Jim's
rating on
this stock

STOCK
SYMBOL

Closing
price that
day

Full Company Name & Jim's Comments:

PEG

29.11

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PEG)

Jim:   I like that.  I like PEG.  I pay them my bill.  You know, I know it pretty well.  I still prefer Duke Energy (DUK).  I think DUK has better and greater growth prospects.  So I like DUK over yours.

DUK

15.68

Duke Energy (DUK)

See PEG comments above for:
DUK

PHG

17.07

Philips Electronics NV (PHG)

Jim:   Sport, I'm with you...  I'm with you.  It's got a 6% yield, beneficiary of a stronger dollar.  I think that company's doing fine.  It's got a great pastiche, if not a mosaic, of businesses.  I think that stock should be bought...  buy, buy, buy!  It fits my criteria of big dividend.  It has a little bit too much industrial... but I think that it was a small dividend... it was a puny dividend and a puny yield, and the stock has come down so hard, so fast, that it now has an accidentally high yield, and that makes me want to pull the trigger!

BAC

15.19

Bank of America (BAC)

Jim:   I am puzzled...  I am puzzled, because I did not want to see that investment in China.  I want the Chinese to invest in us... not us invest in China.  But who am I to question Ken Lewis?  He got the Countrywide.  He has done a lot of smart things...  God, I hope he's right.  I hope BAC works.  It just seems like they've taken on an awful lot.  It's one of my Fortress Banks... but the Fortress Banks are feeling lately like Kinderhook in Beau Jest...   I'm not backing away from BAC, but it just...  I just wish that $7 billion had been put here, not there.  I question that.  I question Ken Lewis on that.  He's always welcome on the show and he's a terrific guy, but I question that.

CREE

17.89

Cree (CREE)

Jim:   Too risky.  Too gadget-oriented.  I'm not going to go there.  I think that is too difficult a stock.  May I once again remind people that I have liked Hewlett-Packard (HPQ*) and own it for ActionAlertsPlus.com, my charitable trust, and I salute Mark Hurd, who is always welcome on the show, and is a terrific guy, and who has done a fantastic job.

HPQ*

33.59

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ*)

See CREE comments above for:
HPQ*

ISRG

123.51

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG)

Jim:   Nope.  Wrong stock for this environment.  That's a bull-market stock.  It's a concept stock that they're going to sell machines to the sky.  You can't do that anymore.  It's like First Solar (FSLR).  No.  It's just...  I mean, it's not as bad as Garmin Ltd. (GRMN).  It's not a commodity.  But I can't recommend that high-multiple stock.  It doesn't work.  It does not sell at or near cash, it doesn't have an accidentally-high yield, and it is not recession resistant... because there are many countries in this world that are going to cut back on expensive medical equipment, even though they shouldn't.

GRMN

17.35

Garmin Ltd. (GRMN)

See ISRG comments above for:
GRMN

SYY

23.04

Sysco Corp. (SYY)

Jim:   Problematic on the short term, because I see many restaurants in trouble.  I think that is a challenged business.  SYY has a fabulous food service business.  By the way, I have been recommending SYY, literally, for last 20 years.  I cannot do it now, because things are bad.  And let me just add, by the way, that the Dow went up in the last 20 minutes... totally unnerving... it gives you a total sucker-play rally to come in... because people now think we have a "triple bottom."  It's stocks like SYY that make me nervous.   Because SYY is a great American company, but the stock can't move because the restaurant business is bad, and it keeps me being as bullish as the futures traders, and the last-half-hour manipulators would like us to be.

[verbatim recap]

[ End of the Lightning Round segment ]