More earnings-related bloodshed.

Wachovia (WB) reported an $8.86 billion loss for the second quarter. As a result, the fourth-largest bank in the nation is slashing its dividend and eliminating nearly 11,000 jobs after losses tied to mortgages soared.

Amidst its pummeled stock report, Wachovia announced plans to leave the wholesale mortgage lending business. By the end of week, the company will no longer offer mortgages through brokers. This move mirrors those of other lenders exiting the troubled sector.

We also had weak earnings reports from Apple (AAPL), Texas Instruments (TXN) and American Express (AXP) -- almost a reversal from last week's better-than-expected earnings reports. So it goes in this choppy market.

On a positive note for investors, encouragement came in the form of a $3 drop in oil prices.

So how do we interpret all of this?

With that in mind, we thought we'd take a look at Tuesday's most-searched stocks on TheStreet.com and see what Jim Cramer's had to say about them recently.

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 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.

Foundry Networks (FDRY), Sandisk (SNDK) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) moved big on Tuesday, but we thought we'd kick it off with Transocean (RIG).

Cramer thinks the rigs could be your best energy-trade platform, as he points out in a recent post to his RealMoney blog:

"Now that the smoke has cleared on the oil and gas stocks and they are viewed as having some upside at last, it is time to consider what happened during the big selloff.

First, the cost of renting a rig went up. That's right, it went up. You probably didn't even notice it, but the Brazilians, which had shunned deepwater drilling that needs Transocean rigs, came back in and came back in big. The analysts weren't oblivious, they talked about how RIG will have too much cash and will have to find creative ways to return it to shareholders. Meanwhile, you saw the article about Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) drilling deep, again something that, if it hit, would need more Transocean drilling platforms.

You also got a monster quarter from Lufkin (LUFK), something nobody seemed to care about, even as this largely oilfield pumping unit company is really an important part of the deepwater drilling complex.

Finally if there is so much drilling to be done and so few rigs, you can bet that National Oilwell Varco (NOV) is going to outperform, and there were a number of number-bumps in that name during the selloff.

Again, none of this mattered during the free-fall period.

It will matter during this selling respite.

The only concern I have about this group in the near term is that there are a lot of people buying the stocks off of tropical storm opportunities. That's just an awful group of shareholders, so be aware of that cohort of potential sellers."

For more of Cramer's opinions on Tuesday's top-searched stocks, check out the Cramer's Take on Top 10 Most-Searched Stocks portfolio at Stockpickr.com.


A note from James Altucher:

Every weekend I send an email to Jim Cramer and several hedge fund managers about the most interesting portfolios posted on Stockpickr that week. Usually those portfolios not only list stocks according to a theme but also offer significant analysis as to why the stocks are cheap.

Here are some examples:

Stocks related to drilling the Marcellus Shale

MLPS with yields above 7%

Microcaps trading for less than tangible book

Stocks that do well after Hurricanes

Here's the challenge: Build a portfolio at Stockpickr.com with great analysis, and send me the link. Each great portfolio (with analysis) will get posted on TheStreet.com with your byline (as a "Stockpickr Guest Columnist") and will be included in my email I send to Jim and the other
hedge fund managers on my list.


Posted July 22, 2008