In afterhours trading yesterday, shares of Dendreon (DNDN) went on a roller coaster ride that saw prices drop from its closing price of $33.39 to below $30 in a matter of minutes.  Within the next half hour the stock once again reached its closing price and proceeded to trade all the way up to $33.89, up $0.50 cents from the day’s close.  On what other stock would you see the following two articles posted within minutes of each other? the first of which sent Dendreon on it’s wild plunge:

• Dendreon’s Provenge questioned in NEJM–a story about how an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) which questioned Provenge’s efficacy.
• Dendreon Gets Some Respect–an article about how the very same NEJM laid to rest any lingering doubts on Dendreon’s Provenge ability to treat prostate cancer.

So the ominously titled article, written by Adam Feuerstein over at TheStreet.com, came out moments before the real news and led to an instantaneous 15% haircut in Dendreon’s shares afterhours.  Meanwhile, two minutes later, the real news reached the press.  NEJM not only did not question Provenge, it turns out that the NEJM wrote a very respectable review about the results from Dendreon’s trial.  According to Matthew Harper at Forbes:

Seeing the Provenge results in black and white in the New England Journal is likely to clear up lots of remaining doubts. It helps that Philip W. Kantoff, a well-respected prostate cancer researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, is the study’s lead author.

Although the contrasts in the headlines are striking, they are unfortunately far from unusual in Dendreon.  In terms of medical treatment, the “old guard” of medicine tends to look cynically at new, different forms of treatments.  That alone generates an inherent emotive element to what Dendreon does.  But that’s only part of the equation.  For years now there has been a substantial short interest the stock and a gross amount of misleading news stories and drastic fluctuations in the stock’s price.

Either Feuerstein and TheStreet.com are fed their news from sources who have a vested interest in manipulating Dendreon’s share prices, or Feuerstein did not do his research.   To proffer an editorial as news, in which Feuerstein acknowledges that “none of the criticisms leveled…are particularly new or surprising,” makes his article headline both misleading and questionable ethically.

Disclosure: Long shares of DNDN

Jim Cramer is a circus clown — a self-proclaimed entertainer. Now, in Randall Lane’s new book The Zeroes, we can all see for the one Zillionth time that Cramer is also a self-centered opportunist (Cf. an altruistic teacher).

In case you hadn’t heard about the “genius” options trader who recorded all his winners and perpetually double-downed on all his losers, former baseball player Lenny Dykstra is back in the jailbird spotlight. This time, in addition to going bankrupt, the mumbling moron is facing some smoking guns which indicate he was receiving payments to plug stocks on Cramer’s TheStreet.com.

“But Dykstra duped Cramer.” Really? Before Cramer added Dykstra to his subscription-based investment advisory service he didn’t ask to see a documented track record? If he did, he would have known Dykstra was a liar. If he didn’t, Cramer was recklessly negligent to those who trusted his endorsements and paid for Dykstra’s advice.

I exposed Cramer’s bullshit last fall when he hypocritically stated his best-selling investment books should not be applied to his own company TheStreet.com (Nasdaq: TSCM). Bill Alpert at Barron’s has done a great job showing Cramer’s track record is the type you need like you need instantaneous combustion in your retirement account.

So, I am left asking, with proof as plain as day that Cramer is nothing but a used car salesman of finance, why does anyone invest with him?

Love Cramer or hate him? Let us know in the comments below.

Join the open source movement to track investment recommendations by pundits. Check out Wall St. Watchdog now!

Since I pointed out some false advertising and misleading statements about Doug Kass at TheStreet.com, I have received a flood of emails. In one camp are the people who have been noting this issue for months/years and thanked me. In the other camp are people who know Doug personally and say I should cut him some slack.

Again, I don’t know Doug and I’m sure he’s a sweet guy (as I’ve been told). However, even Doug Kass himself completely disagrees with the way TheStreet is advertising his products!

Here is the ad from TheStreet:

Now, here is Doug’s tweet on his personal Twitter account:

My 8-month old daughter can see the major conflict. And I think there are a few Real Money subs who know some attorneys who can see one too. A few of my best friends at top law firms agree this is a major problem.

And if you think the “Right as Rain” ad is an isolated example, here is the promotion page for Doug Kass’s Real Money subscription service:

I think the problem is certain people still have not figured out that the internet makes it impossible to play the old salesman games of saying one thing in public and another to investors or customers. The new world is one of transparency, and companies like The Street (who are falsely advertising and misrepresenting their services) will inevitably get buried in lawsuits no matter how many legal disclaimers they use.

If Doug is a nice guy, which I completely assume he is, then he should probably do the right thing and make sure his business partners aren’t ruining his reputation or falsely advertising on his behalf. Doug is too smart to make excuses for Jim Cramer’s sleezy sales team (remember Lenny Dykstra, Cramer’s “genius”?).

Jim Cramer has already proven he is nothing more than a shape-shifting infomercial circus act who forgot everything he learned in law school. As an investment fund manager of Seabreeze Partners, we expect Doug Kass’s behavior to be more along the lines of a fiduciary.

What do you think about this issue? Let us know in the comments below …

As if TheStreet.com didn’t already have enough troubles with the SEC investigating their accounting, another Street veteran Doug Kass joins the pile of fools who have tried to make prophetic claims regarding the stock market. (Nouriel Roubini is still my favorite.)

On August 26, 2009, Kass authoritatively proclaimed, “Markets top during times of enthusiasm. I believe that the markets are now overshooting to the upside and that the U.S. stock market has likely peaked for the year.”

On September 30, 2009, Kass went one step further to declare his market top call “mission accomplished.” Wow. That’s some chutzpah for a guy who has lived long enough to know markets tend to humble those who think they possess a sixth-sense.

Although Kass was very wrong on this call for a while, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because the markets were still within a reasonable point of his call. However, now we are 7 months down the road and the markets have yet again broken out to new highs.

Like Nouriel Roubini and all the others who have procured a loyal following of fans, Kass has seemed to magically make his correct picks stand out while erasing his horrific ones with the mind-eraser from the movie Men in Black.

Don’t believe or want to believe me? Here is the case in point:

1) Doug Kass’s “Generational Low” call (which is much too early to judge) has spread through the financial media like swine flu traveled the globe in 2009. However, you wouldn’t have had any spare cash to invest if you followed Kass into the following conviction trade …

2) In January of 2008, Doug Kass was absolutely blind-sided by the depth and reality of the banking crisis when he told the entire known Universe to “Buy the Financials. Yes, Buy“. (The next day he said, “Buy Citigroup for a Rainy Day” while C was trading near $26 — we all know how that ended.)

The third major call was his market top call referenced at the start of this article (which, again, was most likely not investable to those who lost over 50% of their portfolio following Kass’s rationale that financials were a “buy” in January 2008 because investors had already fearfully overreacted).

According to the math I learned in Kindergarten, there’s not too much to get impressed about if you traded Kass’s calls. Moreover, he is absolutely not “Right as Rain” as Jim Cramer and TheStreet.com claim in this ad lifted from their website 5 minutes ago:

Actually, this is much more like false advertising. But I will leave that up to the SEC to share with the FTC as they continue to unravel the ugly ball of yarn in the C-Suite at TheStreet. (I feel sorry for the real journalists over there. More credible outlets should come to their rescue.)

For now, I will merely point out that Jim Cramer’s Real Money has had some serious account-crushing blunders for investors:

1) Jim Cramer himself has a gift for recommending companies which later go bankrupt.

2) Lenny “Nails” Dykstra went bankrupt and admitted he had no idea what he was doing as an investing pundit for Real Money.

3) Doug Kass (see above).

If these people can’t beat an index, don’t get sucked into their scam. It’s a numbers game with a high churn rate. Now if someone would just correct those ads …

* For the record, I am not attacking Kass ad hominem. I’ve heard he’s a very nice person. But being nice and being right are two separate issues.

Love Real Money? Hate it? Have some more citations to good or bad picks? Let us know in the comments below …

Last October, I got into an argument with Jim Cramer because he asked me to remove my article about how Cramer’s company TheStreet.com (TSCM) was a “Sell” based on the framework in Cramer’s own books (See the emails in “Sorry Cramer … We Will Not Bow Down“). If TSCM was an exception to Cramer’s iron-clad rules because late 10Qs and bailing executives somehow didn’t raise concerns like in every other case, well it seems someone more important than both of us is concerned with the inner workings of TheStreet … the SEC.

Zero Hedge has broken the not-so-surprising news that today TheStreet filed a Form 12b-25 with the SEC which presses the ultimate “Sell, Sell, Sell” button on Cramer’s circus play station:

“As a result of the need for the Company and its independent registered public accounting firm to focus attention on matters related to the Company’s previously-announced review of the accounting in its former Promotions.com subsidiary, which subsidiary the Company sold in December 2009 — including matters related to the preparation and filing by the Company in February 2010 of a Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2008, a Form 10-Q/A for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 and Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended June 30, 2009 and September 30, 2009, respectively, and matters related to an investigation commenced by Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2010 — the Company requires additional time  to prepare its financial statements, assess its internal controls and file its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (“2009 Form 10-K”).  The Company expects that it will be able to file its 2009 Form 10-K on or before the fifteenth calendar day following the prescribed due date.”

OK, Cramer. Now, please explain to me this time why TSCM wasn’t the biggest “Sell, Sell, Sell” stock on Mad Money tonight? I’ve bought all your books and been on your show, so maybe you can explain why every last bag holder, I mean shareholder, of TSCM shouldn’t liquidate their position and move on to much brighter, less criminally investigated pastures?

As we shake our head at yet another Cramer bomb (as his bankrupt picks are affectionately called by pro traders), I leave you with a legendary piece of Cramer’s journalism (which he spins is out of context because he was talking about Bear Stearns bank accounts rather than the stock — but “Bear Stearns is fine” means the company “is fine” for both account holders and shareholders, or at least it does to real analysts, independent researchers, and now the SEC):

Do you love or hate Cramer? Tell us why in the comments below …

Although TheStreet.com (TSM) peddles in investment advice, the company just announced they are taking an 85% loss on a two-year investment made in Promotions.com. Well, at least that’s consistent with Jim Cramer’s other mega-bombs such as CIT, YRCW, and BBY.

At what point is Cramer going to start including exit strategies with his picks? When that day comes, he will have earned back some genuine respect.

Disclosure: No positions in TSM.

Readers who liked this also enjoyed these posts:

Cramer’s Best Buy Earnings Recommendation Gets Crushed

Cramer: You Can Ride With YRC Worldwide (WSCS: If You Want to Go to Hades)

Cramer Buy Recommendation CIT Goes Bankrupt

Jules Verne only needed 80-days to travel around the world in 1872. Apparently, things at TheStreet.com (TSCM) are so screwed up, they need half a year to get their books straight and regain compliance with Nasdaq (NDAQ) listing rules.

As I noted in an earlier post, according to Jim Cramer’s own rules you would have to sell TSCM upon learning of such deep rooted accounting problems. Rather than spending time fixing his flagship company, Jim will probably waste time emailing me again and hypocritically asking for me to stop telling people about TSCM’s problems.

If that guy spent less time on TV and hawking books, maybe he could deliver better shareholder value. But hey, he’s busy giving below-average investment advisory to the masses …

Readers who liked this also enjoyed these posts:

Jim Cramer Says Sell, Sell, Sell His Company TheStreet.com According to HIS Rules

Sorry, Cramer … We Will Not Bow Down

Cramer Buy Recommendation CIT Goes Bankrupt

Cramer: You Can Ride With YRC Worldwide (WSCS: If You Want to Go to Hades)

StocksMediaTSCMNDAQ

Yep. You can ride, alright … straight to see the devil in Hades. As we continue to scientifically prove game show hosts are irresponsible investment gurus (and should have their shows moved from financial media outlets to the Game Show Network — as not to confuse reasonable people), a reader Michael B. pointed out another portfolio killing Cramer “Buy, Buy, Buy” call:

“You see stocks like YRC Worldwide (YRCW) run, you know that it’s been up pretty much every day since September began, and you say to yourself, did I miss it? Am I too late? If the recent history of plays like this pans out, you still have a lot of points to run. Here’s why …”

Well, we don’t need a “why” when we have friends like Jim. We simply need a chart:

That really large green bar is where Cramer told the investing public to buy. Traders like to call that a “blow off top.”

Again, where is the SEC when you have stocks under $10 being pumped by someone who should know better? Yes, the readers and viewers are too blame as well. But this type of investment advisory is completely irresponsible.

You can ride shotgun with Cramer, but friends don’t let friends drive drunk …

Got a Cramer bomb to share? Join the open-source movement and email it to us. It’s time we utilize the benefits of the Information Age.

Want more proof Cramer is a clown? Try these posts:

Cramer Buy Recommendation CIT Goes Bankrupt

Sorry, Cramer … We Will Not Bow Down

YRCWTSCMStocks

When will the SEC start regulating game shows masquerading as investment advisory? This weekend, CIT Group (CIT) filed Chapter 11. Merely four weeks ago, Mad Money host and TheStreet.com (Nasdaq: TSCM) founder Jim Cramer said he would buy CIT (“Citi and CIT are Primed for Upside“). This type of incredibly speculative advice is as radioactive to the general investing public as a post nuclear explosion site:

As you can see in the chart above, Cramer recommended to buy CIT at the exact top. Thus, if “In Cramer You Trust” (like the CNBC commercials tell you to do), you are probably going to have lost 90+% of your investment by the open on Monday.

When Jim reads this he will probably email me again and ask me to remove the post and apologize to him. I suggest his remaining viewers email him and ask him to remove his stock picks from Mad Money and TheStreet.com as well as apologize. If Cramer was an honest guy and didn’t pathologically believe his own spin, he would add himself to his Wall of Shame. Unfortunately, if you now attempt to manifest the mission of his new book “Getting Back to Even”, you need to find multiple investments in which you can double your money. Vegas, anyone?

Want more Cramerica? Try these posts:

Sorry, Cramer … We Will Not Bow Down

Jim Cramer Says Sell, Sell, Sell His Company TheStreet.com According to HIS Rules

StocksFinancialCCIT