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Buyers, Walk Away Now

Miner CVRD (RIO) is worth buying because it now has “a monopoly on nickel,” Jim Cramer said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Stop Trading!” segment.

Cramer said the market hates miners right now but makes an exception for the Brazilian metals giant because of its strong position in a crucial material. Cramer said CVRD’s position in nickel is not unlike Nelson Bunker Hunt’s failed effort 27 years ago to corner the silver market, except that CVRD “has got the staying power.”

Cramer also likes Sprint (S) . He contends that the latest quarter and comments on the conference call suggest management is saying, “We’re still stupid but not as stupid as we used to be.” Cramer called the fourth-quarter performance “a good quarter for a bad company” and said the stock, up 6% at $19.50, could head into the mid-20s should an acquirer come calling.

Cramer said Qwest (Q) is a “winner” because falling interest rates will allow the debt-heavy telco to save money by refinancing. He said the stock, up 3% Wednesday at $8.77, will “soon be a teenager.”

Cramer reiterated his comment that investors should look to the three D’s — diversified, defensive and dividend — amid market turmoil. He said those principles underlie his recommendation this morning of Coke (KO) , Procter & Gamble (PG) and Exxon (XOM) .