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Cramer on Top-Searched Stocks: GM

Stockpickr Staff

Thursday provided an assortment of financial news. Two former Bear Stearns managers were arrested and indicted on securities fraud charges as a result of the collapse of two funds they oversaw. Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tanin, ex-managers of Bear Stearns hedge funds that collapsed last year, face criminal charges stemming from a yearlong probe. The two are suspected of misleading investors about the risks inherent in the subprime mortgage market.

In related banking news, the CFO of Citigroup(C Quote) warned there could be further writedowns, and Fifth Third Bancorp(FITB Quote) seems to have stabilized a day after falling nearly 30% after announcing a dividend cut and $2 billion capital raise.

A new Labor Department report also made headlines Thursday. Jobless claims fell by 5,000 last week to 381,000 after having surged by 27,000 the previous week. The number of newly laid-off workers filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped slightly last week but remained at a level showing the strains of a weak economy. The nation's unemployment rate soared to 5.5% in May, up from 5% percent it April. That represented the biggest one-month jump in 22 years.

With all of this news and data in mind, we thought it made sense to take the most-searched stocks on TheStreet.com of the day and find out Jim Cramer's take on them.

These stocks could be in the news for a number of reasons. Some might require immediate attention while others may not. But it never hurts to hear what Cramer (or any of the other professional investors on the site) has to say about them. The key is to gather as much information as you can in order to make the most informed investment decisions you can.

Despite big moves by Huntsman(HUN Quote) and Evergreen Solar(ESLR Quote) Thursday, we'll kick it off today with Ford(F Quote) and General Motors(GM Quote).

In the recent post below, Cramer points out that he is not a huge fan of this group:

"If you want to know why GM and Ford may not make it -- and I sincerely doubt Chrysler's any better, despite the endless puffing by CEO Bob Nardelli -- go listen to the CarMax(KMX Quote) call. This call was devastating. There has been the greatest deterioration in values and demand for SUVs and pickups in the history of these incredibly lucrative lines. It is a nightmare for anyone making these vehicles, and GM and Ford are the companies for this stuff.

I know that we are a profligate nation, but we are not entirely stupid about oil and gas and the tradeoffs, and the fuel efficiency tradeoff is so powerful that these vehicles simply don't have any demand.

So despite endless restructurings and countless layoffs, in the end the American automobiles have the wrong cars and trucks. They simply don't have the product that has value or keeps value.

It is time to think the radical thought, again, that GM and Ford have too much debt and may pay to simply file for a prepackaged bankruptcy to become radically smaller companies making cars and trucks at a rapidly diminished rate.

I didn't feel this way before the CarMax call. I just figured that it paid for GM to cancel the dividend. But the sheer cliff that these vehicles have fallen off is too steep to come back again.

There was a strain of hope throughout the call that it is just temporary, that it could be like Katrina -- mentioned many times -- where there was a drop-off in demand. But that's cyclical and this is secular because of the skipping of the $3 gasoline and the rapid rise to $4.

It is still not too late to sell Ford and GM, and I sure wish that Cerberus would be more upfront about what's really going on at Chrysler, but then again that's one of the sheer joys of being private."

For the rest of Cramer's take on yesterday's top-searched stocks, check out Cramer's Take on Top 10 Most-Searched Stocks From June 19.