Lucent Needs Room in Its Space to Move

Raising numbers on Lucent (LU - commentary - Cramer's Take)! Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. UBS this morning took up its numbers on Lucent. Last night, Steve Levy from Lehman Brothers talked positively about Lucent. Could it be? Could this move be for real?

I sure hope so. Lucent is one of those stocks that none of us can stop focusing on. We know that its leader, Patricia Russo, is good. We know that it's a $3 stock with $3 of downside. We know that it has products in the right spot. Could it finally be ready to go?

Here's my take: No. It isn't ready. It isn't ready until we get some sort of merger and consolidation activity because there are simply too many darned players in this game and not enough of them were wiped out by the bear market. The fact that Ciena (CIEN - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Centillium (CTLM - commentary - Cramer's Take) are still alive and kicking, the fact that Alcatel (ALA - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Avanex (AVNX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and JDS Uniphase (JDSU - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Nortel (NT - commentary - Cramer's Take) are still out there duking it out for orders, the fact that Cisco (CSCO - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Adtran (ADTN - commentary - Cramer's Take) alone could handle most of the business out there all make me wish that some of these executives would come together at SuperComm and said, "Let's merge, already."

Why is this important? At the end of the week, I like to look at what stocks really did well to see what the pattern of love -- as in, the market "loves" this cohort -- is out there. You know what's going to show up this weekend? Dick's (DKS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Galyans (GLYN - commentary - Cramer's Take). You know why? Because five players just got cut down to four. Less competition, more streamlining, rationality, all of those cool things that happen when players give up and join others.

Lucent?

Sure. Maybe it goes to $4. But if you want it to go to $10, it will have to be in a merger, not on earnings.

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At the time of publication, Cramer was long JDS Uniphase and Nortel.

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. 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."