• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • Trifecta Stocks
  1. Home
  2. / Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer: Not Every Big Mover Is a 'Meme' Stock

I've got a couple names that prove that Reddit's WallStreetBets' power over stocks is way overestimated.
By JIM CRAMER Jun 10, 2021 | 01:26 PM EDT
Stocks quotes in this article: CLF, AMC, CLNE, AMZN, PLUG, BP

Not every stock that soars is a "meme" stock and I am beginning to get sick of the notion that Reddit's WallStreetBets, the most scatological of sites, is behind every major move in this market.

Take Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) . We recently profiled this steel company as one of the cheapest in the entire market. It's an amalgam of older steel companies and its iron ore base that has been able to take advantage of the relentless increase in price for all sorts of different kinds of steel. We had them on "Mad Money" when the stock was $18-and-change and were astonished at how inexpensive it was, given that there was almost no new capacity coming on in the industry and the mills that have been shut down are simply uneconomic even at these prices. Plus, President Joe Biden is just as protectionist against Chinese steel as President Trump was, so I am not as worried about dumping as I once feared.

Cleveland-Cliffs is a storied iron ore company, a commodity that's very difficult to profit from. Now it is vertically integrated through the purchases of AK Steel and ArecelorMittal USA. That combination has required the company to take on a lot of debt, but it can pay it down by issuing stock, as it did earlier this year at much lower prices. I think it can do so again and as long as it chips away at the roughly $5 billion in debt, I think the stock goes higher, especially because it's spewing cash at a rate that makes it one of the cheapest stocks in the entire market. Yes, it is true that, like AMC (AMC) , a meme stock, it can use the strength by issuing equity so you could argue it's a virtuous cycle, but what matters to me is that it has earnings, so it really does get less dangerous, because of the stock-induced debt pay-down as it goes higher.

Or, take Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) , another mistaken meme play. Longtime viewers of "Mad Money" are no stranger to this stock, which had been championed by the late T. Boone Pickens, a friend of the show. CLNE, run by Andrew Littlefair, was based on the idea that natural gas would be a cleaner fuel than oil so trucking companies would flock to it.

The fuel never took off and the company floundered, suffering year after year of losses.

Now, though, it's largely in the business of selling renewable natural gas -- 73% of its production -- and this time it's got big supporters like Amazon (AMZN) , which is potentially its biggest customer. Now like Plug Power (PLUG) , Amazon has a deal where it got warrants from Clean Energy, something that could come back to haunt them in the form of some bad press if Amazon dumps the stock the warrants give them. Plug got some real bad publicity on that one. In this case, according to Littlefair, Amazon is committed to hundreds of millions of gallons of RNG with them. CLNE is building 19 new stations for them this year and Amazon is using 26 existing stations. The potential for Amazon alone is 15,000 heavy duty trucks.

The deal solidifies the joint venture relationship Clean Energy has with BP Plc. (BP) and Total, two no-slouch players in an energy industry under fire for not doing enough to clean the air they naturally soil.

The company is now cash flow positive from operations and they have $300 million cash, so different from the old days. Littlefair has set the company up to make a lot of money next year and it's a pretty shocking development from what we remember during the days weaker less competitive days. Then, again, they are now selling the cleanest lowest carbon fuel in the world. One day maybe green hydrogen will be the fuel of choice. Right now, though, its RNG from Clean Energy's 560 fueling stations.

Two stocks, Cleveland-Cliffs and Clean Energy Fuels, both buys, with or without meme affection.

This story has been updated.

(Amazon is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells this stock? Learn more now.)

 
Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

(Amazon is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells this stock? Learn more now.)

 
TAGS: Investing | Stocks | Energy | Renewable energy | Jim Cramer |

More from Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer: I'll Put My Money With 'Boring but Lucrative' Any Day

Jim Cramer
Sep 29, 2021 1:28 PM EDT

Let's look at that recent downgrade of 'dull' Morgan Stanley and see why exciting is best left for the stadiums and amusement parks -- and not stocks.

Jim Cramer: America's Toughest Job? Finding Workers

Jim Cramer
Sep 28, 2021 12:17 PM EDT

It's the question of our time: Where are the people willing to take on these better paying gigs? Let's see what's going on and what we need to happen.

Jim Cramer: Here's How Analysts Can Be Off By a Wide Margin

Jim Cramer
Sep 24, 2021 12:02 PM EDT

Let's look at the reactions to Nike, Costco and Salesforce to see what happens when they're viewed from a real world perspective.

Jim Cramer: It's Pure Insanity That We Don't Make Chips Here in the U.S.

Jim Cramer
Sep 23, 2021 11:05 AM EDT

While the big guns meet at the White House about the global chip shortage, the president and these companies are approaching this all wrong.

Jim Cramer: Go Ahead, Have a Cow, but I Say Powell and Xi Are Bulls

Jim Cramer
Sep 22, 2021 3:51 PM EDT

We rallied, because China's President Xi and Fed Chair Powell made decisions that they knew would lead to rallies.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 02:24 PM EDT PAUL PRICE

    An Interesting Chart

    I'm betting heavily that stocks will be way up aga...
  • 10:10 AM EDT JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    "Market Timing for Dummies"
  • 01:44 PM EDT STEPHEN GUILFOYLE

    Stocks Under $10 Portfolio

    We're making a series of trades here.
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2022 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login