The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) jumped again today, riding a wave that carried the S&P 500 up 1.2% and lifted the Nasdaq 1.8%. The blue chips finished the day with a gain of 129 points, or 0.9%, topping 14,800 at the closing bell.
The Dow got some help from the Federal Reserve, which released the minutes from its Open Market Committee earlier than expected. After learning that 154 people had gotten the release, including employees at some major banks, the central bank was forced to release the notes at 9 a.m. instead of the usual 2 p.m. There was little new information from the Fed, but the news seemed to confirm investors' belief that the central bankers would keep present market stimulus measures in practice until the economy improves and the unemployment rate comes down. Some at the central bank said they wanted to reduce the Fed's bond buying, but overall the market interpreted the report favorably. Hopes for a better-than-expected earnings season also appeared to drive stocks higher.
Top Value 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 Mark Morelli]
How will the potential disruption impact business and affect investors? Should the executives at ATM manufacturers such as Diebold (NYSE: DBD ) �be worried? Credit�and debit card processors like MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) and Visa (NYSE: V ) �are already benefiting from the trend to a cashless society. Could things get even better?
Top Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 Associated Press]
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) CEO Don Thompson revealed at an analyst conference this week that he shed about 20 pounds in the past year by getting his "butt up" and "working out again." But he said he hasn't changed his habit of eating at McDonald's "every single day."
Top Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL )
Colgate's shares are trading well below the $62 high they hit just last month. The consumer goods company is heavily levered to international sales, with more than 80% of its business coming from outside the U.S. and more than half coming from emerging markets. - [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.
- [By TaniaC]
Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL) is a consumer products company whose products are marketed in over 200 countries and territories throughout the world. It operates in two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care and Pet Nutrition.
Top Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 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 Patricio Kehoe]
Phillip Morris International Inc. (PM) is the world�� largest tobacco manufacturer in the world, after China National Tobacco, and holds 29% of the entire industry�� market, outside the U.S and China. Most commonly known for its flagship brand, Marlboro (accounts for one-third of total volume), this firm also owns seven of the 15 international leading cigarette brands. Its supporting brands ���&M, Phillip Morris, Bond Street, Parliament, Chesterfield and Lark ���ave allowed the company to attain consistent growth margins over the past decade. Given its addictive product and global manufacturing and distribution system, this comes as little surprise.
- [By Garrett Baldwin]
As the world's second-largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) is an ideal sin stock.
And with numbers like these, it's also an ideal way to play global growth...
Top Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 Ben Levisohn]
Last week, shares of Chevron (CVX) got hammered after the company met earnings forecasts but missed on revenue and offered disappointing 2014 production guidance. Now Wall Street is pondering that eternal question: To buy or not to buy?
Associated PressChevron fell 4.1% on Friday, and helped drag down ExxonMobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP), which released results of its own last week. Exxon dropped 2% on Friday, while ConocoPhillips fell 1.2%.
UBS analyst William Featherston and team say Chevron looks fully valued:
[Chevron] currently trades at a 36% discount to the S&P 500, slightly above its 5-year relative average of 34% and the 10-year average of 33%. While [Chevron] appears fully valued on relative P/E vs. its historical average, it remains >1,000 [basis points] below [Exxon's] relative P/E multiple.
[Chevron's] enterprise value is trading at 5.5x and 5.7x 2014E and 2015E [debt-adjusted cash flow] respectively, over a half turn above its historical average of 4.9x.�[Chevron] is also now trading at a ~0.8 turn discount to Integrated peers on 2014- 2015E EV/DACF, in line with its historical 0.9 turn discount. Given its attractive 2015-17 growth outlook and a more favorable asset mix (e.g., more oil-weighted upstream, less downstream), we believe�[Chevron] has been re-rated upward over the last few years despite missing production growth targets and see limited scope for upside with its EV/DACF now well above its historical average.
Citigroup’s Faisel Khan still rates Chevron a Buy but sound like they’re starting to get worried:
The main deviation from our forecast is a prolonged ramp-up of Angola LNG and Papa-Terra. We have revised our estimates to account for this. In our view, the delay of a number of projects is calling into question [Chevron's] production target of 3.3mmboe/d in 2017. In our view, the target appears feasible given the number of projects under construction and operatin
- [By Jonathan Yates]
In terms of investing for the future, in June 2008, Petrobras Brasileiro was trading at over $70 a share. Obviously, the Great Recession had an impact. But other oil giants such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) have rebounded.
- [By Matt Thalman]
Exxon's price-to-earnings ratio, which is what Brian used to determine the cheapest company, was 9.3, while the next lowest P/E ratio for any other Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) component was 9.5, for Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) and JPMorgan Chase. There are probably a number of reasons the stock is trading at such a deep discount right now, such as a higher future P/E of 11.11, possible problems relating to recent oil spills, and, most importantly, the price of oil. While the short-term oil-spill problems shouldn't change a long-term investor's thesis, it will weigh on the minds of short-sighted traders. When it comes to the price of oil and its volatility, anyone investing in any oil company needs to fully understand that profits and stock prices are likely to fluctuate with the changes to the price of the commodity.
- [By Isaac Pino, CPA]
Since acquiring Texaco in 2001, Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) has been embroiled in a legal battle related to Texaco's operations in Ecuador in the 1960s. The Fool discussed the background of the case, which revolves around environmental contamination due to an oil spill, in the article, "Exclusive Fool Interview: A Look at Both Sides of Chevron's Nightmare Legal Battle." To learn firsthand how this case has evolved and where it stands today, we conducted interviews with both parties to the case ��plaintiffs and defendants. The following interview took place in late 2012 with Graham Erion, an attorney for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs who are suing Chevron.
Top Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 Aristotle Munarriz]
AP/Dave Martin The last week of February was a redemptive week for three fading retailers, but it's hard to argue that any of them will remain market darlings for long. J.C. Penney (JCP) was one of the market's biggest winners, soaring 29 percent after posting improving quarterly results. The struggling department store chain posted a narrower loss than analysts were forecasting, posting positive comparable-store sales during the holiday period for the first time in a couple of years. Barnes & Noble (BKS) also moved higher by 8 percent last week on strong financial results. The bookseller that outlasted Borders came through with a quarterly profit of $0.86 a share, blowing past the $0.61 a share that Wall Street pros were targeting. Its Nook business is still suffering from sharp declines, but its actual superstores are holding up surprisingly well. An analyst at Maxim Group boosted his price target on the shares from $20 to $32. Best Buy (BBY) also got a boost from a better than expected report during the holiday quarter. Best Buy's profit for the holiday period declined to $1.24 a share, but that was well ahead of the $1.01 a share that analysts were expecting. Shares of Best Buy also rose 8 percent on the week. These chains seemed to be on the way out last year, and all of them have brought in new CEOs over the past two years. Seeing the stocks move at least 8 percent higher and as much as 29 percent higher last week may suggest that reports of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated, but let's not assume that the storm clouds have cleared at any of them. Penney Arcade The troubled Ron Johnson era ended at J.C. Penney last year. The retail guru -- who had been instrumental in turning Target (TGT) from "cheap" into "cheap chic" before heading to Apple (AAPL) in time to start rolling out the wildly successful Apple Store chain -- flopped at the meandering department store chain. Investors cheered when Johnson arrived at J.C. Penney in late 201
- [By Paul Ausick]
For the three months ending in July 2013, Samsung Electronics closed the market share gap slightly between itself and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in the U.S. smartphone market. Compared with market share totals at the end of April, Apple�� share rose from 39.2% to 40.2%, while Samsung�� share rose from 22% to 24.1%.
Top Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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]
Fellow tech blue chip IBM (NYSE: IBM ) didn't fare as well today, however, falling 1.9% after getting downgraded by Goldman Sachs from "buy" to "neutral." Analyst Bill Shope argued that pressures on emerging growth markets and high profit-margin areas make the company less appealing. The tech giant has been struggling of late, falling 8% after a disappointing earnings report last quarter, and also took a hit following rival Accenture's recent guidance cut, as both event seems to indicate that the IT consulting industry may be flatlining. IBM will report earnings July 17; analysts are expecting EPS of $3.78.
- [By Douglas A. McIntyre]
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison will use just about any excuse he can to brag about the company he founded. He discovered a new path, as Oracle used IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) earnings release to claim that the century old corporation had fallen to the No.3 spot in global software sales. �If so, that would mean Oracle now holds the No.2 spot behind Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The change in positions says a great deal about the power of Oracle’s enterprise customer base, and the erosion of some of IBM’s core businesses.
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