Mad Money Recap | Nightly Recap for: Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Lightning Round:

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

See all of Jim's comments and thumbs up or down, when callers call into the show during the Mad Money Lightning Round Segment, below...

Now it is time for the Lightning Round…

Jim's
rating on
this stock

STOCK
SYMBOL

Closing
price that
day

Full Company Name & Jim's Comments:

VVC

19.16

Vectren Corp. (VVC)

Jim: It is not time, because before we get to the Lightning Round we have to take care of some homework here… first up, Andrew from Indiana called last week, he asked me about Vectren (VVC)… it totally stumped me… 86.5% of Vectren’s earnings in 2008 were from regulated utilities… at least 20% of 2009 earnings will be exposed to coal profits… and its upside contingent upon it … we prefer Edison International (EIX), with upside in cleaner technology and better position to receive benefits from the stimulus package… and unlikely to meet the wrath of Khan/Obama.

Second, Paul emailed us about Veolia Environnement SA (VE)… at first glance Veolia seemed like an accidental high yielder, but I would say that 9% yield isn’t safe… they have been trying to cut costs since the summer to keep pace with lower demand… they can’t do it fast enough… after trying to sell assets pay down debt from acquisitions, that is not the action that I want to see to make me feel confident about the dividend.

EIX

24.84

Edison International (EIX)

See VVC comments above for:
EIX

20.31

Veolia Environnement SA (VE)

See VVC comments above for:
VE

BP*

34.14

BP plc (BP*)

Q: I know that you do not have much time, at 11:00 o’clock the CEO from BP stated that the company needs $60 a barrel in oil to cover the cap-ex and dividend, with the stock where it is right now, is this an accidental high yield?...

Jim: Now, you know I went thru that conference call and I did not feel the same way that you read it… he said that the dividend was covered with oil at $50... at $50, and we are in the $40’s… that is obviously a problem… I do believe because I own it for ActionAlertsPlus.com, my charitable trust, that this has become another one of these yields that given the precipitous nature of the decline… ala. Freeport… that the dividend is questionable… but I believe that they have great, great, great recoverable… in other words they are finding more than 100% of their oil each year… and they have a lot of assets to sell… so I feel that oil at $40... I have to have hope as part of the equation… but I still believe in BP… and it does trade as if the dividend is going to be cut, so even at this point it might not even go down if it does get cut.

STLD

7.81

Steel Dynamics Inc. (STLD)

Q: I am a goldsmith by trade, by I decided to go with a long term investment with STLD, Steel Dynamics Incorporated?...

Jim: That’s okay… I mean look United States Steel Corp. (X) has fallen all the way down to $17... Nucor (NUE) is back almost to $30.. those are higher quality, I know US Steel has that… the numbers are too high for both of them… I know US Steel has a pension problem… but I would rather own either one of them than Steel Dynamics… let me throw in AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS), and I would keep Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (RS) if I owned it.

17.21

United States Steel Corp. (X)

See STLD comments above for:
X

Great Resource! -- Jim Cramer's 25 Rules For Investing >>

Continued below...

Market Results today:

Dow: - 37

Nasdaq: - 1

S&P 500: - 4

See all of tonight's stocks mentioned, on Yahoo! Finance, here...

See all of tonight's stocks mentioned
on Yahoo! Finance, here...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
(Cont'd from above)...

The Lightning Round (cont'd)...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Jim's
rating on
this stock

STOCK
SYMBOL

Closing
price that
day

Full Company Name & Jim's Comments:

NUE

32.12

Nucor (NUE)

See STLD comments above for:
NUE

AKS

5.89

AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS)

See STLD comments above for:
AKS

22.08

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (RS)

See STLD comments above for:
RS

AET

19.78

Aetna Inc. (AET)

Q: My question for you what do you think of the Aetna stock?...

Jim: I am outraged at the Aetna management… Aetna has bought back stock, and bought back stock at really high prices… and what do they have to show for it… they should have put the money in the dividend… I castigate those guys… I think that I don’t want to own that… if they had put a dividend in, I would be saying bang the drum and buy, buy, buy.

JCI

10.60

Johnson Controls (JCI)

Q: Johnson Controls?...

Jim: Well, in the end we are hostage… that happens to be the best house but it is in the auto neighborhood… therefore, I cannot recommend the stock… I would be a sell.

ENR

40.77

Energizer Holdings Inc. (ENR)

Q: Energizer Holdings?...

Jim: Not a bad stock… but I think the battery business is prone to price competition… remember Procter & Gamble (PG*) owns Duracell, so I think that is kind of… six and half and a dozen… I don’t have a conviction.

COST

40.69

Costco (COST)

Q: With people on a tight budget these days, I was wondering they may buy groceries in bulk, so what do you think of Costco?...

Jim: Alright, Costco at $40... I gotta tell you, I mean I sold this thing much higher for ActionAlertsPlus.com, my charitable trust… this thing has fallen and fallen and fallen… I think it is intriguing at $40... I would start a position right here… it is just down too much… pull the trigger.

RIMM

37.95

Research In Motion (RIMM)

Q: What can you tell me about RIMM, Blackberry, Jim, what do you think?...

Jim: You know, I… look this has just been one that I have liked for years, and I have stuck with it… and I feel like that Will Danoph, and that excellent article about the contra fund in The Wall Street Journal, and I stayed with it too long… I feel like my judgment is now in question on RIMM, because I have liked it for 3 straight years… and I know that it is going down, and I don’t want to part with it… RIMM is like that for me, and Apple (AAPL) is like that for me… and I think that I should have cut my losses in RIMM… actually I had a great game in RIMM… so my take is RIMM, I am going to own it at this level, because it is too late to sell.

STAR

15.09

Starent Networks, Corp. (STAR)

Q: I want to know about Starent Networks?...

Jim: You know network infrastructure solutions is not going to do it for me… but the stock has had a nice little run… let’s take it off the table… it is too dicey a market.

MET

13.72

MetLife (MET)

Q: I would like to know what you think about MetLife?...

Jim: You know MetLife has become a speculative stock… so has Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) become a speculative stock… so has The Hartford (HIG) become a speculative stock… so has Prudential (PRU) become a speculative stock… these stocks have just been mercilessly hammered… I know that there are annuity problems at some of them… I know that they have problems with the investment side and money coming in…. I think they are too speculative… and I do not want to buy any of those companies… and by the way, Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) which we identified much, much higher, now down to $6... that group is a dangerous group, that has been in the sell block for months here… and I have to tell you, I have thrown away the key.