stockjock - i won't dispute it's entertaining, or his writing and (MOST - not all) of his trading rules are good. i'm only caring about his performance. I'm not defending Cramer's performance. My criticism is about the method of determining that performance. Even now, when most of the discussion seems to be about the TV show picks, you offer up a Cramer paid for subscription service. In any event, is there a link for the 24.58%? [/QUOTE] yeah, the reason i do his "paid for" subscription service is because people - including you - constantly move the goalposts on assessing his performance. when an el stinkeroo is made on the show, the excuse "cramer would have sold!" comes out. so i use his *actual* trading record - which shows that he WILL hold dogs that have lost 50%, and in fact double down and cause potentially permanent- because it's all there in black and white. i'm sure there's a link to people posting the results as they happened. oh, wait, you don't trust them, or me? fine. go to realmoney, sign up for the free trial 2 week period, and you'll find that you can see the current performance of AA vs the s&p. but somehow, i think you know all that already. results have been posted in threads where you've been active. i don't know why you constantly try to - umm - you claim you're not defending, but you won't look at his record. so being blind to his record? maybe that's it. summary: the ONLY thing cramer has traded is his action alerts portfolio. the method of determining his performance? what HE DOES WITH HIS MONEY. so it's in black and white, no grey "cramer would have sold those which never bounced, and held those which did" areas. and over 5 years, it's cramer +24.58, s&p +22%. without having to pay those nasty action alert subscriber fees. i'll leave that for now, since i don't have time to type more.
Move the goal posts? You mean like Cramer's own staff leaving a $24 dividend out of their performance own Cramer evaluation? Or perhaps this quote from a web site touted by an ET member to show Cramer is no better than a monkey making the pick: "Detailed Results - December 31st, 1969* - Monitor Jim Cramer's Mad Money stock pick performance at CramerWatch.org" In any event, if Cramer's Action Alerts picks only do 2.5% better than the S & P, that obviously stinks. That said, I don't hold on to anything that approaches anything remotely near a 50% loser unless it's a pure spec cheap pos play. Here's another angle on Action Alerts failure to impress; what effect do you think Cramer's self imposed trading rules have on that portfolio? Certainly Bill Miller at LM is not so constrained. *Cramer would have been 14 years old.