I'm pretty broke but I make sure to catch Mad Money with Jim Cramer everyday (for the most part when some new YSIs arent stealing my attention). is anyone else hooked on this show? is he believable? I first watched because he's absolutly nuts but now I feel like Im really learning.

lets take some posts! booya!

When/Where is it on?

yeah, I probibly should have mentioned that. I am on the east coast and it is on everyday (maybe weekdays only, Im not around weekends usually) at 9pm and 12am on cnbc.

Thanks!

Huge fan...he actually EXPLAINS why he thinks a stock is good...what a shock...

He's fun to watch, too. Once the Olympics are over, he's on at 6 PM Eastern on CNBC live.

For some reason this dude is always on when I'm at the gym, but either I'm not close enough to read the subtitles or they aren't even turned on so I've never been sure what its all about. The look of the guy just makes me think loony-bin.

thats exactly what got me hooked but he is really in depth with his ideas. the show today is all about learning the details most brokers are finding and where to get them and why certian aspects of a spesific company is good. for someone who hasnt bought yet it is extremly informational

I'm studying for my Series 7 now and paying my dues with brokers these days, and Cramer is a common topic. I'm one of the only people I know in the financial business that actually respects the guy. He is an excellent resource for getting brief or detailed information on a company's fundamentals (balance sheets, cash flows, P/E ratio breakdowns, etc) and their future prospects.

Beyond that, the guy is a hype artist. It's not for his own benefit in the market, because the guy has already made his hundreds of millions. It's more for his own vanity and ego, which is obviously what makes the show so entertaining.

The guy has some really well-thought out, inspired ideas for stock picks, but never NEVER go and buy a stock that he recommends the morning after he says so (in fact sometimes his picks make good ideas to short 2 or 3 days later). What tends to happen is that a stock sees a shot upwards for about 3-7% the following day. It opens higher than the day before, so when you get in, you're buying high. Usually this doesn't last past lunch time because everyone who already was in the stock takes their profits and sells while the price is inflated. That's when you get burned and the price drops lower than before the show aired.

So if you really see the potential in an idea he has, watch the stock for the next week or two before buying it. If it's really a good idea, it will still be a good idea in a week after the price balances.

But if I can, I will watch the lightning round to get a cumulative picture of how he feels about the market as whole through his quick evaluations of a lot of stocks. It's better, easier, and more effective to pay attention to sectors rather than a given stock.

i don't know how reliable he is in terms of the investing side of it, but as a professional trader he can certainly be counted on to move a stock. the 2 TVs in our office are always tuned to MSNBC. when kramer comes on a half hour before close we're all ears. if he recommends a stock we immediately try to buy it. conversely, we try to sell short immediately if he dislikes a stock. i assume that our audio feed is delayed a few seconds 'cause inevitably the stock has already begun its move by the time we enter an order. the move generally doesn't last for very long (seconds rather than minutes) and often ends up going back to where it was before he came on the air

my boss hates the guy

I enjoy the show, its entertaining and educational. Its usually all that's worthwhile on at 11pm after colbert except for Letterman.

I've noticed the jump the morning after too, but after ward there's almost always a dip, and then a push back up. However, just to watch how things interact and knowing what to look for make it a good watch. Your right, he does oversell things and is highly optomistic on things he likes but at least he opens up to how he's thinking and WHY he likes or dislikes a stock or a group.

what's the first time during the day that a new episode of his show airs? is it after the market is closed (3P central)?

i was referring to a couple minute segment he does during 'the closing bell' at 2:30

I Want to say it first airs at 7 or 8 and replays at 11. I only catch the 11 (central) airing some nights. I know he does that 3 o'clock thing, but I don't think its the show. I havn't seen it though so for all I know it could be.

I belive he has a show after the market closes but Im usually in class for that. on the east coast his show airs at 9 and 12 and I believe it will be at 6 starting in a week or two.

Jim Cramer is freaking certifiable. Watching that show for more than five minutes is excruciating. He reminds me of the spaz in Grizzly Man, the major difference being that Cramer will never be mauled and eaten by a stock portfolio. I respect his energy and enthusiasm, it's just hard to watch.

It is difficult to watch at times. But I give him credit for owning up when he was wrong on a stock (Dicks Sporting Goods).

He's taking something that's mindnumbingly dull and that most people are uneducated about, and actually makes it not boring. Sure he's over the top (and I do find myself changing the channel at least once a show becuase it is sometimes tough to sit through when he gets a little carried away) but he makes a stocks show watchable.

Cramer is the man.

My friend called in and got through during a Lightning Round back in November, gave a bullshit story on how he was a graduating financial guru who wanted to invest in Nike. Anyway, he yelled at Cramer and gave him a "Mega Money Monday BOOYAH!" and then told Cramer to "give me the facts" on Nike. All in all it was wondeful television.

But yeah, love Cramer. He used to be my avatar on here if some remember. It looked something like this....

Dice, are you licensed or do you just trade online? What are you trading these days? (is that even legal to discuss it online?)

that is legal of course and if anyone else has any expierence trading I would like to get into it. would you suggest not even bothering without a sizable amount of money? how much time do you take to research stocks and how close do you watch them. (a few tiems a day, once a day, a few times a week, so on)

I don't buy stocks but I love the show. I get the feeling that he's really being honest and frank about his advice. Plus it's just fun to watch how passionate he is about his job. Either that or he's just a great actor, but I doubt it.

What's the difference between CNBC and MSNBC? I thought it was on the latter but I could be wrong.

I don't trade, invest in a small eTrade account for now. I hold stocks for 1-8 months using stop-losses to . I have to watch CNBC for 9 hours a day at work while checking stock quotes all the time. But if you want to get into it, checking once a day is fine.

If you're going to buy, check a lot looking for a negative momentum (buy low). Always check how the Dow is doing, if you notice it's starting to rally late in the day after getting crushed in the morning, that's usually a good time to buy. It's all based on supply and demand, the market will tend to sell off and buy up all together.

The best time to sell is the opposite, when you're seeing a sustained positive momentum for a couple days. That's usually the best time to expect a sell-off and drop in prices.

When it comes to research, look at the growth in revenues and income. Look for profitable companies with relatively low P/E ratios compared to other companies in the same sector.

PM me if you'd like a couple companies to consider.

it should be noted that the dow comprises only 30 blue chip stocks - large volume stocks that are leaders in their particular areas. they can be traded as a basket under the ticker 'dia' and are referred to as 'diamonds'. the S&P 100 and 500 consist of 100 and 500 top stocks, respectively and are thus broader indicators of market sentiment. the S&P can also itself be traded under the ticker 'spy' (known as 'spiders')

this is true for investors in established companiesthis has actually proven not to be true. p/e ratio does not have a bearing on future stock performance. in fact, most of the huge growth companies began their run with a high p/e (price to earnings ratio). the people that got rich off these companies invested in many cases before the company had even turned a profit (amazon.com is an example)

to answer your question, i am indeed a certified trader (series 7, which is required for any professional dealing with securities). takes about the same amount of time as a typical college course, maybe a little more, but it's a bitch to prepare for. and if you don't pass the test you have to wait another month before retesting. i've only been trading for a couple of months now, however, and am not yet profitable. in fact, i blew through my initial $5,000 deposit in 6 weeks. i've heard that some of the best traders take the better part of a year to become profitable. i get paid strictly on commission, so that's no paycheck for a while now! some rookie traders get salary + commission, but the commission would obviously be lower. it's a tough time to get started in trading right now since the volatility of the market is so low. hours are great, though (market closes at 3 and i usually get kicked out of the office about 3:30 every day so my boss can catch his train). what i do is entirely computer trading and most guys only trade a few hours a day. in fact, my boss makes the bulk of his money in the first hour and last half hour of the day and spends a lot of time in the videogame room inbetween

in terms of investing, i put all my money into cash at the turn of the new year simply because there are a lot of gloom and doomers out there right now anticipating a crash. i might start position trading with that money in a personal account if and when i am able to make a living in my current job. i tried a little of that before and lost about a third of the money in my account so i'm taking a breather

back to my weekend stock project!

I think we're coming from different worlds, you being in the trading world, and me going into the brokerage world. I was making these recommendations for long term investments with companies the average investor is familiar with. The Dow comment was more a piece on whether there are more buyers or sellers in the market on a given day. Typically I like to buy when the market is selling off so I can get what I want at a discount and vice versa.

Dice, how long and how intense did you study for your 7? Did you pass on your first try? What firm are you working for?

So, I'm probably about to get a 403b plan. Please tell me smart things to do with it. I havn't looked into it fully, but my impression is that the employer will match up to 1 percent of the dollar-cost average of a salary reduction feed-in on my part. So I'm assuming I'd be stupid not to tuck away the match ceiling every pay cycle.

I suppose you'd need to consider the mutal funds and other investing options it offers. But I wonder if the steady 1 for 1 match should encourage me to take greater investment risks with additional savings.

You should try to invest as much as you can afford to, up to the maximum allowed...usually it's along the lines of a 401k, 6-10%, something like that. Because it's a 403b, you may also be able to get into some of the truly no-load funds still out there. Not sure if this one's still open to new investors, but it's been great over the past 20 years or so, with a 5:1 split awhile back.

i'd just recommend using support and resistance levels to pick your spot on when to enter/exit the market. if the market's going up and you wait for a down day to buy then a) you've already missed part of the move and the stock may be heading back down to retrace its gainit's recommended that you study 4 hours a day for about a month

i filled out all my employment paperwork at about the time i got my study materials from my sponsor. once my scheduling "window" (paperwork processing completion) opened a couple weeks of weeks later i tried to schedule my test with the recommended timeframe in mind. since you generally need to register a couple of weeks in advance due to availability, my options were limited and i ended up scheduling for a little sooner than i had hoped for. as my exam date approached i didn't feel comfortable so i decided to push it back. soonest i could get was another 2 weeks out but i accepted that rather than take the chance of failing and having to wait another month to take it. so i ended up studying 5-6 weeks. a few hours a day on the average

got an 84 if i recall correctly. 70 needed to pass. so i felt afterwards that i had maybe spent TOO much time studying. would've been content with a 75 just to give me that little buffer

if you're gonna take it at some point and have any general questions i'd be happy to try and help

oh, and i the place i work at is independently operated but somehow connected to merrill lynch i think

I pledge allegiance to the stock
that Cramer helps us pick.

We love his logic and fresh views
when the analysts make us sick.

We praise Jim for his bravery;
his substance and his style.

The ladies say he's sexy;
and that stops him, makes him smile.

He doesn't need the money;
as the market was good to him.

Which makes us believe him all the more;
when he says that Google's thin.

He calls a dog a dog, while he stands tall;
to help us ride the bulls right down Wall.

We think his show is anything but crazy;
As shown in "break the analyst," that their logic is hazy.

Excited, we shout, "Triple Booyah, Jim";
To speak the truth, when others won't cash in.

What fortunes lie ahead for us?...
...our trusted guide for the Main Street bus?

Mr. UNH, GOOG, and Softy;
Our gains with you can't be capped (as they're too lofty!)

Thank you Jim, for we know you care;
We love your style, we love your hair.

We're mad about you because your passion shows;
as our personal fortune grows and grows!

Since you're in your twenties, try to be fairly aggressive with the funds in your plan. Heavily weight yourself in foreign funds (the overseas markets are growing much faster than the flat American markets) and small cap funds. Hold a lighter weight on the value funds like large cap and bonds. This should change as you get older to more conservative, asset protecting entities like bond and fixed income funds when your assets get larger and you get closer to retirement.

Will China make me fat and rich?

Cramer might be a really smart guy. But he peddles ideas in a really irresponsible, if entertaining way. How soon people forget the TERRIBLE picks he made going into and during the throes of the bear market.

Ben: At a minimum, you should invest 1% of your gross pay in the 403b plan. In that way, you at least take full advantage of the match (which is equivalent to risk-free 100% appreciation). But, as some others have suggested, you should try to invest as much as reasonably possible in the plan, as tax-free compounding is a very valuable thing (though perhaps the most-vital role of the plan is systematic savings...without it, people are far too often inclined to spend instead of save). The only caveat is that if you're saddled with high-interest non-deductible debt, then I'd probably place pay-down of those debts higher on the totem pole than investing in the 403b.

With respect to how you should invest the monies, that depends on your investment objectives and risk tolerance. Given your age (and correspondingly long time horizon) and the low likelihood that you'll be withdrawing the monies anytime soon, I think that you can afford to take on some risk (i.e, short-term volatility) in exchange for potentially outsized returns. Generally, you calibrate this via your asset allocation (stocks vs. bonds vs. cash vs. real estate vs. alternatives). My advice to you is to pay careful attention to the asset allocation, as it usually explains the preponderance of a given portfolio's returns. Also, 403b plans are often administered in a totally cockamamie way, with districts cutting deals with brokerage houses whose 'brokers' end up sticking participants in a raft of middling (if not worse), but very expensive funds that pay them big fat commissions. Don't let them do you that way. Try to find a provider (if there's more than one) that allows you to make the fund choices, offers an array of options, and contains numerous cheap funds.

I can't emphasis the importance of asset allocation and cost enough. If you get these two pieces right, that 98% of the battle.

Depends on how many you eat, I suppose.

beat me to it...grrrr

Okay, thanks for the advice everyone. Assuming y'all enjoy playing this game, I'm probably going to bring my eventual investment options back to the board for further deliberation.

Yeah, do post them to the board.

what is a P/E ratio anyway?

**edit: just read some of dice's post; not sure if i still get it.

For someone reason that dude always looks like he's at a gym.

Price to Earnings (or EPS) ratio.

If you look up a stock quote on yahoo or something you'll see the EPS ratio. That is the yearly revenue over total number of shares available to the public. Since companies have different amount of capitalization (total value in equity) in the market. Then if you take the current price and divide it by the EPS, you get the P/E ratio.

Motorola's P/E ratio is around 12, which is pretty low for as big of a company it is and all the successful new products it rolls out. That's why Cramer is so sweet on it, and that's why he considers it a "cheap stock" at around $22 per share. The problem is that it's not moving anywhere, godammit.

To put it in perspective, yahoo was trading at a P/E ratio of around 800 right before the bubble. And Google right now is around 90-100 depending on the day. But that's a relatively very high P/E for today's standards.

P/E stands for Price/Earnings ratio. It's derived by dividing a stock's price per share by the company's earnings per share (net income divided by shares outstanding). It can be calculated based on past earnings (i.e., trailing 12 months) or on expected earnings (often referred to as 'forward P/E'; the 'E' part is based on Wall Street consensus earnings estimates). P/E is a shorthand way of gauging a stock's valuation as cheap...dear...or somewhere in between. It becomes an even more recognizable measure when you flip it. When you divide earnings per share by a stock's price--a measure referred to as earning's yield--you're essentially calculating how much the company is earning as a percentage of the capital you'd be contributing to the business. In a sense, it's analagous to the yield you'd receive on a bond.

For what it's worth, overreliance on PE is pretty dangerous. It's part of the mosaic...not the whole picture. Why? First, when it comes to comparables, such as the 'motorola looks cheap at x PE when compared to other gearmakers' exercise, everything is relative. Sooooo, when tech or energy or telecom gets really overheated, it'll probably do you little good to pick the cheapest of a really expensive bunch when a correction sets in. You'll still get hurt. Also, the denominator is a slippery thing...accounting principles can be interpreted and earnings finessed in myriad ways. For many investors, cash (which is distinct from accounting 'income') is king, as it's not nearly as prone to manipulation.

I guess I just didn't make myself clear on that P/E ratio comment.

Obviously, it's not the one and only metric you should use in your stock pick. When you decide to invest in a stock, you're not only investing in the stock, you're investing in the market, the sector, and the stock. If the market is getting pounded, odds are good that your precious stock pick will get pounded. Same deal if its neighbors in the sector are getting pounded. That's why it's good to diversify among different sectors, and also different markets like bonds, real estate, and foreign markets.

The way I was looking at Motorola was like this.

- Motorola has the hottest, trendiest phone on the market right now with the razr, and it is keeping the variations and the cutting edge phones coming with other new products.

- Its revenues are growing quickly compared to previous year's earnings (albeit not as fast as Wall Street would like them to be).

- India's market for cell phone users stands to go from approximately 12% to 20% in just the next 4 years.

- Apple sold 14 million iPods this xmas indicating an overall interest in the public's desire for high-tech electronics, particular hand-held ones.

All these growth potential factors considered, and the P/E being around 12, it's easy to love the chances for that stock price to surge in the future. I agree with crease the P/E should never be the defining deal maker for choosing a stock. But it serves as a good red flag when you want to go into a stock when its P/E, and its neighbors in the sector all have high ratios because that indicates that the market has already adjusted for its potential growth.

Alright, friends, it's time to plan my future.

Me:
I'm fresh out of graduate school, 23 years old, and just hired to a fulltime job for a whopping $37,500 per year. I have medical insurance from Blue Cross, dental coverage and a 403b investment plan. My rent is $7,200 per year. I am selling my car.

401c living, baby. It's that fly life.

Anyway, like we discussed earlier, I was thinking my 403b might make good fodder for the stockheads around here.

I've got the form in front of me and here's the vital information.

Provider: Principal Financial Group
Plan: ERISA 404©
Employer Contribution: 400 percent of the first 1 percent of the pay I contribute
Limit: My total salary deferral may not exceed $15,000 in 2006
Investment Options:

Bonds
-Fidelity Adv Intermediate Bond Fund
-Franklin US Government Securities

Domestic Stock
-American Century Equity Income Adv Fund

Balanced/Asset Allocation
-American Funds American Balanced R3 Fund (Capital Research and Mgmt)
-American Funds Investment Company of America R3 Fund (Capital Research and Mgmt)
-American Funds Washington Mutual Investors R3 Fund (Capital Research and Mgmt)
-Fidelity Advisor Equity Income T Fund
-MFS Value A Fund

Large Blend
-MFS Capital Opportunities A Fund
-LargeCap S&P 500 Index Pref Fund (Principal Global Investors)

Large Growth
-American Century Select Adv Fund
-Fidelity Advisor Equity Growth T Fund
-MFS Massachusettes Investors Growth A Fund

Mid Cap Growth
-Franklin Small-Mid Cap Growth T Fund
-Citizens Emerging Growth Fund

Small Value
-American Century Small Cap Value Adv Fund

Small Blend
-Neuberger Berman Genesis Tr Fund

Large Foreign Blend
-Putnam International Capital Opportunities A Fund
-Putnam International Equity A Fund

Wow. That's a long menu. Please help.