Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Financial Stocks to Avoid

12/13/07 - 07:58 PM EST

TheStreet.com Staff

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American International Group (AIG Quote) and Capital One Financial (COF Quote) are two financial names that aren't transparent enough to own, Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Thursday.

With these stocks, people don't know the assets or liabilities, he said, and that's no good. Before the Fed announced a modest quarter-point cut, Cramer said he had hesitated to put these two in the "sell block," but now the risk reward is "too darn bad" to own AIG or Capital One.

That said, he did like AIG and Capital One at one time, he said. Cramer called Capital One "the premier credit card company" and said AIG has phenomenal properties and is a terrific insurance business. However, what disturbs him about these companies is that investors don't know the state of their business. "That is disturbing in this environment," Cramer said.

With Capital One, market players have no idea what the company's loan status is or how it's doing geographically. While he's no fan of CIT (CIT Quote), Cramer said CIT shows people all of this information and allows them to make the decision of owning the stock or not. Capital One, on the other hand, has not opened up its books.

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