'Mad Mail'

MFA Financial, Inc. (MFA)

Jim:    Before we get to Mad Mail I want to do a little housekeeping… Digital Globe (DGI) became public last Thursday, while shares rose as much as 31% above its initial offer price… it closed at $21.50, it is now trading at $19.50... our max range is $20 to $22, but it is really just a trade off of the IPO.

Now, Travis in Texas asked about MFA Financial, Inc. (MFA)… invests in appropriate leveraged investments in a high quality residential mortgage backed securities… that to me looks a lot like Annaly Capital Management (NLY) which we stumbled on, I only like to point out when we stumbled so that when we do something right I can also mention it… now, this MFA has got a 13.3% yield and that yield does seem secure… the dividend is being generated from a portfolio that is still 93% invested in agency MBS (mortgage backed securities), that means Fannie, Freddie… no real credit risk there… the biggest risk would be rate increases which would cause the cost of finance of MFA’s portfolio to increase… for MFA to work, mortgage rates need to stay relatively flat for 2009... I think that it is a complicated stock with a bunch of variables…and after being burned on Annaly, I am not going there.

'Mad Mail'

Bank of America (BAC)

Q:      Cramer,
Since it seems like half of all companies are pulling out secondary offerings (including banks and brokers), shouldn’t that actually help the operations of banks and brokers who actually sell these deal, getting the system going again like it should be?
Thanks, Marc

Jim:    This is a great, great call… you are absolutely right Marc… Goldman Sachs has got their hands in almost all of these… JPMorgan has got their hands in it… that is why I own these for my charitable trust, so let me give you a third one… this Bank of America (BAC)/Merrill Lynch combination has proved to be incredibly, incredibly aggressive in getting these deals… a lot of the business going to the combination of Bank of America and Merrill, which is why that story is better than people think.

'Mad Mail'

Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

Q:      Hi Jim,
With relations starting to warm up between the US and Cuba, do you think the Gaming stocks and Resort operators may benefit? Or, is it too early to tell? Not that I expect Hyman Roth & Michael Corleone to set up shop again - any thoughts?
Joey

Jim:    Alright, here is the problem… every time that I try to buy something off of Cuba, I come back with the idea, unless it is like a Watsco Inc. (WSO), which is just like an industrial play… the stock hits $50, the analysts downgrade it $42, Cramer upgrade it $42... nice call, the problem with this is that these are all plays… I am not going there… too hard to make money… I do not want you to speculate on that kind of Cuban thing… by the way, you know that Emeril is opening that place in Bethlehem, I am very worried that Las Vegas Sands (LVS) will not do well in Bethlehem… I was reading the New York Star Ledger this weekend and it just seems that it could be a difficult situation.

'Mad Mail'

Dean Foods Co. (DF)

Q:      Jim,
I could not get the Dean Foods Co. (DF) secondary from my broker. I have had a full service brokerage account for a long time, but when I called and asked to get in on the secondary, they said NO! They said that they only give IPOS and secondaries to people with over a MILLION bucks liquid. Should I dump this broker? Are there other brokers that don’t have this million dollar minimum requirement or is it fairly standard?
Rick

Jim:    Jim: No, it is not standard at all Rick, and as a matter of fact, if you do a lot of trading, you should get it even if you have less than a million… but you know what, each firm has its own rules that is why you got to shop around… by the way, the Dean Foods’ secondary turned out not to work… you could have bought it lower than the secondary, it did very well… and now it is above the secondary… so you go the last laugh, not your broker who called you a small fry… I would read between the lines, he never said hey small fry… but I regard him as saying that he called you Rick Small Fry.