So Much for Independent Research

If a company hires an investment banker under the premise of seeking out "strategic alternatives," should you read much into it? Maybe it doesn't always mean that the company is tossing itself onto the auction block. Or maybe the investment firm mulls over the situation and comes back simply suggesting red wine instead of white at the next corporate soiree.

Could that be the case for TheStreet.com (Nasdaq: TSCM), which has brought in Allen & Co. to seek out the legendary "strategic alternatives"? Or is that smudge on founder James Cramer's forehead a bar code?

The purveyors of independent investing advice have been a busy lot lately. Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) announced back in November that it was acquiring MarketWatch (Nasdaq: MKTW), while Morningstar announced plans to go public earlier this week using an auction format similar to Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) consumer-driven IPO.

So it's not as though TheStreet.com is toiling away in a sector that's out of favor. It's not as though TheStreet.com is desperate, either. While the company has posted losses over the past three quarters, it continues to grow revenues aggressively, and its cash-rich balance sheet is a cozy cushion. Its shares are far removed from their dot-com-bubble highs, but they have more than doubled over the past three years.

Does this mean that TheStreet.com wants to cash out on its own terms? It's likely to be a compelling commodity. The company's online strengths may draw a look-see from a cash-thick portal like Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) MSN.com, or perhaps even Google itself, and we can't forget about traditional and discount brokerage houses, which may jump in to kick the tires. Owning a popular financial site would be a cost-effective move to attract new brokerage clients while providing proprietary research to appease its established base.

Strategic alternatives? Bah! Ever since MarketWatch agreed to be acquired at a lofty multiple of seven times trailing sales, TheStreet.com -- closing yesterday at roughly half that multiple -- has been buyout fodder for the rumor mill. Here's hoping the company finds a capable suitor that won't water down its freethinking mind.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz won't be making a bid on TheStreet.com, though he did enjoy reading Cramer's Confessions of a Street Addict book. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is a member of the Rule Breakers analytical team, seeking out tomorrow's great growth stocks today.