Circuit City Stars on Big-Screen TVs
This column was originally published on RealMoney on June 5 at 9:24 a.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.
Big-screen televisions worldwide are still hot. That's why this Piper Jaffray upgrade of
Circuit City
(CC) - Get Chemours Company (The) Report
makes so much darned sense. I don't know if people realize it, but Circuit City has been killing
Best Buy's
(BBY) - Get Best Buy Co. Inc. Report
stock of late. Circuit City's been a monster to the upside. That's because it is far more levered to big-screen televisions than Best Buy is.
What's really driving sales? Piper says it is a new cycle: HDTV. I can't underestimate the importance of a new product cycle, any new product cycle, when it comes to consumer products. The lack of new product cycles in PCs has been a disaster for that group, courtesy of the lateness of Vista from
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report
. Cell phones are still getting upgraded, and that's spurring
Motorola
( MOT) and
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Nokia Corporation Sponsored American Depositary Shares Report
TheStreet Recommends
, both stocks I like. (I had been neutral on Motorola, but it is getting too attractive the longer it stays down here.)
But nothing's bigger than a big-screen product cycle and the higher price points that come with it. Piper reminds us that this HDTV trend is like DVD a few years ago. There were many who discounted or pooh-poohed that DVD cycle, and they missed out on the gains. This morning,
USA Today
says more HDTV sets will be bought than traditional ones, courtesy of Morgan Stanley.
While Circuit City has run a great deal, I think there is more to come for the stock, simply because people are misjudging the HDTV trend and don't understand that you need a big-box retailer like a Circuit City to explain this obviously non-commodity, high-price-point stuff.
Random musings:
Do you have an integrated oil stock and a driller stock in your portfolio yet? If you still need convincing, and a couple of ideas,
click here and let me explain to you why you do.
P.S. from TheStreet.com Editor-in-Chief, Dave Morrow:
It's always been my opinion that it pays to have more -- not fewer -- expert market views and analyses when you're making investing or trading decisions. That's why I recommend you take advantage of our
to TheStreet.com's
RealMoney
premium Web site, where you'll get in-depth commentary
and
money-making strategies from over 50 Wall Street pros, including Jim Cramer. Take my advice --
At the time of publication, Cramer was long Microsoft.
Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for
Action Alerts PLUS. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click
here. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" at 6 p.m. ET weeknights on CNBC. Click
here to order Cramer's latest book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click
here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click
here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by
clicking here.
TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Traders' Library under which it receives a portion of the revenue from Traders' Library purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.
