Thursday, October 23, 2014

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014

Related MRK Pharma ETFs in Focus on String of Earnings Beat - ETF News And Commentary Stocks Lower As Earnings Season Takes Back Seat To Geopolitical Uncertainties Week Ahead: July Jobs Report, FOMC and GDP (Fox Business)

Merck (NYSE: MRK) is a blue chip "Big Pharma" stock that is up for the last week, month, quarter, six months and year of market action.

For 2014, Merck has risen by nearly 19 percent. There are three reasons for long-term investors to buy shares of Merck in expectation that the share price will increase even more.

Merck Has A Solid Pipeline Of Products And Services

Top Dow Dividend Companies For 2015: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

    McDonald�� is a well-recognized company that fulfills cravings and demand for quick and delicious food choices that many consumers across the globe enjoy. The company’s�Holdings Co. Japan Ltd. released its full-year profit outlook on Thursday, and according to Bloomberg, said that it is cutting its profit forecast by more than half. The stock has been trading sideways in the last couple of years, but is currently surging higher. Over the last four-quarters, earnings and revenues have been rising. However, investors have had conflicting feelings about recent earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, McDonald�� has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what McDonald�� does this quarter.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: Visa Inc.(V)

Visa Inc., a payments technology company, engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company owns and operates VisaNet, a global processing platform that provides transaction processing services. It also offers a range of payments platforms, which enable credit, charge, deferred debit, debit, and prepaid payments, as well as cash access for consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company provides its payment platforms under the Visa, Visa Electron, PLUS, and Interlink brand names. In addition, it offers value-added services, including risk management, issuer processing, loyalty, dispute management, value-added information, and CyberSource-branded services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By David Goldman]

    Apple is also expected to launch a mobile payments platform that works with the new iPhones and iWatch. Using a technology called "near field communications," or NFC, the new iDevices will be able to interact with payment terminals in a simple tap. Apple reportedly has deals in place with the major credit card companies, including American Express (AXP), MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V).

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jeremy Bowman]

    On another volatile day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) finished down 115 points, or 0.8%. However, the IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) effect was in full splendor today as the tech giant once again pushed the blue chips down disproportionately. Since the Dow is price-weighted, IBM contributes a sixth of the value of the index, and today, it knocked an additional 0.4% off the finish. Meanwhile, the broad-based S&P 500 fell just 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq actually closed up slightly.

  • [By Dividends4Life]

    Related Articles
    - Genuine Parts Company (GPC) Dividend Stock Analysis
    - International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Dividend Stock Analysis
    - Monsanto Co. (MON) Dividend Stock Analysis
    - Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) Dividend Stock Analysis
    - More Stock Analysis

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)

Philip Morris International Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside of the United States. Its international product brand line comprises Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The company also offers its products under the A Mild, Dji Sam Soe, and A Hijau in Indonesia; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in the Russian Federation; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont, Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates primarily in the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Tim Melvin]

    Some of the traditionally defensive stocks like Phillip Morris International (PM) and Merck (MRK) also fail our test for operating conditions and financial changes. Yield chasers have also pushed the value of their shares to unsustainable levels, and are unlikely to see much more than mid- to low-single-digit profit growth for several years.

  • [By Lawrence Meyers]

    That means you should go with either Altria Group (MO) or Philip Morris International (PM). And if you’re only interested in buying one, I think I�� select MO stock. It pays a slightly better divided (5.2% vs. 4.7%).

  • [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

    There are definitely concerns for Phillip Morris, which include decreased market share in many areas and poor debt management. However, up until this point, Phillip Morris has done a good job rewarding its shareholders. While history usually repeats itself, that�� not necessarily an all-positive in this case. Phillip Morris didn�� hold up well in 2008/early 2009. If a similar environment were to present itself again, then Phillip Morris wouldn�� be a top option ��regardless of the impressive yield. In the meantime, Phillip Morris is an OUTPERFORM.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: Apple Inc.(AAPL)

Apple Inc., together with subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. The company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores, direct sales force, third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, it sells third-party Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores; and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The company sells its products to consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise, government, and creative markets. As of September 25, 2010, it had 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. The company, formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jason Moser, Eric Bleeker, CFA, and Chris Hill]

    In this segment, Jason and Eric discuss Pandora, whether or not its payments to artists are unfair, and what the endgame is for Pandora as it aims to stay competitive against new streaming services, such as the one Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) is launching.

  • [By Mark Morelli]

    Positive trends have Silicon Valley tech giants Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) , and the century-old�International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM  ) �poised for future success in each of their diverse, but somewhat interrelated, businesses.�

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:

  • [By Eric Volkman]

    It's one of the steadiest dividend payers on the market, and it's continuing to fly level. Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) has declared a fresh quarterly common stock dividend, which is to be $0.34 per share, paid on August 15 to shareholders of record as of July 23. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution; this was paid in May. Prior to that, Colgate-Palmolive handed out $0.31 per share.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: Chevron Corporation(CVX)

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment involves in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as holds interest in a gas-to-liquids project. The Downstream segment engages in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products primarily under the Chevron, Texaco, and Caltex brand names; transportation of crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car; and manufacture and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives. It a lso produces and markets coal and molybdenum; and holds interests in 13 power assets with a total operating capacity of approximately 3,100 megawatts, as well as involves in cash management and debt financing activities, insurance operations, real estate activities, energy services, and alternative fuels and technology business. Chevron Corporation has a joint venture agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation. The company was formerly known as ChevronTexaco Corp. and changed its name to Chevron Corporation in May 2005. Chevron Corporation was founded in 1879 and is based in San Ramon, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Claudia Assis]

    Major oil companies, however, declined, with shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) �down 0.1%. Chevron Corp. (CVX) �shares were off 0.3%, while shares of ConocoPhillips (COP) �fell 0.4%.

  • [By Travis Hoium]

    Big oil companies and refiners ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) will both report earnings in the next two days, and they'll likely face the same challenges as Phillips 66. The difference is that they have much more exposure to oil exploration, which is doing quite well on rising oil prices. This is one of the advantages of investing in big oil companies: They have exposure to both the good and the bad in the market.

  • [By Anna Prior]

    Chevron Corp.(CVX) said it expects its second-quarter production to decline slightly from the year-earlier period as lower output abroad offsets a modest increase domestically.

  • [By David G. Dietze, JD, CFA, CFP]

    Many ETFs are based on a highly specialized index representing a tiny slice of the market. That can make them quite volatile, and often unduly buffeted by the fate of just one or two stocks. For example, the Energy Select Sector Fund ETF (XLE) has over 35% of its assets in just two stocks, Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX). If you like those stocks simply buy them and skip that ETF. And if you don�� like those stocks you won�� want to have an ETF with 35% of its assets in them.
    Bottom line, indexing is a sound strategy, but is best pursued using conventional index funds, not ETFs.

No comments:

Post a Comment