Cramer Bets On Wachovia (WB) And Wells Fargo (WFC)

Today, Jim Cramer bought more shares of Wachovia (NYSE: WB), a stock which he already owns for his charitable trust, ActionAlertsPLUS.

Last night, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) priced its $10 billion equity offering, in which some of the proceeds will be utilized to buy Wachovia in a stock transaction. Both Wells Fargo and Wachovia are trading slightly down today on the offering.

Cramer picked up 200 shares of Wachovia, as this is a "backdoor" way for him to own Wells Fargo in the long term.

Cramer said, "The combination of Wells Fargo and Wachovia creates a banking powerhouse with nearly $700 billion in deposits and a very diverse business portfolio. The combined company is slated for $5 billion in cost savings and will see significant revenue synergies (retail/commercial bank and cross-selling) over time. Wells Fargo management expects the deal to be 20% accretive to earnings in 2011 and more beyond. I will take advantage of the weakness short term to build my WFC position for the long term."

After buying 200 shares of Wachovia today, Cramer's ActionAlertsPLUS now owns 4,800 shares of Wachovia.

Wells Fargo & Company is a financial holding company and a bank holding company.
Wachovia Corporation (Wachovia) is a financial holding company and a bank holding company.

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