Seek Out Small Success Stories Like Multex's

Holy Multex (MLTX - commentary - Cramer's Take)! I don't know if Multex is the answer to Reuters' (RTRSY - commentary - Cramer's Take) prayers -- I don't know if there is an answer to Reuters' prayers -- but it is worth noting that Multex is one of those companies that, if you bought it in the depths of the dot-com depression, made you fantastic money.

Isaak Karaev, the CEO of Multex, was always in it to make money for his partners. He never quit, even when the company traded below $3 and it looked like there was no endgame to it at all. He drove the company to profitability. And even though it was low-level profitability, the company certainly became attractive to anyone trying to either roll up the disparate industry of financial data on the Web or compete with Thompson, which always has been the game plan for Reuters.

While the big-dog companies refuse to give up and merge, there is an incredible amount of merger activity among the little companies, the Multexes, that simply don't have the critical mass to go alone. Some of it is aborted; Edgar Online (EDGR - commentary - Cramer's Take) tried to merge with MarketWatch (MKTW - commentary - Cramer's Take) but failed. Some of it is done at a level that makes it barely worth holding out for: Inktomi (INKT - commentary - Cramer's Take) comes to mind.

But at least it is happening. And if you were long Multex this morning, you are sitting pretty today. It was certainly "worth the hunt." (For those who think that Reuters is now in the roll-up game, you might want to consider Factset (FDS - commentary - Cramer's Take) as a spec. Seems pretty logical for a company that's trying to take on Thompson.)

I continue to think that the greatest opportunities out there right now are in three camps: the six-time-earnings crowd; the high-dividend crowd, courtesy of the president; and the left-for-dead crowd. Any research on the left-for-dead crowd is sorely needed. Only in that group will you be able to catch a double, even a triple, from existing levels. The others, I believe, will simply generate a positive return vs. bonds. Not great, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Random musings: Sometimes finding these little gems means you have to go off the radar screen of the SPX. I see a lot of out-of-the way names move after Jeff Cooper highlights them in his excellent Trading Reports. Sometimes I wish I were back in my old hedge fund perch so I could take advantage of some of the hit and run trading that Cooper advocates so successfully. You can; I can't. My holding periods prohibit it. ... Over on Street Insight, Doug Kass nailed this rally with his Duct-Tape Bottom. It is a beautiful thing to see something scripted work out, especially when no one else thought the script possible. Click here to read Kass' trading diary.

---

What are your thoughts on the market? Take the RealMoney Barometer -- we'll announce the results later so you can see what your fellow RealMoney readers are thinking about this market! Click here to take the poll. (Hurry -- polls close at noon!)

---

James J. 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 by clicking here. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to [e-mail]. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Click here to buy Cramer's latest book, "You Got Screwed!" Click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict."