Merrill's Pall Won't Last Forever

Was Merrill Lynch (MER - commentary - Cramer's Take) really bad? Oh please, the quarter was a thing of beauty. Especially when you consider the low multiple. (Coke (KO - commentary - Cramer's Take) was great, and I would buy that at $53 right now. It is down because I moved it too much when I made it part of my "Mad Money" game plan.)

But no sooner had Merrill reported than the only item that the media and the market pulled from the whole darned release was, of course, toughness in subprime, like that's even a news story anymore. You know what I say? Give the bears their due; they and their press minions have done a remarkable job obfuscating the truth. Merrill ain't going anywhere.

What can the Merrills do? They can buy every share they want and just tighten that float. But they can't say a thing to change the future. It isn't worth it.

You know what's amazing? Take a look at Grainger (GWW - commentary - Cramer's Take). Here's a company that missed and missed bad. And now, what's happening? Why, it's working right back to its high. It's a cyclical! That's all you need to know. It's like Bunge (BG - commentary - Cramer's Take), which reported a nightmare quarter and then rocketed a quick $14!

Or check tech! KLA-Tencor (KLAC - commentary - Cramer's Take), up $4 and change on orders being up 2%. Merrill's business was 10% better than expected! Its net was up 31%. KLA-Tencor's orders are up a measly 2%, and I think it is ramping right to $65.

When you are in bull-market mode, you can do no wrong. When you are in bear-market mode, you can do no right.

At least, though, you can take advantage of your own bear market and buy back stock.

Doesn't change things for now, but the pall doesn't last forever.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this post.

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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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