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I also like the restaurants off this rebate...

Now, they're hot and, thanks to this, I didn't see it.  I'll admit I didn't see that one coming.  I was too negative on Darden (DRI)...  But these could pull back and, believe me, then you have to consider buying them...  DRI is the best of the bunch.

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We also got some news today out of Washington that changed the dynamic for homebuilders... a group of stocks which also forecasted good news before we got it, right?... and that's more mortgage money for Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) ... They raised the (limit)...  Before, if you bought a house for more than $417,000 it so-called did not conform... Now, apparently... it's $730,000...  Talk about being too cynical... 

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Just last week... Chuck Akre stood right here... He was one of my (featured) funds from Stay Mad For Life...  and you know what he did?... He recommended Toll Brothers (TOL)... and I was like chuckling inside...

He talked about book value, how it was undervalued, and I'm thinking, oh man...  This stock was at $16 bucks, and most of you, like me, grimaced... 

Well, I was wrong...  I was way too skeptical.

With this plan, TOL is the clear winner, because its high-end homes don't conform to the old rules that allow Fannie and Freddie to help...  Their homes are $600,000.... Win, win, win, Bob Toll!...

Under the new (federal lending) rules agreed upon today, huge amounts of mortgage money is going to flow Toll Brothers (TOL)'s way... I believe this must-sell has now become a buy on any pullback.  Can you believe it?...  I mean it's up 30% from when Akre stood right here...   

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The most direct play off this huge change for Fannie Mae that hasn't moved is Thornburg Mortgage...  It should be a windfall for them.  They move jumbo loans...  I like the preferred, Thornburg Mortgage Preferred F (TMA-PF)...  Try to buy it under $25... a pure win.

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And, finally, there's the backdrop of a bailout in the air for the bond insurers...

I don't know if we'll get one, but the fact that these guys have gone up big...  It does buy... buy time for a white knight to come in... and, tonight, we got reports that Wilbur Ross might be coming in to save Ambac (ABK), and that's one of the worst!  That's got the banks and the brokers still on the bus...  Look at how Bank of America (BAC) is suddenly able to raise billions of dollars at the drop of a hat!   It keeps that big dividend... These guys got to live to play another day...

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Things have been getting better for a while, but something was missing... And now, I am coming out, right here, right now, and tell you to expect something imminently...   Write this down... It's a coalesces... everything good coming together at the same time... We got that right about now in 1990... the template for this recovery... the one that told us to stop selling the financials when they were down 50%...  That was a good call though, and I think it's a good call now...

I think takeovers are about to occur...

And I keep thinking about the changes at...   Bear Stearns (BSC).  Great brand name... great investment banking.  It has fallen 82 straight points from its high.  BSC has great stock trading, great prime brokerage, and a real good fixed income business, ex mortgages...

I think BSC has become too valuable to others to be independent... just too valuable...

In short, that's code for, I think it's going to be taken over!  I have to believe that UBS (UBS), which needs to shore up investment banking, and Deutsche Bank (DB), which needs to own more prime brokerage... or Credit Suisse (CS), which needs better stock trading... could all bid for this company.  They could all bid for this company.

It should make for a nifty acquisition...  and even - get this - a possible bidding war...

I do not recommend takeover stocks on this show, so maybe I'm doing something different here... I think there's 40 points on the line.  This stock acts too well for me to think that it's not going away...   There's too much near-term call option buying... I could not believe how many calls were bought today for me to think that there's no fire to go with all that smoke...

And the call option buying... Look, we've seen guys get arrested for insider trading in call options...  Probably some more guys are going to go down... but I see their footprints, and I see and want to follow them for you...

Here's my called shot...

I think Bear Stearns (BSC) will be bought... It will be bought at a hefty premium as part of the consolidation that the financials need right now.

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