Beginning investors often assume that when the overall stock market is hovering near the flatline, there's nothing important going on in the business world. For instance, looking at this afternoon's levels for major market benchmarks, it looks as though many traders have given up and gone home for the weekend, with the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) up just nine points as of 1:20 p.m. EDT. With none of the Dow's components making particularly abrupt moves, news concerning those blue chips isn't having much impact on share prices today.
But if you expand your view of the market, you'll find plenty of big movers and more interesting goings-on. OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI ) is the big winner this afternoon, soaring more than 19% in the wake of last night's positive earnings report. OmniVision said its cost-reduction strategy had started to bear fruit, revealing a combination of favorable results for its most recent quarter and expectation-beating guidance for the current quarter. In the long run, OmniVision has to demonstrate its ability to keep its image-sensor chips in the most popular smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. So far, though, investors are content with the growth they've seen.
5 Best Telecom Stocks To Invest In 2015: 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 Ben Levisohn]
The S&P 500 dropped 1.3% to 1,747.15–its largest fall since August 27–while the Dow Jones Industrials fell 1% to 15,593.89–its biggest drop in almost a month. Among the stocks dragging the market down: Goldman Sachs (GS), which fell 2.4% to $159.64 after it said an investigation into its mortgage-bond business could boost its legal costs, AT&T (T), which dropped 2% to $35.11 after it acknowledged charging the US government for access to customer phone records, and WPX Energy (WPX), which fell 13% to $18.65 after releasing disappointing results. Just two Dow components–International Business Machines (IBM) and EI Du Pont De Nemours (DD)–finished the day in the black.
- [By SEENSCO]
Anticipated synergies from the Sun acquisition have not yet taken hold as intensified competition from HP, International Business Machines (IBM), Intel (INTC) and SAP (SAP) have put downward pressure on sales. It is also unclear what traction has been built selling the highly anticipated Sun Exadata platform. This is a bundled software/hardware product that facilitates online data transaction processing for consumers in a comparatively fast and cheap way. While initial sales spurred hopes of a new growth driver in hardware, how these sales have contributed to new earnings is not particularly clear.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies 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 Ben Levisohn]
Remember, last September, Alcoa (AA), Bank of America (BAC) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) were bumped from the blue-chip index, and replaced by Visa (V), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Nike (NKE). So how did that work out? Not so well, as this chart from Bespoke shows:
- [By Sean Williams, Travis Hoium, and Alex Planes]
In that spirit, we three Fools have banded together to find the market's best and worst stocks, which we'll rate on�The Motley Fool's CAPS�system as outperformers or underperformers. We'll be accountable for every pick based on the sum of our knowledge and the balance of our decisions. Today, we'll be discussing Visa (NYSE: V ) , the world's largest electronic payment processing network.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies 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 Evan Niu, CFA]
In the age of mobile ads, the heavyweights are losing the upper hand. According to a recent report from IDC, the mobile display ad market is being taken over by publishers like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) , Pandora Media (NYSE: P ) , and Twitter. That's good news for those companies, and bad news for incumbent ad networks from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) , Millennial Media (NYSE: MM ) , and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) .
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies 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 Alexandra Scaggs]
Then the bank appeared to backpedal a bit in its note yesterday, cutting back on its recommended holdings in Ultimate Software Group(ULTI) and Mastercard(MA) and adding to its recommended positions in Anadarko Petroleum Corp.(APC), an energy stock, and Philip Morris International Inc.(PM), a consumer-staples stock. Morgan Stanley strategist Adam Parker �and his�team found that times when value stocks outperform growth stocks by such a wide margin “are typically followed by periods where value outperforms.”
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Philip Morris International (PM) has risen the most in five months after reporting earnings that easily topped analyst forecasts.
Bloomberg NewsPhilip Morris International reported a profit $1.41 a share, beating forecasts for $1.24, on revenue of $7.8 billion, topping the Street consensus for $7.52 billion. Morgan Stanley’s David Adelman and team explain why investors are so enthusiastic about�Philip Morris International’s results:
Our key take-away is that Q2 was considerably stronger than expected and given the absence of any new issues results in less risk to the company�� full-year outlook…Although F/X was less onerous than our forecast ($0.06 of EPS favorability), the $0.18 quarterly EPS beat was predominantly driven by improved profitability in EEMA and Europe. While elevated spending and a difficult 4Q comparison should result in more moderate second half EPS growth, we continue to expect full-year results to be within PM�� 6-8% currency neutral range…
Despite the same core issues remaining an ongoing concern ��Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and Indonesia ��we were encouraged by the lack of any emerging issues, following the recent pattern of disappointing guidance.
Shares of�Philip Morris International has gained 1.7% to $86 at 1:08 p.m., while Altria Group (MO) has advanced 1.2% to $42.07, Lorillard (LO) has risen 2.1% to $61.25 and Reynolds American (RAI) is up 1.1% at $58.40.
- [By Dan Dzombak]
However, the tobacco industry has been a great hunting ground for investors. While no tobacco companies pay as high a dividend as Vector Group, long-term investors would do well to look at Altria in the U.S. or Phillip Morris International (NYSE: PM ) . Both were part of the original Phillip Morris conglomerate that split up around 2008 by spinning off Kraft and Phillip Morris International.� Both businesses are leaders in their respective markets -- Altria in the U.S. and Phillip Morris the world, excluding China and the U.S -- and have exceptionally high-returning businesses. This is in part due to both having one of the top brands in the world with Marlboro. For dividend investors, the key part is that both have long-term histories of steadily increasing their dividends. If I had to choose just one, while Altria has a higher yield than Phillip Morris (4.9% vs. 3.9%), I would go with Phillip Morris. The company has better growth prospects and a lower payout ratio, and the business is far more diversified in terms of legal risk, whereas Altria could be hurt by any laws or rulings that go against tobacco companies in the U.S.
- [By Editor , Dividend Growth Investor]
Philip Morris (PM), through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarettes and other tobacco products. The company has paid and consistently increased dividends every year since being spun-off from Altria Group (MO) in 2008. The last dividend increase was in September 2013, when the Board of Directors approved a 10.60% dividend increase in the quarterly distribution to 94 cents/share.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 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.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies 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 Dan Caplinger]
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG ) will release its quarterly report on Friday, and investors have watched the stock hit new all-time record highs in November before falling back in the past two months. Despite the optimism, Procter & Gamble earnings face pressure from international giant Unilever (NYSE: UL ) as well as domestic rivals Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB ) . The question facing investors is whether P&G can sustain its longtime competitive advantages against its rivals and bolster its growth.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies 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 Brian O'Connor]
Alamy When you're trying to save money, the first piece of advice any financial expert will offer is, "Cut back on your entertainment spending." Movies, dinners out, drinks before the theater -- they all seem extravagant when you're trying to stretch every dollar. If you're carrying credit card debt, aren't saving enough for retirement, or don't have an adequate emergency fund, you probably need to cut back on the good times now to avoid bad times later. And if you've seen your income drop or if you've lost your job, it's even more important. But first, you need to be having some fun you can cut back on. So far in The $1,000 Challenge, I've shown you how I cut more than $600 from six of my family's Top 10 spending categories. (If you missed any of the previous sections here on DailyFinance.com, check out the series so far.) But when I got to entertainment spending, I didn't want to spend less –- I wanted to spend more. Sure, we were spending a decent amount in this category. The problem was that we weren't getting a whole lot of fun for our funds. Scanning our list of entertainment spending, a few things were missing: limos, fine restaurants, concerts, plays, nightclubs and -- vitally -- babysitters. Instead were the local sports pub, the diner and, seventh on the list, McDonald's (MCD). All exceedingly family-friendly, and all places we regularly take my boy, Funny Money Jr. or, as I call him, Lil' Money ('cuz that's all he leaves us.) But entertaining Lil' Money was leaving his parents with Lil' Fun. Less than one-sixth of our entertainment spending was on real date nights. Instead of whispering sweet nothings into my money honey's ear on the dance floor, I'd been shouting above the din of the Burger King (BKW) playground. A good spending plan isn't just about cutting back –- it's also about getting the best value for the money you do spend. In the first installments of this budget-cutting challenge, we looked at eliminating the sorts of spen
- [By Neha Marwah]
Yum! Brands (YUM) has been facing difficulty in its top international market China from where it earned over 50% of its revenue in 2012. Post December 2012 the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell started witnessing difficult times in China after the food regulatory agency ran a search over the antibiotic levels of the chicken that these quick service restaurant chains, including McDonald�� (MCD) and Burger King (BKW) use.
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