Jim Cramer's Best Blogs

Jim Cramer fills his blog on RealMoney every day with his up-to-the-minute reactions to what's happening in the market and his legendary ahead-of-the-crowd ideas. This week he blogged on:

• Separating the stock market's winners from the losers.
• Why financial stocks are essential to any meaningful rally.
• Why the current market is not such a bargain.

Click here for information on RealMoney, where you can see all the blogs, including Jim Cramer's -- and reader comments -- in real time.

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These Are the Champions

This article originally appeared on RealMoney on Wednesday, Dec. 24, at 10:27 a.m.

Is it too early to pick winners from losers? Is it too early to anoint a company a survivor? The analysts sure don't think so.

We are seeing some Darwinian selection going on in many industries, so it might be pertinent to flag the winners and judge whether they are worth investing in.

First is Best Buy (BBY - commentary - Cramer's Take). The destruction of Circuit City (CC - commentary - Cramer's Take), as well as smaller outfits like Tweeter, has created an incredible opportunity for Best Buy to take a huge amount of share in the consumer electronic hardware business. I say tough one, as I have seen analysts put as much as 13 cents per share in winnings from closing Circuit City stores. But in the end I have to tell you that I do not like the business itself -- I fear the upside's been discounted as consumer electronics is easy to do without, and I don't think 2009 will be a turn year for this kind of merchandise.

Wal-Mart (WMT - commentary - Cramer's Take) is such a winner over Target (TGT - commentary - Cramer's Take), JC Penney (JCP - commentary - Cramer's Take) Kohl's (KSS - commentary - Cramer's Take), Macy's (M - commentary - Cramer's Take) and all the other major discounters that it is hard for me to believe it isn't game, set, match already -- except for Costco (COST - commentary - Cramer's Take). I believe Wal-Mart is a big stock for next year precisely because it is the winner. (Odd, but Macy's is back to where it was before it got its credit agreement. That's a little too negative for me.)

Verizon (VZ - commentary - Cramer's Take) and AT&T (T - commentary - Cramer's Take): 2009 will be the year that these two feast off everyone else, and they will surprise in their share-take. It is time we call these two the winners vs. both cable and Sprint (S - commentary - Cramer's Take), although the latter continues to stay in front of people in a way that makes Verizon and ATT spend tons, thereby hurting their bottom line.

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At the time of publication, Cramer was long Cisco, Deere, Foster Wheeler, General Electric, General Mills, Hewlett-Packard and Pepsi. 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.

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