Buffett Likes Goldman

Updated from 2:58 p.m. EDT

I have long been enamored of the bank stocks when they don't have a lot of bad loans and their book values are solid. I have always felt that if you can get a bank for less than twice book, then you have an opportunity -- if the book is clean -- to make some great money. And now we see that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A - commentary - Cramer's Take) sees the value in Goldman Sachs (GS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and is making a $5 billion investment in the bank.

If you can snag a bank that is less than 1.5 times book, well, frankly that's been impossible, unless the bank has got a book stuffed with good will. You just don't find one.

Now, what would you say if you could buy the best bank for about 1.25 times book, something I have not seen since the great bank consolidation of the early 1980s? You didn't even get banks that cheap in the 1990 situation, because the book values were not clean and the losses those banks had taken or were about to take were just too dangerous to swallow. Anyone who remembers Cal Fed and GlenFed knows exactly what I am talking about.

Any bank that is bigger than that bank should buy it.

Right now, right here, below $120, that's Goldman Sachs, at $50 billion with a clean book and a great business. That means it is totally additive and just a fantastic franchise worldwide, and you could own it for that little amount of money.

Here's the way to look at it: If I were Citigroup's (C - commentary - Cramer's Take) CEO, I would bid $135 a share for Goldman right now, about a 35% premium to book. It would be the greatest steal, because you could marry the huge deposits with the investment banking and M&A. And here's one, you would get management, too.

That's why I am urging you to forget the endless articles about how Goldman Sachs can't make big money anymore because of the commercial bank rules.

There is simply no way, now that the prime brokerage business can't bring this company down by taking all of their money out right now, which is what almost caused the bank's failure last week.

With 11% capital, with a book that has been scrubbed clean after a tough quarter and with the best trading and investing franchise in the world, Goldman's too small right now to be independent. It will be bought if the plan doesn't pass; if the plan passes, look for Goldman to be the biggest buyer of deposits out there.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Goldman Sachs.

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