As the decline in brent crude oil continues, Goldman Sachs poured more salt on the already gushing wound of the oil sector Monday. Goldman made a bold move when it slashed oil forecasts, citing abundant supply and lackluster demand.
Of course, Jim Cramer has never been one to follow the crowd, and he smells a fish. He is skeptical of the downgrade, just judging by the history of the firm.
"There was a time when I would have burned the whole oil group in effigy here and ridiculed them. Now, I'm just looking a tad askance at this big, bold call that's crushing the oil patch long after it's already been bent, spindled and mutilated," said the "Mad Money" host.
The skepticism is stemming from conflicting Goldman reports all over the place.
The first Goldman report that Cramer examined said that brent crude is headed as low as $80 a barrel by summer of 2015. This is a radical change from Goldman's previous projections of $100.
Cramer also looked at a January note from the exact same analyst, which said oil could hit $150 a barrel by 2015.
Last year, Goldman's influential oil analyst Jeff Currie said that despite the U.S. shale boom, the price of crude would remain high because of sanctions related to supplies from Iran.
Turns out that was really, really wrong.
Now the latest piece of research said that even after oil plunging more than 30 percent from its high this past June, it is time to sound the Goldman alarm. This call caused tremendous havoc for the oil cohort as stocks such as Continental Resources and Anadarko were crushed on Monday.
Cramer might be a bit cynical, but he can't help but think something fishy is going on here and maybe things aren't as dramatic as Goldman makes them seem.
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What happens if this years' bearish call turns out to be just as wrong as the bullish call last year? Or what happens when it turns out that the big S&P oils are just beginning to accelerate, as Cramer's research implies?
Only time will tell. However, Cramer wants to make sure investors are prepared for oil to go any direction. It's only a maybe that Goldman Sachs gets it right this time. It depends on which report you look at.
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
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