Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2014

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) �traded mostly mixed today as investors reacted to an ambiguous earnings season thus far, finishing the day up 0.1%. Even then, it was the worst performer among the three major indexes. Stock downgrades weighed on the blue chips, while Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) shares jumped despite missing earnings estimates.

In the meantime, March existing home sales numbers landed slightly below expectations. The National Association of Retailers said home sales last month totaled 4.92 million, below projections of 5.01 million. Still, sales were up more than 10% from a year ago, indicating the housing market is still improving, though perhaps not as quickly as some had hoped.

Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment, opened the day essentially flat but gained in the afternoon to finish up 2.8%. The manufacturer reported per-share first-quarter profit down 45% to $1.31, and total revenue down 17% to $13.21 billion. Both figures missed estimates by about 4%. Management also lowered its full-year EPS guidance to $7 a share, while analysts had projected $7.67 a share. Still, trading near its 52-week low, the stock was up as CEO Doug Oberhelman said he thought mining purchases had hit bottom, and pointed to an increase in sales in China as another positive. The �company also plans to buy back about $1 billion worth of shares, its first such program since 2008.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Kyial Robinson]

  What will they do next?

  (Photo Credit) Visa Previous 1/6 Next Visa (NYSE: V) is also taking action in France, reducing cash-machine fees and cutting credit card processing fees for transactions.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Shares of Visa (NYSE: V  ) rose to an all-time high on Thursday after the company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Should investors buy Visa, or is MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) the better bet? In this installment of MarketFoolery, our analysts discuss Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and the future of the payments industry.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Alex Planes]

  Let's start with what's tripping up OmniVision lately: expectations. The company can't get by with first-quarter guidance that looks just good enough at best, especially not after blowing Wall Street away so impressively in the holiday quarter. Although OmniVision has diversified away from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , it hasn't diversified quite enough. OmniVision holds about half of the tablet image sensor market, which lines up very well with Apple's share of the tablet market (estimated at 51% in 2012 and projected to drop to 46% in 2013,�according to IDC).

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  With Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS  ) holding hands today as they dive into new 52-week lows, how cheap have shares gotten? Answer: Very.

10 Best Gold Stocks To Watch 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 Tyler Crowe]

  While it may be easy to complain about energy prices in the U.S., it's nothing compared to what people pay in Europe. Yet, despite high prices and the discovery of shale resources, countries that do have resources can't seem to get things figured out. This week, Chevron's (NYSE: CVX  ) plan to explore for natural gas in Ukraine was put on hold as local authorities have to each give their approval before the national government can issue a license to the company. Also, Chevron might not have much to look forward to. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A  ) , the company who already has permission to drill in Ukraine, needs to hand over 31% to 60% of the gas it produces to the government.�

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Andrew Marder]

  Walking a thin line
  The difficulty that Wendy's has had, and will continue to have, I think, is that it's very hard to be all things to all people. The idea of being the better burger chain means that Wendy's is going to be competing not only with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) and Burger King, but also Five Guys and In-and-Out Burger.

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  Burger Kind has few advantages over its much larger�rival McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), which has almost 13,000 locations in the United States.�Burger King has just�over 7,000. Wendy’s Co. (NYSE: WEN) is gaining with almost 6,000 stores. Burger King’s sales last year were less than $2 billion, in contrast to McDonald’s sales of $27.5 billion.

• [By Erin Kennedy and Jason Moser]

  Fast-food colossus McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) reported third-quarter earnings this morning, and it proved to be a mixed bag. Investors bid the stock down at the open, but shares have mostly recovered since.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  Despite announcing a $0.77 per-share quarterly dividend yesterday, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) is down 1% today. However, shares could be moving lower because of news from yesterday: During the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Don Thompson had to defend his company against comments that McDonald's food is contributing to the obesity problem in America. Some critics have even pointed out that the company's marketing strategy -- including its mascot, Ronald McDonald -- has contributed to childhood obesity.�

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Shauna O'Brien]

  On Wednesday, Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) announced that its board has approved a 10.6% increase to its quarterly dividend.

  PM has increased its dividend from 85 cents to 94 cents per share, or $3.76 annually.

  The dividend will be paid on October 11 to shareholders of record on September 26. The stock will go ex-dividend on September 24.

  Philip Morris shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock has been mostly flat YTD.

• [By Fede Zaldua]

  Imperial trades cheaply and pays a great, sustainable and for-ever-growing 4.5% cash dividend yield. The company's 2014 10.4 times P/E multiple represents a 40% discount to what most European consumer staples sell for. Besides, the owner of brands such as Davidoff and Gauloises, trades at a much more conservative level than its direct tobacco peers. Philip Morris International (PM) and British American Tobacco (BTI) sell for 2014 15 and 14.2 times earnings, respectively.

• [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.

• [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."

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 John Divine]

  While ending as the third-biggest blue chip gainer Monday, International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM  ) is far and away the stock with the most ability to move the Dow. Singlehandedly responsible for nearly 10% of the index's movements, IBM's 1% advance today helped put the Dow firmly in the green. With the IT bigshot's second-quarter report set to come out Wednesday, Big Blue may continue to dictate the mood of the markets this week; analysts expect profits to grow between 5% and 6%.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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.

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  In a previous article, I outlined that it is getting more difficult to find quality dividend paying stocks to buy. Most of the usual suspects like Kimberly-Clark (KMB) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL) are very overvalued today, which prevents me from adding to my positions there. Other companies like Chevron (CVX) are attractively valued today, but unfortunately my portfolio is overweight in them. Currently I find the oil sector to be cheap and have some of the lowest P/E ratios in the market. However, I would hate to be concentrated in one sector which is exposed to the fluctuating prices in its commodity products.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Other earnings highlights in the coming week include Dow components McDonald�� Corp. (MCD) , DuPont (DD) , AT&T Inc. (T) , and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) . Notable S&P 500 companies include Halliburton Co. (HAL) , Netflix Inc. (NFLX) �, Amgen Inc. (AMGN) �, TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) �, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) �, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) �, Ford Motor Co. (F) �, Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) �, and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) �

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Moreover, it's starting to appear that Clorox has weathered a tough part of its business cycle. Throughout the industry, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) , Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) , and Clorox all had to deal with rising costs for the inputs they needed to make their respective products. The companies responded by implementing price-cutting measures and passing on part of their higher costs to their customers. For its part, Clorox was able to expand its gross margins by a full percentage point, with a worse-than-normal flu season contributing to sales. Now that input-cost inflation is easing, P&G and Clorox expect to see better profitability, with growth starting to approach the faster rates that Colgate has enjoyed.