Some companies would
benefit from the departure of their CEO, Jim Cramer said on his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday.
The latest
addition to Cramer's "Wall of Shame" is Terry Semel,
CEO of
Yahoo!, which Cramer has in his charitable trust,
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Cramer believes that Semel proved himself to be a "master of
the art of overpromise and underdeliver" when his
company turned in earnings Tuesday that fell short of
Wall Street expectations.
"You can't raise the bar really high and then
implode," Cramer says. "And you certainly shouldn't
be allowed to do it repeatedly."
Sam Palmisano of
IBM and
Charles Prince of
Citigroup also make Cramer's list of toxic CEOs. But
Cramer believes that Semel deserves the top spot.
On a more positive note, Cramer says
Downey
Financial is the best risk/reward
stock he's talked about on the show in a long time.
On Monday,
Wachovia reported a
good quarter, surprising critics who didn't like the
company's acquisition of California-based savings and
loan
Golden West. The bears believed the deal gave the
bank too much exposure to the mortgage meltdown.
Cramer believes that Downey can be "the next Golden West" and that the stock price could double if it becomes a
takeover target.
Additionally, the stock could also go up if the
Fed raises interest rates or if shorts get busted for
betting against it. Right now, 40% of Downey's float
is held by shorts who believe that the company will be hurt
by mortgage defaults.
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TheStreet.com Staff
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