Jim Cramer's Best Blogs

Jim Cramer fills his blog on RealMoney every day with his up-to-the-minute reactions to what's happening in the market and his legendary ahead-of-the-crowd ideas. This week he blogged on:

• the next investing wave to surf;
• what's going right in retail stocks; and
• oil bears needing a nap.

Click here for information on RealMoney.com, where you can see all the blogs, including Jim Cramer's -- and reader comments -- in real time.

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Get Ready for M&A Wave

Originally published on Dec. 3 at 11:51 a.m. EST

Philips(PHG Quote) buys Genlyte(GLYT Quote). Vivendi buys Activision(ATVI Quote).

This is it. This is the next wave of M&A action, because we are now putting a bottom in the dollar.

There are always going to be companies that are worth more to others than to themselves. We got so much private-equity money in the last few years because there were so many "hated" companies in the market, companies that were clearly worth more to others in a private way than they were in a public way.

I am convinced that we are at last at the cusp of the foreign invasion and that this invasion will be the next leg that propels this particular brand of mergers and acquisitions in a world where M&A has always supported valuations.

I can see drug companies being bought, medical device companies being bought, chemicals, papers and steels being bought and, of course, our banks, now that we are starting to get our arms around things. (Right now, only Commerce Bancorp(CBH Quote) has been hooked; many more are to come.) I believe PPG(PPG Quote), Cleveland Cliffs(CLF Quote), FMC(FMC Quote), Rockwell(ROK Quote), Olin(OLN Quote), they are all possibles.

The Europeans care more about the dollar than anything else. They didn't want to catch a falling knife of a currency, even as they might have liked our companies. That's no longer the case.

I see deals galore.

And I think that's going to be a very important prop to the next leg up as everyone else frets about the Federal Reserve.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this post.

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GPS Finds Its Way Again

Originally published on Dec. 6 at 9:44 a.m. EST

Time to recognize the turn at Gap(GPS Quote). There's something real going on there, and this one is going to gain traction as it annualizes easy comps and cuts overheard. That matters because we are going to see a lot of talk about "profitless prosperity" for retailers, meaning that most analysts will explain away the good sales last month with calls that they gave the merchandise away and numbers will, if anything, go down.

I like Gap because the new management is firing people like mad and it isn't hurting the stores one darned bit. It looks like the main Gap business is stabilizing and Old Navy is no longer hemorrhaging, so we have real hope here that the turn is a good one.

Lots of other goodies in these same-store numbers: Nordstrom(JWN Quote) and Kohl's(KSS Quote) returning to favor, both very cheap. Still good numbers from TJX(TJX Quote). Another good one for Wal-Mart(WMT Quote). And, most overlooked, continued excellent numbers from Saks(SKS Quote), despite all of the bellyaching you hear about the rich not spending.

Of course, there were some real bad ones. Penney's(JCP Quote) is just awful. What the heck happened there? No one even knows.

But all in all, a pretty good report, considering what's supposed to be going on.

Random musings: Speaking of retail, Don Wood, the fabulous CEO of Federal Realty(FRT Quote), the strongest of the REITs out there, talked positively about the value of Sears'(SHLD Quote) leases. I haven't said word one about buying Sears in ages because of the really poor earnings and the toughness of the cohort. But the story is a breakup story at this point -- I know you like to win with earnings and a breakup, but you can't have everything. Woods' talk on "Mad Money" made me feel a whole lot better about the name.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Sears Holdings.

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Energy Bears, Hibernate

Originally published on Dec. 6 at 12:33 p.m. EST

What happened to those oil bears? Where did they go? Remember them, the ones who said the cycle is finished? The ones who said you can't own the stocks anymore?

I can't find them.

This is another case of the oil companies being behind on price and the Street outthinking this thing.

Companies like Chevron(CVX Quote) are finally stepping up to spend more. So will Exxon(XOM Quote). Only Conoco(COP Quote) has been really realistic about the new world of higher prices. It is drilling where it can, and as fast as it can.

That's why we are seeing Transocean(RIG Quote) and Schlumberger(SLB Quote) and Core Labs(CLB Quote) and Halliburton(HAL Quote) moving. Those are ready to run again.

I don't understand why people still fail to realize that there is a supply problem. I debated with our own oil correspondent at TheStreet.com, Chuck Marvin, the other day about supply. He mentioned that if the Saudis drilled more, they could get more out because it is so plentiful.

Cramer Drills for Info on Oil's Future

I'm not buying it. If there were that much excess supply and it was so easy to drill, then I think they would be drilling like crazy because they don't want prices too high. That's causing an umbrella for nuclear (Shaw(SGR Quote)) and for solar (First Solar(FSLR Quote)).

I just think that oil's hard to find and hard to get at, and that most oil companies simply didn't believe in these prices. At these prices, I have to believe that day rates can go up substantially for outfits like Transocean, which is the best of the best.

I also, like Bob Marcin, really like nat gas, which is XTO Energy(XTO Quote) and Conoco, plus, of course, Halliburton.

The bears, once again, had everything in their favor: a non-nuke Iran, a less violent Iraq, no new terrorism in Nigeria, no more outages in the North Sea, no hurricane damages and most of all, a mild fall almost all over the world.

They couldn't knock it down.

It's not going down because of supply, not because of demand.

Random musings: If you did my in-the-money momentum suggestion Wednesday on Intuitive Surgical(ISRG Quote), you need to know that this is where I'd sell a little stock short against the common. I'd also sell a little Google(GOOG Quote) common against that position. But I wouldn't sell Research In Motion(RIMM Quote) or Apple(AAPL Quote) yet; they need to go higher. ... A big thank you to all who came to my book signing last night at the Barnes & Noble here in New York. If you missed it, I'd love to see you at one (heck, both!) of the next two: Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. in Bridgewater, N.J.'s Borders; and Saturday, Jan. 12, at 1 p.m. in Westbury, Long Island's Costco.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long ConocoPhillips, Transocean and XTO Energy.

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