Exelon's Bid for NRG Is Just What We Need

Editor's note: Jim Cramer will present his 2009 stock outlook for the first time at TheStreet.com Investment Conference on Saturday, Oct. 25. Limited seating. Act now.

The Exelon (EXC - commentary - Cramer's Take) bid for NRG Energy (NRG - commentary - Cramer's Take) is what we need to see if we are going to find terra firma. We need to see healthy companies with good balance sheets going after other healthy companies that have balance sheets that won't let them do well.

If there were no credit crunch, NRG -- like Constellation Energy (CEG - commentary - Cramer's Take) before it -- would be doing just fine. In fact, you would be wondering what the heck it was doing so low. Reliant Energy (RRI - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Mirant (MIR - commentary - Cramer's Take) also fit the same pattern. These are all companies that need ready access to capital, and it doesn't exist right now.

NRG has a pro-nuke history and so does Exelon. Nuclear power has taken on an almost holy image in this country if the plants are already built because you simply can't afford to build new ones. NRG is one of the few utilities in the whole country that is trying to build plants, something that would be fabulous for Exelon and NRG's shareholders alike. It's a great match.

But will NRG's CEO David Crane take the offer? NRG, like so many other stocks here, has been pummeled. I wonder whether Crane thinks, "Let's just wait it out."

Everyone who has tried to wait it out has been wrong.

Maybe this time it is different.

I think Crane should take the offer. More important, I think this is the first real deal to take advantage of the new low prices of this era.

It is a good sign that one day we are going to get through it.

The first good sign.

Random musings: Futures signaling green light going into a big earnings week. So be careful, as it will take up all stocks -- including the ones that are going to miss earnings.

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

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