Mad Money Spotlight: Cramer Likes Chinalco

Aluminum Corp. of China(ACH Quote), otherwise known as Chinalco, may have been in the headlines recently after its deal to buy a big piece of the mining giant Rio Tinto(RTP Quote) fell apart last week, but Jim Cramer remains bullish on the company's stock. In the Lightning Round segment of his "Mad Money" broadcast Friday evening, Cramer said, "I've been looking at this one. I like that pick and I want to be a buyer." Chinalco was to infuse $19.5 billion into debt-ridden Rio Tinto, in exchange for doubling its stake in the Anglo-Australian miner to 18%. But rallying commodities prices since the deal was struck in February made Chinalco's Rio investment seem too cheap to Rio shareholders. This, combined with political controversies spurred by China's raw-materials landgrab across the globe, eventually doomed the deal. Instead, Rio chose to raise money through a rights offering and to join some of its iron-ore assets with BHP Billiton(BHP Quote). Chinaclo, based in Beijing, is a bauxite miner and China's biggest alumina smelter. Blaming falling metals prices, it lost about 1.9 billion yuan in its first quarter. Revenue, meanwhile, dropped 24%. (The company posted full-year 2008 revenue of more than $9 billion.) The company's stock price has followed the volatility in the commodities markets over the last year. Trading at $24.97 Monday morning, down $1.38 on the session, the stock has given up 39% from its 52-week high of $41.23, reached almost exactly a year ago in June. But it has rallied off its October bottom, more than tripling in value since. In the wake of the scrapped Rio alliance, some have speculated that Chinalco may sell its 9% chunk, though the company hasn't made its plans public. It has also subtly raised the issue of monopoly collusion between Rio Tinto and BHP, saying it will be monitoring the situation. source:www.thestreet.com