China's Return Will Be Huge for Shippers

China's going to turn around. You see it in the Baltic Freight numbers. You see it in the DryShips (DRYS - commentary - Cramer's Take) run yesterday. And you see it in Asian stock markets going higher and higher well ahead of ours.

It's the feeling that perhaps China's gigantic infrastructure buying spree is going to take hold.

It could be huge for some companies like steel and minerals, but I think that the first thing that it will affect is shipping.

Which is why I think that Nordic American Tanker (NAT - commentary - Cramer's Take) is such a screaming buy. Right now NAT, which has the best balance sheet in the industry, is in a position to lease tankers to take advantage of the contango in the futures. I figure it is just a matter of time before the company gets big orders to just store crude and write contracts against it for delivery, or just own the stuff for later use. I also think that NAT is an indirect play on China -- the direct ones, the dry ship carriers make sense, too, but the balance sheet issues and the dividend slashes are too much for me.

Watch this NAT. It represents a 9% yield -- expected next year -- with a call on a resurgence in China and the oil futures. It's got not one but two things going for it.

Random musings: Raw food costs are coming down, as per what Agrium (AGU - commentary - Cramer's Take) said last night -- thanks for that ag move, gunslingers. I figure restaurants soon catch a bid with that and gasoline down. Panera's (PNRA - commentary - Cramer's Take) a play on both.

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

---

Know what you own: Cramer mentions DryShips. Other companies in the shipping industry include Frontline (FRO - commentary - Cramer's Take), Tidewater (TDW - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Kirby (KEX - commentary - Cramer's Take).

ALL JIM CRAMER BLOG ENTRIES | POST A COMMENT | READ COMMENTS  

---

Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Amazon.com under which it receives a portion of the revenue from Amazon.com purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.