Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Monster Buyout

Options action suggests there's a Monster (MNST Quote - Cramer on MNST - Stock Picks) buyout in the works, Jim Cramer said Thursday on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment.

Cramer said "someone must have a leak" about a possible tie-up in the next month or so with Google (GOOG Quote - Cramer on GOOG - Stock Picks) or Gannett (GCI Quote - Cramer on GCI - Stock Picks). Cramer said heavy call option buying in Monster, a New York-based jobs site hit by repeated management turnover in recent months, points to a buyout as high as $60 a share, well above Thursday afternoon's $48 and change.

Shares in Monster were up 10% at midafternoon Thursday on nearly four times their average daily trading volume, and Cramer said trading in the May and June calls between the 45 and 55 strikes was huge. Cramer said the trading smacks of illegal insider information and predicted authorities will look into it.

"Where there's smoke, there's a conflagration," Cramer said, noting the predictive value of call buying in the First Data (FDC Quote - Cramer on FDC - Stock Picks) buyout and in Rupert Murdoch's bid this week for Dow Jones (DJ Quote - Cramer on DJ - Stock Picks). "This is just too obvious."