Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! There's Hope for Banks

In the wake of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority's purchase of a $7.5 billion stake in Citigroup (C Quote), other financials are potential international buyouts, Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment Tuesday.

JPMorgan (JPM Quote), American Express (AXP Quote) and AIG (AIG Quote) should also be on foreign shopping lists, Cramer said.

"Every [bank] needs capital right now," Cramer reminded viewers. He believes the market has underestimated the importance of the Citigroup purchase. "I'm incredulous ... this is like reverse complacency ... nobody even cares."

Cramer believes that "people cannot be as negative as they were yesterday about the banks."

"I know there are problems in the system," Cramer said, "but there were problems ... in 1990, but it turned out ultimately to be a ten-bagger if you bought the negativity. ... Yes, Citigroup has to pay a big coupon, but yesterday I was worried about Citigroup's solvency."

Cramer emphasized that today's news is a vast improvement for the company, which was hurt tremendously by former CEO Chuck Prince's management. If not for today's capital injection, Citi "would've had to fire-sale Legg Mason's (LM Quote) stake ... they have to undo everything that Prince did." This will be painful, but with newfound capital, Cramer believes that Citigroup at least has room to maneuver.

Cramer doesn't want to sound like a "Pollyanna," however. He's aware that banks have a long way to go. But he believes that "the only people who don't see any opportunity are Americans," who, because they've been so beaten up by the financials, "think we're going to have to torch our house in order to get a few bucks."