Cramer on BloggingStocks: Why you can't own big media stocks

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that Disney and The New York Times still have big trouble, and its name is still Google.

No price is holding for media stocks again. Even though Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) (Cramer's Take) has some fabulous properties, properties that are doing well, even though it has a great growing business in telco-cable and, I believe, some momentum at AOL, this stock can't get out of its own way. This is after a monster buyback and tons of restructurings, including the exit of the music division that now looks brilliant.

Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) (Cramer's Take) is little better, even with, again, a huge buyback. This despite the fact that the anti-cable people look like they are losing the FCC battle.

Then there is big-media entertainment. Disney (NYSE: DIS)'s (Cramer's Take) pennies from a 52-week low despite having great numbers. CBS (NYSE: CBS) (Cramer's Take) did an OK quarter, not great, but it is still the most watched network and it is also right off the 52-week low. These are good companies by all admission.

Finally, there is the ultimate casualty: newspaper stocks. The big print that went up, the give-up, by Morgan Stanley, of The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) (Cramer's Take), has failed to hold. You are now down more than a dollar if you participated in that block. That 5.34% yield and the assets that are clearly worth more than the stock is trading for (not to the amount of money the company spent unwisely buying in stock at much higher levels).

McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) (Cramer's Take) was once the cream of the crop, a great California growth story. But that market is a shambles now, and the spending spree has almost destroyed the company.

It might not even matter, though, because the very conservative Gannett (NYSE: GCI) (Cramer's Take) is also bouncing along the lows.

These are all ad-supported plays. That alone means that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s (Cramer's Take) stealing business from them. But these companies also relied a great deal on real estate and auto ads, and both are being pared back dramatically.

I have no solace for holders of these properties. They are going to be tax-loss candidates for the next month. But they are, in my view, uninvestible given the trends, with the exception of Disney, which is far less ad-driven than people realize.

Just the worst group save, of course, the banks!

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 had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this post.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-27-2007 @ 2:44PM

S.G.S said...

Under The - Fair Lending Laws and Regulations

Section 202.5(a) of Regulation B

Example: A lending officer told a customer, "We do not like to
make home mortgages to Native Americans, but the law says we
cannot discriminate and we have to comply with the law." This
statement violated the FHAct’s prohibition on statements expressing
a discriminatory preference as well as Section 202.5(a) of Regulation
B, which prohibits discouraging applicants on a prohibited basis.

We bought a house - Through a For-Sale By-Owner - WE paid thousands
at 580 a month "have Copy Of Payments" - WE also took this house and
did tons of work on it ...

Then came Countrywides - Lady the delivers the forclosure for Countrywide
- I told her we have a contract to buy the house - SHE STATED - THE MEXICANS
THOUGHT THEY OWNED THERE HOUSE TOO ...

Instead of saying They will work it out with you since you been paying all
this time - and worked and fixed up the house - removed the deadly mold - cleaned
out the dog crap and worked too fix the holes in the house - She made the
remark - you own nothing your just like the mexicans...

Not only that - When trying to work it out with countrywide - A Guy named Mike
- stated we can loan you 50,000 - and you can take the 20,000 over whats owed still
- and move back to mexico - another violation of the Fair Lending Laws and Regulations
Section 202.5(a) of Regulation B...

We paid the for-sale by owner 580 a month - he paid Countrywide 320 a month - and
still owed 24,000 - Now Countrywide wants 34,000 on said mortgage...

So how many Laws does Countrywide get to Violate...

11-30-2007 @ 7:24PM

Tom said...

Did the new owners not have a contract with the seller? If so was it not recorded at the county court house? We all need to start acting like humans insead of animals. Greed is going to ruin America and the sad part is,Greed in our Gov. office runs rampant from the President down to the trustees