Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Online Brokers Broken

Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) chief Terry Semel must go, Jim Cramer said Wednesday on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment.

Cramer said Semel has become "one of those guys" whose disengagement atop a valuable but seemingly lost franchise is actually pulling down the stock. "I just want to say there is a level where you back out" Yahoo!'s cash and securities holdings, Cramer said. "People are underestimating the power of Yahoo!."

But Cramer said he doubts the market will resume recognizing the company's considerable strengths until its CEO steps down and clears the way for new leadership.

"Semel's greatness is in the past," Cramer said, likening the exec to Yankees manager Joe Torre, who is being lambasted in some quarters for failing to have won a World Series in an unthinkable six years. Cramer said Semel's departure could push the stock to "28 smackers" from a recent $24.

Cramer also said he would be a seller of the online brokers, which have been hammered on news of a Bank of America (BAC Quote) push to offer free online trading. As a result of the push, Ameritrade (AMTD Quote), E*Trade (ET Quote) and Schwab (SCHW Quote) were off sharply.

Fans of the online brokers counsel investors that they'll come back, but Cramer says it's time to sell once the panic ends. He said other big free-trading offers, such as one seven years ago at American Express (AXP Quote), "failed because there wasn't a concerted push." This time, he said, Bank of America is eager to get a hold of depositors' assets and will keep dangling the free-trading carrot.