One of the most important investing strategies that Cramer has endorsed over the past five years is speculation. Why? Because these calculated risks will keep you in the game.
“A portfolio without speculation … is a portfolio that may not capture your fancy,” Cramer said. And that could leave you “anxious to surrender it to people who do not care about you – but care plenty about your fees.”
Sure, you need to have the stomach for risk, but the rewards can be great, as long as you do your homework before buying. Cramer liked Ford at $4, Bank of America at $3 and SLM, or Sallie Mae, at $6, and now those stocks are up 237%, 468% and 106%, respectively. All of them were considered too risky for retail investors, but the Mad Money host disagreed. And he was proved right.
Now Huntington Bancshares , Qwest and Citigroup are getting the same treatment. Cramer said money managers won’t touch these stocks for fear their clients will complain. Too dangerous, they’d say. So hedge funds and mutual funds are going for “safer” stocks instead, and that’s why HBAN, Q and C are so low in price.
But that’s a mistake. Cramer likes that Huntington, Qwest and Citi aren’t hostage to the Federal Reserve. Or what he sees as an anti-business agenda in Washington. Or the forced economic slowdown in China, for that matter. Right now these three are broken stocks, not broken companies, and for that reason he thinks they should be bought.
So while Wall Street dissects Fed statements and health-care reform hangs in the balance, consider HBAN, Qwest and Citi.
“Speculation in defense of profits is no vice,” Cramer said. “In fact, it’s a virtue.”
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