James 'Lightning Rod' Cramer fights back, sort of, really
By James J. Cramer
2/26/00 3:34 PM ET
"Cramer, however, has been something of a lightning rod, having faced an onslaught of criticism for writing about companies whose stock he trades for his hedge fund." From the Dow Jones news wires yesterday...
Here we go again. Can I tell you something? Do you know that there has never been "an onslaught of criticism" from anyone but journalists regarding my writing about stocks I trade? Do you know that no reader has ever once complained to me about it? That the only complaints I ever hear are from members of the card-carrying fraternity called journalists who despise my ability to write and trade?
After all we've gone through to establish the first credible business brand since Bloomberg -- and the first one that was designed for everybody, not just 60,000 of the world's top traders -- the old line media companies still want the legacy of this company to be my writing about companies that I trade.
How quaint. How totally off-line. How out of touch. I have some news for the ivory-towered big boys. Go to Silicon Investor. Go to Raging Bull. Go to Yahoo!. Go to Motley Fool. You know what you'll find? Millions of People who write and trade. Literally millions. OK, they don't call themselves journalists. They're commentators. So am I. I'm using diary form. They're using chat form. But it's all about the same thing: writing and talking about the stocks we trade.
I keep going through those securities acts written in 1933 and 1934 that regulate our industry, and the theme of those acts is not "no talking and writing about stocks." If that were the case, no brokerage house could be in business. No money manager could ever talk out loud. The theme of those acts is twofold: Disclose ownership and don't commit fraud.
Until this medium, if you wanted to talk about stocks to others you either worked in a brokerage house or you spoke through reporters. Now everybody can talk about stocks. And they do. They love it. I know from our call-ins (you have to watch this weekend's show, there's a great call-in segment). I know from the boards. I know from my interaction with thousands upon thousands of readers.
There is only one group of people that is outraged by this revolution: those editors and reporters at the old-line media companies who have the most to lose if they can't protect their monopoly over the right to write about stocks.
I have bad news for the ink-stained crowd. What makes me a "lightning rod" isn't that I trade and write about stocks. Heck, the people at the Journal were the ones to first propose that I do that when we started Smarter Money! How deliciously ironic! I'm a lightning rod because I believe that we don't need the old world's cloistered rules and closed club to make us money. I'm a lightning rod because I like to strip all the jargon away and reveal the fact that most money professionals aren't any better than their at-home, armchair rivals. I'm a lightning rod because I believe in doing it yourself. And most important, I'm a lightning rod because, unlike these journalists who rant about me, I believe in leveling the playing field so we can all learn, play, enjoy, invest and trade better. So we all can take control of our own finances and be better clients and investors and traders.
As our epitaph got written repeatedly this week by the organizations that are most threatened by what we're succeeding at doing -- creating a new world where you are the client, not the advertiser, and in which we are all working together to try to make more money -- I kept thinking, hmmm, I don't feel dead yet. I always thought I would feel it if it happened.
Nope, not yet. Maybe not ever. Because the concepts of doing it yourself and getting it right, the concepts that were and are our bedrock, aren't going away. They're just getting stronger every day. And that's why we are a lightning rod. And that's why the only epitaph that will be written will be theirs, not ours, and it won't be written by me, but by all of us as we figure out what this new world looks like together.
James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long Yahoo!. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the positions that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to comment on his column at jjcletters@thestreet.com.
thestreet.com
I'm surprised the long term shareholders (if there any left) haven't told you to get the company in the black vs. managing your hedge fund.
Jim, TSCM premium is not for everybody unless the premium sector is free. I don't recall paying for commentary at CBSMarketwatch or Bloomberg. You are clueless sometimes.
There were things like investments clubs, call-in shows like Brinkers, and the good old water cooler lunch crowd.
Hmmmm. I'll take money on this bet.
I don't see Peter Lynch getting lambasted like you Jim. Maybe you should have read one of his books. He beat you by several years on "Beating the Street". TSCM's (co-founded by you) stock is in one long decline and that's why you are getting kicked around.
Not you, just the stock.
Yeah, sure. Remember this?
Internet Capital Group Is Not an Earnings Story
By James J. Cramer
02/24/00 06:33 PM ET
Looking past ICGE's earnings, the trader sees the company as a good buy in after-hours trading.
Yet he does quite frequently. This isn't even April Fools day. "For example, we wouldn't buy pharmaceutical stocks as they could be hostage to the short-term rate rises. But we can buy biotech, because it is much less hostage. Good opportunity to buy these really hard-to-buy four-letter companies that are hot, hot, hot but have gotten some profit-taking off a Greenspan speech. Got to buy them when you can, not when you have to."
from thestreet.com
Of course, Cramer is a little slow on the emerging trend writing about value investing during February.
This is my favorite.
B2B's Still the Place to Be
By James J. Cramer
02/14/00 08:34 AM ET
Plus, the trader plans to take a closer look at biotech.
See biotech run, run biotech run. Only missed it by two months, Jim. How about hiring a decent biotech writer. MSN's Jubak is the closest, but TSCM has to share him with MSN which is free. Maybe add a specialized tech writer that knows something about the optical sector or telecom. No, TSCM has many writers that are just writing same nonsense that is on CNBC. No real hard analysis. I think briefing.com is doing a better job or even Steve Harmon by his lonesome. This why the stock is declining.
Jack |
