Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own Right Now

With consumer confidence falling in April and gross domestic product in the first quarter coming in lower than expected, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) was lucky to eke out any gains at all today. It was the fourth gain in five days for blue chips, which had their worst week of the year last week but added back more than 1% as a flurry of earnings helped the comeback. The Dow ended up 11 points, or less than 0.1%, on Friday to close at 14,712.�

Wall Street thought Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) shares looked undervalued today, and even after adding 1.9% Friday, shares traded at less than six times forward earnings. Rebounding from losses yesterday, HP posted the highest gains in the index today. In recent years the company has felt the brutal impact of the PC market decline, and its stock took the biggest hit in the index last year. So while the bullishness of 2013 -- the stock is up more than 40% year to date -- reflects some optimism about CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround efforts, the stock is still rallying from fairly depressed levels.�

5 Best China Stocks To Buy 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 WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  There are definitely concerns for Phillip Morris, which include decreased market share in many areas and poor debt management. However, up until this point, Phillip Morris has done a good job rewarding its shareholders. While history usually repeats itself, that�� not necessarily an all-positive in this case. Phillip Morris didn�� hold up well in 2008/early 2009. If a similar environment were to present itself again, then Phillip Morris wouldn�� be a top option ��regardless of the impressive yield. In the meantime, Phillip Morris is an OUTPERFORM.

Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Shauna O'Brien]

  Barclays Capital reported on Monday that it has cut its rating on International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

  The firm has downgraded IBM from “Overweight” to “Equal-Weight,” and has cut its price target from $215 to $190. This new price target suggests a 15% increase from the stock’s current price of $182.50.

  An analyst from the firm noted: ��t is increasingly clear to us that investors will evaluate IBM on cash flow more than earnings until revenue starts to grow meaningfully. As a result, we are moving our rating for IBM to Equal Weight from Overweight even though shares have been down over the past several months. The mainframe ��atalyst’ has passed and positive benefits from analytics seem to be offset by secular shits to SaaS and Cloud, which seem to adversely impact all of IBM’s segments in some way. We have recently performed several surveys that show the disruptive impact of cloud and SaaS are only in the early innings and are set to be more disruptive in 2014 for our whole sector.��/p>

  IBM shares were down $1.70, or 0.92%, during Monday morning trading. The stock has been mostly flat YTD.

• [By John Divine]

  An internal companywide motivational mantra may have started to aid IBM's (NYSE: IBM  ) stock price already. IBM added 1.2% today as Wall Street got word of CEO Virginia Rometty's message to employees after last week's earnings dud. That message: Think fast. Move faster. Though it's tough to move faster than the stock did last Friday, when it took more than an 8% haircut, IBM shareholders are hoping future moves will be in the profitable direction.�

• [By Jessica Alling]

  IBM: Index Busting Machine
  Since IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) is the largest component of the weighted Dow index, its 7% drop this morning following negative reaction to its earnings report caused the index to drop as much as 100 points. It takes a lot of effort from the Dow's other component stocks to overcome that drag, making sense of the current losses even though 25 of the Dow's 30 stocks are in positive territory.

• [By Steve Heller]

  Anemia on the rise
  Although IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) managed to satisfy investors by upping its full-year earnings guidance, Big Blue reported a year-over-year revenue decline of 3.3% to $24.9 billion, which translated to a net income decline of 16.9% in the second quarter. After adjusting for currency fluctuations, IBM's revenue would have only declined by 1%. As far as earnings guidance is concerned, the company raised its full-year outlook by $0.20 a share to $16.90, above the analyst consensus of $16.64 a share. According IBM CFO Mark Loughridge, the guidance bump can be attributed to a combination of cost-cutting, "solid" growth prospects, and potential tax settlements. To me, the boost is likely driven more on efficient maneuvering than it is on driving aggregate top-line revenue growth.

Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Matt Thalman]

  Coming in second place, after falling slightly more than 4%, is Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) . The big decline came on Friday, after reporting a 4% revenue drop and a 32% net earnings decline compared with the same quarter last year. Management said lower production and weak global fuel costs played a large role in the results. To counteract these types of problems in the coming year, management is looking to cut some $2 billion from its expenses. A high amount of uncertainty about where fuel prices and production levels will be six months to a year from now had investors concerned about the company's future earnings. Those are the types of risk that oil and gas investors always need to watch out for. �

• [By Sean Williams]

  Today, I plan to introduce the fifth of 10 selections to the Basic Needs Portfolio: Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) .

  How it fits with our theme
  There are no magic surprises here: We need energy to provide electricity to our homes and businesses and power our cars and trucks. Chevron is a diversified oil and gas company that does everything from drilling for oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, to refining petroleum into everyday products such as fuel for our cars.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  First up is Chevron (CVX), the large-cap oil and gas supermajor. Chevron has spent most of the year in a well-defined uptrend, but lately shares have been tracking more sideways than upwards. Here's why that's actually a good thing for investors right now.

  Chevron is currently forming an ascending triangle pattern, a bullish setup that's formed by horizontal resistance above shares at $127 and uptrending support to the downside. Basically, as CVX bounces between those two technical price levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above that $127 level. When that happens, traders have a buy signal for shares.

  A lot of Chevron's fortunes are tied to commodities like oil and gas. As an integrated energy firm, CVX has its hands involved in every step in the process from pulling resources out of the ground to selling them at retail. But price action is providing traders with a shortcut for figuring out Chevron's next steps this fall. If you decide to buy the $127 breakout, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop right above the 200-day moving average.

• [By Stephan Dube]

  Another great international producer is also making its presence felt in offshore Brazil. Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) , part of the same ventures as Shell in the Santos basin with the Atlanta and Oliva assets, holds working interests in three quality deepwater fields in the Campos basin: Frade, Papa-Terra, and Maromba.

Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Kashafa Investment Research]

  What works in P&G�� advantage is the fact that the company is already ahead of its peers in the emerging markets. As of 2012, P&G had sales of $33 billion in developing markets as compared to $24 billion for Unilever (UL) and $10 billion for Colgate (CL). This competitive edge over peers will sustain as P&G has product quality, innovation and has a significant marketing budget given its comfortable cash position.

• [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.

• [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.

Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 John Reeves and David Meier]

  Look at the amazing results of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) over the past several decades, for example. The company has been able to deliver outstanding total returns by paying out higher and higher dividends each year over an extremely long time horizon. Ultimately, investors are willing to pay higher and higher prices for shares that offer a growing stream of dividends.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Ronald gets a promotion
  McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) joined the New York Stock Exchange�on July 5, 1966. The burger chain was a recent entrant to public markets, as its IPO had taken place only 14 months earlier. In that short time, the company's hot stock had already doubled and been split once as a result. By the end of the decade, shareholders would enjoy two more splits and a special stock-issue dividend. By the time McDonald's joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) 19 years after graduating to the Big Board, a single share worth $32.25 in 1966 had grown into 27 shares worth $1,800.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Let's take a deeper look at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) dividend-generation skills.

  The fast-food giant just reported (link opens PDF) second-quarter earnings, with both sales and earnings falling slightly short of analyst estimates. Management sees tough times ahead in the second half of 2013 but also reminds investors that the company has "succeeded in a variety of operating and economic environments." All told, investors focused more on the negative short-term outlook than on the promise to come back swinging: McDonald's shares fell as much as 3.2% on the news, making it by far the weakest performer on the Dow (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) today.

Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Rich Bieglmeier]

  There is a lot of talk that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has found its mojo, gotten "it" back and is ready to rock. There was even a headline that said, "Apple is heading to New Highs, and there is Nothing You Can do About It."

• [By Quick Pen]

  While many consider this to be a sad situation for the phone maker, Nokia is able to see through the situation and is moving forward aggressively to the opportunities that are available. Recently the company completed the acquisition of Desti, a personalized travel planner that uses artificial intelligence to provide the user exactly what information he wants. Desti originally comes from SRI International, the same company that had developed Siri, the app that now Apple (AAPL) owns so proudly.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  August is often a slow time for technology and consumer spending, but the dying PC market may be about to see a resurrection. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has fixed many of the bad things about Windows 8. We will not go so far as to say that this will resurrect Microsoft Surface tablet sales, but it could make those who want a new PC more interested than they were when they realized that Windows 8 was such a learning experience that they might as well go to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  It's not just the overall stock market today that's volatile: Individual stocks can be even more zigzaggy. Consider audio-chip maker Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS  ) , which supplies many of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iDevices. Between April 16 and April 18 of this year, the stock tanked by more than 17%, and it lost about 20% on May 23. Why? Well, about 90% of its revenue is tied to Apple, and Apple's position in the stock market today isn't what it used to be, with Steve Jobs gone, growth slowing, and margins being pressured. In mid-April, Cirrus warned of disappointing upcoming results, and got punished for that. In May, management cited profit-margin pressures of its own, along with competition and a maturing smartphone environment.

Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Associated Press]

  Prom spending is expected to rise this spring to an average $1,139. That's among families who are planning to spend some money to attend the annual affair, according to a survey of 1,025 parents of prom age teens by payment processor Visa (NYSE: V  ) and research company Gfk. Not included in the average were 12 percent who said they wouldn't spend anything on the prom. A majority of parents with teenagers surveyed were still unsure how much they'd spend.

• [By Steven Russolillo]

  Visa(V) is the only Dow component that currently has a stock price above $200. Eight companies have stock prices above $100 as of Thursday’s close.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Stocks bucked their recent Monday weakness today as Visa (V), International Business Machines (IBM), United Technologies (UTX), Micron Technology (MU) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) gained. But your view of today likely depended on the index you were watching.

  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

  The S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 1,872.34, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to 16.457.66. Those benchmarks were trumped by the Nasdaq Composite, which advanced 1% to 4,198.99, and the small-cap Russell 2000, which finished up 1.8% at 1,173.04.

  The price-weighted Dow was given a boost by its big weightings in Visa, which rose 1.8% to $215.86, International Business Machines, which advanced 1.1% to $192.49 after Morgan Stanley named it a top alpha generator among mega-cap stocks, and United Technologies, which gained 1.8% to $116.83. United Technologies’ Sikorsky division agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle claims that it charged too much for spare parts. Micron Technology gained 8% to $23.66 after a positive report at RBC Capital Markets and Drexel, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) rose 4.3% to $70.72.

  Deutsche Bank’s David Bianco notes that small-caps and non-mega caps need interest rates to stay low…

  On 2014E EPS, Russell 2000 (R2000) PE is 23.6 and S&P 500 PE is 15.6. The relative forward PE of the R2000 vs. the S&P at 1.5x is amongst the highest since 1995. Within the S&P, the PE at non-mega caps is also demanding vs. history. The median trailing PE of S&P 500 stocks at 18.5x is 2 points higher than its average since 1983 and is well into the late 1990s range. EPS growth, while expected to accelerate, is unlikely to reach the mid to low teens pace of the last two cycles. Hence, we think small and non mega-cap stocks are more dependent on interest rates staying below historical norms to justify current valuations and are more susceptible to moderation in growth expectations.

  ̷

• [By Matt Thalman]

  After losing 1.92%, Visa (NYSE: V  ) became the Dow's third worst stock to own last week. Once again, the move comes after the company reported earnings. While on the surface Visa's results were impressive -- revenue up 8%; earnings up 20%, increased dividend; announcement of a bigger share buyback -- the stock fell on Wednesday after the report came out. One likely cause is that investors were looking for slightly more from the company. For one thing, client incentives rose 20% during the quarter, which put a damper on revenue growth and made the earnings increase look less impressive. High expectations can mean price loses from time to time in the short run, but that shouldn't drive investors away from strong long-term companies, such as Visa. �