Once, there were many reasons to buy this stock, said Jim Cramer. But no more.
The Mad Money host was talking about Alcatel-Lucent.
"At one time Alcatel Lucent was a colossus that strode across the earth. It had the greatest installed base in the world," he said, "as well as the best international brand name."
In fact, Alcatel-Lucent was said to have more Nobel laureates than any company on earth. As a result, the company was often on the cutting edge of new technology.
"Former CEO Patricia Russo showed me LTE in its infancy and explained how Lucent had the next generation cellphone all to itself," Cramer remembered.
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With such a storied history, it comes as no surprise that shares popped on Friday on word management was trying to arrange a loan from Goldman Sachs to help shore up its balance sheet. Read More: Alcatel-Lucent Considering Asset-Backed Financing
However, if you're a buyer due to the company's illustrious past, you would be making a mistake, according to the Mad Money host.
"Innovation has passed it by," said Cramer.
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New technologies such as cloud computing, storage farms as well as the infrastructure of the Internet are dominated by other companies, making Alcatel-Lucent much less relevant.
Even the value generated by its patents isn't anything to get excited about.
"They have millions of them," said Cramer. "But the patents are for equipment that was obviated years ago."
And then there's the price action. Shares have plunged almost 30% this year.
"Once you get into that downward death spiral, it is almost impossible to break out of it," said Cramer.
What's the bottom line?
There are plenty of reasons to think Alcatel Lucent is a value stock. And the company's involvement with Goldman Sachs may appear to be an upward catalyst. But Jim Cramer wouldn't buy. According to the Mad Money host, Alcatel-Lucent remains the ultimate value trap.
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