The bank runs just under 100 branches in Montana, Washington, Wyoming and Utah, all of which enjoy some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Their population rates are increasing faster than the national average, too, providing Glacier with some innate, organic growth. Besides being a great candidate for the FDIC’s asset sales, Glacier is always willing to do some acquisitions of its own, most notably Wyoming’s First Co. The company also pays a 52-cent annual dividend, which works out to about a 4% dividend yield. Best of all, though, Wall Street has all but ignored this stock, giving investors the chance to get in on one of the market’s best-kept secrets.

This Akron, Ohio, bank, the state’s fourth largest, holds $11.1 billion in deposits across 160 branches. Aside of the previously mentioned facts and figures, why does Cramer like it so much? Sure, there’s great management and a dividend that pays you to wait for the economy’s turn, but it’s FirstMerit’s weak competition that makes the stock so enticing. PNC Financial, KeyCorp, Huntington Bancshares and Fifth Third all have problems for one reason or another. That puts FMER in perfect position to snatch up market share.

Lockport, N.Y.-based First Niagara Financial Group knows how to take advantage of a good deal. The bank bought $4.2 billion in deposits and $839 million in solid loans for just $54 million when antitrust officials forced PNC to sell when it was acquiring National City. The deal, which grew FNFG’s deposits 70% and its branches 50%, is expected to increase 2010 earnings by 20 cents a share. First Niagara is expanding into Eastern Pennsylvania through its purchase of Harleysville National, giving it almost 4% of the state’s banking business. This company’s acquisitions will bring down its tangible common equity ratio a bit lower than Cramer would like – to 5% from 9% – but he likes the 7% dividend yield. That’s a nice payout for investors until another great deal comes along.

Run by one of the most experienced East Coast bankers, Cramer says, Connecticut’s NewAlliance is anything but a subprime lender. Thank Peyton Patterson’s conservative lending practices for that. Cramer expects the CEO’s superior leadership to grow his 89 branches in its home state and Massachusetts, as competitors buckle under the region’s growing number of defaulted mortgages. And the huge amount of cash on hand offers two benefits: The FDIC likes that when it’s looking for troubled-bank buyers, and it makes NewAlliance a very attractive acquisition for bigger financials. Either way, shareholders win.

Like NewAlliance, People’s United Financial operates out of Connecticut, and these two banks will share the spoils of the FDIC’s bad-bank auctions. People’s holds $20 billion in assets, or loans, $14 billion in deposits, and it’s among the top five in market share in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont. Some of the company’s 300 branches are located in Maine, Massachusetts and Westchester County, New York, as well. And management plans to double or triple its assets over the next two to five years. There is a “problem,” though. People’s United just has too much money on its hands, as seen in that 19.5% tangible-capital-to-assets ratio. No wonder this bank scoffed at the government’s TARP money. The company’s been putting some of that money to work, last year buying Chittenden, Vermont’s largest full-service bank, at a discount. There are plans to buy a Northeast commercial bank as well, and, of course, People’s is ready to take on whatever the FDIC has to offer. Soon enough, this midsized regional bank, Cramer says, could be a regional banking titan.