Mad Money Machine

Let’s do the tax-loss shuffle

Our Cramer Portfolio has some big losers in it. Ciena (CIEN) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT) are both down about 11%. OptionsXpress Holdings is down about 9%. And Crystallex (KRY) is down a whopping 23.5%. And of course we still don’t have the Company You Know picked.

Why sell losers? So that we can take the short-term capital loss and apply it to other short-term capital gains and reduce our taxes. (Assuming these are in a taxable account.)

So now that the holiday has come and gone, let’s get down to bidness…

Here are the categories and the replacements based upon stocks that Jim has featured recently.

Sold CIEN – Technology. Let’s pick up some Nokia (NOK). Featured on 23 May because of its strong buyback and is taking market share in fast-growing markets like China.

Sold FWLT – Cyclical. How about some Boeing? (BA) Jim said on Real Money on 30 May that BA is “the quintessential selloff stock. This is because the company just reported magnificent quarter, guided up very big and has been up a lot, all at a time when stocks across the board are coming down.

Sold OXPS – Financial. Need to get Citigroup (C). Featured on 23 May. One of his top buybacks. Great management and tons of excess cash and good dividends.

Sold KRY – Speculative. Let’s go with some biotech here and get Genzyme (GENZ) which was one of his biotech picks on 25 May.

Sold PCU (a week ago) – Company You Know. I don’t care anymore, we gotta have Sears (SHLD). It just can’t be called the Cramer Portfolio without it!

CIEN sold for $3.98
NOK bought for $21.42

FWLT sold for $43.49
BA bought for $83.05

OXPS sold for $28.46
C bought for $49.40

KRY sold for $4.20
GENZ bought for $59.43

SHLD bought for $153.82

I’ll update the Portfolios page tonight and you can see all the details there.