Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy For 2014

The Dow Jones Industrial Average didn�� hit 17,000 today. But at today�� closing bell, the Blue Chip benchmark and the S&P 500 index both ended the week with new record closes.

U.S. stocks edged higher Friday amid continued optimism around central-bank accommodation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at�16,947.08, rising 25 points, or 0.15%, led by gains in shares of Caterpillar (CAT), Merck (MRK) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The benchmark closed above its previous record of 16,945.92 hit on June 10.

The S&P 500 index added three points, or 0.17%, to close at 1,962.87. The Nasdaq Composite gained eight points, or 0.2%, to close at 4,368.

Hopes for slow-but-steady improvement in the U.S. economy and an accommodative Federal Reserve strengthened bullish market sentiment this week. Comments by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen Wednesday reinforced the view that the central bank isn�� in any rush to hike interest rates. That policy has buoyed stocks in recent years.

Hot US Companies To Invest In 2015: 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 Ben Levisohn]

  ExxonMobil’s shares have dropped 11.1% so far this year, after reporting disappointing earnings and declining production. It’s also underperformed both ConocoPhillips (COP), which has fallen 8.5% this year,� and Chevron (CVX),which is off� 10.7%, though neither�have exactly sparkled this year either.

• [By Claudia Assis]

  Major oil and gas companies were lower, with shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) �down 0.9%. Chevron Corp. (CVX) �shares retreated 0.4%, while shares of ConocoPhillips (COP) �were off 0.1%.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Chevron (NYSE: CVX  )
  Although I believe most of Chevron's growth will come from natural gas assets in Australia and Asia, the company owns more than 500,000 bpd of refining capacity from the two largest refineries in California. That could provide a sleeper growth opportunity if the United States ever chooses to develop the Monterey shale in the central and southern parts of the state. Recent estimates peg the total reserves in the formation as high as 15.4 billion barrels -- twice that of the Bakken. There are serious water and environmental concerns that are lacking solutions at the moment, but the formation would be a big boon to refiners on the West Coast. Aside from potentially lowering gasoline prices for drivers in the region, the influx in cheap oil would certainly attract Asian countries that have fallen over each other to get to Canada's land-locked oil sands. The margins on Monterey exports could be huge, depending on recovery economics and oil quality. �

• [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.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: United Health Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Philip Morris Inc (NYSE: PM), Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Economic Releases Expected: �German PPI, Canadian CPI, Chinese house price data

  Friday

• [By Dividend]

  Philip Morris International (PM) has a market capitalization of $135.05 billion. The company employs 87,100 people, generates revenue of $77.393 billion and has a net income of $9.154 billion. Philip Morris International�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $14.827 billion. The EBITDA margin is 19.16 percent (the operating margin is 17.89 percent and the net profit margin 11.83 percent).

• [By Victor Selva]

  Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) manufactures and markets cigarettes outside the U.S. in 180 countries. The company麓s plan is to introduce new packaging, new blends and other line extensions. A key driver of the company is the strong market share and the economies of scale. Also, the company has combated unfavorable tax regulations with price increases, showing a good price-elasticity.

• [By Alexandra Scaggs]

  Then the bank appeared to backpedal a bit in its note yesterday, cutting back on its recommended holdings in Ultimate Software Group(ULTI) and Mastercard(MA) and adding to its recommended positions in Anadarko Petroleum Corp.(APC), an energy stock, and Philip Morris International Inc.(PM), a consumer-staples stock. Morgan Stanley strategist Adam Parker �and his�team found that times when value stocks outperform growth stocks by such a wide margin “are typically followed by periods where value outperforms.”

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Dan Burrows]

  Rival Colgate-Palmolive (CL) has different concerns, namely sluggishness in emerging markets where it enjoys commanding market share and derives more than half its revenue.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Shauna O'Brien]

  Before Tuesday’s opening bell, fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) reported lower first quarter earnings, as last year’s earnings were impacted by a tax benefit.�

  MCD’s Earnings in Brief

  MCD posted Q1 earnings of�$1.205 billion, or $1.21 per share, down from $1.270 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year ago.� Revenue rose to�$6.70 billion from $6.61 billion last year. On average, analysts expected to see earnings of $1.24 per share and�$6.73 billion in revenue.

  CEO Commentary

  Don Thompson, President and CEO of MCD, noted: “By leveraging a deeper understanding of what our customers want with the power of our business�model, our investments in restaurant capabilities and modernization, and our hard-earned competitive advantages, we will grow McDonald’s business and deliver enduring profitable growth over the long term. As we begin the�second quarter, global comparable sales for the month of April are expected to be modestly positive.”

  MCD’s Dividend

  MCD paid its last quarterly dividend of 81 cents on March 17. We expect the company to declare its next dividend in May.

  Stock Performance

  McDonald’s shares were up $1.00, or 1.00%, during pre-market trading Tuesday. The stock is up 2.72% YTD.

  MCD Dividend Snapshot

  As market close of April 21, 2014

  Click here to see the complete history of MCD dividends.

• [By joe@4percentportfolio.com]

  McDonald's Corp. (MCD) is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world, with nearly 34,500 restaurants in 119 countries. McDonald's success was built on an idea of consistency. Consistency in food preparation, quality, and value. This consistency has been the model for other restaurant franchises for many years now. It has also led to a consistency of reliable and increasing dividend payments for the company's shareholders.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 MONEYMORNING.COM]

  Here's how Apple gets the profit it needs by 2018 to reach a $1 trillion market cap:

  The iPhone: Hand-wringing over the slowing growth in iPhone sales has been overblown. The law of large numbers dictates that Apple won't see 100% annual growth in iPhone sales ever again, but growth will remain steady. Research firm IDC projects that AAPL will sell 63.3 million more iPhones in 2018 than it does in 2014. Assuming profit margins stay about the same, such an increase will yield about $8.9 billion in additional annual net income by 2018. The iTunes Store/Software and Services: This previously quiet corner of Apple's empire is about to become a major contributor to the bottom line. Macquarie Capital projects that profits from this segment will explode from $10.95 billion this year to $19.12 billion in 2018, when it will account for a third of Apple's total profits. That's good for another $8.17 billion in annual net income. Wearable Tech: It's almost certain we'll see the rumored iWatch this fall - possibly as early as Sept. 9, when the iPhone 6 is expected to be unveiled. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty has said that Apple could sell between 30 million and 60 million iWatches in its first year, with margins in excess of 40%. Assuming a sales price of $200 and 45 million iWatches sold, that would yield about $2 billion in profit in 2015. The wearable tech market is brand new and is expected to grow rapidly over the next several years, so by 2018 Apple should be wringing about $4 billion in annual net income from the iWatch and its successors. The Internet of Things: As a tech titan with an already powerful ecosystem, Apple is well-positioned to profit from the Internet of Things, a shorthand term for the idea that wireless networks and sensors will allow not just devices, but our cars, clothes, and home appliances to communicate. Wearable tech is a subset of this, but the Internet of Things is much, much bigger. Apple'
• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  That total was based on similar projections that have Alibaba raising between $15 billion and $20 billion in its initial public offering later this year. If Alibaba can raise $20 billion, it will be the largest U.S. IPO in history, eclipsing the $19.65 billion Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) raised in 2008, and the $18 billion General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) raised in 2010.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Rick Munarriz]

  This comes at an interesting time. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) has already gone public with plans to incorporate the Pandora-like iTunes Radio in the next incarnation of iTunes.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Boeing’s (BA) shares rose yesterday following its investor day, in which it said it would seek to become more like Apple (AAPL). Today, the gains are continuing as investors digest the meat of the presentation.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  A couple months ago when hedge fund celebrity David Einhorn was making a media blitz to sell his "iPref" idea to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , he made an interesting comparison to Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) . He noted that Apple had generated over $20 billion in operating cash flow in the fourth quarter, which was "more money than Amazon has made in its entire life."

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Doug Ehrman]

  With the Linux Foundation announcing the rollout of the Open Daylight Project, the endorsement by both IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO  ) is a major coup. Given the potential near-term threat that the project represents to Cisco, its involvement comes as something of a surprise. The longer-term implications, however, show the strategic advantage for the company and why it may have thrown its support behind the project.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Low dividends are easier to pay
  When you look at the rest of the low-payout-ratio list, you'll see similarly conservative dividend practices. Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) has just a 22% payout ratio, but its dividend yield is just 1.2%, despite having the huge profit engines of Marvel-based movies and its blockbuster media network to rely on. Similarly, IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) has made great strides in the tech industry, diversifying early beyond its former reliance on hardware and scoring much more lucrative high-margin business in other sectors. But even after a recent dividend increase, IBM still yields less than 2%.

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. I like this global technology juggernaut, the ability to consistently repurchase shares, raise dividends for 16 years and its vision to earn $20/share by 2015. The company has increased dividends for 18 years in a row, and has managed to boost them by 18.80%/year over the past decade. Currently, the stock trades at 14 times earnings and yields 1.90%. Check my analysis of IBM.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Before thinking that these five are the biggest drags on the DJIA for 2014, other DJIA stocks have been dead weight for a bit longer then 2014. Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) are down some 18% from their 52-week high, and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) are down some 14% from their 52-week high. Their problems began in 2014, so they are not on the year-to-date loser list of the DJIA stocks.