September 22nd - AUO, Sell Ethanol

Cramer looked at LCD TVs and recommended AU Optronics Corp. (AUO)

Closing Price: $14.39
After Hours High: $14.75
Percent Increase at High: 2.5%
Price Level Off Point: $14.70
Percent Increase at Level Off Point: 2.2%
Trades on NYSE
Sector: Technology
Short %: 1.09%
Days to Cover: 3.2
% Held By Insiders: 1.23%
% Held By Institutions: 0.12%
Average Volume: 1,932,120

Not a huge price increase after hours for a stock of this price....maybe since it is a Friday and a down day in the market? Cramer did put a conservative price of $21 on the stock which still didn't push the stock much higher after hours. Cramer then said to not buy at the open and wait for the mid-day and that an analyst will upgrade the stock at some point next week. Certainly some potential come Monday morning assuming there are no upgrades right in the morning and as long as we do get that spike at the opening bell but preferable closer to $15.

Cramer next looked at Ethanol and said it was DEAD. He said the weakness is not just a buying opportunity and is not coming back. He said ADM is holding up ok because it is only 19% in ethanol. Verasun Energy, Corp. (VSE) and Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc (AVR) are down big. Even if oil goes back up, ethanol is still not a good play and the only reason it was a good play before is because of the speculators that were pushing the prices up, but in the end it really isn't that great of a product.

Finally, Cramer spoke of window dressing and named 9 stocks that are primed for a rise next week after the mutual fund managers buy stocks that have performed well over the last quarter to give the impression that their fund had these great stocks. Cramer suggested buying the following on Monday and well on Wednesday or Thursday:

RadioShack Corp. (RSH)
TJX Companies Inc. (TJX)
Charming Shoppes Inc. (CHRS)
NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA)
Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS)
Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL)
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW)
Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN)
Morgan Stanley (MS)

The first 4 are in the right price range for shorting, with TJX the only one with any price increase to speak of after hours. Segments with multiple picks like this tend to get less after hours attention (unless there is a very cheap stock mentioned) as I think people need some time to digest the stocks so there may be some spikes come Monday even though there was little action to speak of tonight. Regardless, I still think AUO looks like the best bet anywhere near $15.