Cramer needs to disclose conflict

“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer has been touting a stock that is a large holding of David Rocker, who is also a major investor in the company that Cramer founded — TheStreet.com. At least one person believes that Cramer needs to disclose this conflict of interest on his show.

The Informed Observer blogger Peter Cohan writes today that, “According to SEC filings, with 4.97% of the stock, David Rocker was one of the largest shareholders of TheStreet.com at the end of 2005. While this puts him well behind co-founder Cramer — who owns 9% — Rocker is still a significant owner.

“What I find interesting is that in the last six months, Cramer has been pounding the table for one of Rocker’s significant investments – Powerwave (PWAV) — on his CNBC show and on TheStreet.com. According to SEC filings, with 5.04% Rocker was the largest shareholder of PWAV at the end of 2005 – a position he began building in 2004. Since September 2005, Cramer has sounded a bull horn for PWAV on at least 10 separate occasions, based on my analysis of articles posted on TheStreet.com’s web site. Since his first bullish mention on September 12, 2005, PWAV has appreciated 33%.

“I’m curious whether Cramer’s bullishness on PWAV has anything to do with Rocker’s.”

Read the post here.