Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Monster Buyout

05/03/07 - 02:51 PM EDT

TheStreet.com Staff

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."

At the time of publication, Cramer had no position in stocks mentioned.

Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order his book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here.

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