Cramer on Top-Searched Stocks: Joy Global
Updated from 7:01 a.m. EDT
May marks the fifth-straight month of decline in consumer confidence. A New York-based Conference Board stated that soaring gas prices and weakening job prospects left shoppers less confident about the economy, sending a key measure of consumer sentiment to its lowest level since October 1992, when the economy was coming out of a recession. Unfortunately, some economists think that consumer confidence has yet to bottom out.
In the housing market, there is good news for home buyers: Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller said its national home price index fell 14.1% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.
But in the end, at least right now, it seems to all come back to the price of oil. That is what most market analysts think is driving market direction.
With all of the news out there, we thought we'd take a look at yesterday's 10 most-searched stocks on
TheStreet.com
find out what
Jim Cramer's take has recently been on them
.
These stocks could be in the news for a number of reasons. Some require immediate attention; others may not. Regardless, it never hurts to hear what Cramer (or any of the other professional investors on the site) has to say about them. The key is to gather as much information as you can in order to make the most-informed investment decisions you can.
Despite the skyrocketing on heavy volume of
Standard Pacific
(SPF)
and
Quantum Fuel
(QTWW)
on Tuesday, we'll kick it off today with
Joy Global
(JOYG)
.
Cramer pointed out in a
recent RealMoney.com blog post
that coal-related stocks keep chugging along:
The coal move must gall all of those who read the papers and understand that neither John McCain nor Barack Obama favors coal. It does seem very counterintuitive that neither Peabody Energy (BTU) - Get Report nor Arch Coal (ACI) - Get Report makes coal that the Democrats and Republicans can get behind. The senators from the coal lands -- Wyoming and West Virginia -- have no clout. We don't even have rules dictating what coal plants we will allow! That's why I can't get behind McDermott (MDR) - Get Report. But then look at Burlington Northern's (BNI) stock. Look at Union Pacific's (UNP) - Get Report stock. Or Norfolk Southern (NSC) - Get Report. That's coal. That's coal going overseas. That's coal going to China. Our coal is as good as any coal when it comes to the unregulated markets. Coal hasn't appreciated nearly enough to get less competitive than oil. It is much more easily transportable than natural gas. It is the ideal transferable fuel. Always has been. So the group's not quitting. The only barrier to making more money for Arch and Peabody isn't emissions or the cost of shipping -- it is that cheap to ship -- it is getting at the hoards of coal we have. We are sitting on mountains of coal, but the only way to get at it is with machines, typically made by Joy Global. The company reports next week. How this quarter is, isn't clear because of the rising cost of steel. But when you look at the lead times of its machines and the need for them, do you think it they can say anything but the business is fabulous? My take is that the coals still work and Joy does too, ahead of next week's number. Not a lot of ways to play coal. The ones that work? They stay strong, they stay parabolic, just like natural gas. Maybe even better, because of the scarcity of plays and the shorts, who still lurk, I think wrongly, because of how hated, domestically, the fuel happens to be.
For the rest of Cramer's opinions on yesterday's 10 most-searched stocks, including
MGM Mirage
(MGM) - Get Report
and
Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ) - Get Report
, check out
.
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