Waiting to Pull the Trigger

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We wish we had more T's! That's AT&T (T:NYSE - news - boards), a stock that I figure has a couple of points downside and maybe 10 up if they just deliver what they say they are going to deliver.

When we went over the portfolio, we were struck by our inability to match our stock picks with our bullishness. We just don't have enough down-two/up-10 situations. I want to distinguish these kinds of plays from the Buzz and Batch kinds of stocks that so many mutual funds like. We are much less interested in the down-40/up-60 plays and much more interested in the stocks that can't crush us like bugs on a windshield after missing a number.

Putting it another way: We are more interested in stocks that have bottomed than stocks that may be topping. When you are as bullish as I am but can't find the proxy, you tend to want to reach for some QQQ (QQQ:Amex - news - boards), some derivative instrument that allows you to speculate on the upside without being specific.

But that's not the way we work. We like to have individual stocks. We are stock-pickers. Which is why we have kicked the tires on dozens of stocks today and found them, if not Firestone-like, at least, not safe enough to tool around in this market.

So we are waiting. And hoping for some price breaks in General Motors (GM:NYSE - news - boards) or Ingersoll Rand (IR:NYSE - news - boards) or Mellon Bank (MEL:NYSE - news - boards) (three names that fit my depiction of limited downside/lots of upside) before we pull the big trigger.

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James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long AT&T and Mellon Bank. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the positions that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to comment on his column at James J. Cramer .