Investors were timid yesterday after four days of losses and disappointing news from aluminum giant Alcoa (AA). The company reported late on Monday that it lost $1.2 billion during the fourth quarter as demand for aluminum plunged, making aluminum yet another product to suffer in this unstable economy.

Meanwhile, in financial stocks, shares of Citigroup (C), which lost more than $20 billion from October 2007 to October 2008, popped on Tuesday after the bank confirmed that it had agreed to merge its brokerage unit with Morgan Stanley's (MS) wealth management business.

With this in mind, we thought we'd take a look at some of the stocks people have been searching for on TheStreet.com and see what Jim Cramer's had to say about them.

These stocks could be in the news for a number of reasons. Some require immediate attention while others may not. Regardless, it never hurts to hear what Cramer (or any of the other professional investors on the site) has to say about them. The key is to gather as much information as you can in order to make the most informed investment decisions you can.

In a recent post to his RealMoney blog, Cramer had this to say about Caterpillar (CAT):

"They are coming down, more and more, to the right levels. Soon Caterpillar will be under $40, the right level to buy, even if Obama disappoints on infrastructure. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has pulled back, even though a big competitor, Satyam (SAY), has been trashed by scandal. Did you forget that HPQ now owns EDS, which, along with Accenture (ACN), leads all U.S. outsource companies?

"Or how about NYSE Euronext (NYX), which, to me, yielding 5%, with several month market-share gains, could be a fabulous way to play the fact that I simply do not believe there will never be an IPO again.

"Or how about Home Depot (HD), now yielding 4% where I recommended buying it, as a great play for the eventual turn in housing? The dividend is not a problem; the company is making a comeback.

"When the market was flying, every one of these stocks was loved. Now that the market has turned, suddenly we are worried, we are scared, we are frightened. Yet nothing has changed with these companies. They aren't financials looking for TARP. They aren't part of the newfound jihad against bank dividends or companies that are about to go belly-up because they can't find financing.

"This market is a Thomas Paine market. It's all about the summer soldier, the sunshine patriot. It was all great as long as we were going up.

"Now things have turned nasty and everyone hates the same stocks they loved. That's nonsense.

"Don't be swayed by the "negative" action. If you liked these stocks when the market was hot, you should like them even more now that the market is cool.

"But that has not been the way of those who blew in the wind, whether they be scaredy-cat rebels or scaredy-cat bulls."

For more of what Cramer's had to say about Tuesday's top-searched stocks, including Salesforce.com (CRM) and Wells Fargo (WFC), check out the Cramer's Take portfolio on Stockpickr.

(Editor's note: At the time of publication and/or original publication of his posts and shows, Cramer owned Hewlett-Packard, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)

Posted on Jan. 13, 2009

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