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Never Forget Jim Cramer's Call on 2/29/2000

September 25, 2010 – Comments (3)

Never forget this former GS POS call. Market Ticker has the post here:

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=167407

Just remember this call from Cramer on 2/29/2000, about a month before it all blew up:

"OK. Here goes. Write them down -- no handouts here!: 724 Solutions (SVNX), Ariba (ARBA_), Digital Island (ISLD), Exodus (EXDS), InfoSpace.com (INSP_), Inktomi (INKT), Mercury Interactive (MERQ), Sonera (SNRA), VeriSign (VRSN_) and Veritas Software (VRTS_)."

Let's look:

SVNX: Gone

ARBA: Roughly $1,000/share then, now $18.81 (split-adjusted)

ISLD: Gone

EXDS: Gone

INSP: Hit a split-adjusted high over $1300.  Now $8.25

INKT: Gone

MERQ: Traded at about $100 at the time, now gone.

SNRA: Gone VRSN: Traded $258 at the time, now $31.88

VRTS: Symbol re-issued, no longer around (acquired, but at nowhere near the "buy" price)

Now go back and look at the charts of all those stocks in the list above in the time frame leading to those recommendations. 

Pay particular attention to the price action upward and when they were recommended, along with what happened to you if you listened to such a recommendation and actually bought the stock.

For all intents and purposes if you bought the above list as your retirement portfolio you lost all of your money.

Folks, this pattern is so ridiculous and outrageous that I'm stunned it continues to work - at all.  But it does.  Whether it's Apple, Netflix, Priceline, Salesforce or dozens of others, every time we come out of a recession or even a mid-cycle slowdown these recommendations are always made after the ramp has already happened and those who bought the stock way, way down there need someone to unload to.

That someone will be you, if you listen to these recommendations.