First Segment

Opening Segment 1 Title: 'Cramer's Game Plan   For Next Week' .  .  .  .  . Featured Stock(s): Marsh & Mclennan Companies Inc. (MMC) MBIA Inc. (MBI) Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. (JEC) MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR) Apple Inc. (AAPL) GameStop Corp. (GME) Monsanto Co. (MON) See Opening Segment 2, below...

        
Before describing his Game Plan For Next Week, Jim discussed two CEOs that he is removing from the CEO Wall of Shame, and their replacement, as follows...

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The CEO Wall of Shame...
Five companies - Five CEOs listed:

1. Kerry Killinger, SLM Corp. - Sallie Mae (SLM)

2. Patricia Russo, Alcatel-Lucent (ALU)

3. Hector Ruiz, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)

4. Gary Dunton, MBIA Inc. (MBI)

5. Open...

6. Lou Scott, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)

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This is a major, major day here on Mad Money... We're back with the Mad Money Wall of Shame!...

This place is reserved for only the most incompetent corporate officers in America... the men and women who destroy value simply by having their name at the top of the Masthead...

First, Hall of Shamer, Mike Cherkasky, CEO of Marsh & Mclennan Companies Inc. (MMC)... was fired today!   He didn't resign. The board actually booted him... The stock, of course, closed up 5.3% in response.

It's a Mad Money Christmas miracle for MMC's shareholders.

Hey, but also, while we're at it... We need to take off this fellah, Paul Saleh... he's the acting CEO of Sprint Nextel Corp. (S)... He's off the Wall of Shame list... I think he got another position there... CFO position. S hired a permanent CEO last Tuesday. Now that's an uptick, but we still want Tim Donahue, late of Nextel, to save the day...

That means we've got room for a new name. Oh, is this a tough choice. Holy cow, I was sweating over this one...

For example, this week, we had a major blowup at SLM Corp. - Sallie Mae (SLM)... This thing has now become like a box of chocolates (i.e., you never know what you will get)... SLM, the stock, got pummeled, and then analysts thought to ask some tough questions on the conference call... CEO, Al Lord, no... he wouldn't hear of it... he just cut the call off using an expletive about getting the 'heck' out of here, so to speak... Class act!

Hey, Mr. Lord... take it from one hot head to another... No, you don't go cursing in those public forums.

Now, we haven't seen cursing on a conference call since Jeff Skilling blurted out one on an Enron call. And, where, prey tell, did he end up?... How about incarcerated...

No, we just want Lord to leave, and let SLM to go up a little bit.

But the real winner... a man who would be elected unanimously to the Wall of Shame, if anyone else but me voted... is Gary Charles Dutton... Gary Dutton. He's the CEO of MBIA Inc. (MBI), the insurer of crummy mortgage bonds.

Dutton's a man I believe you'll hear quite a bit about in the coming weeks, as his company fights for his life...

Now, my take is... If the board sacrificed Dutton, the company would stand a better chance of surviving... although, because of this man's reckless stewardship... Thriving?... Take it off the table. Out of the question.

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All right, enough about guys who lose you money, right? How about a little Christmas cheer?... Let's talk about stocks that I think will make you money for the rest of the year...

This is your Game Plan... and, at this time of the year, there's one thing that's more important than any other, if you're trying to take advantage of short-term moves... Do you know what I'm talking about?...

I'm talking about markups...

This is one of those slimy practices that a lot of people like to pretend doesn't exist... but it's not technically... Well, the SEC (i.e., U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) will prosecute for it...

It moves stocks, and a lot of fund managers do it...

What are markups?...

Okay, you run a mutual fund, or a hedge fund... You want to show some extra-good, high-octane performance at the end of the year, so you buy shares in stocks that you already have big positions in... so you can point to the new higher prices, inflated by you... and say your performance is better because of it...

Now most individuals who watch the show, don't think they could ever put an order in that could move the stock up but, when you're big, you can move a stock, believe me...

Tonight, I've got five markup candidates... These are all stocks that have already had big gains, and have big institutional ownership, because it's the institutions that do the markups...

So, if you're a homegamer, it could be pretty simple to take advantage of these markups, and that's what I want to help you do...

There's some time sensitivity... You need to do this early next week, because marking up is frowned upon by the government and, if they catch you nailing the closing price on the last day of the year, they will nail you... so, the more nefarious and clever of the funds start next week, and stop the day before the last day of the year.

You want to surf that Monday to day-before-New-Year's wave...

My five markup targets...

Jacobs Engineering (JEC), MEMC (WFR), Apple (AAPL), GameStop (GME), and Monsanto (MON)!...

These aren't just stocks that I expect will get marked up... They're also stocks that are worth owning on their own right, even if there is no markup... lest you be left holding a loser. I don't want that.

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First, Jacobs Engineering (JEC)...

This is an infrastructure name with 75% exposure to our favorite area, oil and gas...

According to JEC, most of its oil customers have planned their new projects based on $40 to $50 oil. Oil's much higher than that. That should mean that there's going to be strong demand for more new projects.

The stock recently, frankly, had a hiccup, after announcing an 8 million share shelf registration. It's starting to bounce back. It's bound to trade higher, I think...

It's such a perfect markup candidate...

It's also the company that stands the best chance to build those big, liquefied natural gas terminals you hear about that would be off the coast. Yeah, they have that expertise.

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How about MEMC (WFR)?...

On this show, we've loved this stock for a long time and, boy, it just had such a spike... It's at a 52-week high.

It makes silicon wafers, and they're in high demand right now, thanks to the solar business, which is just en fuego...

Remember, we like First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) too...

WFR has a new contract with Conergy, the world's largest solar integrator. That's worth $7-8 billion. Another contract just like it could be in the works for new year.

Their semiconductor exposure isn't great, but they're sitting on top of a big buyback and a great balance sheet with a ton of cash...

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So, WFR we like, okay?... We think that's a good one... And JEC... Keep track.

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Apple (AAPL)... no introduction needed. iPod demand, staying strong. Component pricing isn't... That's good for margins, come the bottom line.

New operating system, Leopard, has been driving sales of computers.

iPhone, incredibly strong...

This is an ideal markup candidate... a stock you need to show you own at the end of the year, if you're a mutual fund manager, otherwise people think you're an idiot...

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The fourth markup stock is GameStop (GME)... the #1 video game retailers, and the best season for games ever...

They've got a partnership with Nintendo on the Wii...

Now, here's something interesting... If you go into GME on Monday, for Christmas, and you pre-order one of these Wiis... you might get it by February...

This brings customers into the store twice, and is exclusive for GME's customers.

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Finally, we have Monsanto (MON)... the biotech source of the seeds for this wild agricultural bull market...

We don't have enough corn to meet the demand for food, let alone energy, and MON sells hybrid corn seeds that increase corn yield more than ever. They expect to have 30% of the U.S. corn market, up from 23% by 2012...

This is an oil driller, basically... oil service company...

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The Bottom Line!:   I think the best way to trade at the end of the year is to try to anticipate these markups... So these stocks are, once again, Jacobs Engineering (JEC), MEMC (WFR), Apple (AAPL), GameStop (GME), and Monsanto (MON)!... Buy, buy, buy!

[See Jim's 2nd Opening Segment stock picks below... ]