A new State Street survey of sovereign wealth funds released Tuesday afternoon showed they had a total $3.2 trillion in assets under management. Cramer said he knew exactly what they should do with the money.
“I would go buy 10% of Citi,” the Mad Money host said during Stop Trading. “You would not regret it.”
Cramer recommended the sovereign wealth funds follow the same strategy as Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al-Waleed during the savings-and-loan crisis: Use the volatility in the US banking sector to buy a solid company on the cheap. Cramer assumed the US government, which owns a 34% stake in Citigroup , would be willing to sell its holdings to a foreign bidder.
“I feel very strongly that this is the natural sovereign fund bet,” Cramer said, “just like it was in 1990.”
Also in bank-related news, Cramer reiterated his buy call on BB&T. He praised the company for acquiring $22 billion worth of assets from the failed Colonial Bank and Tuesday’s successful secondary offering. He also called First Niagara a “winner” from this group.
Apple is another place that sovereign wealth funds should put their money, Cramer said, for the growth it offers. The company’s market share gains in Japan and Canada are “on fire,” and Apple is catching up to Nokia in Europe. Cramer pointed out that while Steve Jobs’ firm controls less than 3% of the smartphone market, Apple earns 35% of the market’s profits.
Lastly, Cramer suggested that sovereign wealth funds buy 10% of the oil companies, “most of which don’t know what they’re doing and need capital.”
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com
Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? madcap@cnbc.com