Coal Stocks Still Hold Lots of Upside

Coal won't quit because coal's too cheap. And it came close to being politically acceptable if you read the great article about Jim Rogers and Duke Energy (DUK - commentary - Cramer's Take) in The New York Times this weekend. This was the single best article I have read about the coal issue and its complications.

But it is clear the complications in this country are rapidly becoming irrelevant, given the Chinese demand, as it looks like they are out of coal and couldn't care less about any of the rules.

So, despite the Duke issues, which were raised so eloquently by the most forward-looking person in the industry other than David Crane from NRG (NRG - commentary - Cramer's Take), the nuke man, we have effectively removed the coal situation as a political hotbed. I suspect that the Chinese will take every bit and are totally economical about it, meaning that if it is cheaper than oil, they will build plants super-fast and burn a ton of American companies' coal.

As usual, the play is Peabody Energy (BTU - commentary - Cramer's Take), as that has Australian business and should still be purchased even up here. And I would still be a buyer of Joy Global (JOYG - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Bucyrus (BUCY - commentary - Cramer's Take), as now, more than ever, after these Chinese announcements, the world needs as much coal as we can provide, and we can't provide it without their machines.

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

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