Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Jim Cramer on Agribusiness (ADM; AG; AGU; DD DE; MON; MOS; POT)

The sub-head says "How to profit from the coming agribusiness boom." It has a bit of the 'phoned it in' feel to it (which is fine, Mr. Cramer has a lot of irons in the fire right now, and especially if he was tied up phoning in his part of the Warren Buffett interview, below).

From New York Magazine:

It took 112 years, but the farmers of this country have finally gotten revenge over the greedy moneymen of Wall Street. In 1896, the greatest orator of his day, William Jennings Bryan, gave what is widely recognized as one of the best political speeches in the history of this nation, lambasting the bankers back east for ignoring the plight of farmers and caring more about the soundness of their money than about the heart and soul of America. Jennings Bryan’s closing words to a cheering throng of delegates at the Democratic convention—“You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”—put the Great Commoner in the history books, mostly as a coda, an epitaph for what was once an agrarian-dominated society....

...If the agricultural stocks were simply riding the wave of increased grain use because of worldwide food shortages, that alone would make me bullish on the companies I’ve mentioned. We simply don’t have enough food—or ag stocks—to go around. But the etched-in-stone mandates of ethanol use, no matter how absurd they may be, will ensure at least a half-dozen years of extraordinary returns for these stocks. It’s a rush that puts oil and gold to shame....MORE