Great Call on AT&T! What's Next?

The name AT&T (NYSE:T) may still conjure up a stodgy land-line phone company for some, but the AT&T of today is anything but. Of course, AT&T still offers standard POTS (plain old telephone service) lines, but it also hooks up its customers with cell phone, Internet, and TV service. And in case you turn a deaf ear to pop culture, the current piece de resistance for AT&T is its exclusive agreement with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to offer the flashy iPhone.

On Motley Fool CAPS, there are more than 3,500 investors following the ups and downs of AT&T and weighing in on its future. Of all of them, though, none has read it better than the one and only Jim Cramer. That's right, CAPS tracks the picks that Cramer makes through the TrackJimCramer profile. In true Cramer style, he has made six calls on AT&T -- three outperform and three underperform (most recently outperform) -- and has earned a combined 43 points for his calls.

Cramer is one of CAPS' All-Stars -- players with a rating of 80 or greater -- and though he has managed a so-so stock-picking accuracy of 47% on his calls, he has racked up more than 9,500 points. AT&T hasn't been his only great call. Here's a look at a few of his other prescient picks:

Data from CAPS.

So what is he looking at these days? Here are a few of his most recent calls on CAPS:

Data from CAPS.

While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start some further research. I decided to take a closer look at eBay.

Maybe eBay should just shut up
If I were to give one piece of advice to every public company CEO, it would be to ferme la bouche when it comes to earnings estimates. It's no secret that earnings estimates are addictive for Wall Street analysts and many investors, and the practice of giving earnings guidance for the next quarter on every earnings conference call only serves to encourage both groups to focus like a laser beam on quarter-to-quarter results.

To some, that may not sound like a big deal. However, the ideal investor for most CEOs is one who acts like a true business owner and is focused on the company's long-term prospects. These investors are interested in how the business is being built and whether the moves being made will benefit the big picture -- even if they hurt near-term results.

Investors who react like a pack of hyenas around a fresh carcass when results top the bar the company had set, and then send shares down the next quarter because earnings missed by a penny, serve only as a big, fat distraction to management. Sure, Wall Street analysts will still come up with their own estimates, but why not make them earn their dinner?

This issue came up for eBay when it announced second-quarter results. Though the company reported GAAP net income growth of 22% from the previous year, the stock fell 14% the following day. Why? Largely because investors were hoping that eBay would boost its outlook, and instead management left it basically unchanged.

So, is this enough to follow Cramer and shun eBay's stock? CAPS All-Star TMFBreakerWade doesn't think so. He recently gave the stock a thumbs-up and voiced his shock at how the market has treated the online auctioneer:

I can't believe that the market is offering me Ebay in this range. I understand the risks, slower [gross merchandise volume] growth, slower Registered User growth, etc, etc. Still, this is a dominant network effect type business model, with a $4.5B cash warchest. eBay is still growing at 20% per year and has a forward multiple of around 12. If we add back the $1.4B writedown (goodwill charge due to Skype), eBay is trading at a [price-to-free cash flow of less than 15]! For perspective, historical 10 yr P/E ranges for eBay [are] over 55. In the future, e-commerce will only continue to grow and eBay is in a prime space to capitalize. I definitely think that the market is mispricing this one, which allows the Foolish [to] gobble up shares on the cheap.

So what's your take on eBay? Get in the action by clicking over to CAPS. CAPS is absolutely free and already has more than 110,000 investors chipping in to find the best stocks out there.

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