Jim Cramer's Best Blogs

So we have a situation in which a company can now be bought because of two managers who are very smart are buying it, and are legitimizing it, or re-legitimizing it, right before our eyes.

Plus, we now know why Icahn was cruel to Judge Scott Wapner, the terrific host of "Fast Money's Halftime Report" on CNBC. Icahn couldn't talk about it because he was accumulating it.

Now, I am sure there are plenty of people who love Bill Ackman. I am sure 100% that his partners will back him no matter what. I am certain that he believes the Nobel Prize for Economics awaits him and that President Obama is itching to give him the Medal of Freedom.

In the interim, as Stalin once asked of the Pope, how many divisions does he have? 'Cause I can tell you, Icahn and Loeb? They've got a lot of divisions. In this game, he who has the most divisions wins.

Random musings: Don't forget to watch my pal Scott Wapner's take on Carl Icahn for Round Two of Herbalife, maybe with an empty chair for future Nobel laureate Ackman?

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Takeovers Galore in the Bank Patch

Posted at 7:00 a.m. EDT on Friday, Feb. 14

Have you ever seen a more downgraded group than the banks? Yet they won't quit. I count downgraded bank after downgraded bank. Yet it's such a silly call to do so because we are about to see real lending in this country and when that happens the whole focus on net interest margin will go away. The new focus will be on takeovers as book values are scrubbed clean and new colossuses can be built.

Consider the case of HomeStreet Bank (HMST), one of the best-performing IPOs from last year and a hungry regional bank with a book value that is 20% below its stock price.

When you have banks that are trading north of book value and banks trading south of book value it can often be immediately accretive for the expensive bank to buy the cheaper one.

The biggest bank that sells at a premium is Wells Fargo (WFC) and it owns more than 30% of the mortgage market. So that won't happen.

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