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Top 10 Most-Searched Stocks on TheStreet.com

Alix Steel

Financials play a big part in the latest edition of the top 10 most searched stocks on TheStreet.com, namely thanks to Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS), who agreed to a joint venture involving their brokerages.

Morgan Stanley will pay $2.7 billion for a 51% stake in the venture, which will combine Citi's Smith Barney unit with Morgan Stanley's wealth-management division. Citigroup is also moving up its earnings announcement to this Friday, when the company is expected to report dismal results and news on a big downsizing.

Next up is General Electric (GE), a stock weighing on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in recent sessions. Part of the reason is that Barclays cut its fourth-quarter earnings expectation on GE, saying it believes the company will report numbers at the low end of its estimated range.

However, Jim Cramer is buying this stock on weakness for his Action Alerts Plus portfolio and focusing on the company's industrial division and recent contract wins. To see what else Cramer is buying and how he's navigating this market, email us for a free trial.

The last bank on the list is Bank of America (BAC). The stock has been tumbling with its peers, and Ladenburg Thalmann has slashed its earnings estimates through 2010.

The company will report earnings on Tuesday, and investors anticipate more writedowns as BofA digests the Merrill Lynch acquisition. The big question is whether BofA will be able to preserve its dividend. In this turbulent market, it's important to pick the right dividends. David Peltier, portfolio manager of the Dividend Stock Advisor, warns against financial dividends and instead says to focus on consumer staples, such as Kimberly-Clark (KMB).

Let's move to tech, and we'll start with one of the regulars in the top 10 -- Apple (AAPL). Citigroup Global Markets lowered its earnings estimates through 2011 to reflect the consumer spending slowdown, but tech reporter James Rogers says that some analysts see opportunity.

Next is Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), whose stock fell after Lexmark (LXK) offered a weak outlook.

Cramer is taking the opportunity to buy H-P for his Action Alerts Plus portfolio. H-P's CEO recently said its printer business remains solid, and Lexmark's negative numbers highlights the company's ability to increase market share. Another Action Alerts Plus Portfolio stock on the list is the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI) exchange-traded fund. This is Cramer's No. 1 way to play the recovery in China, and it holds several of the largest stocks in the Chinese market.

Retailer Wal-Mart (WMT), which last week posted sales that disappointed investors, is also on the list.

Some observers believe Wal-Mart could actually benefit in the consumer-spending slowdown as shoppers look for lower prices. Jefferies, for instance, reiterated its buy rating on the stock, but lowered its price target from $70 to $61 because of the current economic climate.

Caterpillar (CAT), according to Cramer, is the best way to play President-elect Obama's infrastructure package, no matter what the final price tag turns out to be. The stock has run up big, but is now getting dragged down with the rest of the market.

The last stock on the list is ConocoPhillips (COP), which attracted interest after Cramer talked about it on "Mad Money" with RealMoney contributor Dan Fitzpatrick.

Cramer says the stock is a buy based on the charts and that it's trading at the biggest discount ever to its peers. He also likes its buyback and dividend plan.