Cramer on BloggingStocks: Semis' downgrade ignores killer fourth quarter

Posted Jan 2nd 2008 9:10AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Intel (INTC), Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), Best Buy (BBY), Circuit City Stores (CC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Texas Instruments (TXN), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Technology

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you can exit these stocks if you must, but most of these names will prove cheap come their earnings reports.

You are supposed to be able to own tech right up until the last week of this month. At least that's when the big institutions like to hold on until, with the last holdouts keeping the big techs on the sheets until the Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) (Cramer's Take) tech conference in February.

But the big downgrade of the semis such as National Semi (NYSE: NSM) (Cramer's Take), Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) (Cramer's Take) and AMD (NYSE: AMD) (Cramer's Take) -- insult to injury there for all of you year-end tax-loss buyers -- by Bank of America smacks of gun-jumping: legal gun-jumping to get out of a group before a consumer-led slowdown.

That's what I always think of these days when I think of stocks like these, particularly TXN and NSM, which have direct exposure to the consumer through all of the gadgets that the Best Buys (NYSE: BBY) (Cramer's Take) of the world sell. (Remember the latter rallied at the end of the year because of a crushing of Circuit City (NYSE: CC) (Cramer's Take), not an acceleration of the consumer spend on electric gadgets.)

I think the call fails to take into account the prospects that these companies had great fourth quarters and will look historically if not hysterically cheap when they report -- except for AMD, which is Circuit City to Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)'s (Cramer's Take) BBY.

Remember -- and maybe the BAC analyst is forgetting -- National Semi's most recent call was about how the sky wasn't falling despite valuations falling (and TXN had a darned good one, too).

My conclusion: If you want to take a profit, go ahead. To me, there aren't enough profits to take!

Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer was long Goldman Sachs.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-02-2008 @ 10:12AM

MYRON D. WILES said...

CRAMER SHOULD GET A REAL JOB DOING SOMETHING HE KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT

1-02-2008 @ 12:31PM

Gumby said...

Jimmy C just do not understand AMD INSIDE!!! All he understand is profit profit profit.... AMD cant make profit yet because it is still an uphill fight against Intel. It is a matter of taking back the strategic hilltop back from Intel which AMD will succeed before too long. AMD is still doing its homework while Jimmy C is yapping around .... No sir, AMD is not a retailer, AMD is a manufacturer , mind you Jimmy C!!! What is worse... is that the last thing HP, Dell, Lenovo, and even Apple want to have is a sngle source of microprocessors straight from Intel only. If it get any worse, someone will have no choice but to buy AMD and keep it going. My bet is that IBM will buy AMD or HP might. AMD is too critical to the computer industry to be let down the drain!! Yes, it had been a sorry ass story about AMD but at $7 that is insane to be even called a bargain. AMD is not going away anytime in my and your , Jimmy C, lifetime.... Ever!

1-02-2008 @ 2:45PM

Gumby said...

The reason AMD delayed Barcelona 4 core chip is that it want to take it back to drawing board to improve it much further and to give it a MUCH LONGER SHELF LIFE THAN ORIGINALLY. Yes , Intel beat AMD to 4 core chips but as Intel is now busy ramping up that four core chip production and will be stuck with it for the long run. AMD will jump in with a superior 4 core and probably 8 core and 16 core chps based on newer "Barcelona" just fresh out of drawing board next summer and will enjoy better pricing and better able to pay off the debt AMD took with ATI merger. Not only that, AMD will be able to finance the future FUSION chip that will integrate graphic circuitry to chips . Graphics running on core speed will deliver BLINDINGLY FAST GRAPHICS TO USERS!!! It is a challenge to try to fuse graphics into the chips called FUSION!! AMD will succeed and Intel will have to go all over again!!! Jimmy C, do you read me??

1-02-2008 @ 12:53PM

Tom Frasier said...

I've lost faith in Jim Cramer. One reason is because a couple of months ago he was recommending a buy on about 4 different bank stocks because foreigners had their sites on them and would scoop them up. As we know 98% of the bank stocks went down like the Titanic. He also foresaw the Dow ending the year at 14,585. He missed it by about 1000 points. He says in his TV programs a particular stock is good but the "Street" doesn't see it that way and suggest buying it anyway. If the "Street" doesn't think they are good what's going to make the price go up. Admittedly I've made some money on some of his suggestions, but I now pay more attention to what the "Street" is saying and WHY.

1-03-2008 @ 12:31PM

Gumby said...

AMD will win lawsuit against Intel in 2009 or later for monopolistic practices happening here and overseas. Yes consumers are harmed by Intel misdeeds. Sure enough, Intel is downgraded now. Too much uncertainity about Intel as well as AMD and its probable success in its lawsuit against Intel though it looks better now. How much AMD will get from Intel I think will amount at least 20 billion dollar!!

1-02-2008 @ 9:14PM

Jack said...

He might think about getting in to some little start ups like SVSN. It's taken a while for Stereo Vision to get this show on the road, but 3D movies are taking off in a big way. Jack Honour - CEO Stereo Vision.