How Do the Analysts Not Get This? By Jim Cramer About this article: What's with these analysts? Just like the fiasco of bank earnings last year, where the analysts kept their numbers high in the face of obvious losses and dislocations, the analysts are once again wild high in their pitching. Did anyone really think that Caterpillar could earn $4 or $5 in this environment? Did anyone think that Du Pont wasn't banking on a much better quarter than was possible? Why can't these analysts extrapolate the horrors of a worldwide recession and take numbers for these industrials down to reasonable and doable benchmarks? I am reading through the Du Pont quarter, and it's so obviously terrible that, well, couldn't it have been obvious before the quarter was reported? Do we have to see the minus 3, 4, 5 GDP numbers before we recognize that even the best of the industrials can't come near what they thought they could... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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