably to it...so he gave it he bear button.

The stock traded down after hours to lows of $56.20 after closing today at $56.89. After that drop though, someone did bid it up over $57.00, but it has since fallen. I assume they weren't listening to what Cramer said and just had their finger on the buy trigger. It has been mentioned a few times why I don't make note to short a sell pick from Cramer. As I have replied in the past, I don't want to short sell picks because it is not the same game. I don't feel the same edge is created like when shorting his buy recommendations. In theory it makes more sense to go long his sell picks for a day trade since people will sell in a panic and the stock will probably gain some back. Now I don't really recommend that since I have only seen a few examples, but shorting is not a great option either. Chances are you will chase the short down only for it to bottom and climb back up.

Finally, Cramer spoke of AAPL Apple Computer Inc. and to be careful about it because it is a "defenseless" stock. Although it has some great product outlook, and plenty of cash, it is not great because it has no dividend, no stock buybacks, and no guidance. Much like FCX above, since this is more of a "stay away"/sell on increases pick I don't think shorting is a good idea here.

Update - NWS (-A)

So it appears that people will buy picks that they think are close enough to the ones Cramer actually recommends. As mentioned yesterday, Cramer mentioned NWS-A as his pick, but people must have had a hard time finding it and just decided to go with NWS.

NWS opened in the pre-market at $20.31 after trading last night around $20.25 (but a high of $20.49), saw a high in the pre-market of $20.40 but dipped to $20.22 a few minutes before the opening bell. The stock then opened at $20.10, basically wiping out all of the gains, but did have a slight rise to $20.16 around 9:35am before falling to a low for the day at $19.95. For the remainder of the day the stock traded in the range that was established in the first 5 minutes between $20.16 and $19.95. The volume was slightly up from average, but well above the last few trading sessions.

NWS

Funnily enough, NWS-A has an almost identical chart and trading range for the day, except for the fact that NWS-A trades at $1 dollar less then NWS. The average volume for NWS-A is around double the volume for NWS. The 52-week range is almost identical (but subtract $1 from the low and high). So why not buy NWS-A? Its cheaper by a dollar and trades the same way. All I could figure about the difference in the two is that one has different voting rights. In the end, some short potential (for both really), but nothing spectacular. Certainly my rule about not shorting stocks compared to Google didn't really apply here after all.

NWS-A

July 10th - NWS-A BDX

Cramer brought back his "Pick of the Week" and selected NWS-A News Corporation

NWS
Closing Price: $20.08
After Hours High: $20.49
Percent Increase at High: 2.0%
Price Level Off Point: $20.25
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 0.8%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Services
Short %: 1.3%
Days to Cover: 9.2

NWS-A
No After Hours Trades

Sorry....I made a previous post with the wrong stock data. Cramer was very clear to say the stock code was NWS-A but people are bidding up NWS, so the information on after hours price action is for NWS. Cramer did mention GOOGLE in his talk on NWS-A saying it could be at the top of the internet hierarchy with Google and Yahoo!, which is concerning since one of my rules was to not short any stock that Cramer says is "the next Google" or "the Google of X Country". These exact phrases weren't used in this case but I think what was said might have the same effect so I am going to stay away from this one. This one is a bit of a head scratcher now. Since Cramer did say NWS-A are people buying the wrong stock? The stock chart he showed had a price of $19.06 which is the correct closing price for NWS-A and not NWS. Yes NWS-A and NWS are both News Corp so people may start dumping once they realize?

Cramer's next pick was BDX Becton Dickinson & Co. which closed today at $59.86 and is too expensive in my opinion to short off the Cramer recommendation. It is also trading after hours below the high for the day so would also be an ANGO no-short situation.

Finally Cramer mentioned MMM 3M Co. which he said was both a bull and a bear. The segment was about flip-flopping on stock picks and said it is important to do so because news happens all the time. Since this is not a buy recommendation and an expensive stock, nothing to look at here.

Update - SFD AIR

SFD had only 1 trade of 300 shares in the pre-market for $29.25, which was higher then all trades from Friday after hours. The stock then opened at 9:30am at $29.00. It then took a quick drop to the low for the day of $28.90 and then went on a run-up to $29.23 just after 10:00am, took a quick breather and hit a high for the day of $29.34. The stock did drift back down throughout the day and closed at $28.98. So in the end, not much damage done with a pretty tight trading range but only a very brief early drop on light volume in the pre-market.


AIR also traded thinly in the pre-market with only 6 trades, opening at $22.90 and the last trade of the pre-market at $22.65, but both well above Friday's after hours price of $22.25. The stock then opened at 9:30am at $22.45. The stock took a quick "Cramer Drop" to a low for the day of $22.01. The stock then rose to a high of $23.19 but closed at $22.68. This sort of price action is what I am afraid of when I see an ANGO no-short situation, but in this case there was the early drop that preceded the big run up.

July 7th - AIR SFD ANF

Cramer's first two picks were offensive play for next week and were PEP Pepsico Inc. and DNA Genentech Inc. Both to big and expensive.

His two defensive plays were AL Alcan Inc. and AIR AAR Corp.

AL is a bit too expensive for my taste on the shorting front trading at $47.75 and isn't getting much attention after hours.

AIR
Closing Price: $21.78
After Hours High and level off price: $22.25
Percent Increase: 2.2%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Industrial Goods
Short %: 11.11%
Days to Cover: 7.8

AIR has been picked before by Cramer. View my post from the last time it was picked here. This is also very close to an ANGO no-short situation because it is trading exactly at today's high of $22.25 and on very light after hours trading. It is likely this will drop below $22.25 tonight before the close. The company also reports earnings on Wednesday the 12th so I am a bit on the cautious side after STJ stayed so strong before its earnings report.

Cramer's next segment featured SFD Smithfield Foods Inc.

Closing Price: $28.73
After Hours High: $29.17
Percent Increase at High: 1.5%
Price Level Off Point: $28.95
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 0.8%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Consumer Goods
Short %: 2.4%
Days to Cover: 3.7

Not a very exciting pick it seems with only a few trades after hours. On a big down day today in the market, this stock was up $0.31 or 1.09%. Less then a million shares traded daily on average, but today volume was about 1/3 higher than normal. I do see a big trade that happened this afternoon of over 300,000 shares (which accounts for the higher volume) and since this is an NYSE traded stock that trade has me a little concerned since the price went higher after that trade so hard to think it was a big short sale. Hard to say too much without seeing what might happen on Monday. We obviously need some more volume and more price increase to feel comfortable for a short. I will be on the look out for the big trades as well to see if that may influence the price action.

Cramer picked ANF Abercrombie & Fitch Co. as another value pick. He explained a situation where the company reported some poor same store sales that were below already low estimates and the stock went up. He claimed the reason it went up was because the owners of the stock are value investors who aren't worried about these reports and didn't sell on the news. The short sellers in the stock then panicked and covered their shorts because they didn't get the fallout that was expected, thus raising the price. Having said all that, the stock trades at $55 and change and is too expensive to short off the Cramer recommendation in my opinion. And if what Cramer says is true, and there aren't many sellers and some good upside potential in the stock then there is no sense joining the recently failed short sellers. The short % now is only 4%, but the stock has heavy institutional holders in the tune of 87% which could explain why there were not many sellers. I really don't think betting against the institutions that have this big a hold on the stock is a great idea.

Update - STJ LEA

STJ opened in the pre-market at 7:39am at $32.10 after trading after hours last night at $32.60. The stock then traded between $32.25 and $32.45 and opened at $32.33. After the decline in the after hours last night and poor performance in the pre-market this morning with no big spike early on this looked like an opportunity missed from shorting at after hours highs last night. The stock hit an initial high of $32.50 and had a early drop to $32.07 (the low for the day) before it took off upwards and hit a high of $34.45. The volume is higher then average, but a lot of that is probably from momentum players piling on after the big run up today. I don't really see any news besides the company announcing their earnings report. The only thing I saw was that people may have been expecting an earnings warning, which hasn't happened, and figure the stock will report strong numbers. In the end, the opportunity ran its course last night in my opinion and this mornings action didn't really open itself to a good short since the initial high only took the stock up 40-odd cents after all the gains were wiped out very early on.


LEA, which was an ANGO no-short pick opened in the pre-market at $22.23, which was below last nights price of $22.35. In light pre-market trading, the stock traded as high as $22.29 and opened at $22.13 at 9:30am which is currently the high for the day. There was an early small decline to the $21.80 level and the stock has traded close to $22 even for the better part of the day. So the no-short rule here didn't really turn out, as I was expecting more what we saw from the STJ chart. Both LEA and STJ have held up well on a poor day on Wall Street though which either means that people are eager to jump back into Cramer picks after the long layoff or his new strategy of picking 52-week low stocks is a good strategy for him. Earnings season may also play a role. Any other theories are welcome...please feel free to discuss here. I would certainly enjoy to hear others ideas.

July 6th - LEA STJ

Cramer looked at some value stocks tonight that are near their 52-week lows.

The first pick was LEA Lear Corp.

Closing Price: $21.45
After Hours High: $22.43
Percent Increase at High: 4.6%
Price Level Off Point: 22.35$
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 4.2%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Consumer Goods
Short %: 26.4%
Days to Cover: 10.0

LEA was down big today (5.1%) and has a pretty big short percentage already (but low and next to no insider and institutional holdings) . The stock is also trading below its high for today of $22.53 so this is an ANGO no-short situation. This pick, and possibly his next 2 feel a little like ZZ Sealy that Cramer picked again recently. The stock was also near its 52-week low and ever since Cramer mentioned it again it has held up pretty strong, including the next day. Either way, doesn't matter for this pick being a no-short situation, but just something to compare it with.

Cramer's second value pick was STJ St. Jude Medical Inc.

Closing Price: $32.07
After Hours High: $32.93
Percent Increase at High: 2.7%
Price Level Off Point: $32.60
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 1.7%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Healthcare
Short %: 0.85%
Days to Cover: 0.8

An NYSE stock so watch out for big volume spikes, but otherwise this looks to have some potential. Very small short percentage, decent volume after hours, and the typical after hours price action with a big spike and slow decline. This normally sets up pretty well for an opening bell spike and quick drop. Three things that make me hesitant though are the high average volume for the stock, the ZZ Sealy reference I made above, and the fact that Cramer gave a $10 up - $2 down prediction for the stock. Whether he is right or wrong, I think people really like hearing what the "exact" up side of the stock is. Since we came close to hitting $33 and didn't break it, I would watch to see if it breaks it early tomorrow. If it does break it, I would probably stay away and could see $33 holding. If it gets up to the high $32's early and doesn't break through it quickly then it could be ripe for a quick fall after the bell.

Cramer's final value pick was FO Fortune Brands Inc. The closing price of the stock today was $71.30. Goes to show that value stocks aren't always cheap. Being this expensive, even with a few up-tick trades after hours, its not worth shorting in my opinion since there probably won't be big volume due to the price.

Update - AA YHOO

Not a great return to regular shows for shorting Cramer's picks today. AA had some decent pre-market action without any large volume trades. The stock opened at $33.10 at 7:52am after closing $33.45 last night in the after hours market. It quickly rose to $33.60 a few minutes after 8am, settled back down to the $33.40 range and dropped before the bell to $33.25. The stock then opened at 9:30am at $33.34 and had a pretty steady rise to its high for the day of $33.82 by 10:00am, with a slight breather at $33.64 back down to $33.50. Late in the day the price did come down to a low of $33.21. There were a few big volume trades around 11:00 am with volume by the minute of 111,000 and 266,000 when the price was around $33.60, off its brief highs and before the larger drop in price. Hard to say what these trades were. AA is reporting earnings on Monday, and a bit of chatter on the sector in general make this one a little "busy" and hard to count for the Cramer effect too much.


YHOO, an ANGO no-short pick turned out to be a good call (even though shorting wasn't really an option in my opinion anyway). The stock opened right near last nights price at $33.80 and never really looked back. It climbed to highs of $33.22 and never came back to last nights price. In the end, both of these stocks were too big for a Cramer effect, and with earnings season upon us I am going to have to be very careful with other companies in the same sector as Cramer's picks reporting "Before the Bell" in case it may have an effect.

July 5th - AA YHOO

Its been a while, but Cramer is finally back with new shows!

Cramer's first 2 stocks were AA Alcoa Inc. and YHOO Yahoo! Inc

AA
Closing Price: $32.84
After Hours High and close: $33.45
Percent Increase: 1.9%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Basic Materials
Short %: 1.8%
Days to Cover: 1.9

YHOO
Closing Price: $32.47
After Hours High: $32.79
Percent Increase at High: 1.0%
After Hours Level Off Point: $32.70
Percent Increase: 0.7%
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Technology
Short %: 6.4%
Days to Cover: 3.6

Nothing great here with Cramer's first new picks in a long time. YHOO is an ANGO no-short rule because after hours it is trading below the daily high of $32.99. Not to mention I wouldn't really want to short Yahoo anyway since it trades very similarly to Google and after some good words from Cramer on Google today and it being a very volatile stock it just isn't worth it. AA is barely above its daily high after hours, but the rule does not apply. This was a steady climber after hours unlike usual Cramer picks were the stocks start really high and slowly come down. Also, the percent increase isn't really great. AA is an NYSE stock so it would be worth looking for any big block trades early. A big block near highs might be a big short. An early big block without much price increase watch out for a run and look for the high $33 level for a peak.

Cramer's next segment had no picks. It was about taking profits when they are available in speculative stocks.

Finally Cramer played "Am I Diversified", so no picks there to speak of.

July 3rd - Security Stocks (Repeats)

Comments/Discussion Here!

Another repeat/mix and match show tonight that highlighted Security/Defense plays. It looks like Cramer did a quick intro to the show that wasn't old that clearly stated that these stocks aren't really in "bull mode" right now but when they are, these are the stocks worth getting. With there being a short trading day today and a holiday tomorrow there isn't much to look at tonight. I'm not sure how after hours works when the market closes at 1pm, but I looked at a few stocks and it looks like they traded past 1pm (SIRI and MSFT for example). Probably just NASDAQ stocks I would assume. I doubt any of these picks tonight will get any action though.

The first pick was GD General Dynamics Corp. Maybe a good call for Lenny Dykstra's sake as this is one of his recent Deep in the money option selections.

Closing Price: $65.20
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Industrial Goods
Short %: 0.52%
Days to Cover: 1.4

Check out what happened last time Cramer picked GD HERE.

The second pick was ALOG Analogic Corp.

Closing Price: $46.36
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Technology
Short %: 6.9%
Days to Cover: 5.3

The third pick was NICE NICE-Systems Ltd.

Closing Price: $28.08
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Technology
Short %: 0.3%
Days to Cover: 0.5

Check out what happened to NICE last time Cramer picked it HERE.

Cramer's fourth pick was OSIS OSI Systems Inc.

Closing Price: $17.87
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Technology
Short %: 10.6%
Days to Cover: 9.1

Check out what happened to OSIS last time Cramer picked it HERE

Cramer's fifth pick was VISG VIISAGE TECH INC

Closing Price: $15.95
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Technology
Short %: 37.6%
Days to Cover: 22.5

Pretty big short % here, with 25% of the float held by insiders and 32% by institutions means that if this does run up (unlikely from a Cramer spike off this show tonight) that this could see a squeeze. It was up 5% today before the show. Not one to short in my opinion.

Cramer's sixth and seventh picks were EDO EDO Corp. and AXYS Axsys Technologies Inc.

EDO
Closing Price: $24.72
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Industrial Goods
Short %: 15.8%
Days to Cover: 9.9

AXYS
Closing Price: $15.15
Trades on NASDAQ
Sector: Technology
Short %: 1.4%
Days to Cover: 4.3


So, no after hours action and no market tomorrow so hard to imagine much come Wednesday morning. I would hope that the longer people have to to actually research Cramer's picks they may not be in that much of a hurry to buy. A few cheaper picks in this group of 7 so I would look to see if they get any early volume and spike on Wednesday, but hard to say much now with no after hours information.

And it looks like a Cramer marathon tomorrow starting at 3pm. With the market closed and most likely more repeats I probably won't be commenting on it.