Don't Quit on NYSE
Last January, Cramer picked NYSE-Euronext as his growth stock of 2007. Then the share price, at $95 when Cramer made the call, spent the rest of the year trending downward. Now NYX is working its way back up, leaving Cramer, whose charitable trust owns the stock, with the question every investor asks when in the same position: Do I hold out to break even, then take my money and run?
There's no doubt NYSE-Euronext has been frustrating to own. When the rest of the market was going up, Cramer said, NYX went down. When the market dropped, NYX went lower. But all this happened despite the company's strong fundamentals. The estimates have continually moved up, and NYX beat every time.
In these types of situations, Cramer applies a rule from his new book, Stay Mad for Life: If the fundamentals are on track or improving, don't sell when the stock gets back to even. Investors who do could end up leaving big gains on the table, he said.
According to Cramer, NYX is a better company now than it was back in January. Wall Street is finally starting to see it as a good, cheap and consistently well-run firm. And while the New York Stock Exchange has lost share in the U.S., the Euronext portion of NYX dominates the hottest market in the world -- the European common stock and futures market. If the New York Stock Exchange were sold, Cramer thinks the stock would jump to $100
The bottom line: Frustration with a stock like NYX is understandable. But that should never inform your investing decisions.
Jim's charitable trust owns NYSE-Euronext.
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