Hot Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now

Taking cues from a troubling and unexpected slowdown in China's growth, markets suffered their worst day in months on Monday. Two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon this afternoon drove stocks down further as investors struggled to understand the attacks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) lost 265 points, or 1.8%, to close at 14,599.

All 30 Dow stocks lost ground today, and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) ended as one of just five to lose less than 1%. Losing 0.5% was enough to earn P&G a spot among the day's top performers as the company raised its dividend by 7%, to an annual payout of around 3%.�

Industrials and energy stocks slipped on the Chinese slowdown, as the country saw its industrial production advance 9.5% in the first quarter. While that growth isn't shabby these days from a domestic standpoint, it's a 0.5% slowdown from last year's clip. China's GDP grew at 7.7% after growing by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) ended Monday as one of the worst-performing blue chips in the index, losing 2.8%.

Hot Promising Companies For 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]

  As with just about any Buffett purchases, shares of ExxonMobil have gotten a pop. They’ve gained 1.9% to $94.96, well above the S&P 500′s 0.3% gain. Exxon has also outpaced ConocoPhillips (COP), which has dropped 0.8% to $73.06 and Chevron (CVX), which has risen 0.4% to $119.99. BP (BP) is up 1.2% to $47.15.

• [By Claudia Assis]

  Chevron (CVX) �shares ended 1.6% lower, the worst-performing stock on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The largest percentage loser among the Dow 30 today was Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), down 4.16% to close at $111.60 in a 52-week range of $111.25 to $127.83. The company�� earnings report included lower production, lower margins, and lower prices for both crude and refined products. There was not a lot to like about what the company had to say. Chevron�� volume today was more than double the daily average of around 5.8 million shares.

• [By Victor Selva]

  It is best suited for investors looking for diversification across sectors at a low cost. Let's see the fund麓s holding list:

  Apple Inc (AAPL) 3.21% Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) 2.80% Google Inc (GOOG) 1.97% General Electric Co (GE) 1.80% Microsoft Corp (MSFT) 1.78% Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 1.62% Chevron Corp (CVX) 1.52% Procter & Gamble Co (PG) 1.40% JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) 1.38% Wells Fargo & Co (WFC)1.38%

  Total Percentage of Top 10 Holdings: 18.86%

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Ben Levisohn]

  Maybe McDonald’s (MCD) investors are loving after all.

  AP

  Yesterday, McDonald’s dropped 0.3% after reporting same-store sales–and Barron’s panned the stock. Today, however, McDonald’s shares have gained 3.5% to $98.56, leaving Burger King (BKW), which has ticked up 0.3% to $27.63, and Wendy’s (WEN), which has dropped 1.1% to $9.30, in their dust.

  Sterne Agee’s Lynne Collier and Wesley Carmichael explain why investors enthusiastic about McDonald’s prospects:

  We are incrementally more positive on MCD following today’s comments from CFO Peter Bensen at the Bank of America Consumer Conference. Most importantly, Mr. Bensen spoke about the Company’s investigation into increasing leverage in the capital structure, which we believe could result in increased return of capital to shareholders…

  Still, McDonald’s has dipped 0.4% during the past 12 months, even as Wendy’s has surged 70% and Burger King Worldwide has jumped 49%.

  The question now: Is this the beginning of a new trend for McDonald’s?

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Big Earnings Movers: McDonald�� Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is down 0.6% at $94.59 after a so-so report and a downbeat forecast. Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down 3.4% at $50.67 on added caution for the current quarter. V.F. Corp. (NYSE: VFC) is up 3.4% at $211.24. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) is up 3.6% at $76.38. NVR Corp. (NYSE: NVR) is down 4.1% at $893.40.

• [By Alyssa Oursler]

  McDonald’s (MCD) is trying to lure consumers into its restaurants by playing to the pumpkin-everything trend, as MCD is now offering a premium-priced pumpkin latte.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Flipping burgers
  So when you first hear about employees attending McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) Hamburger University or Starbucks staffers taking Barista Basics courses and earning college credits for it, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're the educational equivalent of cotton candy: a fun snack but hardly fulfilling.

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Steve Symington]

  Over the past six months, to say�Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) stock has fallen from grace seems a massive understatement. To be sure, take a look at Apple's dismal performance next to the respectable gains offered by the S&P 500 over the same interval:

• [By Tom Luongo]

  Literally everything we'd become used to in computing is undergoing rapid change. Not all of that change is good or high quality. Some of it is simply pulling a first mover with slightly better stuff -- Google's (GOOG) Android filling the void left by Windows Mobile and Symbian, for example, to become the anti-Apple (AAPL). A lot of it is junk.

• [By Daniel Sparks]

  Another report places Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) at the top when it comes to customer satisfaction. But some of Apple's competitors are closing in -- particularly, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) .

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Jon C. Ogg]

  Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target is now $68 (versus a $59.93 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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]

  Following in stride, IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) rose 2.5% in after-hours trading after reporting strong earnings despite a drop in revenue. Earnings per share rose to $3.91, ahead of the Street's consensus at $3.77, while revenue dipped 3% to $24.92 billion. Analysts had expected sales of $25.35 billion. Both service and hardware sales were down; however, software sales grew 4%. The tech giant also raised its EPS outlook to $16.90 from $16.70, and CFO Mark Loughridge said the company was poised to deliver earnings of $20 per share by 2015.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The bad news: Major stock indexes finished lower today. The good news: The damage was not as bad as it could have been, as Walt Disney (DIS), International Business Machines (IBM), 3M (MMM), Walgreen (WAG) and Genworth Financial (GNW) rose.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Next week investors will be waiting for several key earnings reports including Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 abirk]

  Philip Morris International (PM) is reaching new heights in 2013. With its products being sold in 180 countries it is the proud owner of about 15 cigarette brands- Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, and Chesterfield being some of them. FY2013 looks bright for this tobacco giant. Reasons Why 2013 Is Looking Bright

• [By Robert Stephens]

  Philip Morris
  The 4.4% yield offered by Philip Morris� (NYSE: PM  ) �is well-covered at 1.5x, which seems to be very sensible and shows that the company is not over-extending itself when it comes to payments to shareholders. This makes the income from the stock even more sustainable and highlights its potential as a sound defensive play.

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  Altria Group (MO) was able to spin-off its Kraft Foods division in 2007. Shareholders in Altria received shares in Kraft for each share of Altria stock they held. In 2008, this was followed by the spin-off of Phillip Morris International (PM), which represented the international tobacco business of Altria Group.