i'm jim cramer and welcome to my world.

you need to get in the game! bears are going to go out of business, and he's nuts, they're nuts! they are know nothing! i always like to say there's a bull market somewhere, and i promise -- "mad money," you can't afford to miss it. hey, i'm cramer! welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. other people want to make friends. not the least bit interested. i'm just trying to make you some money. my job is not just to entertain, also to educate. so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc. froth! froth! it's the enemy of good investing! it's all about jumping on what's the most speculative, what's the most low-dollar stuff, what's hottest, what gives you the most jolt! it's triple cappuccino, and that's what kind of market we're in right now and it's a tad

worrisome. i think froth, too much froth caused today's reversal, with the dow jones at one time rallying 81 points, only to give it all up and close up three. why? at this point, it's obvious they just like playing with it, right? i mean, there's no, no substantive pointing in this whatsoever. mind, i'm not askoaled about this particular issue. i am not above speculation. in fact, unlike everyone else in the world, i actually encourage it. you need to do a little speculating with your mad money! keep your attention on your portfolio. make the game come alive. i have sanctioned at times devoting as much as 20% of your "mad money" portfolio to speculation. notice i said "mad money" portfolio. that's your discretionary portfolio. you speculate in your i.r.a.? you don't need me. you need a shrink! by the way, those are in very

short supply during this pre-labor day run-up, so, what constitutes froth, besides the froth? oh, come on, how could i resist? besides the froth that you see here? why do i say that there's more froth in this market than it has three-star michelin rated french restaurant? where this costs no less than $4 because of that lousy euro. ah. okay, take what happened this morning with citigroup. oh, yes, citigroup. there's citi. you know i am the winner and champine of citigroup. that's right, i think championed it to you every single day. i have run into no less or fewer if you want to be grammatical, than three people this weekend who credited me, little old me, with this levitation because we got behind a dollar and a half ago. one of them was vick pandit. just kidding. it's true it could have pegged

at the book value, because most banks trade at book value, the cash they have on hand right now. it is also true that i said $12 in 2012, $12 in '12, it's got a great ring to it, which is one of the reasons i used it. but i was upset when citi opened up -- up -- 25 cents and then traded to $5 a share! [ booing ] what's the matter with that, given that i've been saying that a sovereign fund and three mutual funds could take the government out of its stance? and that's more than $15 billion, because it means people are reaching. they are reaching way too far when they could simply wait and get better prices. patience is a virtue. almost everyone who bought this stock today is hopelessly under water now. that's the worst possible place to be. and i think it will most likely cause more weakness tomorrow, because there's too much fro --

froth. they shut it off. and it isn't just citigroup. you can see in the actual version that you see, it will continue to run. you can see the same kind of jump in many of the low-dollar stocks. speculators are franticly buying fannie and freddie! i imagine because they think those two are the best plays on the turn in housing that we called june 30th, the much-ridiculed turn that turned out to be right. but this is the wrong speculations, the foolish kind, the kind that loses you money, which is why i worry so much about these moves and the frothiness of this market. the government hasn't even spelled out how much money fannie and freddie will have to return to the feds before figuring out what's left for the common, plus all the other pieces, all the other securities. and there's little research out on either company. so, buying fannie or freddie is pretty much what i call a crooked dice roll. as bob pisani said earlier, there's no equity value when it comes to these two. so, i mean, to me, really, if

this is the old and grateful, you're buying it hoping some chockle head comes out on top of you. now, you could see the same in sirius satellite. here's a company where you're not buying a lottery ticket, you're buying a used lottery ticket. and you've got to question who would throw a good one away. look, it's right to speculate, but it's dangerous to speculate without the facts, and that's exactly what you're doing when you buy fannie or freddie or sirius, the dog star, woof. these are all symptoms of a frothy market. of people meeting before they look and bidding up stocks too radioactive to touch. so, what would an informed speculator right here be doing? what makes sense? okay, let's get some of them up there. among the banks -- you know i'm a huge believer in fifth third, huntington bank, even regents financial, despite the management of his ceo, c. dow

ritter. if he were to decide suddenly to spend a lot more time with his family, where's the visine? i've got something in my eye. if he were to spend more time with his family. oh, okay, feel better now. then that stock would go to $8. fifth third's in good shape to go to good position, while huntington region has a lot of room to run. right now we're waiting for hundreds of banks to fail, and the ones left standing like the three i mentioned, will be able to take share and will be able to take the assets of the loser banks from the fdic for a pittance. that's smart speculation, especially now that every single one of these was hammered today. giving you a territory point. mobile internet plays? hey, they've been on the move. and you know i favor abc, telecom, semiconductor and cypress. they're all cheap on the basis of a multiyear move and i think that's going to happen because of the mobile internet tsunami. but at the same time, i see level three communications. lvlt another sippingle-digit

dollar tech stock that's been climbing, but it's got an awful balance sheet. it is not part of the mobile internet and buying in here definitely doesn't fit the definition of smart speculation. all of the mobile internet plays need to cool off for a couple days. why? because of froth! what about amd? up huge today. up huge today! courtesy of an upgrade -- courtesy of an upgrade from citigroup. i've been a backer of this stock since it was at $2. and when it hit mir$4.75 and th dropped a dollar, i felt totally off my game, but when i read the upgrade, i have to tell you that all of the reasons why initially liked amd, giant cash position, good relationship with hewlett-packard and a solid back-to-school season, yes, and a newer placement of cycle question using amd chips, these are coming true. plus, they're trading at a 40%

discount to the group. i think the $5.62 price target based on the value of the pieces, the product company and semiconductor foundry business has got horse sense. this one makes sense, plain and simple. it's a perfect step. here's the bottom line -- remember, no company wants its stock to fall as low as these bottom-feeders. they didn't get here because they were good. they got here because they were flounder! they were fluke! it's because they were bad, terrible, even, maybe worthless. so, don't let the frothiness of this market destroy you just as it cuts short today's rally. reaching for stocks like fannie and freddie or even citigroup when it opened up 25 cents this morning is a mistake. you have to be smart with your speculation and not chase everything that's running. some, like the banks at the right price, and amd right here make for informed bets that could pay off big.

but others, to quote cramer fave statesman john nance gardner, may be worth no more than a warm bucket of spit. spit. sorry, cameraman. carl in florida! carl? >> caller: gator boo-yah to ya. >> holy cow. i'm going to give you an espy boo-yah because my friend's daughter just opened up her textbooks there. what's up? >> caller: my daughter graduated from there. >> yes! gators rock! >> caller: yeah. >> number one. >> caller: my broker requires bids and asks to be at increments no less than a penny. in realtime quotes, i see transactions happening at penny fractions. this concerns me because i always low-ball my bids. for example, if i bid $25 for a stock and somebody makes a later bid at $25.001, does he end up in front of me and do exchanges make rules about this? >> one thing we have to dive

deep into is the myth percept n perceptions about the so-called dark pools. if they called them light pools instead of dark pools, we'd like them. most of the orders get routed through citigroup, ubs -- citigroup, ubs, knight securities do most of them, okay? and these places are incredibly honest and they're doing a remarkable job. and frankly, i think that you would get filled at that order. you've got to not worry about this flash nonsense back and forth. if you want to put in at $20.01, you won't get hit when the market's like that. i think it's important to know that there's never been better time to be a retail investor in terms of execution. ten times better when i was a broker. do you know that the average trade is now 100,000 times faster than when i was a broker handling retail orders? and the price execution is the best i've ever seen. so, let's not sweat the program. bill in idaho. bill. >> caller: a big boo-yah from the potato state. >> holy cow.

i've been watching micron move up and i'm saying drams are back and bigger than ever! what's up? >> caller: what do you think about supervalu and/or kroger, and do you recommend either one? >> oh, geez. you know, it's certainly not supervalu. i'm going to absolutely say no to that. if i had to, it would be kroger, but see, i don't have to, because no one, other than myself, has a gun to my head! i think that the better play is whole foods on a pullback because that's got hospitality going for it and people love working organic food. okay, froth is the enemy of good investing, and you have to understand, do not let the froth of the market destroy you. be smart with your speculation and don't chase anything thad that's running. "mad money" will be right back! . >> coming up, natural gas prices are at a seven-year low, but

what does it mean for the stocks? cramer goes one on one with petroleum ceo jim hackett to find out if his stock can start to heat up on "the executive decision." and later, most retailers are beating the street, but which ones are actually growing? attention value shoppers, cramer's seeing who's got the goods and deserves to be crowned the discount king. and later, try to keep up with cramer as he takes your calls "rapid fire" in an all new "lightning round." all coming up on "mad money." when this hotel added aflac

to compliment their benefits package aflac! it made a big splash with the employees yeaaaahhhh! find out more at aflac!... ...forbusiness.com (laughter)

but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate.

natural gas prices have dropped below $3 per 1,000 cubic feet. that is the lowest level since

the summer of 2002! not only that, inventories are up 19% above their five-year average. with that kind of setup, you're expecting natural gas stocks to be at multiyear lows. hey, at least 52-week lows. but what have they been doing? they've been roaring! >> all aboard! >> i think this move is all about washington. ♪ all about the possibility that natural gas could be used as a cleaner, cheaper, replacement fuel for oil and dirty coal, which they're masquerading as clean coal in washington, as it will take decades for wind and solar -- president obama's solutions -- to really start to matter, not to mention batteries. this whole move is predicated upon the idea that washington has at least embraced natural gas, that this cleaner, greener fossil fuel -- i know it's fossil, which puts it in the dog house -- will be a part of our energy future. take anadarko. anadarko petroleum is one of the

strongest derivative natural gas plays, one of those i've been recommending since january 12th, when it was at $38.33. the stock is now up to $54.40. a 40% increase. even as the price of the commodity has just been crushed. if natural gas is going to be part of our energy future, then anadarko is a fantastic stock to own. and its second quarter, recorded record sales volume, selling 4 million more gallons than the midpoint of anadarko's guidance. as well as record drilling efficiencies, meaning the company was able to run fewer rigs but drill more wells and the cost of wells coming down. anadarko's a great growth energy play. with new discoveries in the gulf of mexico and mississippi, a major new project in ghana that was approved by their government in july and another project in algeria that's expected to start producing oil in 2011.

the company's also done a great job of hedging its natural gas 80% of anticipated natural gas volumes, hedged at $4.18 in the summer months. hey, who would ever thought that was going to be good, right? and more than 75% of its 2010 natural gas volume's protected with a middle floor of $5.60 and an upper ceiling of $8.25. so, even if natural gas prices don't bounce back hard, anadarko's still in good shape. and it's not starving for cash, either. remember it raised $1.3 billion with that secondary offering in may? that was at $45.50. made a lot of people money. you're up 20%! ♪ hallelujah if you got that offering price. even, again, natural gas collapsed and they raised another $109 million in debt in june, leaving them with $3. billion in cash at the end of the quarter and no debt coming due until 2011. the question with anadarko is the same question i have with this whole industry and i am focused on this laser-like and i bring it up constantly -- what

will the future of natural gas be in this country and do we understand the importance of energy independence? i don't have the answer to those questions, but i know someone who might. jim hackett, anadarko's fabulous ceo. mr. hackett, welcome back to "mad money." >> thank you, jim. >> all right, let's get right to it. there is an oddity here. natural gas under $3. your stock doing well. is that because there is a belief somewhere, somewhere within the owners of your stock, that the fortunes for natural gas are about to change in washington? >> i do. i think there's a couple combined reasons. one is that we are about 40% of oil still. >> right. >> and that does drive a fair amount of the profitability of the company as well. but two is that there is a real hope that natural gas plays a very foundational role in the future of energy for this country, which it needs to, and you have been a big proponent of that. we're finally reaching congress, finally reaching some of the decisionmakers about how important this fuel is for all

of us, for a greener environment, for a substitution for foreign oil to make it more domestically secure for us as a nation. and it is also the only thing that can back up wind and solar. >> now, one of the things that was shocking to me -- now, i had understood, i had understood the case that the president is deeply committed to nonfossil, okay? but in this house bill, the american clean energy and security act, they focus on something that you and i know is a fantasy, it's a disneyland story. it's called clean coal. how the heck did clean coal get precedence over natural gas? >> well, it has temporarily, at least. and i think it is a very good point that you make, which is some improvement in technology. it is a hope that one day we might be able to do that because we have such large coal resources, but in fact, there is a cheaper way to approach making ourselves more environmentally free, if you will, of greenhouse gas emissions and other toxic substances, and that is to actually use this tremendous

natural gas resource that we discovered in this country, which is a fairly new phenomenon the last three years, where we've got the kind of long-dated reserves domestically that coal has. the difference is that we can actually grow the deliverability and serve in an expanding market capability, which i think that other fuel sources will have a tough time doing outside of nuclear. >> now, one of the things that drives me crazy is every journalist in the country -- i didn't get the memo. maybe because i'm not a true journalist. memo says as soon as you mention natural gas, you have to say that it's erotic and that the pricing's crazy, and so therefore, it's not a legitimate fuel. where is that memo that says that every single article has to have that, except for the stuff we talk about? >> well, good point, but even that said, if that's the claim being made, there's a good way to fight that, which is that we have done modeling independent of the industry that speaks to this issue of price. and if you look at a medium to longer-term kind of price forecast right now, it's somewhere between $5 to $7 per

mnbtu that we think the price will trade at with growing demand. and what that means to all of us in america is that you're buying natural gas for equivalent to about anyway from $30 to $42 a barrel of oil. i think any of us tomorrow would take any substance that could promise us less than $45 a barrel and use it as broadly as we could, both in electric generation and in our cars. i'm driving a compressed natural gas vehicle. i have done it for over a decade. i know the supply is there. i love the price. i love the environmental impacts. >> jim, one of the things that i read, and i found it actually hard to believe, but maybe you can confirm it -- we're going to be a net exporter of natural gas? >> possibly. in fact, as you know, similar to the big shale plays up in canada, they're looking at actually engaging in a liquefied natural gas project to export out of the alaskan peninsula or on the west coast of canada. others have talked about turning around the regasification facilities we have for ong coming into this country and

actually exporting out of those facilities into ships. >> well, mind my saying that's just totally nuts. we have an opportunity to be independent of energy, and what we're doing is we're blowing it. we're importing it from great people over there in the middle east and we're sending our clean stuff overseas? >> yeah. that doesn't make -- i don't think it will happen in any kind of mad scale. we don't plan on that happening. we actually want the domestic demand to increase. we think that that's the appeal, is you not sending this fuel overseas. it's a wonderful, abundant resource for all of us, and we can then use that foreign liquefied natural gas, if we even need it, simply as a peaking fuel to keep the price down, manage that volatility, and put it into storage in the summer when other parts of the world aren't demanding it. >> in the 1930s when our country was in the great depression, one of the few industries that was able to put people to work was the pipeline industry, because pipelines take a lot of people. it takes a huge amount of infrastructure to be able to get

this. how many people could be put to work if we actually endorse natural gas as our fuel? >> well, literally hundreds of thousands, and it may be more than that, depending on where we allow the drilling to occur. as you know, natural gas resources exist in most states in the union. they're high-paying jobs. it's drilled, it's being done by smaller oil and gas companies. these are not the exxonmobils of the world that are generally producing natural gas. in fact, 80% of it is done by independents. so, you have these very high-paying jobs in a sector that can grow very quickly. it's not bureaucratic. it can respond to the market demand. so, it's a wonderful economic answer. it's a wonderful energy answer for domestic security, and it's a wonderful environmental answer. >> all right. something bothered me. here's a "wall street journal" article, august 21st. there's a guy who says, "we were not prepared for the pace at which the house legislation proceeded." you are that guy. how do you guys miss this? i've been trying to get everyone to focus on it! >> well, you're right. i mean, you've been talking about it longer.

we just thought the inherent advantages of the fuel would sell itself -- >> oh, come on! did you really believe -- this is washington we're talking about! what are you, mr. smith? >> who would have thought they would have actually violated a lot of the rules of subcommittee procedure to get this rushed through the house before the american public could comment properly that they would give away all these allowances to dirtier fuels to get the legislation passed quickly in horse trade votes in the middle of one of the great recessions in this country. >> incredible. >> who would have thought all that would have occurred? but it did. >> do any of these congress, senators from pennsylvania and new york understand that they're sitting on spindle top? >> well, they're starting to, and i think that's the important thing is we've spent a lot more time and effort now that we've gotten a wake-up call to make sure we are educating people, and we have a lot of sponsors in the senate, and we think this thing is going to work out to be the right answer at the end of the day. >> meantime, anadarko just continues to pump, continues to fine, right? things are just right on sched, if not better. >> yes, and we like the fact

that we're an exploration company and we're finding new resources for the world, both oil and gas, but this natural gas future is a real one and america has to get with it. >> all right, jim hackett. i know you will never again not be prepared for the pace of house legislation. thank you so much, jim hackett, ceo of anadarko. great to talk to you. >> thanks. same here. >> all right, you heard. it it's going to be the fuel. it's just a matter of time. the stocks are already refle reflecting that. i think that if natural gas actually goes up one time in our life, you're going to get a double coming of stocks. after the break i'll try to make you more money. coming up, most retailers are hitting the street, but which ones are actually growing? attention value shoppers, cramer's seeing what's got the goods and deserves to be crowned the discount king. and later in the "lightning round," the market's top mind goes high-octane to put your stocks to the test. plus, e-mail us at madmoney@cnbc.com and jim could answer you on the air on an all new "mad mail."

all coming up on "mad money."

this week, we're on the hunt. we're looking for the discount king, the company that deserves to be called best of breed in the off-price retail space. it's a week-long exercise in comparison stock-picking, the kind of thing we used to do at my old hedge fund all the time. we're putting five stocks into the discount thunder dome. five stocks enter, one stock leaves. a la mad max. figure out which one is the best. break a deal, you face the wheel. a phrase that i've been trying to work into this show since it started 4 1/2 years ago. consumers are no longer under pressure to trade down and buy cheap stuff now that the economy has gotten marginally better, something that's led higher-end retailers and department store

stocks to come back with a vengeance, but you know what, it's going to swing back, and i think there's still money left in the discount space if we can find the right one-week number, and they're going to be all over these stocks. so, where should we look for the "discount king"? let's start with the off-price retailer that is by far the best, execution! tjx, which you might know as tj maxx or maybe marshals, where i got my first suit. i'm not kidding. home goods and a.j. wright, totaled 2,700 off-store retail stores in the u.s., canada and europe. tjx buys product for little and sells to the consumer and has done incredibly well during the recession. its same-store sales, an important metric in retail. it compares stores that have been open a year with how they

did 12 months ago and were up 4% this past quarter. that sounds small, but most others are seeing negative retail sales, some down as much as 12%, 15%. tjx's inventories were down 4%. that's another sign of good management and strong execution. inventory is the nemesis of all retailers, because if you have too much that means you've got to throw all kinds of sales and other profit-recking deals to move your merchandise. tjx, loaded with cash. $1.5 billion on the balance sheet. nice buyback, $625 million. customer traffic's up. company even plans to open 25 more stores than it originally intended this year. not many retailers can say that. tjx has done a killer job with advertising, using a duel-branding strategy with tj maxx and marshall's that's allowed the company to hit 30% or 40% of the market that

previously hadn't been exposed to tjx's television campaign. that's pretty good. they even came up with new concepts -- runway, which is more of a designer boutique and still in only a few t.x. max stores, and the junior's cube for the younger demo, at about 400 marshall's stores, about half the chain, and should help with the back-to-school season. but with tjx's stock up 64% year-to-date versus a 24% increase in the s&p retail index and a 10% increase in the s&p 500, mm-mmm. mm-mmm. i think the upside is in the past. get this, here's a way you'd measure things. of the 20 analysts who cover this stock, 15 rate it a buy. hey, who's left? who's left to upgrade? just a couple of guys. so, does that make tjx the discount king? not a chance. this is a company that at this point in the cycle's not controlled its destiny. no matter how well-run tjx is, it's got what i call a high-quality sourcing problem.

think about how tjx works. if you've been there. it needs to have cheap merchandise that it bought at typically behind the scenes from a big retailer who is desperate for cash or an apparel company that is desperate for cash. remember, it's a closeout chain. it also benefited from its, well, let's call it the prap competitor for its home goods business, linens and things, gone. by the way, that also helped bed, bath and beyond. both of these two growth engines are going away in the second half of the year. so, we're not going to have easy comparisons. you see, right now, other retailers are doing so well. don't look at the papers. they're dead wrong on this. with so little inventory and so much cash that they have no reason to fire sale their goods to tjx. when everyone else has lean inventories like they do now, there's nothing to dump it tjx's way. now, i think this is the reason that the conference call was so

darn grim. it was the worst of any retail conference call barring lowe's and family dollar. despite the misinformation piece the "wall street journal" published about tj maxx's quarter last week, i quote from this misdirection play -- tj maxx's earnings rose amid stronger sales and margins and the off-price retailer indicated it sees more strong results ahead as it expands its number of stores and customers." the person who wrote that couldn't possibly have been on the conference call, where management took down earnings estimates fairly severely versus what the street was looking for and gave you no real hope. they indicated tougher and disappointing times ahead. i think the reason tjx lowered guidance is that management is worried it won't have enough cheap management to make the numbers. it makes all the sense in the world to me as someone who has monitored inventory all my life. they're right to be cautious. the stock trades at 13.4 times 2010 earnings, 10% growth rate.

so, it's about in line with other off-price retailers. i think the down side, though, hasn't been priced into the stock, yet notice the stock did go down when they reported. there's too much upside baked in, even at these levels, and it might not come through because of tjx's dependence on cheap merchandise from ailing retailers. give that other retailers haven't built inventory, they've worked it off, and there isn't much stuff for sale cheaply, i think tjx was right to be bearish. the confusion comes in because the public's been brain-washed by the press into thinking that retail stumbling with a bad back-to-school season and excess inventory. that would be nirvana from tjx. you should be buying if the media were right. obviously, the media's wrong and the facts don't square with the stock. here's the bottom line -- tjx could not be anointed discount king as much as the past indicated it was. i consider it more of a discount rook or maybe a discount knight, as the best may be behind it. its execution was great, but management was right to slash

guidance on the call. the future just isn't as bright for tjx without other retailers firesaling their extra inventory. i think it's peaked. i think it's headed to the off-price bin itself. why don't we talk to ron in florida? ron. ronny! >> caller: jimmy. >> speak to me, partner. >> caller: greetings from my hometown, tampa, florida. >> oh, boy, the bucs! i don't know, got to solve a lot of controversy there, go ahead. >> caller: and my alma mater, university of south carolina. >> we like usf, we think that usf is going to be another -- every year they're a sleeper. >> caller: we beat west virginia last year and we'll beat florida state this year. >> holy cow. 'noles? >> caller: yes, sir! >> i may have to hold you to that, sir. look, if we were a business station, i would ask you about stocks, but we are espn 17 and i disagree with that analysis. go ahead. >> caller: okay. jimmy, my stock is stein mart,

smrt. this stock is up over 900% year to date. now, i didn't get in at the bottom, at 99 cents, but i have a nice profit. would you say this stock is a no-brainer get out or does this hotrod have more gas? >> okay, first of all, it's from jacksonville. i don't know how we feel about jacksonville, because they're going to play the eagles on thursday night. but here's what i think. i think that you answered the question yourself. i think you know -- i think ron knows the answer, which is bulls make money, bears make money and hogs get course. i demand ron to sell literally half the position tomorrow morning and let the rest run. because as much as i like stein mart, i cannot get behind a stock that is up -- are you ready, skee-daddy -- 953% year to date. i call that greed. i call it geckoism. mike in new york. mike? >> caller: yes, jim. a big boo-yah from binghamton,

new york. >> binghamton! holy cow! route 17, natural gas, southern tier boo-yah! >> caller: you got it! hey, home of dick's sporting goods, also known as dks. >> that's right, and i've got to tell you, you should be proud because those guys are smoking again. >> caller: you know, i've known this family since they were small and i purchased this stock back in march for $13. i still like the company, but i had to take the profits, like you've been teaching us, and i told at $20. >> did you sell it all? >> caller: yeah. i think i made a mistake there. >> i don't know if that was right. i mean, dick's has got the momentum back again. i would have told you to sell half. here's what i want you to do. everybody's hoping the market's going to go down, whatever. if we can get that stock back below where you sold it, and that does matter to me, even though i think it's an up stock, i think it's very difficult to recommend someone buy in at $21 if they sold at $20. i am telling you that i think dick's has another five innings left to it. great buy.

you're close to the situation. our callers are making money. how happy does that make me? well, i've got to tell you, let's not be greedy, though. that's a major lesson of this show. tjx did not have the goods to be my discount king. i think if you own it, you should ring the register and stay tuned all week until i anoint the best discounters. stay with cramer. coming up, feel the thunder approaching, as jim takes a full-on blitz from cramericans. can he handle the pressure on the flash fire "lightning round." and later, cramer takes all your questions and gives you the quick-fire responses you so crave. cramericans, we want to hear from you, so send jim an e-mail to madmoney@cnbc.com. and stay tuned for some rewarding replies on "mad mail," all coming up on "mad money." some people buy a car based on the deal they get.

others by the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 es 350.

it's time! it's time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad money." what's that, you ask? that's rapid-fire calls one after another. you say a name and i say sell or buy. i don't know the callers or stock questions ahead of time. my staff prepares these grabs on the fly. when do we play until? when you hear this sound -- [ buzzer ] and then the "lightning round" is over. triple play ended that game. i'm talking about the verizon one. are you ready skee-daddy? it is time for the lightning round on cramer's "mad money." starting the week with mmillie n connecticut.

>> caller: hey, boo-yah, jim. >> from the nutmeg state. what's up? >> caller: i'm wondering what you think of bauncus santana? should i sell all my shares and buy bank of america and see what happens? >> first of all, i'm a big believer in santana if we're going to get down like the allman brothers, go like a retro band, santana's so rap, but i think you mean santana baunter, but they're good. they have a great position in america. they just aren't as good a lender as vvva. let's buy vvv. they're the ones who have gotten guarantee back. and i think they're the best in show. dave in california. dave! >> caller: ba, ba, ba boo-yah, jimmie! >> starting the week stuttering boo-yah. >> caller: the stock of the week was teat yurd on cnbc because they have one of their ten companies quekted to lithium.

roc, rock wood holdings. >> yes, color pigmentation. they use a lot of natural gas, but you know what? i'm no joker. i'm going to have to do more work on rockwood, rather than say i think it's fine. memo to staff. wake up, staff. we are going to do some work on rockwood holdings and get back to you, but it will not be today. it will not be today because then it won't be thorough. let's go to binky in the illini! binky? >> caller: hello there, jim. >> pinkster, what's up? >> caller: wanted to bring you a beautiful day southern illinois boo-yah. >> i'm liking that. southern illinois, carbondale, okay. >> caller: pretty close. pretty close. jim, last friday, you were kind of rough on the stocks. didn't keep up with the rally. i kind of wondered how citi fell into that group? >> hudson city is one of those playing it too safe for this market. this market likes aggression. it likes citi, which rolls the dice, rather than hudson city

and ron hermance, which kept it conservative. this is like owning a cereal stock in the midst of a great industrial rally. it's going to come back, but it is out of favor now. it is not a jacket, but i wouldn't describe it as a hard marks cut either, if you know what i mean. okay, let's go to bernie in connecticut. bernie! >> caller: hey, what's going on, jim? let me give you a big connecticut ba, ba, ba, boo-yah! >> nutmeg southern boo-yah right back at you. >> caller: all right. let me get -- can i get a check on sony? i'm looking to get in around $24, $25 -- >> no, no. as much as i like sir howard stringer -- fabulous article today, by the way, how they got their butt kicked by apple. he probably hates to see that because there's so many of them. i'd rather do taiwan semi, if i want stuff that goes into sony. i like corning, gow if you like the glass. i am not a buyer of sony. i am a seller of sony.

let's take another. ooh, let's take a caller! let's go to new mexico. >> caller: cramer, big albuquerque boo-yah! >> man, that's a nice one, mr. enchantment land. what's up there, partner? >> caller: what do you think of sbp, southern tech power? >> man, come on, you're making me reach down. you're making me reach down. now, it is absolutely true that with oil going this high that ying lee and stp, they should all be moving. when i say ying lee, i don't confuse it with yuengling, which is a darn good beer, saz paps, by the way. so, i think these are okay. first solar's my favorite. it doesn't need any sort of subsidy, but these stocks are out of fashion for now. oil goes to $80 and you're going to say, why didn't i pull the trigger? that's it for the "lightning round?" beginning of the week? the "lightning round" is over, ha!

>> the "lightning round" is sponsored by td ameritrade. [bell ringing] the way the stock market's been acting lately you may wonder if you've been doing the right thing. is the advice you've been getting helping or hurting? are the fees you're paying really worth it? td ameritrade's fees are fair and straight-forward. their research is independent and unbiased. their investment consultants are knowledgeable and there when you need them. so why not talk to one? announcer: call today to schedule a free investment check-up, or visit a td ameritrade branch. - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh?

( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. , hard of hearing and an people with speech dischities accessac.sprintrelay.com.

i like to do mad mail on monday. this one is from all list. dear mr. cramer. my dad and i love your show. thank you and your staff. my staff is great. so much for your hard work and top-quality contribution to us smaller but getting larner investors. we have been following your suggestions regarding strong regional banks that made benefits from the fdic selling the deposits of troubled banks to these healthier competitors. months ago, you mentioned peoples united financial, pbct, as a play on this theme. you compared it to the sweet story from the past, and that's when it was up 500% when we finished the chaos. giving pbct is still in the top of this play or is there another bank in a better position? >> no, alice, it's great.

other than new alliance. we are going to have several hundred more bank failures, it just so happens they're concentrated in the states that has the loosest regulation, particularly georgia and illinois, but they're going to work their way east, and pbct is the strongest capital position of any bank in the country. that's saying something. here is one from bee-bee. jim, good to see the interview with shaw group ceo, and hear some positive discussion about nuclear-generated electricity. not much that i disagree, since i worked in the nuclear industry for 28-plus years. if you ever create a nuclear portfolio, similar to your mobile internet portfolio, what do you think of flowserve as one of the first editions? they are one of the few companies that have maintained the qualifications to supply products that meet the rigorous certifications required in the nuclear industry. what are your thoughts? flowserve excellent company, i also like bjc. of let me be very clear about

this. i would not start this index. why? because i am not a believer that this administration supports nuclear power. if i ever hear the president say natural gas and nuclear power in a speech, i will change my mind. instead, i hear solar, battery, wind. solar, battery, wind. it's like earth, wind ask fire. they went out in the '70s. "mad money" is back after the break. why ford? why now?" you know what i do? i introduce them to the most fuel-efficient midsize sedans... ...and suvs in america. i don't know if you've heard, but this fuel efficiency thing..

kind of a big deal. anyway, ford and lincoln mercury have you covered... with showrooms full of fuel-efficient cars, trucks, suvs, crossovers, and hybrids. how's that for going green? now, get 0% financing plus up to $1,500 cash back on most ford, lincoln and mercury vehicles. go to ford.com, or visit your ford or lincoln mercury dealer. hey, it's great to see you're back after that accident. well...i couldn't have gotten by without aflac! is that different from health insurance? well yeah... ...aflac pays you cash to help with the bills that health insurance doesn't cover. really? well, if you're hurt and can't work, who's going to help pay for gas? ..the mortgage, all kinds of expenses? aflaccafcccc! it's the protection you need to stay ahead of the game... exactly! aflac. we've got you under our wing. aflac, aflac, aflac... aflac, aflac, aflac

please speculate wisely. i like to say, there is always a bull market somewhere, and i promise to try to find it just

for you here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you tomorrow. up next on kudlow, are bank failures really bad? obama's $9 trillion nympho mania. cash for clunkers tomorrow, and double-dip recession, and who killed michael jackson? tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 if i'm breathing, i'm thinking about trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i always have my eye out for a stock on the move. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 doesn't matter if a company sells computer chips tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 or, i don't know, fish and chips. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i'll look at all kinds of stocks before i settle on one.