'Fast Money' Recap: Hunting for Bear

Terranova said Genentech (DNA Quote) is best in breed, and he recommended buying it if it goes lower.

Finerman said Bain Capital and Thomas Lee's move to acquire Clear Channel (CCU Quote) is scheduled to close. As shares started to trade down, she bought March options with a nice risk-reward ratio and made a lot of money.

In industrial names, Adami noted that Caterpillar (CAT Quote) is an interesting play, understanding that the tape is miserable. Goldman Sachs likes Deere (DE Quote) better, he said.

Quicker Than the Ticker

Nucor is up 16% since Adami recommended it. Applied Materials (AMAT Quote) jumped 7% after Najarian said to buy it. Finerman said to get short Solar Fun (SOLF Quote), and since then the stock is down 68%. Terranova called a bull run in natural gas, and the commodity has risen 35% since.

Next week, Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs are issuing earnings. Options trader John Najarian joined the crew to discuss what this means for investors. He said that Bear shares have been beaten as much as he's ever seen. This decline was telegraphed throughout the week with bankruptcy bets, he said. He thought a takeunder was possible and that the company's earnings wouldn't be that important to the stock.

Pete Najarian predicted that Goldman would benefit from the Bear debacle. If the company has been trading off its own analysts, it's had a phenomenal quarter, he said. He recommended Goldman whenever it's under $160.

Finerman said she doesn't think earnings matter that much this quarter. Adami said Lehman Brothers' (LEH Quote) earnings promise to be fascinating. They could be the next bank to take a tumble, he said.

The traders welcomed Joe Lavorgna, chief fixed income economist for Deutsche Bank, to discuss Fed action in the upcoming week. Lavorgna said that this is all about a deleveraging of banks. The Fed will try to ease pain, he said, and a 100-basis-point cut is on the table. He predicted a tough week for the markets coming up.

The "Fast Money" team then moved on to discuss whether Visa's upcoming initial public offering will help the banks. Adami said not to buy the banks in this environment. He said the action on Visa would be very telling about market sentiment. He stressed that Visa gets money from transactions and is not involved in credit risk. The same is true of MasterCard (MA Quote). He cautioned investors against rushing into Visa's IPO. Terranova agreed.

Finerman said that investors who are bearish on credit card receivables might want to short Capital One (COF Quote).

Najarian said MasterCard should continue to rise. Terranova said investors may sell out of MasterCard to buy Visa on the IPO.

Trader Radar

Ann Taylor (ANN Quote) shares traded on unusual volume this week.

Fast Fire

Adami had counseled against buying Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote). It rallied 3%. He said he would still avoid Exxon, and he recommended the U.S. Oil Fund (USO Quote) ETF as a play on oil.

Finerman had recommended Saks (SKS Quote). Shares fell 19%. When a stock falls that far, get out, she said.