He has been in the wrong more than most but this does show value in the last mile.
Go EmbarqT
Guilty of Loving Cable
By James J. Cramer 11/12/2003 10:30 AM EST
I plead guilty to loving cable stocks.
I plead guilty because that pipe into the home is worth so much more to these cable companies than any of the other pipes into the home, including the gas pipe, the electric pipe and the phone pipe.
I plead guilty to liking Comcast (CMCSA:Nasdaq - commentary - research), Charter (CHTR:Nasdaq - commentary - research) and Time Warner (TWX:NYSE - commentary - research) because of that pipe. I plead guilty to buying all of them repeatedly because I think that voice over the Internet makes too much sense not to happen and video on demand makes too much sense not to happen.
One of the reasons I say I "plead guilty" is because obviously, with the exception of Comcast, these companies are poorly run. Heck, you are probably surprised I'm not pleading guilty to liking Cablevision (CVC:NYSE - commentary - research), but I have to draw the line somewhere.
The weird thing is how this market is willing to pay anything for the companies that make devices for a one-time gain that help the cable become all of these great things. People want Cisco (CSCO:Nasdaq - commentary - research) because it makes the Vonage box. People loved Nortel (NT:NYSE - commentary - research) and Lucent (LU:NYSE - commentary - research) because they had something to do with this stuff -- I don't want to be more specific because the companies weren't either!
Yet the only real long-term winners are the cable companies themselves. So I own them. I own the good in Comcast, because it really is an excellent company and could break out here now that it has integrated AT&T's properties, which, by the way, were well on in integration when Comcast bought them.
I own the bad in Time Warner, because what's keeping back this stock is the bad taste in people's mouths from AOL, not the cable, movie or print properties, which actually are doing very well.
At the time of publication, Cramer was long Time Warner, Charter Communications, Comcast and Nextel.
James J. 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. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to jjcletters@thestreet.com. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Click here to buy Cramer's latest book, "You Got Screwed!" Click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict."
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