On today's STOP TRADING! segment on CNBC, Jim Cramer addressed the homebuilders all being up based on the very unconfirmed rumors that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) was taking a stake in homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV). Cramer said it would more likely be Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) because Hovnanian is more regional and he can go in bigger with Pulte. This shows that it is too hard to short in this market. Cramer said Buffett has always liked this group.Cramer also noted USG Corp. (NYSE:USG) as one of the core housing-related plays that Buffett owns.
What is interesting is that Buffett and Hovnanian would probably not make as much sense as him looking at either a component maker that sells to all homebuilders or as much as one of the larger housing stocks. It has too much exposure to Southern California and the entire hurricane band of Florida. If you don't believe it look at its mapping demo. Buffett is still wanting to make "The Whale of Deal" and Hovnanian has a mere $1.15 billion market cap. Back on May 7 we gave a list of potential US targets that could make sense in the "Whale" category for Buffett.
Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
Cramer talks Buffett & Homebuilder rumors
Posted Jul 13th 2007 5:10PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Rumors, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), USG Corp (USG), Housing
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-13-2007 @ 5:30PM
Sheldon L said...
Cramer must be reading my old blogs.
Serious Money: Buffett should buy these five companies
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/09/serious-money-buffett-should-buy-these-5-companies/.
If Buffett buys another stock that I recommended maybe I will send him my resume.