Action Alert: Weekly Roundup

Click here for the latest from James J. Cramer.

Now that I am free to invest -- not trade, but invest, as I can't sell anything until four months have passed I'm going to add my own portfolio to the Action Alert Portfolio. As I have no desire to do anything but put my money where my mouth is, I would never recommend anything I wouldn't buy myself.

As you can see, I'm putting my personal money to work at a moderate pace. I've never been a big believer in plunking down money all at one level. I always use price breaks to accumulate more of what I really like. I let market selloffs work for me.

That means, for example, buying some Best Buy(BBY Quote - Cramer on BBY - Stock Picks), EMC(EMC Quote - Cramer on EMC - Stock Picks) and Schlumberger(SLB Quote - Cramer on SLB - Stock Picks), all of which have been hit hard by the downturn in stocks.

Let's go over the reasoning behind all these and why I think, in four months' time, they'll be higher.

Best Buy is the largest retailer of consumer electronics and it frequently gets hammered during periods of economic uncertainty. It's down substantially from the high. I have no idea whether it had a strong or weak March, but I presume there was weakness. So why buy? Because, periodically, pessimism does create value and with this chain that's what I think is happening. Do you want to buy this when everything is going right and it's flying high, or do you want to buy it when things look more terrible than they really are? I also believe in a huge replacement DVD cycle. The CEO, Richard Schulze, has been counted out so many times by Wall Street that he reminds me of a fighter deliberately taking a six-count before coming back up well rested and ready to punch the daylights out of the bears. This time will be no different.

I bought more EMC because, even though I think the company is having a horrid quarter, I strongly believe that four months from now its expectations will have been brought so low that it will begin beating them and the stock will seem cheap. I didn't really care about Don Luskin's anti-EMC argument, as the company has already faced many competitors and won, and I don't see why this one will be any different. Do I wish EMC were having a great quarter and hitting the cover off the ball? Of course. But then I would be paying $70 for it. EMC could trade to $20, where I would buy more. As long as Mike Ruettgers is at the helm, I'm not sweating these purchases.

Schlumberger has been hammered unmercifully for this stupid acquisition they made. Yet I don't see the bull market in energy going away any time soon. Once this merger closes, Schlumberger will take advantage of its stock's decline and buy some. I wish I could say I were worried about this company, but I know it's going to make money these next 10 years and I would think that down another couple of points I'll buy more.

I have received a number of angry emails about all three of these picks, to which I say, "Get a life." The market's terrible. I like these companies. Sell them to me so I can buy them cheaper. And quit the belly-aching. I am not charging you a fee to run your money and bury you like these mutual fund hounds. I'm buying high-quality stocks that I think will make me money with some patience.

I used the 52-week low in Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks) to buy the stock and then I bought more after that knucklehead in BusinessWeek said they were going to buy American Express. Seemed like a good opportunity. I like Sandy Weill and I know he wouldn't do anything to screw shareholders -- he's a huge one himself.

At the beginning of the week, some sloppy seller of Philip Morris (MO Quote - Cramer on MO - Stock Picks) knocked that stock down. As I've said many times, that's how MO trades and you have to view it as a buying opportunity. I shared with you that I was buying it at the time. I'll buy more when it falls below $44. Nothing magical, I just don't like to pay above my basis.

Cramer's Personal Portfolio: Positions, Cost Basis & Gain/Loss 3/30/2001 16:46
Ticker	Shares	Cost Basis	Total	Current Value	% G/L
AOL(AOL Quote - Cramer on AOL - Stock Picks)	500	$38.67	$19,335.00	$20,075.00	3.83%
Citigroup(C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks)	700	43.05	30,132.90	31,486.00	4.49
EMC(EMC Quote - Cramer on EMC - Stock Picks)	700	34.99	24,493.00	20,580.00	-15.98
Qwest(Q Quote - Cramer on Q - Stock Picks)	500	34.45	17,224.00	17,525.00	1.75
General Electric(GE Quote - Cramer on GE - Stock Picks)	500	38.87	19,435.00	20,930.00	7.69
Best Buy(BBY Quote - Cramer on BBY - Stock Picks)	700	37.72	26,404.00	25,172.00	-4.67
Philip Morris(MO Quote - Cramer on MO - Stock Picks)	200	43.70	8,740.00	9,490.00	8.58
Goldman Sachs(GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks)	500	88.42	44,210.00	42,550.00	-3.75
Merrill Lynch(MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks)	800	58.30	46,640.00	44,320.00	-4.97
First Union(FTU Quote - Cramer on FTU - Stock Picks)	300	32.30	9,690.00	9,900.00	2.17
Merck(MRK Quote - Cramer on MRK - Stock Picks)	200	73.30	14,659.00	15,180.00	3.55
3M(MMM Quote - Cramer on MMM - Stock Picks)	300	103.35	31,005.00	31,170.00	0.53
EDS(EDS Quote - Cramer on EDS - Stock Picks)	100	54.01	5,401.00	5,586.00	3.43
International Paper(IP Quote - Cramer on IP - Stock Picks)	200	35.06	7,012.00	7,216.00	2.91
Schlumberger(SLB Quote - Cramer on SLB - Stock Picks)	300	57.84	17,352.00	17,283.00	-0.40
		Total	$304,380.90	$301,180.00	-1.05

The brokers were weak all week, as everyone has pretty much decided that their best days are behind them. I see consolidation continuing and I see that Merrill Lynch (MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks) comes up as a stock selling for 12 times next year's conservative earnings. I want to own it there.

Same with Goldman Sachs(GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks). The company is selling for 14 times what I think they can earn. If I'm right, this quarter will be the worst quarter the securities business has seen in a long time, and if this is all that Goldman makes, we're in great shape when things get better. Again, I don't know if Goldman will be up next month. I know in May it will do a secondary and if it comes well below my basis, maybe I'll buy more. You have to understand that if Goldman were to spike 20 points tomorrow, I couldn't do anything about it anyway.

I violated my preannouncement rule with International Paper(IP Quote - Cramer on IP - Stock Picks), buying it a day after, rather than waiting a month. I did so because IP would have reported next week anyway. I didn't think its preannouncement was so dire and was delighted to see it making any money in this environment.

I wish I had been more aggressive in buying Merck(MRK Quote - Cramer on MRK - Stock Picks). I love health care here because the market has ratcheted down the values for the group substantially. Merck is a high-quality name with lots of drugs coming off patent and a firm set of disbelievers. That's how I like it, because it enables me to buy the stock cheaper than it would be without the naysayers.

First Union (FTU Quote - Cramer on FTU - Stock Picks) is just the kind of big, ugly, miserable bank that can do better when the rates get to 3.5%, as I've been saying for months that they will. First Union's problems are all of the previous managements. I sure wish these guys were better bankers. However, then I would be paying $45 for it, not $32. I would have bought Bank of America, but it never came in and has been acting more strongly than any bank. Bank of New York was dramatically weaker right up until the day I got permission to trade. I will buy some under $45.

Everyone hates Qwest(Q Quote - Cramer on Q - Stock Picks). Except for me and Ravi Suria. When the telecom world started to go to heck in a hand basket, Ravi stressed to me that Qwest, because of its now brilliant acquisition of USWest, has the cash flow to finish its build-out and buy other telcos in bankruptcy. Isn't that what you want to hear? Tons of nasty email about Nacchio, the head of Qwest, to which I say, you wish you were Joe Nacchio. He's great at what he does.

Finally, I bought a little 3M(MMM Quote - Cramer on MMM - Stock Picks). What a pain in the butt a $100 stock is to buy! My broker really didn't want me to pull the trigger on this one. The quarter, he says, could be a disappointment. To which I say, big deal, new CEO from General Electric, well, I like that, and it's a good story coming out of a recession.

That about does it. Remember, if I don't like a stock, I can remove it from the Action Alert list but I can't remove it from my portfolio because of my four-month ban on selling a name after I've bought it.

In the future I'll be doing all of these portfolio round-ups on Saturdays. We have a lot of terrific stuff over the weekend and I want you to peruse the site accordingly. Of course, this article, and all articles I write that are not about mutual funds, no longer find their way to the free site within 24 hours. We've heard the complaints of those who pay good money for RealMoney, and we aren't about to hurt those who support this institution with their own dollars.

Action Alert Portfolio Current Open Positions Based on Alerts to Date
Title	Last	# Shares*	Basis**	Profit/ Loss	P/L %	Open Date
Ford (F Quote - Cramer on F - Stock Picks)	$28.12	387	25.81	$ 893.97	8.95	1/9/01
Tupperware(TUP Quote - Cramer on TUP - Stock Picks)	23.86	465	21.50	1,097.40	10.98	1/11/01
Bank Of New York (BK Quote - Cramer on BK - Stock Picks)	49.24	193	51.75	(484.43)	(4.85 )	1/16/01
Philip Morris (MO Quote - Cramer on MO - Stock Picks)	47.45	235	42.63	1,132.70	11.31	1/16/01
AOL-Time Warner (AOL Quote - Cramer on AOL - Stock Picks)	40.15	204	48.91	(1,787.04)	(17.91 )	1/17/01
Minnesota Mining (MMM Quote - Cramer on MMM - Stock Picks)	103.90	92	108.25	(501.40)	(4.02 )	1/17/01
Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks)	44.98	187	53.50	(1,593.24)	(15.93 )	1/17/01
Merrill Lynch (MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks)	55.40	134	74.37	(2,541.98)	(25.51)	1/17/01
Goldman Sachs (GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks)	85.10	90	110.50	(2,286.00)	(22.99)	1/17/01
Bank Of America (BAC Quote - Cramer on BAC - Stock Picks)	54.75	201	49.75	1,005.00	10.05	1/22/01
EMC (EMC Quote - Cramer on EMC - Stock Picks)	29.40	132	76.00	(6,151.20)	(61.32 )	1/23/01
Qwest (Q Quote - Cramer on Q - Stock Picks)	35.05	213	46.88	(2,519.79)	(25.23 )	1/24/01
International Paper (IP Quote - Cramer on IP - Stock Picks)	36.08	276	36.25	(46.92)	(0.47)	1/24/01
IBM(IBM Quote - Cramer on IBM - Stock Picks)	96.18	89	112.99	(1,496.09)	(14.88 )	1/29/01
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MWD Quote - Cramer on MWD - Stock Picks)	53.50	120	83.58	(3,609.60)	(35.99 )	1/30/01
Alcoa (AA Quote - Cramer on AA - Stock Picks)	35.94	277	36.15	(58.17)	(0.58)	1/31/01
General Electric (GE Quote - Cramer on GE - Stock Picks)	41.86	215	46.50	(997.60)	(9.98 )	1/31/01
First Union (FTU Quote - Cramer on FTU - Stock Picks)	33.00	296	33.77	(227.92)	(2.28)	1/31/01
Target(TGT Quote - Cramer on TGT - Stock Picks)	36.08	276	36.18	(27.60)	(0.28)	2/5/01
Merck(MRK Quote - Cramer on MRK - Stock Picks)	75.90	122	81.73	(711.26)	(7.13)	2/7/01
EDS(EDS Quote - Cramer on EDS - Stock Picks)	55.86	158	63.25	(1,167.62)	(11.68)	2/8/01
Schlumberger(SLB Quote - Cramer on SLB - Stock Picks)	57.61	142	70.31	(1,803.40)	(18.06)	2/12/01
Caterpillar (CAT Quote - Cramer on CAT - Stock Picks)	44.42	211	47.35	(618.23)	(6.19 )	3/8/01
Best Buy(BBY Quote - Cramer on BBY - Stock Picks)	35.96	221	45.25	($2,053.09)	(20.53 )	3/8/01
Total				($26,452.31)	(11.02 )
*Number of shares are calculated using a 10,000 buy. **Prices used are Thursday closing prices.

Action Alert Portfolio Closed Positions
Title	Open	Closed	Lng/Shrt	Profit/Loss	P/L %	# of Shares	Closing G/L	Open Date	Close Date
Openwave (OPWV Quote - Cramer on OPWV - Stock Picks)	62.38	71.00	Long	$8.62	13.82	160	$ 1,381.85	1/23/01	1/23/01
Exodus (EXDS Quote - Cramer on EXDS - Stock Picks)	25.63	21.00	Short	4.63	18.06	390	1,806.13	1/26/01	2/5/01
eBay(EBAY Quote - Cramer on EBAY - Stock Picks)	44.56	47.44	Long	2.88	6.46	224	644.87	1/17/01	2/12/01
Juniper(JNPR Quote - Cramer on JNPR - Stock Picks)	144.56	90.00	Long	(54.56)	(37.74)	69	(3,764.57)	1/17/01	2/15/01
Nokia(NOK Quote - Cramer on NOK - Stock Picks)	34.75	28.00	Long	(6.75)	(19.42)	288	(1,944.00)	1/30/01	2/15/01
Microsoft (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks)	58.38	53.38	Long	(5.00)	(8.57)	171	(855.67)	1/18/01	3/13/01
DoubleClick (DCLK Quote - Cramer on DCLK - Stock Picks)	15.56	10.88	Long	(4.68)	(30.10)	642	(3,006.87)	1/17/01	3/13/01
Krispy Kreme (KREM Quote - Cramer on KREM - Stock Picks)	34.00	34.50	Short	0.50	1.47	(294)	(147.00)	1/9/01	3/19/01
BioTime (BTX Quote - Cramer on BTX - Stock Picks)	$9.61	$6.23	Short	$3.38	35.17%	1040	$3,515.20	1/26/01	3/23/01
Total				(51.99)	(2.63% )		$(2,370.06)