That's All Right, That's OK, Yahoo! Can Beat 'Em Anyway
Sometimes the market's so much like sports it's frightening. Yesterday, as the Nasdaq was rallying, I caught Jeff Berkowitz, my partner, eyeing Yahoo! (YHOO) at the same time I was. Listen in to this bizarre dialogue.
"They are hitting Yahoo! They've read our offense. They know our every move," I yelled at Jeff as the $154 bid got smashed to smithereens. Seconds later he is screaming that we have the ball back, and the stock crashes through the $156 offering. "We're running for daylight. We can go in for six. We are going to hit $160. Yes. Touchdown!"
Yeah, sometimes it's like that. After one of these beleaguering bouts of selling -- and believe me, we are in one of those -- when you get a stock that has a genuine rally, you can feel the momentum swinging from the bears to the bulls. It's like they've been blitzing and blitzing, and then you huddle, you read the blitz, and there's nobody back there for the long six-point bomb to $160.
Lost in all of the clinical gibberish of Wall Street, the price-to-earnings ratios, the price-to-book and the price-to-sales, the market share and the Media Metrix numbers, the IRI data and the up and down surprises is raw emotion mixed with endless supply and, less these days, endless demand.
That was what was so fascinating to me about this Yahoo! run at the end of the day. Anybody who watches Yahoo! knows that this Cinderella's been trying to get to $160 in a pumpkin pulled by mice for days. It's way after midnight for this one.
Suddenly, the stock comes roaring back to fantasy, and there are no sellers. The emotion of the buyers picks up and the stock heads into the fairy-tale heights. (Yes, conscious efforts to mix metaphors so I don't lose too many nonsports enthusiasts.)
Until? Well, in this business you live happily ever after -- until 9:30 a.m.
James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long Yahoo!, although positions can change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to comment on his column at
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