Monday Morning Musings

Morning News of Note:

• GM DPHIQ: GM Views a Delphi Strike Cautiously General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said he doesn't anticipate a "long-term" strike at top supplier Delphi Corp., but he warned of "huge ramifications" for the auto maker if that occurred. Speaking yesterday during an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," Mr. Wagoner said GM is stockpiling some parts as a precaution but doesn't think that would be a solution if there is a longtime strike at Delphi, its former parts unit and largest single parts supplier (Full Story) WSJ
• DIS: Disney Will Offer Many TV Shows Free on the Web Walt Disney Co. plans to make much of its newest and most popular programming on ABC and other channels available free anytime on the Web, in a move that could speed the transformation of television viewing habits and help revive the struggling TV advertising business. On April 30, ABC will unveil a revamped Web site that will include a "theater" where people with broadband connections can watch free episodes of "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" and other hit shows on their computers. (Full Story) WSJ
• GS: Minting Money THE REMARKABLE THING ABOUT GOLDMAN SACHS Chief Executive Henry Paulson is not that he made $38 million last year, the most of any Wall Street chief. It's that he might have been underpaid. Churlish as that sounds, consider Goldman's achievements on his watch, which began in mid-1998, a year before the storied investment firm came public. (Full Story) BARRONS
• MOT: Motorola has announced at the 2006 National Show in Atlanta, Ga. that the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) has placed an order for all-digital, high-definition (HD) and digital video recording (DVR)-capable Motorola set-tops, in the consortium's first-ever volume set-top purchase. The NCTC members are jointly making this purchase in a move to speed the delivery of digital services to the connected homes of the over 8 million subscribers they service nationwide. Financial terms were not disclosed.
• Mad Money Summary: Cramer opened his show on Friday discussing a stock that is "ready to bloom," 1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS). He says the company has a smart business model and unlike Amazon.com (AMZN), the company makes massive amounts of money online. Then Cramer discussed Cryptologic (CRYP), which makes Internet security software which is used by Internet gaming companies like Party Gaming and Sportingbet.com. He said Cryptologic is a good play for online gambling because "its all about financial transactions." Cramer then discussed Chattem (CHTT), a "dull" which makes consumer products like Icy Hot and Aspercreme. He believes Chattem is priced better than Proctor & Gamble (PG). He also believes Chattem may get some of Pfizer's (PFE) consumer lines, which are currently for sale. Cramer invited the CEO of Perficient (PRFT) onto the show, who explained what the company does. The CEO, John McDonald, said Perficient is "the fastest growing e-business consulting company," and Cramer said it sounded good, but he would do some more homework before investing. In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Investors Bancorp (ISBC), Palm (PALM), Transocean (RIG), Tenaris (TS), Nabors (NBR), GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOL), Weight Watcher's International (WTW), Cisco (CSCO), IndyMac Bancorp (NDE), Caterpillar (CAT) and Sotheby's Holdings (BID), and was bearish on Eagle Materials (EXP), Rambus (RMBS), Research In Motion (RIMM), Weatherford International (WFT), OMI (OMM), Flextronics International (FLEX), Solectron (SLR), FoxHollow Technologies (FOXH) and Time Warner (TWX).

Market Comments: The market is getting a little bounce in the first hour of trading, but we'll have to see if the strength can last. As I mentioned last week, Friday's action was pretty bearish, so I want to be cautious right here.

Oil is trading higher again this morning ($68), while bond yields are flat near 4.96%. Trading will also be lighter as the week progresses due to the Passover and Easter holidays. The market is closed on Good Friday.

Brokers are strong again this morning. This group really epitomizes the energizer bunny. And semis are weak.

For some reason, my sentiment comments didn't post on Sunday, so I will redo them today.

long GS