Why Big Media Stocks Are Uninvestible

No price for media stocks again. Even though Time Warner (TWX - commentary - Cramer's Take) has some fabulous properties, properties that are doing well, even though it has a great growing business in telco-cable and, I believe, some momentum at AOL, this stock can't get out of its own way. This is after a monster buyback and tons of restructurings, including the exit of the music division that now looks brilliant.

Comcast (CMCSA - commentary - Cramer's Take) is little better, even with, again, a huge buyback. This despite the fact that the anti-cable people look like they are losing the FCC battle.

Then there is big-media entertainment. Disney's (DIS - commentary - Cramer's Take) pennies from a 52-week low despite having great numbers. CBS (CBS - commentary - Cramer's Take) did an OK quarter, not great, but it is still the most watched network and it is also right off the 52-week low. These are good companies by all admission.

Finally, there is the ultimate casualty: newspaper stocks. The big print that went up, the give-up, by Morgan Stanley, of The New York Times (NYT - commentary - Cramer's Take), has failed to hold. You are now down more than a dollar if you participated in that block. That 5.34% yield and the assets that are clearly worth more than the stock is trading for (not to the amount of money the company spent unwisely buying in stock at much higher levels).

McClatchy (MNI - commentary - Cramer's Take) was once the cream of the crop, a great California growth story. But that market is a shambles now, and the spending spree has almost destroyed the company.

It might not even matter, though, because the very conservative Gannett (GCI - commentary - Cramer's Take) is also bouncing along the lows.

These are all ad-supported plays. That alone means that Google's (GOOG - commentary - Cramer's Take) stealing business from them. But these companies also relied a great deal on real estate and auto ads, and both are being pared back dramatically.

I have no solace for holders of these properties. They are going to be tax-loss candidates for the next month. But they are, in my view, uninvestible given the trends, with the exception of Disney, which is far less ad-driven than people realize.

Just the worst group save, of course, the banks!

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

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