Try Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS
Stockpickr

"Fast Money" Recap: Happy Days are Here Again

Stockpickr Staff

09/28/07 - 11:59 PM EDT
The S&P 500 is now up 7.6% on the year, and the Dow is up 11.3%. The crew at CNBC's "Fast Money" review all the soaring sectors and try to find stocks that still have room on the upside.

The commodity sector had its best monthly performance in 32 years. It scares Adami that a gold company like Newmont(NEM) is down 8% from its high, while gold is near 27 year highs. Finerman suggests that the poor stock performance is due to company specific problems unrelated to the gold market.

Najarian maintains that gold is going higher, but advises keeping an eye on coal stocks. His coal plays are BHP Billiton(BHP), Consol(CNX) and Peabody(BTU). (RealMoney Take: Roger Nusbaum said recently, "BHP Billiton may have just stumbled on the largest gold find ever discovered anywhere, in Australia." To read more on what Nusbaum said, click here.)

The Year of the Chinese

Not to be outdone, the Chinese stock market put in its best quarterly performance ever. Everyone keeps calling a top in China, but Najarian feels there's still room on the upside. He favors China Mobile(CHL), China Unicom(CHU) and Baidu(BIDU).

Adami continues to advise investors to take profits in China Mobile. (RealMoney Take: Dan Fitzpatrick said recently, "Last week I chatted with James Altucher about Baidu in a short video at the TSC offices in Manhattan. I was pretty bullish on the company. While that hasn't changed, I also differentiate between the underlying company and the proxy for owning that company -- the stock." To read more on what Fitzpatrick said, click here.)

Tech Gets High

52-week highs were achieved by leading technology stocks like Research In Motion(RIMM) and Apple(AAPL). Najarian calls it "the wireless run that isn't over". He also steers investors to memory plays like SanDisk(SNDK) and Micron(MU)

Macke owns Intel(INTC) for PC growth and continues to hold it. He sees it going to $30, if the consumer hangs in. Microsoft(MSFT) has Adami's attention and he is calling for it to trade up through $32. (RealMoney Take: Dan Fitzpatrick said recently, "I'm hoping and praying for a pullback! I like Apple and believe in an iPod and iPhone iChristmas." To read more on what Fitzpatrick said, click here.)

Here Comes the Sun

Joining the bull party, solar stocks exploded higher this week. Najarian offers Cypress Semiconductor(CY), which owns a chunk of SunPower(SPWR). (RealMoney Take: Mark Manning said recently, "As long as SunPower can hold above the $70 area, I would expect that we will likely see the stock continue to outperform the market." To read more on what Manning said, click here.)

Word on the Street

General Motors(GM) traded higher after striking a deal with the United Auto Workers. Macke comments that it was a great deal for General Motors and the labor union took it on the chin. The deal will also benefit Ford(F). Finerman prefers the auto suppliers and picks Lear(LEA) as the best choice.

Warnings from Target(TGT) and Lowe's(LOW) helped to put pressure on consumer stocks this week. Macke points out that the consumer is a mixed bag right now, and regardless of the warnings, investors should own a best of breed stock like Target. Contrarian Najarian says sell Target and buy Kohl's(KSS) instead.

Trading on the Unknown

The market currently has 3 major unknowns. The unknowns are the US economy, the housing market and the credit crunch. The team counsels investors on how to deal with these uncertainties and profit from them. Najarian says look at China, India, Brazil and South America for a play on global growth. His picks included Companhia Vale do Rio Doce(RIO), Manitowoc(MTW) and BHP Billiton.

Adami says it's known that PC demand isn't going away and Dell(DELL) is the best name. Knowing that commodities are a sure thing, he also recommends a farmer trade with Potash(POT) and Agrium(AGU).

Macke says stick with stuff that has been working like McDonald's(MCD), Hewlett Packard(HPQ) and Intel. (RealMoney Take: Alan Farley said recently, "The McDonald's rally to $55 confirms a healthy breakout and start of an uptrend that should carry price into the $60s." To read more on what Farley said, click here.)

Finerman would lower risk with big multinationals that have safe balance sheets. Kraft(KFT), Estee Lauder(EL) and Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) come to mind. She recommends investors own put options for a hedge during market declines.

Chartology with Louise Yamada

The "Fast Money" crew, welcomed Louise Yamada, the highest ranked technical analyst on Wall Street from 2001-2004, to the show Friday to discuss her take on the market and a few select stocks. Yamada thinks the S&P 500 could go through the all-time highs, but the volume is less than impressive in her eyes. Adami thinks the market is setting up for a nice rally into next year. Yamada took a look at the chart of Cisco(CSCO). She declares that CSCO is a buy right now and is poised to go much higher. Macke agreed and said that big cap tech is under owned.

Lastly, Yamada analyzed the chart of Centex(CTX). She thinks that CTX can rally back to $40 and then investors should sell because ultimately, it's going to $10. (RealMoney Take: Jim Cramer said recently, "There simply isn't a group with more self interest in telling lies about how good things can get in housing than the people on the earnings conference calls for KB Home, Lennar, Standard Pacific, Centex, et al." To read more on what Cramer said, click here.)

Fast Fire

The crew revisits recent trade ideas that didn't get invited to the bull run.

On September 19th Finerman recommended buying Brown Shoe(BWS) because the firm had no debt. Since her call, BWS has dropped 7%. Finerman won't give up on BWS. She is long the stock for its cheap valuation and solid balance sheet.

Three weeks ago Adami proposed buying Masco(MAS). He thought the bad news was out of the stock. However, Masco has traded down 5% since his call. Adami is more patient and says you can buy it down to $22.50.

On September 12th Najarian told traders to buy St. Jude(STJ). The options activity was signaling to him that a takeover was in the cards. Unfortunately since the recommendation, the stock has fallen 4%. Najarian won't budge on STJ.

Quicker Then the Ticker

Here are the stock ideas that ran with the bulls.

On September 25th Macke said buy EchoStar(DISH). Macke nailed it and DISH is up 8% since his call.

On August 17th Finerman gave out Daimler(DAI) for a buy. She was on the money and the stock was up a whopping 25% since her call.

On August 18th Adami recommended getting long China Mobile. Adami hit this one out of the park. The stock is up 45% since his call. (RealMoney Take: Steven Smith said recently, "In fact, the appeal of China is moving down the food chain. If you didn't get in on Baidu under $200 and are now afraid to chase China Mobile because it has added another 5% to $85 today, know that your fellow China chasers are scouring the under-$10 crowd." To read more on what Smith said, click here.)

On September 13th Najarian proposed solar plays with Trina Solar(TSL), Suntech Power(STP) and SunPower(SPWR). All three went up double digits since that recommendation.

Pops & Drops

Friday's pops & drops segment focused on the performance for the entire 3rd quarter.

Pops- eBay(EBAY) popped 22%, Amazon( AMZN) popped 35%, and Blue Nile(NILE) exploded up 56%. Macke says these are the toughest shorts on the planet.

Apple (AAPL) traded up 27%. Najarian loves this stock and he thinks it will continue higher. (RealMoney Take: Steve Birenberg said recently, "Apple: With the stock surging to new highs, the bar has been set much higher for the quarter. Leaving aside the "beat and raise" mentality surrounding the shares, I'll be focused on overall margins and average selling prices for iPods. With prices for NAND flash memory up, the massive beats in the last couple of quarters due to margin expansion are unlikely to repeat." To read more on what Birenberg said, click here.)

Whole Foods(WFMI) traded up 27%. Macke says this trade will continue to work but at a slow pace. ( Take: Dan Fitzpatrick said recently, "Whole Foods has been in a downtrend for more than a year. But the recent break above the April high is solid confirmation that the downtrend is in trouble." To read more on what Fitzpatrick said, click here.)

Drops- Wal-Mart(WMT) fell 9%. Adami says if they can get margins higher WMT goes to $60.

Merrill Lynch(MER) fell 17%. Finerman sees Goldman Sachs(GS) as the better choice.

Final Trade

The team wrapped up the week with their final trade ideas for this strong market.


Brokerage Partners