Updated at 5:46 p.m. EDT on June 26

Apple's (AAPL) upping its stake in U.K.-based Imagination Technologies to 9.5% from 3.6%, according to a statement. Imagination is responsible for some of the graphic and video components of Apple's iPhone. Intel also increased its stake in Imagination recently.

Apple closed up $2.58, or 1.8%, at $142.44 on Friday, while Intel slipped 2 cents to $16.29.

KB Home (KBH) missed earnings expectations in its second quarter but narrowed its loss year-over-year. The homebuilder lost $78.4 million, or $1.03 per share, compared with 72 cents a share expected by analysts. In the same quarter last year, the company lost $255.9 million, or $3.30 per share.

Lennar (LEN), which reported its earnings yesterday, lost $125.2 million, or 76 cents a share, but saw a completed-home sales rise 47% and orders rise 63% in the first quarter.

KB Home lost $1.35, or 9.1%, to close at $13.42 on Friday, while Lennar closed down a penny at $9.18.

Financials were mixed following Commerce Department report that consumers are saving money amid continuing economic concerns. Bank of America (BAC) added 40 cents, or 3.2%, to $12.75; MasterCard (MA) gained $4.63, or 2.8%, to close at $168.91; and Citigroup (C) closed flat for the day at $3.03.

With this in mind, we thought we'd take a look at what Jim Cramer's said about some of the stocks in the news.

These stocks could be in the news for a number of reasons. Some require immediate attention; others may not. Regardless, it never hurts to hear what Cramer (or any professional investors) 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 wrote:

"One week ago today, I asked Helene Meisler to give me a chart of a stock that was dangerous-looking. She came back with Monsanto (MON). I was worried about it, because I knew it was going to report, and I knew it had set expectations low.

"Boom.

"It's down 7 points.

"I point this out not only because I am proud to share this site with her but because this is a market that is still uniquely driven by technicals. I think that Monsanto was "bad" but not that bad, or else Deere (DE) would not be up and the fertilizer stocks would not be attempting to stabilize. It is simply a question that Monsanto took out levels that both hedge-fund and mutual-fund technicians decided would mean that exiting was the only choice. Her colleague Bert Dohmen, who also writes for the site, agreed with Helene, and that gave me the courage to go against my own convictions and bring it to people's attention.

"I have to tell you that this is the single most technically driven market I have ever seen and that if you don't look at the levels or pay attention to the technicians, you can be totally blindsided for the smallest of data points. Witness the fact that Rick "TopGunTrader" Bensignor said that Research In Motion (RIMM) was dangerous at about $80. He didn't say it was not good; he said it was liable to take a real spill. Another guy worth listening to.

"It's not easy being the only guy on earth who believes that house-price stabilization is upon us and that house-price depreciation is in the past. Not easy at all. In fact, the belligerent press I get on it is only exceeded by everything else I say!

"But let's go over the data. The classic signal of a bottom requires two components: gigantic increases in sales and stabilization of price. Those are always the bottom and have been in every single housing cycle. Would it kill the opponents of my thesis to look into that fact?

"Now, the worst four housing markets in the country, California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, have all seen that exact combination, with Nevada being the latest stats that came out yesterday. These four states represent 50% of the housing market. So, we have the definition of the cycle bottom -- not appreciation but stabilization -- in half the market, but more important, the part of the market that caused the housing crisis.

"When I made my prediction a year ago that we would bottom and that house prices would stabilize at the end of this month, I made it clear that I was calling for the classic cycle bottom: drying up of inventory because of a sales explosion coupled with price stabilization, and we are having that happen in the most problematic half of the market.

"We keep getting more confirmatory data why. This morning, Lennar (LEN) reported a really good quarter and commented that cancellations were down 15%. We have seen numbers in the 40s during the freefall. What does this mean? Buyers are finding ways to get credit rather than show remorse. They are using the $8,000 credit and taking advantage of rates that are a full point below last year's rates.

"I do not like the stock of Lennar. For all of the good news, they will not make anything on the houses they are selling because the foreclosed inventory, often in the exact same areas they are building, will keep their prices low.

"That will end only when the foreclosed inventory runs out. Given that the banks no longer have to dump the inventory because they raised so much capital and instead are rationing it, I don't expect any appreciation -- they will simply put more houses for sale as prices continue to stabilize -- which is why I do not expect to see house-price appreciation anytime soon.

"But what I wonder is, why do people think that these stats don't matter? Are they all waiting for Schiller to call a bottom? What do they need to see happen?

"To me, I am a buyer of JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Bank of America (BAC) off this. They will be the big performers. They are the beneficiaries, because they profit from the huge increase in sales. It is a double bonus: a huge increase in sales means an end to sitting on foreclosed property and an end to the charges.

"This trend is the most important trend in the economy today. Of course, if unemployment keeps ticking up and if rates shoot up, then the bottom will be nothing to write home about.
But right now I am the only one writing about this, and it seems wrong. But I will keep doing it because the facts are the story.

"We have some remarkable technicians on this site, I think the best there are. We need 'em. This market's way too treacherous without them.

"Random musings: I know Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) was mostly margin, as was Home Depot (HD), but remember we are looking for signs of stabilization in sales, and we are getting them. Not dropping off a cliff, as I said in the Columnist Conversation, is the beginning of something better."

(Editor's note: At the time of publication and/or original publication of his posts and shows, Cramer owned Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Home Depot for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)