Cramer Touts Hudson City Bancorp

On Wednesday’s Mad Money, Jim Cramer invited the CEO of Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) Ron Hermance to discuss the company’s third quarter results. The results were an example of the consistency as the regional bank reported EPS of $.27, which was one cent better than expectations and two cents better than last year’s results. Hudson City Bancorp is regarded as one of the most conservatively managed banks in the market, a trait which seems to have been counted against them in the rally of the last 7-plus months.

“I look at Hudson City, HCBK, for you home gamers. Here is one of the, if not the most responsible lender in the business, hardly any bad loans. They actually made you money in 2008. This year, it’s left in the dust. It’s down 24% in the last twelve months. What’s wrong with the picture? It beat the earnings estimates by a penny…On the call, he talked about how Hudson City increased loan originations by $1.7 billion. Non-performing loans were 1.4% of total loans; half the rate of its peers. No exposure to commercial real no sub-prime loans. No option arms. $30 billion of good old fashioned mortgages…” — CNBC’s Mad Money 10/21/2009