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Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Get to Know NCR

TheStreet.com Staff

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In a crazy market environment like this one, NCR(NCR Quote) and Eastman Kodak(EK Quote) are two stocks with a great deal of potential upside and a cushion to the downside, Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show on Monday.

The first comeback kid, NCR, is a leading manufacturer and designer of ATMs and scanners.

Formerly known as National Cash Register, the company has been nearly forgotten on the Street. "Most people believe that this company stopped existing," Cramer said.

Because of its recent anonymity, NCR is a great play on the rise of the middle class in the former U.S.S.R. and the Third World. As these countries' citizens become more rich, they will begin to demand the convenience afforded by scanners and ATMs.

On Dec. 6, NCR has a big analyst day. Cramer expects them to report internal growth, thanks in part to a spinoff of Teradata (TDC Quote), a company that didn't fit in NCR's business model.

NCR has a "gargantuan buyback coming," which will provide investors with a gentle landing in the event of a selloff, Cramer said. "NCR will be there in the trenches with you on a bad day"

Sporting 17% growth in ATM sales, and access to the developing-world market, NCR is making money hand-over-fist, and the addressable market is far from saturated. In eastern Europe, there are only 500 ATMs per million people. In China, there are even fewer.

On Oct. 31, NCR reported its first quarter without Terradata and blew it out of the water, beating expectations by 13 cents.

With great international growth and a cleaned-up balance sheet, NCR is a sleeper stock that deserves more attention, Cramer said.

Kodak Comeback

At a couple points above a 52-week low, Eastman Kodak might not seem like a good buy, but there is huge upside potential in the stock, Cramer said.

Cramer has been betting against Kodak since he started his hedge fund. The company has been a short for 25 years, Cramer said. Nevertheless, he believes the company is about to turn around.

It lost focus but never lost the power of the Kodak name. After years of losses, its balance sheet is "now healthy," sporting $6 of net cash per share. The company freed up the money by dumping its stagnant health care imaging division.

CEO Antonio Perez has been leading a digital push at Kodak since he took over in 2003, but the real moneymaker for Kodak is in the commercial printer business. Perez has tied the company's future to inkjet printing.

Kodak sells high-quality inkjet printers. But "Kodak undercut its rivals on the price that really matters, not of the printer, but of the ink." Competitors wrongly assume that consumers can't factor in the price of ink into the cost of purchasing a printer, Cramer said. Kodak can sell their printers to consumers who will stick with Kodak for the cheaper ink.

Cramer acknowledged that the quarter was light, and Kodak shorts have certainly done well in the past. As a result, the company gets no credit from the Street and is currently undervalued. Analysts rate the company with one buy, four holds and four sells.

With $82 million in digital income and decreasing dependence on the flagging area of film paper, Kodak is ready to come back alive.

Wamu CEO Makes 'Wall of Shame'

Cramer finally had the pleasure of removing newly deposed Citigroup (C Quote) CEO Chuck Prince from his Wall of Shame. He replaced Prince with Kerry Killinger, CEO of Washington Mutual(WM Quote).

"Remember the Fifth of November," Cramer said, alluding to Guy Faulks' Day. "Today we're celebrating a different kind of regicide," the long-awaited departure of one of Wall Street's most maligned executives.

Cramer said that by removing Prince, Citigroup's board saved the company, although he believes they "came to their senses 15 points too late." The stock's poor performance Monday likely had more to do with previously announced losses than Prince's ouster, Cramer said.

WaMu's Kerry Killinger rocketed past Motorola (MOT Quote) CEO Ed Zander and Alcatel Lucent's (ALU Quote) Pat Russo to the top position. Killinger had previously been unranked on the Wall of Shame.

Cramer said Killinger has accomplished "something precious, something unique," to pull ahead of Russo and Zander, whose performance Cramer had ridiculed regularly on the show. Killinger has done such a poor job running Washington Mutual that the Fed will cut rates to bail the bank out, Cramer said.

On Wednedsay there will be an analysts' meeting for Washington Mutual. Cramer believes that will be occasion for Killinger to "spend more time with his family."

Cramer described what he saw as Killinger's "endless quest to make sure people who couldn't afford to borrow, nevertheless borrow," adding that, "This guy practically pioneered no-doc loans for no-doc aliens."

Investors who like Washington Mutual's dividend should be wary, Cramer said. WaMu's yield is "not sustainable," and the company's earnings per share have failed to exceed their dividends. Dividends that are covered by earnings are great for investors, but dividends that aren't matched by earnings are terrible, Cramer said.

Compared to total loans, Washington Mutual's allowance for losses is far too low. This, coupled with $5.45 billion of nonperforming assets, earns Killinger the top slot on the Mad Money Wall of Shame.

Mad Mail

The first viewer wrote to ask Cramer how he intends to play the environment during NBC Universal's Green Week? Cramer answered that all week he will work on individual ideas about how to play green, focusing on companies that make power cheaper but are still profitable.

The second viewer questioned Cramer's Apache call in the mid-$70s. Cramer responded that his premise --- that the company would not go through $80 -- turned out to be wrong. He said, "I wish I'd given [the stock] more leeway," but he made the wrong call. He apologized for his mistake.

The third viewer mentioned that Diana Shipping (DSX Quote) CEO Simeon Palios, whom Cramer had interviewed on the show the previous week, may have had trouble articulating his company's story in proper English. The viewer wondered if Cramer had made any follow-up on the call.

Cramer felt Palios indicated that the bull story wasn't there. "He was negative. I don't care what language it was. He was negative."

Lightning Round

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