Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own In Right Now

Today was a bullish day on Wall Street -- 80% of blue chips ended in the black -- and yet the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) added only 10 points, or less than 0.1%, closing at 14,547. The subdued gains were mostly due to the poor performance of just a few companies that really bit the dust. The meager 10-point advance wasn't enough to salvage losses earlier in the week, as the Dow posted its worst week of 2013, slipping 2.1%.�

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) pleasantly surprised the markets today, adding 3.4% on the heels of a good earnings report. Expectations had been rather low for the tech giant, especially after news broke in recent weeks that PC sales declined to an all-time record in the first quarter. The adoption of Windows 8 wasn't quite as bleak as investors had come to expect. In fact, the Windows division boosted sales 23% from a year ago, pulling in $5.7 billion.

Although there were just a handful of laggards in the index, those laggards sure were steep decliners. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) , which didn't share the glory with Microsoft, slipped 3.2% after a private equity buyout of rival PC maker Dell fell through. Reading between the lines, HP shareholders sold off today as it looks like confidence in a turnaround for the PC industry is fading.

Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: 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 Caplinger]

  Investors have always been interested in stocks that pay dividends, but lately, low interest rates on bonds and other fixed-income investments have made solid dividend payers even more valuable. Among the most promising dividend stocks in the market is Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) , and one big reason is that it is one of the few exclusive companies to make the list of Dividend Aristocrats. In order to become a member of this elite group, a company must have raised its dividend payouts to shareholders every single year for at least a quarter-century. Only a few dozen stocks manage to make the cut, and those that do tend to stay there for a long time.

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Chris Hill]

  In this segment, Jason and Taylor tell investors why they'll be watching shares of Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) , Ensco (NYSE: ESV  ) and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) this week.

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own In Right Now: 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 John Divine]

  While technically the third largest gainer of the day, Chevron's (NYSE: CVX  ) considerable weight in the index makes the oil giant's 1.5% gains worthy of discussion. Chevron shares enjoyed a boost today after an Ontario judge blocked legal efforts by a law firm to seize some of Chevron's foreign assets -- an attempt based on an $18 billion ruling against the company in Ecuador.�

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Top Headline
  Chevron (NYSE: CVX) reported a 5.8 percent drop in its third-quarter earnings.

  Chevron's quarterly profit fell to $4.95 billion, or $2.57 per share, from a year-ago profit of $5.25 billion, or $2.69 per share.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Cleanliness is a must
  Despite the potential for so much oil in the region, many people in the industry may still be a little skeptical of working offshore Brazil after watching the political fiasco following the Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) spill back in 2011. After spilling about 2,500 barrels of oil, both Chevron and rig manager Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) were threatened with over $20 billion in fines and civil litigation, as well as a permanent expulsion from the country. That would put the spill at about $8 million per barrel spilled, which is astronomical compared to the about $5,000 per barrel BP spent so far on the Macondo spill that occurred back in 2010.

• [By Roadmap2Retire] th in the healthcare and consumer goods sectors. The double play on the two sectors makes this a great pick. JNJ is a dividend champion that has been raising dividends (JNJ announced a 6.1% dividend raise in April) consecutively for 52 years; has 5-yr DGR of 7.6% and a 10-yr DGR of 10.8%.

  Medtronic Inc (MDT) manufactures and sells device-based medical therapies worldwide. Medtronic is a dividend champion that has been raising dividends for 36 years; has a 5-yr DGR of 11.6% and 10-yr DGR of 14.9%. MDT has recently announced plans to takeover Covidien (COV) and is planning a tax inversion to Ireland.

  Rogers Communications Inc (RCI.B.TO) is the largest wireless service provider in Canada and is growing its business segments in cable and media aggressively. Rogers has been growing dividends for 10 years and has a 5-yr DGR of 11.13%. Click here to read about my analysis of the telecom providers in Canada.

  Monthly Contributions: I add to my positions in the following stock and funds on a monthly basis:

  Claymore S&P US Dividend Growers ETF (CUD.TO) is an ETF of 83 dividend growers and provides me with exposure to excellent corporations across all sectors. The ETF has a 1.8% yield and pays distributions monthly. iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income Fund (FIE.A.TO) is an ETF of 24 Canadian financial equities (70%) and bonds (30%). The fund yields 6.5% and pays distributions monthly. Scotia Canadian Balanced Fund (mutual fund) is an index fund tracking the Canadian S&P/TSX Composite Index and the DEX Universe Bond Index. The fund yields 0.52% and pays distributions quarterly. The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is the third largest of the Canadian banks by deposits and market cap. BNS is also the most international of the Canadian banks with exposure in 55 countries outside Canada. BNS saw a pause in its dividend growth during the financial crisis. However, BNS has started raising dividends after the crisis with a 5-yr DGR of 5.15%. I have

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Matt Thalman]

  IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) fell hard again. The stock dropped 1.14% during today's trading session, after falling more than 8% last Friday, post its earnings announcement. IBM reported first-quarter results that missed on both the top and bottom lines. Investors seem to be questioning whether the once-dominant company is losing its way or advanced technologies are eating the old-timer's lunch. Many analysts are now pointing toward cloud computing as one cause for IBM's decline in revenue and profit this past quarter, and this development has others changing their long-term perceptive of the company. �

• [By Riddhi Kharkia]

  It is beyond doubt that the last decade has seen frequent reversals in positions in the tech sector with a few of the big names like Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) and IBM (IBM) facing rough times and going down as legacy leaders of the domain. In recent days, IBM shareholders were disappointed and concerned after the Chinese government issued a call to Chinese corporations, especially major banks, to replace American hardware with locally manufactured servers and other components due to spying allegations.

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Daniela Pylypczak]

  Visa (V) released its fourth quarter earnings results on Wednesday after the closing bell, posting earnings that fell in line with expectations.

  V’s Q3 Performance in Brief
  - Revenue climbed 9% to $3 billion in Q4, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $3.02 billion.
  - Net income came in at $1.2 billion for the quarter, or $1.85 per share, a 15% �increase from a year prior. Analysts had expected EPS to come in at $1.85.
  - Net income for the full year 2013 was reported at $5.0 billion, an 18% increase from a year prior.

  Visa’s 2014 Financial Outlook
  - Visa expects annual net revenue growth in 2014 to come in at the low double-digits on a constant dollar basis, with an expectation of two percentage points of negative foreign currency impact.
  - Annual operating margins are expected to come in around the low 60s.
  - Annual diluted class A common stock EPS growth is expected to be in the mid to high teens.
  - Annual free cash flow is expected to come in at $5 billion in 2014.

  Visa Announces Share Buyback
  Visa’s Board of Directors also approved a new $5.0 billion class A common stock share repurchase program. The shares may be repurchased from time to time as market conditions warrant,�and authorization for the program is subject to further change at the discretion of the Board.

  CEO Commentary
  CEO Charlie Scharf commented, “Visa delivered strong financial performance during the fourth quarter and full year across our global businesses, a reflection of solid revenue and transaction growth. We continued investing in high growth regions of the world, in products and technology to drive our performance, while maintaining disciplined expense control. We also have been consistent and decisive in returning excess cash to shareholders and maintain this commitment. Both the increase in our quarterly dividend payment by 21% to $0.40 per share and our new $5 billion share repurchase auth

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Alamy NEW YORK -- Visa wants to make it easier for people to spot a cheaper prepaid card. The payment processor said it will put labels on packages of cards that meet a new set of standards it unveiled Tuesday. Those standards include a flat monthly fee and no hidden charges. Companies that issue Visa prepaid cards will have to apply for the new label, and the program is voluntary. It could take up to a year before the seal of approval starts showing up on packaging. Prepaid cards are mainly aimed at people without checking accounts. The cards allow people to pay bills, receive direct deposits and swipe it like a debit card in stores. But critics have said some cards aren't clear about what they charge, even attracting attention from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The federal agency is currently testing fee disclosures that it may propose on prepaid card packaging. Visa (V) hopes its new label will push card issuers to be more transparent and lower fees. To receive the label, the card must have no fees for declined transactions, calling customer service, paying at a cash register, using in-network ATMs or for getting cash back at a register. The cards also must be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or the National Credit Union Administration. They will also have Visa's fraud protection. The new standards were developed with the Center for Financial Services Innovation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Visa hasn't come up with a new name for the label yet, said Cecilia Frew, who oversees its prepaid card business. Since card issuers need to apply to receive the label, it could be nine to 12 months before Visa starts awarding them. The new label is only for U.S. cards. Visa has 25,000 prepaid card partners around the world.

• [By Jared Cummans]

  Credit card giant Visa (V) reported Q3 earnings after the closing bell on Thursday.

  V Earnings in Brief

  The company reported EPS of $2.17, easily beating analyst estimates of $2.10 and marking a 15% growth from the same quarter a year prior. Revenues for the quarter came in at $3.16 billion, edging out The Street’s expectation of $3.15 billion. Total operating expenses for the quarter came in at $1.1 billion, a 3% decrease YoY; this stemmed from a reduction in personnel and marketing fees. Total processed transactions for the quarter was a massive 16.7 billion.

  CEO Commentary

  CEO Charlie Scharf had this to say concerning the release: “We are pleased to report 15% earnings per share growth in the face of a continued, subdued global economy.�As expected, revenue growth was affected by a strong U.S. dollar and tepid growth from cross-border transactions. More importantly, global payments volume and processed transactions remained healthy and strong. While some of the headwinds will likely continue in the short-term, we are confident our investments in products such as Visa Checkout, new technologies like tokenization, and new relationships with financial institutions and merchants will continue to drive double-digit revenue growth over the long-term.��/p>

  V’s Dividend

  The company declared a dividend of $0.40 per share, which will be paid on 9/3/2014.

  Stock Performance

  Wall Street was not impressed with Visa’s numbers, as the stock fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading, leaving some scratching their heads as to what was bringing the ticker down.

  V�Dividend Snapshot

  As of Market Close on July 24, 2014

  Click here to see the complete history of V dividends.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  One of the best competitive advantages a company can create is built using what's called a network effect. The more users a company has, the more users it attracts, which attracts more users and the cycle continues. Visa (NYSE: V  ) has created one of the best network effects in the world with its massive payment processing system, building a lead over Mastercard (NYSE: MA  ) and American Express (NYSE: AXP  ) , who are the two other big players in the business.

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Daniel Sparks]

  Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) is a great company. In fact, the overall quality of Apple's stakeholder relationships puts it squarely among the best companies in America. While the tech giant doesn't do everything perfectly, Apple's overall relationship with customers, employees, investors, and the world at large certainly paint this company as a class act.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Andrew Bret Wallis/Getty Images This past week at the annual Google (GOOG) I/O conference it was disclosed that there are almost a billion users on the Android operating system. By comparison, Apple (AAPL) recently announced that it has sold more than 800 million devices equipped with its iOS operating system, though there might be more active users. If you are one of these people beholden to Google or Apple for your smartphone, tablet or laptop's operating system, you need to ask yourself as an informed consumer this question: How much are you willing to trade for access to your personal information? The answer will determine which tech giant you align yourself with. Apple's Closed System Apple prides itself in producing high-end devices with a closed operating system. You pay up for its products, and you are assured a certain level of privacy. The company put its money where its idealistic mouth is with the recent update to the iOS 8 mobile operating system which makes Mac addresses private on mobile devices. This makes it impossible for retailers to identify people via Wi-Fi from their iPhone, something previously done on a regular basis, without your knowledge, whenever you entered many stores. This move follows a previous decision not to allow cookies -- the supposedly anonymous programs that track your browsing history –- as the default option for the Safari browser in the iOS and OS X devices. Apple has the luxury of doing this because it makes money the old-school way -- by selling products and a lot of them. Between computers, phones, music, TV shows and movies, Apple has sold more than $171 billion of real stuff over the last year. Google Wants to Optimize Ads, Ads and More Ads Google, on the other hand, is in the business of selling ads. Ads need your personal data to optimize and target them –-allowing Google to charge the highest ad rates. To do this, Google offers almost all its core products for free" Google Search, Gmail, Goo

Hot Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Sean Williams]

  Russia's move could pose a threat to global cigarette producers such as Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) and British American Tobacco. Although both tobacco producers operate around the globe, a dramatic shift in curbing smoking from the world's third-largest tobacco consumer is bound to sting. In Philip Morris' case, according to Trefis, Russia accounted for approximately 6% of its total revenue last year, and the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region accounted for roughly one-quarter of sales.�