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What's the point of our series on corporate marriages?
So far Jim's proposed that Pfizer [PFE
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] buy Allergan [AGN
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], Illinois Tool Works
[ITW
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] buy Manitowoc [MTW
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], and Nike [NKE
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] buy Under Armour [UA
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], and we've got two more suggested mergers for Friday's show. So what are we up to?
We're trying to be constructive in a very difficult market. We could re-recommend the same stocks over and over again, because there just aren't that many worth owning right now besides the accidental high-yielders like Caterpillar [CAT
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], the recession-resistant companies, and stocks that are trading at or near their cash per share like Shaw Group [SGR
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]. We don't want to repeat the same idea or the same stocks endlessly, and we don't want to invent reasons to recommend stocks that aren't right yet.
But we don't want to be all doom and gloom either, because we think there's too much negativity and fear out there. This series on "weddings," on suggested takeovers, is all about what you should be looking for. Our target audience in telling Nike to buy Under Armour is not Nike's board of directors, it's you.
And the point is that once we start seeing acquisitions like the potential ones Jim has described on air, we'll be on much better footing. That will be a very bullish sign. But at the moment, even though there are lots of self-funding companies with lots of cash, we're just not seeing these kinds of takeovers. We will see them eventually, so you need to keep your eyes out. If we waited until after the fact to say, "this was a very good thing," it wouldn't be much use to you.
So sit tight and wait for the wedding bells.
Cliff Mason is the Senior Writer of CNBC's Mad Money w/Jim Cramer, and has been that program's primary writer, in cooperation with and under the supervision of Jim Cramer, since he began at CNBC as an intern during the summer of 2005. Mason was the author of a column at TheStreet.com during 2007, which he describes as "hilarious, if short-lived." He graduated from Harvard College in 2007. It was at Harvard that Mason learned to multi-task, mastering the art of seeming to pay attention to professors while writing scripts for Mad Money. Mason has co-written two books with Jim Cramer: Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich and Stay Mad For Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). He is 100% responsible for any parts of either book that you did not like.
Mason has also had a fruitful relationship with Jim Cramer as his nephew for the last 23 years and will hopefully continue to hold that position for many more as long as he doesn't do anything to get himself kicked out of the family.
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