MOT, ERIC Should Marry

Motorola (MOT - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Ericsson (ERICY - commentary - Cramer's Take)? Made for each other?

After the devastating profit news from Ericsson, which is made doubly bad by the company's having raised the bar just last month and signaling upside surprise, it is time to consider an Ericsson-Motorola tie-up.

Both of these companies are getting their heads handed to them by Nokia (NOK - commentary - Cramer's Take). Both have complementary businesses: Motorola for handsets and cable systems; Ericsson for network equipment needed for next generation wireless. (Ericsson has a joint venture with Sony (SNE - commentary - Cramer's Take) that could be part of this business.)

Either way something must happen after last night's fiasco of an Ericsson quarter and Motorola's quarter tomorrow that could be the trough. It would not surprise me if Carl Icahn makes this happen, the way he put so much pressure on BEA Systems (BEAS - commentary - Cramer's Take) that it had to happen .

Motorola, as I said last night on "Mad Money," gives you a plethora of ways to win:
1. Break-up
2. Zander departure
3. Actual troughing in the business.

Now that we have seen the awful results from Ericsson it is time to add a fourth, a merger with that company to create a new company that can, at last, challenge Nokia's dominance.

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

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