Cramer's 'Mad Money Lightning Round': Hallelujah for Hewlett-Packard

The minerals and mining sector is in a long-term bull market that's en fuego. The way to play it is with Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) , Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday. Cramer considers mining stocks among the best to hold because of the huge global demand for raw materials. In addition, he said investors can benefit from the great deal of consolidation occurring in the sector. "Where there are takeovers, there are stocks that usually go much, much higher," Cramer said. His favorite play in the industry is Freeport-McMoRan, which he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS. This company is just "fabulous," Cramer said, and it has nothing to do with the U.S. economy. He said the demand for copper seems to be increasing while supply is decreasing, and Freeport-McMoRan should profit as a leading copper mining company. He also said it has "an unbelievably great" buyback going. Where consolidation is concerned, Cramer said he doesn't want to see a takeover here, because he believes Freeport-McMoRan has so much upside on its own. It is a stock people should consider, he said.

Going With Hudson City Bancorp

If his thesis is right and the Federal Reserve starts slicing and dicing rates, people should consider owning a bank, Cramer said. However, because every bank will profit if the Fed cuts, he said he's more concerned with recommending the bank with the least downside risk in case there isn't a rate cut. That bank, Cramer said, is Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) . This is the one he feels safe about recommending. The company's CEO is concerned with only two things: depositors and shareholders, Cramer said. Hudson City Bancorp "has an amazing model," he said. "It takes deposits; it lends to good, hard-working people who then pay the loans back." It stays away from subprime, Cramer said. In fact, the bank holds fewer nonperforming loans than the rest of the banks -- even Wells Fargo (WFC) . They do a thorough job of lending to people that they're sure will be able to pay their loans back, he said. Plus, it doesn't nickel-and-dime its customers by charging them exorbitant fees for things like overdrafts. They're more concerned with the bigger picture, Cramer said. If the Fed cuts next week by half a point, the banks should go up, but if it doesn't cut Hudson City has the least to lose, he said. It's the bank people should consider owning.

A Well-Positioned REIT

Federal Realty Investment Trust's (FRT) Donald Wood joined Cramer on the show, and the chief executive discussed the investment strategy behind his company's portfolios. It's easy to say consumer spending is going to be bad for the shopping center real estate market, but this is not the case for certain strong areas in the country, Wood said. The company, said Wood, made the decision a long time ago to select areas where there is money to spend and there are a lot of people. "We leave other parts of the country alone," he said. "There is no hedge, in my view, in real estate like great locations." The trust's business model, Wood continued, is about consistent sustainable growth in good times and bad. Cramer said he's sticking with FRT and suggested others do the same.

Am I Diversified?

During the "Am I Diversified?" segment, Cramer's first player called out these five names: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) , Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) , General Maritime (GMR) , Corning (GLW) and EMC (EMC) , the latter two of which Cramer owns for his charitable trust. "Yes, you are diversified and I am digging your portfolio, other than MDRX," Cramer told the viewer. The second caller asked if he was diversified with these five holdings: Hasbro (HAS) , VMware (VMW) , Citigroup (C) , Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and McDonald's (MCD) , the latter three of which Cramer owns for Action Alerts PLUS. Cramer suggested the caller swap out of VMware and get into a defense contractor like Raytheon (RTN) , another stock he owns. The next caller said he owns these five stocks: Raytheon, CVRD (RIO) , Unilver (UN) , Hewlett-Packard and Schlumberger (SLB) . Cramer blessed the portfolio as diversified. The final player called out the following five plays: BankUnited (BKUNA) , Ford (F) , Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) , Circuit City (CC) and Micron Technology (MU) . Cramer said that although the caller is diversified, he doesn't think the portfolio is that great.

Sudden Death

During the "Sudden Death" round, Cramer was bullish on Wolverine World Wide (WWW) , Nike (NKE) , Vimpel-Communications (VIP) , Freeport-McMoran and Shaw Group (SGR) .

Lightning Round

Cramer was bullish on CVS Caremark (CVS) , Hewlett-Packard, Monster Worldwide (MNST) , St. Jude Medical (STJ) , Freeport-McMoran (FCX) , Transocean (RIG) , Schlumberger (SLB) and Raytheon. Cramer was bearish on Sysco (SYY) , Boston Scientific (BSX) , Titanium Metals (TIE) and Taser (TASR) .


SOURCE: thestreet.com

One Laptop Per Child Orders Surge As Negroponte Claims Momentum Growing

The One
Laptop
Per Child





Foundation has just secured an order for 260,000 of the low cost machines from the government of Peru. Despite a lower than expected take up from foreign governments, Nicholas Negroponte claims that this latest success could mean the momentum will now build.

Negroponte is the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) professor who set up the foundation in 2005 to provide affordable laptops to schoolchildren around the world. In an interview on Friday, he revealed news of the Peru order, as well as saying that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim had purchased 50,000 of the machines for distribution in his country.
The not for profit organisation wants to eventually offer laptops for $100 or less, with the current price $188. The idea behind the whole project is to convince governments of developing countries to buy the machines, and distribute them to poor schoolchildren to enable them to have access to technology normally unavailable due to costs.

Just last week, the education minister of Nigeria, Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachuku claimed that the project was senseless until the basic facilities such as seats and uniforms were put in place.
There has also been intense competition to the idea of an affordable for all laptop from the commercial sector in the form of Microsoft and Intel.

Due to the lack of uptake of the original plan, OLPC introduced the Give One, Get One program, with participants buying two of the laptops for $400: one for themselves; and one for a child in the developing country.

According to The Boston Globe, Robert Fadel, the OLPC Foundation’s director of finance and operations, claims that since the Give One Get One program began on November 12th, the foundation has received about $2 million in orders every day. That equated to 190,000 laptops in total, with at least 95,000 of those going to kids in developing countries.

I hope the OLPC’s mission succeeds, as there’s no doubt it’s a great aim to enable children in less well off countries to be able to have access to this technology that we all take for granted.

Source: tech.blorge.com