When Is Cobalt Green?

If you’ve been tuning in all week, then you know Cramer’s been adding names each day to his new “Green Day” portfolio. These are stocks that could make you money now that the Supreme Court has made a ruling that in turn makes it profitable to fight global warming. So far he has covered clean power, clean cars, clean water and solar power. But he saved the best two picks for today.

First up is a specialty metals and chemicals company called OM Group . OMG is a major player in the cobalt business – its 13,000 tons add up to a quarter of the worldwide market. This cobalt, and a number of other chemicals that OMG makes, is used in the lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid cars. Cramer says cobalt prices should remain stable or go higher – especially because no new capacity is expected to come on until 2009.

OMG is more than cobalt, though. It also makes specialty chemicals that power plants use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is really the sweet spot of the Massachusetts vs. EPA case the Supreme Court just ruled on. Now those power plants are open to all kinds of punishment from the courts and the states if they don’t cut down on their emissions.

Cramer wouldn’t have picked OMG if it were just a green play. Any stock he recommends on Mad Money has passed his rigor test. So what really makes OMG stand out is that it’s a metals play. Right now, Cramer likes metals, and he likes specialty metals even more. OMG has copper exposure because copper’s a byproduct of some of the company’s chemical processes. It sells the copper when it’s done, and, with copper prices high, OMG makes a pretty penny.

OMG’s balance sheet is getting an extreme makeover: It sold its nickel business to Norilsk, and by the end of June it should have no debt and about $400 million in cash. That’s pretty good for a $1.5 billion company, Cramer says.

Bottom Line: Cramer has added OMG to the Green Day portfolio – for the emissions control, the lithium-ion batteries, and let’s not forget cobalt.

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