After this segment, you can see Jim's Sudden:Death picks here...

JJC:    When a theme works, we go right back to it. And that's why, even on this nasty, ugly day, for speculation Friday, I've got not one, but two speculative battery stocks...  One that is speculative frankly, and one that is sizzling, ultra hot... well let's just say that it has extra hot sauce on it...

Now, why do we know that battery stocks work?... 

Well, not just the fact that oil was up $10 today and it just went up more than it ever has and all that other stuff that all the other shows talked about...  Back on May 21st, I recommended EnerSys (ENS)...  that's the world's number one maker of old-fashioned lead acid batteries...  Since then, it's up 4.6%.   Now I also thought of that same day recommending another battery stock, Exide (XIDE), and I held off, because I thought it had too much auto exposure... but Exide has preformed even better than ENS...  My bad, it's up 10.6%...

Hey, maybe these battery stocks are all triple A's, the only one's left of course after the banking debacle...

So, today, we're returning to the battery theme with XIDE, and then, for those of you who want something even more speculative, there's HEV...

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What's Exide Technologies (XIDE)?...

It makes old-fashioned lead acid batteries... not the lithium-ion batteries everyone wants to speculate on, as the future of hybrid technology... XIDE's batteries are used in cars, for ignition and lighting, trucks, off-road vehicles, ag equipment, construction vehicles, bikes and boats... in the transportation division... and, most importantly, forklifts and floor cleaning machinery in its industrial division, where the batteries are used in what's known as materials handling...

Now, speaking of materials handling, I like XIDE, because of my fabulous time with the fantastic men and women on the aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, which has tremendous state-of-the-art equipment everywhere... they use trucks with XIDE batteries... so they must really trust XIDE to be clean, safe and lasting...

The one reason I held off from endorsing this stock was, well, I didn't like the auto exposure, but the stock has outperformed ENS, my battery pick, so it's time to reassess the judgment...

Maybe it's because 56% of XIDE's sales come from outside the U.S.... I'm not going to associate this company with the weak North American auto market... It's a ROW-er...

XIDE doubled their capacity for making auto batteries in India. They're also looking to increase penetration in South America, Mexico, or places where people want to still buy cars...

This company is also the largest recycler of lead batteries in the U.S.... 98% of their lead comes from recycling... so they're not getting killed by higher lead prices. It's in a great position...

And, best of all, only one analyst covers XIDE. It's a real orphan stock. I like it. I did not think about doing this... honestly... until I saw it on the USS Harry S. Truman.

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How about Ener1 Inc. (HEV)?...

If XIDE is speculative, at least it's making the kind of batteries that people can buy now... HEV is the kind of unprofitable company that is a stock that will trade on hype more than anything else... Can I be honest?... It's kind of a CNBC game kind of stock...

HEV is developing three alternative energy technologies that are so hype-able... especially with oil at $137 a barrel, heading to $150... I think that people will be all over this under-$7 stock... which was actually up today, courtesy of the big jump in oil.

HEV is in a joint venture with Delphi Corp. (DPHIQ.PK)... it's main business... that's developing a lithium-ion battery... That's the holy grail of hybrid technology...

Then it's got a division developing the third part... nano materials for better energy storage in batteries... With oil here, this stock is infinitely hype-able... and it's also adding another battery business... But, look, we're talking about products that... I'm going to use this number, so you know how speculative it is... We're talking about products not really delivering for maybe as far as... 50 years... I mean, this stuff is really on the drawing board... you got that... drawing board...

Now that HEV has moved from the OTC (over-the-counter Trading Desk) to the AMEX (American Stock Exchange), it seems to be starting up on investors radars, because it actually looks like a legitimate investment. When oil goes up so much, we can now discount these stocks differently.

There's actually a legitimate reason to own this one...

This joint venture with Delphi... It recently announced an agreement to sell prototype batteries to ThinkGlobal, a Norwegian company that makes electrical vehicles... If this works out, it could lead to full production contracts by the end of the year... a fully-functional vehicle by the end of June...

That's why HEV is worthy of speculation... that's the real truth...

HEV does have the potential to be the first mover in the lithium-ion battery market... It could start producing non-prototype batteries by the end of 2008, and supply the U.S. auto industry, helping them to close the hybrid car gap with the Japanese.

No coverage on this one at all... It's a real orphan... But it has the mystique of an under-$10 stock with a bunch of sexy technology...

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Okay, now let me give you the Cramer Miranda warning...

Before you buy either of these stocks, you must do the homework... and you better wait at least a week from today, to avoid buying into the spike, because now people say, oh now Cramer likes HEV... I do like HEV. Why? Because it's where it is... not to where you might take it if you get all excited...

When you buy, you absolutely have to use limit orders, and only buy in small increments... These are tiny companies. You don't want to end up paying through the nose, because you placed a big market order.

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