TheStreet.com Staff
Investors more interested in the Fed than stocks will miss out on some good opportunities, Jim Cramer said on TheStreet.com TV's Wall Street Confidential Webcast Tuesday.
"There's a daybook mentality to the media coverage [of the Fed], which is that we have these events so we must talk about them," Cramer told Aaron Task, the host of Wall Street Confidential. Cramer believes market-players focusing on the Fed meeting might miss the opportunity to buy a Colgate (CL Quote - Cramer on CL - Stock Picks) or sell a 3M (MMM Quote - Cramer on MMM - Stock Picks). He also said that Illinois Tool Works (ITW Quote - Cramer on ITW - Stock Picks) and Black & Decker (BDK Quote - Cramer on BDK - Stock Picks) were two stocks that people focused on the Fed could be missing out on. Merck's (MRK Quote - Cramer on MRK - Stock Picks) guidance wasn't good because it "has poor management" and a "very bad pipe," Cramer said. Guidance from 3-M was low because it "doesn't have a clue," he added. "I don't think this company is nearly as in control of its destiny as it used to be," Cramer said, referring to 3M. Meanwhile, Cramer said he is still trying to figure out why UPS' (UPS Quote - Cramer on UPS - Stock Picks) guidance was down. When Task asked Cramer his thoughts about financier Carl Icahn taking a stake in Motorola (MOT Quote - Cramer on MOT - Stock Picks), Cramer said that Icahn has changed his ways. In the old days, Icahn would come into a company and cause trouble, Cramer said. But now he comes in with a "substantive, constructive critique." "Managements that spurn him I am very suspicious of, because he is a player in this who can offer tremendous guidance from many different fields if you embrace him," Cramer said. On the flip side, he can make life very difficult for management, Cramer said. Cramer said it was surprising to see Time Warner (TWX Quote - Cramer on TWX - Stock Picks) CEO Dick Parsons embrace Icahn, because of Parsons' initial cold feelings toward him. Cramer called Parsons a "remarkable man" and a "modern-day classic CEO." Part of what makes Parsons such a great chief executive is that he's willing to make tough changes, doesn't do it in a vociferous way, and is open-minded, Cramer said. On the other hand, Cramer believes that 3M's George Buckley and Motorola's Ed Zander are examples of "not great CEOs." "We are always afraid to cite the CEO for the damage," Cramer said. "But the CEO matters more than people realize, and the CEO sets the tone." Going back to the topic of the Fed, Cramer told Task that "we need to go back to a world where we recall that there are only certain industries that are hurt by these rates -- auto and housing." It's unlikely that the auto and housing sectors will start performing well, said Cramer, who believes that's the only scenario in which the Fed would raise rates. "Stable rates are not a bad thing," he said, adding that they have produced "big runs in our time." That said, Cramer still believes that we'll get rate cuts, but he isn't relying on them to produce an upside for the year.
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