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Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Polo Scores

TheStreet.com Staff

Deep-pocketed interest in HSBC (HBC Quote) delivers a "wake-up call" to bears in other financial stocks, Jim Cramer said Monday on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment.

Cramer said the fact that Saudi Arabian investor Maan Abdulwahed Al-Sanea took a 3% stake in HSBC shows that shorts will be feeling the pain in lenders everywhere. Cramer said HSBC is "the most hobbled of the international banks," given the huge writeoffs it had to take in the fourth quarter for its exposure to "crummy loans" and the collapse of the U.S. subprime sector.

Still, Cramer said the buy could be similar to Saudi prince Alwaleed's fabled 1991 purchase of Citi (C Quote) before the stock soared 20-fold.

Cramer said that if Al-Sanea is buying HSBC, it should be "open season" for bulls to push up similar but superior U.S. banks such as Wachovia (WB Quote), Washington Mutual (WM Quote) and Countrywide (CFC Quote).

Cramer also likes Polo Ralph Lauren (RL Quote), citing CEO Roger Farah's "superb" handling of underperforming overseas licenses. Cramer said Farah's effort to "class 'em up" could make the aspirational brand play even better than longtime outperformer Coach (COH Quote), which trades at 30 times earnings estimates. Cramer said putting a similar multiple on Polo Ralph Lauren could take the stock to $110-$115 from a recent $96.50.