not a big Cramer fan but the fact that he pointed out the tired old Fred Hickey interview made me laugh
Here's a shocker: If the average company were to miss its estimates by 20%, it would go down.
That's the genuine homespun wisdom I get from reading the Barron's article on Google (GOOG:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take). First, understand that this article reminded me of all tabloids: Come up with something totally stunning on the cover and then find it having the same hashed-over nonsense, of a resurgent Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) on the Web, click fraud, prices for search too high, Justice Department.
Then there's the sourcing for the piece: Fred Hickey, editor of the "well-regarded High-Tech Strategist." Hickey gets quoted on most anti-tech articles. He is central casting for anti-tech, and the idea that his stuff is "well-regarded" by anyone other than whoever needs a dial-up hatchet job is pretty preposterous.
There's the "returning to earth" component of the article, which, of course, attacks the "multiple" without any of the sense of how a company gets its multiple, which is the collective judgment of managers who must pick stocks, period, end of story.
Finally, there's the knowledge that any miss could hurt Google. Holy cow, stop trading!
I have to tell you that if this were the old days and I was back at my hedge fund, I would wait until 11 a.m. EST and start buying Google calls, deeps, hand over fist, a new tranche every hour.
These days, though, I just laugh.
Gotta sell those papers.
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