JANUARY STOCK TALK PART II

Gunners,

They have a good product, there is nothing on the market like it. Research the device and you will be intrigued like many of us here are.

This month should be good for the stock since they have a few events which are noteworthy.

CFC gets a buy DOWN..how funny. I imagine BAC wouldnt cough up more because they already invested a ton of cash in the first place.

JNPR down 4 bucks, but not at 14 where I said to buy before, so not cheap enough yet.

Financials doing quite well, C very quickly is 2.50 off the lows from a few days ago..

 What does anyone think of Marty Weiss...here is his latest comment on things.

I just got back from an appearance on CNBC about Countrywide Financial and wanted to give you a quick update on what's happening.

Bank of America has just announced it's going to buy Countrywide for about $4 billion in stock, and B of A thinks it's a bargain.

I disagree. Bank of America is diving into the world's biggest mortgage cesspool — tens of billions in loans that are quickly turning sour.

So unless the plan is to stiff taxpayers with Countrywide's sinking mortgages and other bad assets, this deal could cost Bank of America a heck of a lot more than $4 billion.

The big picture: The value of $13 trillion in U.S. mortgages is sinking at an alarming pace, faster than anyone believed possible. This means that asset values, book values, and earnings estimates based on mortgages are being widely — and wildly — overstated.

That's why Merrill Lynch has suddenly discovered a flood of mortgage losses on its books, and that's why it has just announced write-downs of $15 billion, nearly double its earlier estimates.

That's why Fed Chairman Bernanke has just warned the world about many of the economic troubles we've been warning you about for months.

BofA bought CFC to save face on the $18/share investment they made back in sept

why couldnt they wait until Ch 11 and pick through the carcass?

Think of it this way..

The execs at BAC already sunk in a ton of dough and if CFC goes under, shouldnt they lose their jobs for a stupid investment that turned to zero?

They are getting CFC at a steep discount to the price they paid back in september..and if they can take over the lender/bank it could be smarter since they are paying stock (not paying any additional cash) and could spread the "bad" debt over the asset base of BAC..on a percentage of debt and cash, this purchase adds 20% more debt and if the market ever improves for mortgages, they could make out like bandits.

It might not be such a bad thing looking at the buyout on a larger scale..

wall - there is so much liability buying a piece of shit like CFC...for $4b Mozillo probably couldnt wait to sell

Yeah but the 3B put in on the company goes to ZIPPO and I guess they felt paying 4B in STOCK was better than losing 3B in cash for worthless preferred shares.

I dont think it is a bad deal for BAC to be honest..the CFC shareholder got screwed though.

This is the House of Pain.

common shareholder always gets screwed...mozillo may get 115m after this deal is done

fwiw - i bought RJA yesterday 11.04

a very long term (years) play on inflation in food

its a commodity note (not an etf of companies)

some sort of crop report came out today and spiked this thing...take a look at it if you are looking for an inflation hedge

Tight range for a 52 week chart. I agree that many ag stocks have done very well, Monsanto is almost a triple this year, on its high today.

Solars look ready to go up..holding in very well on this down day, might be worth a spec trade.

Isn't BAC ina better position buying CFC rather than watching it go into bankruptcy?? I did not read the terms of their previous cash infusion: did it give them first in line status should the company go under?

 By the way, I know what evreryone thinks of Cramer but can't resist !!! (LOL)

Stick with agriculture and recession stocks, Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment Friday.

"Mosaic (MOS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) is terrific. ... I think Agrium (AGU - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) is a catch-up ... to Mosaic," Cramer said. "You're going to do better with that than ... betting against Procter (PG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating)."

More broadly, Cramer believes the market is frantic as shorts try to cover their bets on the bond insurers. "Today's a big short-squeeze day. 'Let's short squeeze Ambac (ABK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) and MBIA (MBI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating).'"

In the financial sector, Cramer expects more take-unders like Bank of America's (BAC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) purchase of Countrywide (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). He foresees Washington Mutual (WM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) on the auction block, adding that CEO "Kerry Killinger is doing his best to do a bad job. ... Washington Mutual at $15 is like Countrywide at $8."

 And from the Motley Fool fellows....

Scary because they're so cheap
The other group of companies to avoid are the companies that look cheap right now but actually aren't -- companies with significant exposure to the housing bust and credit crunch.

The housing bust is likely to continue in 2008, as tightening credit slows economic growth and hinders access to mortgages. Even companies such as MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM), which seemed indomitable a year ago, look extremely, um, domitable now.

In other words, now is not the time to go bottom-fishing among the weaker homebuilders, lenders, and bond insurers ... even if some of these stocks look really, really cheap. Liquidity and balance sheet strength are critical when it comes to surviving the current environment, and companies that don't have it are likely to fail or require new capital at onerous terms, diluting existing shareholders.

Yes, this crisis will offer opportunities. But investors should do well waiting for more transparency and focusing on businesses that can survive for several years without new capital infusions.