Better Alternatives Away From Financials

When can I buy Goldman Sachs (GS - commentary - Cramer's Take)? Will you give me the green light on Countrywide Financial (CFC - commentary - Cramer's Take)? Is this the moment to buy Lehman (LEH - commentary - Cramer's Take)? Didn't Merrill (MER - commentary - Cramer's Take) have a great quarter and don't I have to buy it here?

These questions are all wrong! I keep reading them endlessly in Stockpickr's "Answers" section, and they are all wrong. It is very frustrating.

It is frustrating because there are so many great companies that are down for no reason. So why the heck are you speculating -- and it is speculating -- on a bottom?

For example, take Caterpillar (CAT - commentary - Cramer's Take). If you read through the conference call transcript, you will see how residential housing is getting smaller, not bigger.

Or Nova Chemicals (NCX - commentary - Cramer's Take), which is such an easy takeover target. Or Reliance (RS - commentary - Cramer's Take) after great quarters from U.S. Steel (X - commentary - Cramer's Take) and AK Steel (AKS - commentary - Cramer's Take). How about ABB (ABB - commentary - Cramer's Take)? That company has a multi-year outlook.

Schlumberger (SLB - commentary - Cramer's Take) has an amazing quarter, and this would be a good entry point. How about Celgene (CELG - commentary - Cramer's Take)? It had a great quarter, and the money's coming back into this group. How about Coca-Cola (KO - commentary - Cramer's Take)? A great quarter, and this group is moving. How about any natural gas company, knowing that the winter does come? How about Woodward Governor (WGOV - commentary - Cramer's Take), which reported a great quarter and isn't even up? That's aerospace and turbines.

Or IBM (IBM - commentary - Cramer's Take), which did a great job on the quarter. Or UnitedHealth (UNH - commentary - Cramer's Take), which should never have been hit as hard as it was. Or how about EMC (EMC - commentary - Cramer's Take) ahead of the VMWare deal, which will be so huge? Or Pepsi (PEP - commentary - Cramer's Take), which has done nothing lately except guide numbers up. Or SanDisk (SNDK - commentary - Cramer's Take), one of the best quarters, with a gigantic beat.

These are all better than any financial. I believe people who are asking are already in the stocks and want reassurance and handholding. Here's my reassurance: Things keep getting worse. That's my reassurance.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long UnitedHealth, EMC, Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar.

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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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