Why Drillers Just Won't Quit

These drillers still don't get respect. This is a group that is totally self-propelled. Nobody comes out and says a thing. They just move up. What's behind it?

I hate to be blunt, but Exxon (XOM - commentary - Cramer's Take) CEO Lee Raymond is behind it, or people like him. These are the people who believed that oil had to come down and therefore didn't budget to drill more. These same people then caused all the builders of rigs to be on hold, which makes it so the peak year for earnings is still out in time because there simply aren't enough rigs and rates will go higher.

I am monitoring this bounty by watching GlobalSantaFe (GSF - commentary - Cramer's Take), which is now up 6 points from its secondary offering, which now qualifies, by the way, as free money. But I think that you can still buy Lufkin (LUFK - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Tetra Tech (TTEK - commentary - Cramer's Take) and certainly Nabors (NBR - commentary - Cramer's Take).

Today Pritchard Partners, where Chris Edmonds works, is hosting a big energy conference. I believe the talk there will be about the drillers and the coming consolidation in them -- check out Smedvig (SMV.A - commentary - Cramer's Take) last night in Norway.

This group shows no signs of quitting. And we still haven't gotten all the good news out of Halliburton (HAL - commentary - Cramer's Take) yet. Don't forget, the group looks expensive on 2006 numbers because we haven't had number bumps yet. Oh, and while I am at it, consider that Schlumberger (SLB - commentary - Cramer's Take) was selling at about 60 times earnings when its rally began in earnest.

The best are never cheap.

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At the time of publication, Cramer was long Halliburton.

James J. Cramer is a director and co-founder 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 ActionAlertsPLUS. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" at 6 p.m. ET weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here.