Do you think this week will finally end the oil inventory nonsense? Do you think this week could be the breakout where oil doesn't trade on the slight build or the "heavier than expected" chatter?
I sure hope so.
Yesterday was a horrible market, but midday, when the market was really beginning to roll over, the whole complex turned. This was quite an achievement given the overwhelming collapse of the futures and the propensity of the bears to push things down.
Today with the futures breaching $140 -- remember, I think they're on the way to $150 -- we can see the error of relying on these numbers, which I have said for years now are meaningless. Witness how many times the inventories have been more full than expected and yet oil has doubled.
I want to go back to the cheaper-than-oil stocks, though. Natural gas. Oil has to go down $65 to get to where natural gas is right now. Meaning that historically oil trades at six times the price of natural gas. So natural gas -- forget the season, which is supposed to be bad for nat gas -- needs to come higher.
Much higher.
We have lots of natural gas, more than can be stored; those inventories are particularly meaningless and can vanish with a couple of days of warm weather. We have abundant finds all over the country that were worthless pre-horizontal drilling, so the numbers for these companies are way too low. So are most of the pipeline companies -- did you see Williams' (NYSE: WMB) (Cramer's Take) numbers yesterday?
That makes the Devons (NYSE: DVN) (Cramer's Take) and the Southwesterns (NYSE: SWN) (Cramer's Take) -- WAY OFF THEIR HIGHS -- the best bargains in a market where almost no company can be assured to beat estimates. And I think that, like WMB, they will beat estimates handily.
Money has to go somewhere. Most mutual funds can't sit on cash. The complex is a growing part of the S&P, and this is the cheapest part of the complex.
I would use more futures weakness this morning to buy these stocks for the biggest snapback of all the players out there.
All week I have been featuring oil service companies that reduce the risk of offshore drilling. I think we should be buying those, too. The "Mad Money" recap on our site has all you need to know about where to go. Check it out.
The bargains in this market are not Citi (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take), Fannie (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take), Merrill (NYSE: MER) (Cramer's Take) and GM (NYSE: GM) (Cramer's Take).
They're these stocks, because bargains are defined as companies that beat estimates but which are trading as if they aren't going to.
That's the natural gas complex.
That's the only place worth owning besides gold in this miserable market.
Random musings: You want the truth about oil speculation from a real expert? Dan Dicker has a column today that will knock your socks off.
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 Devon and Southwestern.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-27-2008 @ 6:46PM
michael murphy voorhees nj said...
hey cramer" bull ya" why you were telling every one to buy 6months ago, now what ? dow9000 tell the truth for once sell sell sell this market will not come back for years and oil will be 200 dollars a barrel and thats the not the real bad news pal with inflation here at 9 to 10% the fed will have to raise intrest rates moving housing market down more sell sell sell home depot" the stock market is the biggest casino in the world i was former broker lets be real lmao
6-27-2008 @ 7:06PM
c-mike said...
...sounds to me like voorhees lost his a$$ as well, else why the "former broker" reference..lmaooh
bwahaha
6-27-2008 @ 10:14PM
BIGBOY said...
"BULL YA,from GA. I want to thank you for having the CEO of US STEEL on one of your programs. I bought some stock. every timethe stock would go up $ 20 I would sell. Than I waited for a $20 than buy more with my profits. I have increased my stocks
6-27-2008 @ 10:28PM
BIGBOY said...
I'm glade I sold HomeDopot and Lowes when they were high
6-28-2008 @ 11:06AM
Michael Schneider said...
While nat gas has a lot going for it, I would not put that much on the historic relationship in price between nat gas and oil-- there have been historic changes in these markets so why count on a historic relationship that may no longer be applicable?
6-28-2008 @ 11:37AM
Ronald Kangas said...
Now is the time start to buy stocks. Buy shares in good companies that have been beaten down severly but are still good companies. After you buy the companies may still go down further so think long term and don't buy so much that all your money is spent at one time and on one stock. Think multiple buys on multiple stocks to spread your risk. Open a brokerage account with an online broker to cut your commision like Ameritrade or Scottrade.
6-30-2008 @ 3:15AM
gumbo koontz said...
Jim
I am busy telling readers not to leave their home thermostats automatically on. It will balloon their utility bills. We got to control our thermostats manually by walking to thermostats to turn them on and off.
Jim
You dont see the connection between falling home prices and thermostats left on automatically...
Soon enough we will have remote control for our thermostats!! ON OFF ON OFFFFFFF On OFFFFFFF on offffffffffffffffffffffffff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6-30-2008 @ 3:19AM
gumbo koontz said...
Jim
You invest in any stock like a stupid goat!!
If it is way too expensive for consumers, I tell everyone not to buy those products until they lower prices ...
You are not doing anything to fix economy. you are just talking about where to make money on people gone bonkers on foreclosures!!!
This is not how we should invest our dollars or they will come around to bite us... You know better than to talk like a cheap polyster suit!!
6-30-2008 @ 5:12PM
ed said...
I have $25,000 ro invest and I believe its the right time. Where is the besr investment for this time based on a 2 year period.
dickerso@aol.com