Cramer Buy, Sell, Hold Calls For 2008 On His 2007 Picks (GS, MO, HAL, CSCO, AAPL, NYX, BMRN, RAD, LVLT)

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer came out and wanted to give his BUY, SELL, or HOLD recommendations on his Top 9 Picks from 2007 now that we are into 2008.  He already gave some of this commentary in the segments before this, but these were consolidated all at once as a summary for his opinion ahead into 2008.  Here are his recommendations below:

VALUE PICKS:

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)….This is a good stock but in a bad neighborhood. He doesn’t expect much appreciation, at least not immediately or until later in 2008 after the FOMC comes to the rescue of financials.
• Altria (NYSE: MO)… This is his favorite of these ahead of International spin-off.  will get to buy back stock after the legal issue is behind it.  We have this one under screen for our own Special Situation Investing Newsletter.
• Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) should work again but he thinks it is more of a nat-gas play.2.  GROWTH PICKS:

GROWTH PICKS:

• Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)…He’s worn out on it and thinks it may just be a marginal performer. Prefers Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)… He’s sticking with because of that 30% earnings growth and compared it to the New England Patriots; although he doesn’t expect last year’s performance to be a repeat.
• NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX)… Cramer thinks it is having a great quarter and may have a great year.  He thinks you can buy it and hang on for the ride up.  Thinks estimates are too low.

SPECULATIVE PICKS:

• BioMarin (NASDAQ:BMRN) should still work and he thinks numbers are far too low with a great pipeline.
• Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD)… Despite CEO coming on the show and owning up to the problems it is having, he cannot bless RAD until he sees a couple good quarters.  We just noted this as a turnaround that is having trouble turning around.
• Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ:LVLT)… He wants to stick with it now that the CEO is back in charge after a life threatening illness.  This one appears in screens for our own "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter and we just noted how this has fallen enough that it could double this year under the right circumstances.

As Cramer noted that the market is too wishy washy right now, he’s not coming out with any year-end picks nor is he coming out with formal targets.  We did compile a master list of some of the top Cramer calls from 2007 that we felt will still be pertinent into 2008.

Jon C. Ogg
January 2, 2008

Join our free email distribution list that covers some Cramer picks and that shows previews for IPO’s, spin-offs, break-ups, merger-arb, and more.