IBM, VF Corp Put Money Where Their Stocks Are

IBM (IBM - commentary - Cramer's Take) bumped numbers twice, and not many people listened. Now the company has raised estimates again, and, while the stock had been creeping up, it is now roaring. It is not done going up.

This brings me to VF Corp. (VFC - commentary - Cramer's Take). VF also bumped up numbers twice, just like IBM. However, unlike IBM, which went up just a couple of a percent, VF Corp. went up 15%. But you know what? VF is the company that is levered most to Macy's (M - commentary - Cramer's Take) and to retail in general. Plus, it has a hefty overseas component.

I don't mean to blindly extrapolate a tech name to an apparel name, but I have to tell you the parallels make a lot of sense. VF has a big stock-buyback plan, showing the company's management thinks the stock is very cheap. So does IBM's, as its board just approved a $15 million repurchase plan.

You could do worse than buying VF here. We have gotten multiple pullbacks in VF when the futures get hammered, and the odds favor a Bernanke-led hammering tomorrow. But this market is incredibly resilient -- check good comments by Bob Marcin in RealMoney.com's Columnist Conversation section -- and it is worth it to think about the names that are working because the fundies are better where the companies have a lot of money to put to work both in the their businesses and in their stocks.

IBM fits that depiction. So does VF Corp.

Random musings: KBR (KBR - commentary - Cramer's Take) is putting up good numbers and doing a lot of great oil work; government work not so hot.

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

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