Financial Advisor Update
Cramer vs. Kass Redux: Consumer Staples
Doug Kass
12/02/08 - 01:34 PM EST
Jim Cramer and Doug Kass began their debate over the consumer nondurables space a couple of weeks ago, with Cramer seeing some winners and Kass playing the short side.
On the day before Thanksgiving, Doug was riding high as his short bets were paying off.
Doug Kass
Consumer Staples Continue to Roll Over
11/26/2008 12:02 PM EST This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on Nov. 26. Apropos of my debate with Jim "El Capitan" Cramer, consumer staples continue to roll over today. Score one for Dougie.
He changed his tune today, however, reducing his short exposure to the sector, as the share prices and materials costs in the space have fallen too far too fast. Doug Kass
Match Point Could Go to Cramer
12/2/2008 11:53 AM EST This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on Dec. 2. The consumer staples sector, the object of my debate with Jim "El Capitan" Cramer, got totally schmeissed yesterday. Procter & Gamble (PG Quote), Clorox (CLX Quote), Colgate-Palmolive (CL Quote), General Mills (GIS Quote), Kellogg (K Quote), Campbell Soup (CPB Quote) and Kraft (KFT Quote) were all down between 2 and 4 points apiece on Monday. With the recent share price pasting, coupled with the magnitude of the drop in materials costs, it is growing increasingly clear that my concerns regarding generic competition might be trumped by Jim's margin case. I have reduced my exposure to consumer nondurables. Stay tuned. At the time of publication, Kass and/or his funds were short Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Kellogg and Kraft.
Jim was not so quick to concede, though, as he anticipates a bearish reversal coming next quarter. Jim Cramer
This One Will Go to a Five-Set Tiebreaker
12/2/2008 12:25 PM EST This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney on Dec. 2. Over on RealMoney Silver, Doug Kass is giving me "the edge" on our recent debate over the direction of consumer nondurables, but it is important to remember that, without the recent decline in oil, I would not have enough strength on my service, so the match would go to Dougie. But this relentless decline in energy is just too big not to give us year-over-year margin expansion as it works through the system. I want to be very careful, though, because the next quarter will go Doug's way given that the prices of many of the petrol derivatives that these companies use have not come down yet. So don't be surprised when the next quarter does not produce the desired expansion.