Let the Investor Beware Certain Shady Stocks

This post from Jim Cramer's blog originally appeared Feb. 7 at 12:09 p.m. ET on RealMoney.

NEW YORK (RealMoney) -- Is the market fixed? Is it a total mug's game? One that is rigged against you? I don't think so. You can buy plenty of terrific companies doing fabulous things, whether it be Apple(AAPL) with its amazing products or Kinder Morgan Energy(KMP) with its bountiful dividends, or Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG) with its dazzling growth. They aren't mug's games. They aren't rigged. But on some occasions, parts of the market seem very shady to the detriment of home-gamers everywhere, and I understand the revulsion that so many feel about Wall Street. This morning, I talked with the "Squawk on the Street" gang about this outrageous Caesar's initial public offering, one where apparently only a small sliver of stock will be offered, with plenty left behind it. Do you think the public will understand that the little stock morsel that's offered is just the beginning of a flood of equity coming their way? After trying to go public and failing not that long ago, this new Caesar's deal seems outrageous to me, almost a blue-light special drawing you into the store with what looks like a terrific piece of merchandise, when in reality, this is an equity stub of a much larger offering that can be dribbled out over time. The Securities and Exchange Commission has got to come to grips with these ever-shrinking sliver offerings that trick the public into thinking that the merchandise is pristine, courtesy an attempt to engineer a pop to the IPO, and gets them excited, simply because they don't understand that there's a ton of stock that will be offered right behind it. And if you want outrageous, check out the incredible indictment of three Credit Suisse(CS) traders by the Southern District of New York, alleging fraudulent valuation of bonds, inflating prices, in order to obtain gigantic bonuses that 99.9% of Americans only dream of. The government caught this trio allegedly creating phony valuations to boost their pay, including a $7 million bonus for one lucky guy, simply by claiming that the mortgage bonds they owned were worth far more than the market said they were worth. Add Comment Tweet 1 2 Last » Next â?º adsonar_placementId=1341527;adsonar_pid=879768;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=600;adsonar_zh=280;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com'; try { function DM_onSegsAvailable(segs, cust_id) { for (var i=0;i //* Global Functions *// function metadataRegisterNS(ns){ var nsParts = ns.split("."); var root = window; for(var i=0; i Dow Jones S&P 500 NASDAQ 10-Year Note 12,878.20 1,347.05 2,904.08 19.66 Oil * 116.15 UP 33.07 UP 2.72 UP 2.09 UP 0.65 10 Yr 1.97% SPDR Gold 169.70 +0.26% +0.20% +0.07% +3.42% Data delayed 20 minutes Top Stories and Tools var randnum = Math.floor(Math.random() * 100) if (randnum < 50) { document.write("10 Best Dow Dividend Stocks for 2012"); document.write("10 Cities Poised For Greatness In 2012"); document.write("9 Completely Worthless Collectibles"); document.write("10 Things Still Made in America"); document.write("Which of These Dividend Stocks Are Worth the Risk?"); document.write("21 Stock Picks That (Almost All) Experts Agree On"); } else { document.write("10 Dividend Stocks Most Likely to Outperform"); document.write("10 Worst Cars of All Time"); document.write("Ex-Dividend Date Calendar: Find Payout Dates"); document.write("2012 Bank Ratings and Safety Screener"); document.write("FREE NEWSLETTER: Dividend and Income Investor"); document.write("Barrington's Best Stock Picks for 2012"); } Twitter Facebook RSS Mobile App TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "336x280,336x850,300x250,468x648"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=premiumpreview;kval=premiumpreview;;storytype=premiumpreview;kval=premiumpreview"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); adsonar_placementId=1341369;adsonar_pid=879768;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=320;adsonar_zh=280;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com'; Brokerage Partners Free Newsletters from TheStreet

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