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General Motors (GM Quote - Cramer on GM - Stock Picks) joins the list of unthinkables, the ones that may not be able to make it with its current structure. The ones that basically need to be Chapter 11'd to save the business from dying.
Typically there would be some price where the value guys come in, those suckers who buy things like
Ambac (ABK Quote - Cramer on ABK - Stock Picks) at $6 on a secondary, or
Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks) at $25 or
Merrill Lynch (MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks) at any price.
Typically there are big mutual funds with an inclination to say, "You know what? The market knows nothing about GM, and I want to buy it."
That isn't the case this time. I wonder if the value guys are running out of money.
China Watch: GM, Ford Gun It |
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Or maybe they are doing some homework and realizing that $4 gas simply ended the viability of this company and would probably end the viability of
Ford (F Quote - Cramer on F - Stock Picks) if the prices stay up. GM does not have enough cars in demand that it can make a profit on, and it has way too many cars and trucks that aren't in demand to do anything but lose billions of dollars, despite the decline in headcount and costs per car. It feels like the Citigroup of the autos. Without the deposit base.
We marvel that this can be happening but the falloff in sales is so pathological that I don't see how these two just don't run out of money.
The amazing thing is that GM still pays a dividend, a bountiful 7% one.
Look for that dividend to vanish very soon. If you own it, look for a bounce to sell it.
And, value guys, that may be your chance to make your move!
At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Jim Cramer
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