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.