Cramer Goes From Buy To Bye Bye On BP, Loses Fans 33% In Two Weeks

by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
ZeroHedge
Jun. 10, 2010

Every time I see this clown on TV he is giving the wrong advice and saying the literal opposite of the truth. Chances are you could build up a nice war chest if you just took his advice and did the opposite.Another day for Cramer, another loss for his viewers. After telling his fans to Buy BP on May 21, Cramer, "mesmerized" by its fall, pulls the plug. The cost to those who followed his advice: -33%.

This out from the Mad Money master earlier.

Mesmerized by the Fall of BP By Jim Cramer RealMoney Columnist 6/9/2010 6:56 PM EDT

You can't have one of the largest companies in the world disappear overnight and believe it won't affect other companies or the market's psyche. As Doug Kass said late tonight, this was BP's (BP) last hour, with ETF shenanigans thrown in.

At one point today, between $32 and $29, I remarked to a friend that I had never seen a stock unravel in front of my eyes like this one did, with huge value disappearing. Just amazing. Just disappearing.

It was frightening.

Also, it is clear that if you make the company's liability unlimited, it might never want to drill again. Who can risk this? Who can risk having a company taken away from its shareholders, as if it were expropriated even when you believe it deserves it?

Lots of people are debating right now whether any company in the Gulf of Mexico can finish a project, or even stay in the Gulf. They believe this is Three Mile Island for offshore drilling. My colleague Matt Horween reminds me that the risk-reward has now gotten astronomical for those who drill or already have wells in the Gulf.

Watching BP fall and watching Anadarko Petroleum (APC) collapse after actually being up at one point -- talk about misdirection -- was horrifying to everyone. It was like watching the collapse of every single nuclear-power utility in the 1980s in time-lapsed photography.

I know there had been many smart value buyers of BP all the way down. They came on TV. They talked their game. But in the end, they could own, well, nothing. Or what, maybe they make $5? BP is now, to quote the late Richard Nixon, a pitiful helpless giant.

And that has everyone and everything spooked. I ask you this: If you follow the market, were you able to take your eyes off BP?

I sure couldn't.

Indeed, and assuming Jim pulled the plug on BP today, he lost over 30%. Too bad that on May 21, Cramer advised readers and viewers "that BP is a buy." Fast forward to 3'40" in the clip below, which shows the kind of irresponsible advice that Cramer continues providing to CNBC's catatonic viewers. Catatonic, because if they had followed his advice and bought at the open on May 28 at $43.64 and sold today at $29.20, they lost 33% in two weeks. "Stick with BP... Stick with Cramer" the comedian intones. And lose a third of your investable capital in half a month. And we were just starting to like Cramer after for once he actually was telling his viewers to be at least a little bearish. But at least this was not as bad as his call to buy Bear in advance of the bank losing 95% of its value, his defenders will intone. And we would agree.

h/t Nolsgrad