From unsinkable to unthinkable. But there it is; stock picking guru Jim Cramer says GM is headed for Chapter 11. Yes, The General "joins the list of unthinkables, the ones that may not be able to make it with its current structure. The ones that basically need to be Chapter 11'd to save the business from dying." In his own inimitable style, Cramer reduces the arguments against GM's survival down to its essentials. "GM does not have enough cars in demand that it can make a profit on, and it has way too many cars and trucks that aren't in demand to do anything but lose billions of dollars, despite the decline in headcount and costs per car. It feels like the Citigroup of the autos. Without the deposit base." But seriously folks, Cramer's rant also fingers Ford for extinction. Of course, this is the same Jim Cramer who said the following in his 10-25-06 TV show: "GM – We recommended it at $18; it goes to $36. We say take a little schnitzel. It's now pulled back to $34. It's going to get to $40, but it's going to meander. I like F. I like GM." And this in February of this year: "I know there's risk to GM. But if you want to tell me that I am being reckless recommending this small-cap stock with the biggest share in the world, then I might as well just recommend that there's no real way to make money in the market." Never mind. When telegenic mainstream media mavens tell the average Joe to sell his stock and run for the hills, you can bet the big investors are already sunning themselves in the Hamptons.
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Well I’m definitely a Cramer fan after he made me money on Bear Stearns. Does this mean that GM will recover since he predicted CH11 (he’s not so hot on his predictions).
Well I’m definitely a Cramer fan after he made me money on Bear Stearns.
I see that you beat me to it with the Bear Stearns humor. This video makes me question why anybody listens to this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8
(That being said, I’m pretty gloomy about GM stock myself.)
sorry, this guy is a crook…so many people follow him that his predictions often come true before the majority of his viewers get a chance to buy in, leaving them holding the bag.
I would consider him the WWE of investing… except the WWE is more informative and entertaining.
Cramer lives in the Bizarro world. Down is up, left is right, GM stock is going to $40…..
I wish that I could talk real loud while pulling numbers out of my ass. What a great job.
Screw Cramer…what does Lenny Dykstra think? :)
What would Neuman do?
To call Cramer an investor is an insult to the term. He is a trader, pure and simple: short-term, speculative, frenetic.
About GM; he is probably right, but so is a broken clock 2x daily.
Stock picking guru? A loudmouth entertainer, maybe, if you’re into that sort of thing.
And even if he is right *this time*, remember, if you contradict yourself often enough, you will be right at least once.
**phweet!**
“Fifteen yards for piling on and loss of down.”
Cramer’s so far behind the curve on this on he’ll need GPS to find the apex.
If he just noticed GM’s condition, he’s guilty of at least inattention, if not premeditated stupidity.
I’m no Cramer apologist but when asked about BS, (in the Youtube clip posted by Pch101) the caller was asking about its liquidity. The caller wanted to know whether to pull money FROM HIS ACCOUNT AT BS. The caller did not necessarily own BS shares. Cramer was right. It was bought out and all those who had accounts there had no reason to worry about their money. They lost nothing.
As for GM- SELL SELL SELL!
Jim’s a great entertainer but too many of his predictions turn the other way. He also caters to the day traders types a lot more.
As Jeff says, the Cramer clip was taken out of context.
But, let’s face it, if anyone really knows where the market is going, wouldn’t they be making money through investing rather than telling others how to invest?
I’m no Cramer apologist but when asked about BS, (in the Youtube clip posted by Pch101) the caller was asking about its liquidity. The caller wanted to know whether to pull money FROM HIS ACCOUNT AT BS. The caller did not necessarily own BS shares. Cramer was right. It was bought out and all those who had accounts there had no reason to worry about their money.
If that quote was taken out of context, I apologize. (Admittedly, I didn’t see the original broadcast. All that shouting…)
That being said, Cramer says very clearly on that clip that “BEAR STEARNS IS NOT IN TROUBLE!!!!!!” Clearly, it was. Obviously he missed that.
For what it’s worth, on the day of the big decline to $35 or whatever it is, I looked it briefly to see whether it might be a good buying opportunity. I ran a few quick numbers, and concluded within a matter of moments that it was a $10 stock.
After making a lowball offer of $2/share, JP Morgan ultimately did a stock swap that was worth a bit over $9/share.
Now, if I could figure out in five minutes on the back of a napkin that Bear was worth about $10, Cramer had no business being so sanguine when the stock was at around $60. If the issue was over liquidity with a trading account, the answer he could have given was, “Well, Bear may be in deep guano, so moving your money wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea,” which would have been more accurate.
After seeing his meltdown, I don’t listen to anything that guy says: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWksEJQEYVU
I didn’t listen to him before, but that was just too much.
I’ve been reading Cramer for about 10 years, and he does have a track record – making his hundreds of millions before retiring from the hedge fund to the media job. The highlight might having been calling the top in 2000 and being net short the market for most of the next year.
And the youtube segment from last August was an accurate call on the housing debacle of the last 10 months which was totally right.
That said, I can’t find any value in his current TV show. It’s a mish mash that places more value on entertainment and histrionics for his target audience (18 to 29 year olds) than useful investment information.
When I saw Jim Cramer being paraded about as an example of an investment guru, I was afraid TTACs had just jumped the shark.
Thank God I was wrong. Excuse me while I click on some advertisements, you all deserve a raise.
Incidentally, why praise Craimer over the Housing bubble when freaking Philip Kaplan was predicting that on F’dcompany since 1999? Everyone knew that it would blow sky high, an asset doesn’t appreciate like that without something fundamental changing. What fundamentally changed in America over the past 10 years that would require the population to move closer to large population centers?