Saturday, November 1, 2014

5 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014

Investors can overlook troubles in the Nasdaq, seeing that as just a problem for speculators. But the Dow Jones industrial average is the "stock market" for many who rely on the measure's movements to tell them how stocks are doing. And the Dow is telling investors that something is not quite right.

The Dow tumbled 167 points to 16,246 on Monday, which marks a cumulative loss of 327 points in the past three trading days.

DOWN 300 IN 3 DAYS: Here's what's killing the Dow

Dow drops tend to get the attention of individual investors, who had been gradually getting the courage to leave the safety of the bond market and hop back into stocks. More problems with the Dow might unnerve investors just as they were getting interested in stocks again.

Stocks at large are rolling over a bit as investors take off some speculative bets from last year, and blue chips are taking a hit, too.

Top 10 Wireless Telecom Companies To Invest In Right Now: 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 Reuters]

    Kathy Willens/AP JPMorgan Chase reported a better-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit as the biggest U.S. bank kept a lid on costs and set aside less money to cover bad loans. The bank, which agreed last week to pay $2.6 billion to settle government and private claims over its handling of accounts of fraudster Bernie Madoff, said fourth-quarter net income fell 7.3 percent to $5.28 billion, or $1.30 a share. Adjusted for special items, the company earned $1.40 a share, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.35, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The results took into account gains from the sale of Visa (V) shares and One Chase Manhattan Plaza and legal expenses related to the Madoff settlements. JPMorgan (JPM), which agreed to pay nearly $20 billion in 2013 to settle assorted legal claims, had estimated that settlement of the Madoff claims would subtract $850 million from fourth-quarter earnings. "It was in the best interests of our company and shareholders for us to accept responsibility, resolve these issues and move forward," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement Tuesday. JPMorgan shares, which have been trading this month at their highest levels since 2000, were up 0.5 percent at $58 before the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock rose 33 percent in 2013, in line with the 35 percent rise in the KBW Bank index and slightly ahead of the 29 percent gain in Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. Special items highlighted by the bank subtracted 10 cents a share from fourth-quarter earnings, compared with a two-cent boost in the same quarter of 2012. The special items included a benefit of 21 cents a share from the sale of Visa shares and 8 cents from the sale of One Chase Manhattan Plaza and an expense of 27 cents a share from legal bills, including the Madoff settlements. Three months ago, JPMorgan reported its first quarterly loss under Dimon after recording after-tax expenses of $7.2 billi

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    After announcing last Friday that they would not be processing any transactions for Russian banks, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) restarted payment processing on Saturday. Payment processing was halted following the inclusion of individuals who own banks on a list of 20 Russian officials and businesspeople who have been identified as targets of U.S. sanctions related to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

  • [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

    During the quarter, Visa (V) reported strong year-颅��ver-颅��ear growth with earnings up 14%, as the business continues to operate at a superior level ��very much in-颅��ine with the past several years. Visa has been a core holding for our clients since October 2008 and rarely has a year gone by without the Company and its partners having to contend with lawsuits and legislation aimed at limiting pricing power and 4 distribution. 2014 is no exception, though most of the news has been favorable, with a ruling for "no change" to Visa's exclusivity for high-颅��alue signature transactions. We continue to see Visa's pricing power as being derived from VisaNet's superior value proposition relative to substitutes, particularly paper-颅��based payments, automated clearinghouse (ACH), and more recently, "cryptocurrencies" (e.g. Bitcoin). While these emerging payment platforms, including PayPal and Square, represent very legitimate substitutes to traditional interchange, in our view they are not quite "good enough," as evidenced by merchant acceptance that is largely sequestered to small businesses. While we have been net sellers of Visa over the past 18 months, it has been solely due to valuation ��our primary tool for risk management at Wedgewood. We believe Visa will continue to maintain its superior competitive positioning, as competitors find it difficult to achieve the network-颅��ffect benefits that have compounded the value proposition of VisaNet, particularly as acceptance and issuance of the Visa brand continues to expand.From David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio)'s Wedgewood Partners first quarter 2014 commentary.
    Also check out: David Rolfe Undervalued Stocks David Rolfe Top Growth Companies David Rolfe High Yield stocks, and Stocks that David Rolfe keeps buying
    Currently 0.00/512345

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  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    A week of calm turned stormy for the major stock indexes, as American Express (AXP),�Boeing�(BA), Visa (V), Noble Corp. (NE) and Johnson Controls (JCI) tumbled.

5 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 Will Ashworth]

    ��t the moment AWS is outperforming and out-innovating all comers. But nothing is permanent. The recent news from IBM (IBM) is a stark reminder that even those would be written off as dinosaurs have it in them to innovate. AWS should take heed of that and not take their foot off the gas, even for a moment. Even for a power house, the old adage ‘you snooze, you lose’ rings true.”

  • [By Shauna O'Brien]

    Barclays Capital reported on Monday that it has cut its rating on International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

    The firm has downgraded IBM from “Overweight” to “Equal-Weight,” and has cut its price target from $215 to $190. This new price target suggests a 15% increase from the stock’s current price of $182.50.

    An analyst from the firm noted: ��t is increasingly clear to us that investors will evaluate IBM on cash flow more than earnings until revenue starts to grow meaningfully. As a result, we are moving our rating for IBM to Equal Weight from Overweight even though shares have been down over the past several months. The mainframe ��atalyst’ has passed and positive benefits from analytics seem to be offset by secular shits to SaaS and Cloud, which seem to adversely impact all of IBM’s segments in some way. We have recently performed several surveys that show the disruptive impact of cloud and SaaS are only in the early innings and are set to be more disruptive in 2014 for our whole sector.��/p>

    IBM shares were down $1.70, or 0.92%, during Monday morning trading. The stock has been mostly flat YTD.

  • [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

    IBM is a global technology company that provides essential products and services to companies and consumers worldwide. The company announced a $1.2 billion commitment on Friday to build 15 data centers in key financial and geographic hubs. The stock has been struggling over the last couple of years but is currently surging higher. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been rising while revenues have been declining, which has left investors optimistic about IBM�� earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, IBM has been a relative year-to-date performance leader. Look for IBM to OUTPERFORM.

  • [By Dimitra DeFotis]

    Among the largest components of the�SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded fund�(DIA),�Visa�(V) and�International Business Machines�(IBM) are slighlty higher today, while�Goldman Sachs�(GS) shares rose nearly a point.

5 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 Rich Smith]

    The commonly accepted wisdom in the cigarette industry goes something like this: Smoking is in decline in the United States. Therefore, if you want to make money on tobacco, you must look abroad. You must buy Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) stock.

  • [By Holly LaFon]

    Company % of Assets Pepsico (PEP) 3.4 Philip Morris (PM) 2.3 Tesco PLC ADR (TSCO) 2.1 Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) 2.1 Microsoft (MSFT) 1.9 Merck (MRK) 1.9 Procter & Gamble (PG) 1.8 Avon Products (AVN) 1.6 Wal��art (WMT) 1.6 Medtronic 1.6 Hospira (HSP) 1.5 BP (BP) 1.4 Medco Health Solutions (MHS) 1.3 Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 1.3 Unilever NV (UL) 1.3
    Jeff is also optimistic about natural gas and believes the recession in Europe could be setting up "a generational buying opportunity."

  • [By Sean Williams]

    The end result of these multiple actions has been an ongoing reduction in smoking rates over the past four decades and tougher times for U.S. tobacco producers such as Altria (NYSE: MO  ) and Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI  ) . In fact, a tough domestic sales climate was one reason Altria decided to spin off its overseas operations into Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) in 2008. By separating its business, the hope was that investors would have a better understanding of the fundamental forces driving Altria and Philip Morris.

5 Best Blue Chip Stocks For 2014: 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 MONEYMORNING.COM]

    Overhyped Products That Failed No. 11: Arch Deluxe Burger.

    When you think of McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), you think of an upscale clientele, right? Hmmm... maybe not. But that was the demographic the fast food giant targeted with its Arch Deluxe burger in 1996. And McDonald's spent a staggering $100 million to promote it. Unfortunately, it was expensive and, at 610 calories, not very healthy. But the worst sin was that it wasn't all that tasty. McDonald's gradually phased out the ill-conceived burger.

    Follow me on Twitter @DavidGZeiler.

  • [By Matt Thalman]

    McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) lost 2.23% this past week, after the company announced earnings Monday morning. The fast-food leader missed Wall Street's expected earnings per share by $0.02, while same-store sales growth was only 1% during the quarter. That's less than GDP growth and a possible sign that McDonald's is weakening. In addition, CEO Don Thompson told analysts that based on recent sales results, the remainder of the year will be a challenge. Poor sales growth, an earnings miss, and a warning that things may get bad as we move toward the end of the year are all things investors don't want to hear. So it may be a rough year for McDonald's shareholders for the last few months of 2013, but at least the company's 3.1% dividend yield should help long term investor's ride out the bad weather.�

  • [By Alyssa Oursler]

    When investors looks for dividends, they often opt for venerable blue-chips like Verizon (VZ), Procter & Gamble (PG) or McDonald’s (MCD). But it’s important to remember that size — or the size of the company, that is — isn’t everything.

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