Wednesday, 06/18/08
Posted 06/18/08,  11:41 pm ET

(Scroll down to see Jim's comments below)

 
 
Today's date:  Wednesday, 06/18/08

  Dow Jones: 12,029   - 131
  NASDAQ:   2,429    - 28
  S&P 500:   1,337    - 13
 
 
 
 
 
First Segment
 
Opening Segment 1 Title: 'Oil's Foil'

.  .  .  .  .

Featured Stock(s): Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Apache Corp.
(APA)
XTO Energy Inc.
(XTO*)
Southwestern Energy Co.
(SWN*)
El Paso
(EP*)
Ultra Petroleum
(UPL)
Range Resources Corp.
(RRC)
Rex Energy Corp.
(REXX)



See Opening Segment 2, below...
 
After this segment, you can see Jim's Lightning Round picks here...

        
JJC:    Why is it that as the price of crude, crude oil has made its historic run from $100, which it first hit on February 19th, all the way to the $130s...  Why is it that major integrated oil companies have done next to nothing...  Think about this...  Exxon Mobil (XOM) is up 1%...  BP plc (BP), up 2.4%...   Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO), up 1.6%...  Even the better performers like Chevron (CVX), up 17%...  ConocoPhillips (COP), which has a lot of natural gas, up 18%...  Those do not come close to the 30% plus gain in the spot price of oil...  and this is what question I get asked, whether it be from my dad on Father's Day or the people on the street...  Why is it that on average the major integrated oils are up just 10% as the crude has gone from $100 to $136.42?... 

.  .  .  .  .

I hear the chatter.  Some people are saying that the performance of these stocks is signaling a top in oil...  That's wrong...  I say what it's telling us is the truth, not the truth about the commodity, but the truth about these companies...  that these companies can not take advantage of the rise in oil prices...  that's right...  The big oil stocks can't make that much more money off of higher crude...  They did it to themselves...  Either because they didn't believe in higher prices, so they didn't drill enough, and took all the money and spent it on buying back stock instead of prospecting...  or, and this is more likely, they figured that it was 1980 all over again, the last time we got a big spike, when oil went all the way up, and then down...  They figured that oil would be back down to the $40-50 range by now, and they would've looked stupid...  it would have been too expensive to lock in high drilling rates...  day rates are up to $700,000 a day to borrow, lend and take a rig down...  I'm sure they thought it wasn't worth it.  It seems like they really did believe oil was going back down and it looks ridiculous in hindsight...  but that's because all these companies had, all the executives had, was hindsight. 

.  .  .  .  .

So the people who are running the show, they remember the big disappointments of the past, they didn't have the foresight to realize that the future was different.  People who run these major companies, they were 25 years old back then...  they were the people, the young staffers, who recommended drilling in 1980 because they thought that $27 oil was going to $100 instead of $10, where it ended up.  Those people are now running these companies, and they're attitude is once burned, twice, not drilling.  And even if they had embraced the idea that oil was going higher, I still don't think that it would have mattered.  The big oil companies have signed so many contracts with foreign governments that have turned out not to be worth the paper they're printed on.  Who wants to invest in Exxon Mobil (XOM) when it's in Venezuela, and the government is happy to abrogate its contract or outright confiscate the assets...  Who wants to touch Shell, BP plc (BP) in Russia?...  I pick up the paper every day and it's like, hey they're kicking BP out of Russia any minute.  You can't do what these companies have done - invest billions and then write them off because the contracts you signed don't mean a darn thing.  Plus, incremental fields just don't mean that much to these behemoths.  In fact, they've been sellers of the incremental fields, not buyers. 

.  .  .  .  .

But there are companies that can benefit from higher oil.   Companies that have been benefitting from the natural gas stocks, that are drilling like mad.  That cohort, natural gas, is up an average of 33.8%, in keeping with the crude price.  Crude is up around $33-34, oil is up from $100, now gas is up the same amount...  And as natural gas breaks out today, $13 bucks...  the stocks are heading even higher.  I want you to think XTO Energy Inc. (XTO*), which I own for my charitable trust, Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK), Apache Corp. (APA), Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN*) and El Paso (EP*), two others that I own...  I am heavy and have been heavy in natural gas for my trust, where I trade, open handedly, if you want to look at it...  All the wildcatters I talked about last week...  right?...  These companies are aggressively acquiring anchorage and drilling...  that's why they're going up...  These companies have more rig capacity to take advantage of higher prices, not so long ago there was a glut in North American land drilling, which has made it much cheaper for these companies to drill too...  So they're constantly on the move...  They are constantly adding assets...  They have been the performers, the real beneficiaries of higher oil prices...  And I have every reason to believe they will keep going higher.  We have been using $16 as the price target for natural gas, it's at $13...  it's still cheaper at $16 to burn natural gas than oil and cleaner, of course.  As I have said over and over on this show, I believe 2008 is the year of natural gas.  If you've only heard the show once or twice this year I think you now have heard that...  And when the futures broke through $13 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas today, I cheered.  Natural gas hasn't been this pricey since 2005, but that was a Katrina spike... 

.  .  .  .  .

But this time I think it's going much higher... why?...  Do you know that historically there has been a 6-1 price ratio between natural gas and oil...  That means that with crude at $136...  do the arithmetic, it's just arithmetic, not math...  $23 for natural gas...  Too bullish for me... I'm staying with $16.  And here we have all these natural gas companies drilling like mad to produce more of this stuff, and we have had every one of them on this show, some repeatedly, and you've got to believe prices are going higher...  and therefore, their stocks are going higher.  You want a great indicator of natural gas prices...  look to Cramer-fave and friend of Mad Money, Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy (CHK), $65, despite the market being down 100.  Aubrey's been a veracious buyer on the way up, but has always held his hand as natural gas prices have fallen.  See, on June 11th, Aubrey bought 11.9 million worth of CHK stock on open - market...  he's not lining his pockets with options like those old tech guys in Silicon Valley...  he's in there buying along with you...  How about this... did you know that he purchased 22 million dollars of stock on May 30th?  We have to figure that sees these prices and he's a believer...  He knows natural gas is going even higher...  He has always told us where it's going to go and he's been right.  Insiders sell for many reasons but you know they only buy for one, because they think their stock is going even higher.  When we followed Aubrey in the past he has made you boat loads of money and I say we stick with him and we stick with CHK, which is up 51% since oil broke through $100.  You're BP or XOM?... How about if you bought for CHK?...  How about if you still buy the CHK...  I think the rest of the natural gas cohort has a lot further to go and will follow Aubrey's 51%... 

.  .  .  .  .

Now these natural gas stocks are likely to fluctuate with the oil futures, like they did yesterday, but as long as you wait a few days, I believe they stabilize, start the ramp again, like they did today...  Because they are levered both to asset growth, as they're buying more land and drilling more, and the price of rosined commodity?...  I call them twice-blessed, something we can't get enough of on Mad Money...  It's a continual theme of mine, finding stocks that are twice-blessed...  Now I know I recommend these names over and over and I don't care.  I'm trying to make you money.  I'm not going to start recommending bank stocks.  I recommend what I think is going to work for you.  I think these stocks outperform as well as another twice-blessed group that I have not been able to shut up about that I have recommended over and over and over again, and that's the fertilizer stocks.  Since October 31st of 2005, it's to toot my own horn, no.  It's to please follow what I recommend over and over and over and over on the show.  It's like when I worked on my hedge fund, over at Goldman Sachs...  What I recommend over and over, what I buy over and over is what I believe in.  Since 2005, I have favored Mel Gibson favorite, Mosaic (MOS), eight times,  Agrium (AGU), eight times, Potash (POT), six times...  These have been my most recommended stocks, like the natural gas name are now, and they have given you huge gains, POT is up 773% since October 31st of 2005...  the market has done nothing...  that's when I started praising it.  MOS is up 1,120% since 2005, AGU is the lagger, it's up a mere 419%...  why?...  worldwide famine and ethanol...  With more fertilizer being the secret to more output, even as it gets more expensive to use... Twice-blessed has worked... It's worked in fertilizer and I believe it will work in natural gas.  The integrated oils aren't even once-blessed, since they can't take advantage of higher prices. 

.  .  .  .  .

The Bottom Line!:      Follow what I recommend over and over and over and over again.  I do not believe that oil's topping, just because big oil stocks aren't moving.  I think the truth is that the natural gas companies, that have some oil, that are drilling like mad... CHK, Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Apache Corp. (APA), XTO Energy Inc. (XTO*) - at a 52-week high, Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN*), El Paso (EP*), Ultra Petroleum (UPL) and the wildcatters... the Range Resources Corp. (RRC), the Rex Energy Corp. (REXX)... they're the real beneficiaries of high oil, and they'll even go higher, as natural gas plays catch-up to oil prices.  Oh, and by the way, let's add a new kicker...  Everyone else was talking about it today... I think it's fanciful... but, if there was ever a chance that we could drill offshore, you think it's going to be Exxon Mobil (XOM)?...  If there were ever a chance that the President's plan, announced today to drill off our coast, gets passed, do you think it will be Chevron (CVX)?... Something we have been pushing endlessly on this show... do you think it will be Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO)?... If it actually happens, it's the same group of stocks I keep referring to...  It's the natural gas stocks.  They're the ones that would do the finding.

.  .  .  .  .

 

   
 

Stock Snapshots - Includes all stocks mentioned above

 

 

Jim
Cramer's
rating on
this stock

STOCK
SYMBOL

Closing
price
that
day

Opening
price
next
day

Full Company Name/Comments
(see comments above for each)


APC

79.86

81.02

Anadarko Petroleum (APC)



APA

139.67

140.46

Apache Corp. (APA)



XTO*

71.61

72.56

XTO Energy Inc. (XTO*)



SWN*

46.22

47.10

Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN*)



EP*

21.24

21.43

El Paso (EP*)



UPL

98.67

98.60

Ultra Petroleum (UPL)



RRC

66.50

66.58

Range Resources Corp. (RRC)



REXX

28.78

29.00

Rex Energy Corp. (REXX)



CHK

65.94

67.64

Chesapeake Energy (CHK)


 

 



See all of tonight's stocks' latest quotes on Yahoo! Finance



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Second Segment
 
Opening Segment 2 Title: CEO Interview

Paul Varga, CEO

.  .  .  .  .

Featured Stock(s): Brown-Forman Corporation (BF-B)

 
After this segment, you can see Jim's Lightning Round picks here...


Jim's comments BEFORE the interview:      Cramer-fave liquor company, Brown-Forman (BF-B) has been outperforming in a time when the other liquor stocks... even also plain beverage stocks, like Coke (KO) and Pepsi (PEP)... are flirting with their lows.   BF-B is a name where I have real credibility.  I recommended it when we had the CEO, back on August 30th of 2005.  The stock was at $57.31... that's right... $57 dollars, 33% gain.  It's up 5.3% since I recommended on May 13th of this year, at $72.65...  However, full disclosure, it's actually below where I picked it among the rubble on June 6th, at $77.25, after the big sell-off...  I think it's an opportunity to buy, buy, buy.  It's stock is trouncing the competition... Diageo plc (DEO), Johnny Walker, is down 12% year after year...  Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ), down 15%, Fortune Brands (FO), down an astounding 21%...  but BF-B, which you know and love as Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Finlandia Vodka...  and my favorite, Herradura...  is up 7%, and up 17% since January 22nd, when the stock got hammered.  BF-B is one name that you won't have to be sipping cheap scotch on your dirty linoleum floor with.  Here's the question:  How have they crushed their cohort?  How has a great old brand re-invented itself to trounce the competition?...  drinking its peers under the table.  Now, part of the story is international growth...  BF-B now gets 50% of its sales from outside of the US... five years ago it was only 30%...  We know that the rest of the world is where the action is.  Now, I also think there is good marketing...  That's what has been keeping the US business manageable...  although I do feel like in a recession, people should be prone to drink a little more, not less...  But the convention is to go from this to this... BF-B made a sales alliance with Bacardi and Remy, creating a combined sales team, selling all three of the company's products...  It seems to be working... Now BF-B has admitted the US business is challenging...  but they also said that base business is still strong, and they're developing brands that are actually out-performing the market...  And even though Southern Comfort volumes were down, beats the heck out of me... pricing kept sales in North America flattish... so it's holding its own here as it takes ground in Europe...  But now BR-B may be a victim of its own success...  The analysts have ceased to be believers of the eight how covered down in three are sells, three are holds, don't buy...  and only two of these guys are buy, buy, buy...  These guys, frankly, I think, are ridiculous...  If I didn't know any better, I'd think they were hitting the sauce.  Lehman's been underweight, genuine Wall Street jibberish for sell, at least since the stock was at $57.41 on August 30th of 2005, it's at $76 and change...  Wrong, JPMorgan (JPM) downgraded BF-B to underweight them on February 13th of this year with the stock at $63, up $13 from there...  Wrong...   Goldman Sachs (GS*), Goldman, also a seller, negative since January 7th, the stock was at $65 then...  These guys have been in the bag, and they just persist in their negativity, and they don't like the weakening US spirits market, it's all they focus on, or the fact that younger people are drinking more mixed drinks...  They don't like the premium nature or BF-B's brands, they don't like it's evaluation...  they think the people would trade down...  even though it's become the best of breed....  and I think it deserves to trade at a premium to the competition.  Now maybe the stocks run so much that these analysts who have wrong for as much as 18 points should no be listened to, but I'm skeptical...  Maybe instead of listening to the analysts, we should listen to the company, since it's been right so far...  More specifically, BR-B's CEO, Paul Varga, a friend of the show...  and let him tell us how his company manages to stay afloat and what he thinks the future looks like...

.  .  .  .  .

Jim's comments AFTER the interview:      We are not, not jingoists or xenophobes on Mad Money...   We recognize where the growth is.  The growth is overseas.  This brand is so under-penetrated overseas.  I think it has multiple years.  I think the people who are recommending sale of this stock will be dragged, in the $80s and $90s, into recommending it.  Don't be that way.  Pull the trigger now.  I think Brown-Forman Corporation (BF-B) is the best of breed.  I think the stock goes higher. 

 

.  .  .  .  .

 

   
 

Stock Snapshots - Includes all stocks mentioned above

 

 

Jim
Cramer's
rating on
this stock

STOCK
SYMBOL

Closing
price
that
day

Opening
price
next
day

Full Company Name/Comments
(see comments above for each)


BF-B

76.39

76.65

Brown-Forman Corporation (BF-B)

 

 

Go to the LIGHTNING ROUND from tonight's show here >>

See current quotes on Yahoo! Finance from tonight's show stocks here >>

Symbol keys:

A Charitable Trust stock. - An asterisk next to a stock symbol indicates that Jim mentioned it is a stock that he manages within
his charitable trust portfolio.  You can see the complete portfolio
of stocks here >>

Thumbs up - indicates he would buy the stock or, at the very least, not sell the stock.  We do our best to interpret Jim's opinion on stocks, as we think it is indicated by his comments during the show.  Please read his comments to decide for yourself.

Thumbs down - indicates he has said not to buy or to sell the stock, based on his comments  We do our best to interpret Jim's opinion on stocks, as we think it is indicated by his comments during the show.  Please read his comments to decide for yourself.

Back up the truck - indicated by Jim, when he says the stock is so good, that he would do a 'mon-back' on the stock... In other words, this is the sound someone would say to a truck driver, "Come on back... " as he is "backing up the truck" to load up on his cargo.  Translation for buying stocks:  This recommendation by Jim indicates that, after you do your own homework on the stock, you should feel comfortable loading up on it, as it is in a good position to be bought at this point.

Stumped. - Of the 2,000+ stocks that Jim Cramer has in his head, for which he has an informed opinion, he sometimes comes across a caller with a stock he does not know well enough to opine on...  He then indicates he is stumped and will have to come back to it, after he does some homework of his own on the stock.  This usually occurs during the Lightning Round, when Jim does not know in advance who is calling, or what their stock question is about.
 

 
Definitions of key phrases used by Jim, known as "Cramerisms":

Definition:   'Pull the trigger' is Jim's phrase for making the decision at that point to trade - either to 'buy' or to 'sell' (although he usually uses the phrase for buying), as if to say you should feel comfortable enough to make the final decision without looking back...

Definition:   'Ring the Register' is Jim's phrase for selling a stock, and making it a final sale, that you should not look back on.  Put it behind you.

Definition:  'Let It Come In' indicates how you may wait for it to pull back, or have the stock price come down briefly, as your chance (after letting it come in) to buy the rest of your position (i.e., total number of shares you own in that stock).

Definition:  'backing it up' or 'doing a 'mon-back' is Jim's phrase for the metaphor of backing up a truck to load up on a stock by buying it.  'Mon-back is short for the imaginary worker saying, 'Come on back...' as the truck is backing up to receive its load... Notice that we use the little truck icon to indicate where Jim has mentioned this.  Translation for buying stocks:  This recommendation by Jim indicates that, after you do your own homework on the stock, you should feel comfortable loading up on it, as it is in a good position to be bought at this point.
  See more "Cramerisms" & other financial phrases here >>
   
Helpful Websites:
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Charitable Trust at:

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of stocks at:

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StockHomework101.com

This site is coming soon.   Thank you.

 
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Compare these picks to Jim's comments for the same stocks.

 

 

   
   
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