Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2014

After a surprising burst over the last week that sent shares to record highs once again, Wall Street fell back slightly today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) closed down 32 points or 0.2%. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) disappointed in its earnings report, as the beverage giant dropped 1.9%, the blue chips' worst performer today. The secular decline in U.S. soda consumption seems to be finally catching up with the world's most valuable brand, as unadjusted profits fell 4%. In addition to weak U.S. sales, the company blamed bad weather, including cold and wet conditions in the U.S. and flooding in Europe, for the poor quarter. Soda volume fell by 4% in North America, but the company still finished with an adjusted earnings per share of $0.63, in line with estimates. Revenue was down 2.5% to $12.75 billion, missing estimates of $12.95 billion.

On the economic slate, the June consumer price index was up 0.5%, above expectations, but the core rate grew just 0.2%, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, indicating that inflation is under control. Last month's figures for industrial production and capacity utilization came in essentially in line with estimates, and the National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index jumped to 57, ahead of expectations of 51, indicating that the housing market remains strong despite rising interest rates.

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 Dan Caplinger]

  One concern, though, is how the company handled news of Venezuela's currency devaluation. Clorox (NYSE: CLX  ) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) also felt the pinch, with Clorox taking about a $0.05 to $0.10 per-share earnings hit and Colgate losing about $0.50 per share. But they also addressed the potential devaluation more proactively than P&G did. Clorox actually�anticipated�the devaluation in its February earnings report, projecting the potential hit if a devaluation took place. Colgate didn't provide specific guidance in advance but clearly saw it as an issue, delivering on a promise to give prompt guidance revisions after the devaluation occurred.

• [By Ong Kang Wei]

  Another example of such a product is Colgate-Palmolive (CL)'s Colgate toothpaste. I do not think I have to elaborate much here. Toothpaste is needed in our everyday life, and we will definitely have to buy more toothpaste after we have finished using a packet of it, ensuring that Colgate gets more and more sales over the years.

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 Chris Hill]

  Shares of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) fell on Friday after the company reported that global sales dropped in the first quarter. After hitting an all-time high earlier in April, is the stock poised for a rebound, or more of a pullback? In this segment, James Early shares his hope for humanity, while analyzing the restaurant giant.

• [By joe@4percentportfolio.com]

  McDonald's Corp. (MCD) is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world, with nearly 34,500 restaurants in 119 countries. McDonald's success was built on an idea of consistency. Consistency in food preparation, quality, and value. This consistency has been the model for other restaurant franchises for many years now. It has also led to a consistency of reliable and increasing dividend payments for the company's shareholders.

Hot Biotech Companies To Watch 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]

  Lastly, shares of�International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM  ) �shed 2.3% to lead the blue chip index lower. IBM is the heaviest-weighted component in the 30-stock price-weighted Dow, comprising 10% of the index's value. That means that, if identical percentage moves were made by IBM and Alcoa in the same day, IBM's would be 25 times more impactful on the Dow's closing price, due to Alcoa's mere 0.4% weighting. With IT rival Accenture�slumping more than 10% today after weak earnings, it was bound to be a rough day for both Big Blue and the Dow Jones.�

• [By Geoff Gannon] Wells Fargo (WFC) ��that only seem cheap if you believe in their franchises. These are far from Ben Graham bargains.

  And then other times, Buffett buys companies like Daehan Flour Mills. Or he buys into a liquidation like Comdisco. Or an arbitrage position like Dow Jones.

  How does Buffett choose between:

  路 A wonderful business at a fair price

  路 A fair business at a wonderful price

  路 A business that is liquidating

  路 An arbitrage opportunity?

  Very few successful investors buy stocks that fall into all these categories. Ben Graham did arbitrage, liquidations, and fair businesses at wonderful prices. But he never bought wonderful businesses at fair prices.

  Phil Fisher bought wonderful businesses at fair prices. But he never bought fair businesses at wonderful prices, or liquidations, or arbitrage.

  Is Buffett just combining Ben Graham and Phil Fisher?

  No.

  Buffett invested in GEICO ��in fact he put 75% of his net worth into GEICO ��while he was still taking Ben Graham�� class. GEICO is a great example of Warren�� departure from the Ben Graham approach. Buffett was departing from Graham�� approach from the moment he set foot in Graham�� class.

  How?

  He was focused on his return on investment. He was focused on compounding his wealth. Graham wasn��. Buffett was. That was the difference.

  And so Buffett immediately started buying the same stocks as Ben Graham ��but he focused on just the very best ideas in Graham�� portfolio. A great idea for Ben Graham would ��at most ��account for about 10% of his common stock portfolio. A great idea for Warren Buffett could be ��like GEICO was ��75% of his portfolio.

  When Buffett started his partnership, he had a 25% position size cap. But he removed that to allow for a 40% investment in American Express (AXP). Buffett made many investments of 10% to 20% of the partnership�� portfolio over the years. For Ben Graha

• [By Matt Thalman]

  Consider that the mother of all server companies, IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) just announced quarterly earnings this past week and missed on the top and bottom lines. It was the company's first earnings miss since 2005. The main reason for the miss was weak demand in the IT hardware segment, and analysts think this is a bad sign moving forward for the whole industry, not just for IBM.

• [By Dan Radovsky]

  But GE was not the first industrial giant to become interested in the Industrial Internet. IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) is the Big Kahuna of Big Data. Its five-year old Smarter Planet division has led the way.

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 Morgan Housel]

  Overexposed
  TD AMERITRADE� (NYSE: AMTD  ) clients�had a big exposure to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) stock on margin:�

  One-third of the multi-billion dollar margin balances at TD Ameritrade are in accounts that have more than 25 percent market exposure to Apple.

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  Are Samsung stores a sustainable competitive advantage?
  As I said, the Samsung move was a good one -- but will it really make a big difference? Samsung is trying to find an answer to the popularity of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) wildly successful retail stores. But it's hard to see a store-within-a-store concept being anywhere near as unique and attractive as Apple's stores -- with a showroom full of products and a Genius Bar to boot.

Best Blue Chip Stocks 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 Eric Volkman]

  Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) is about to make its shareholders a little richer. The company declared a fresh quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share of its common stock, which will be dispensed on June 10 to shareholders of record as of May 17. That amount is 11% higher than the $0.90 Chevron paid in each of its preceding four quarters. Prior to that, the firm handed out $0.81 per share.

• [By John Divine]

  The oil and gas sector was the only major sector to decline today, and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) shares acted unsurprisingly, slipping 0.8% as a result. Today, the company announced a $1.5 billion investment in an Argentine energy company, but for the $240 billion Chevron, that's just a drop in the bucket.

• [By David Smith]

  So, you've decided to reexamine your investment portfolio, with a particular eye toward updating its energy names. Amid the market's heightened crankiness, you've also determined that adding or increasing the presence of at least one of the U.S.-based majors makes sense. But which is preferable, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) , the larger of the two, or its California-based competitor, Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) ?

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 Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), PrivateBancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB), PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE: PPG), Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM), Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG), Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) Economic Releases Expected: Chinese GDP, Chinese industrial production, Chinese retail sales, US industrial production, US housing starts, US building permits

  Friday

• [By Victor Selva]

  Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) manufactures and markets cigarettes outside the U.S. in 180 countries. The company麓s plan is to introduce new packaging, new blends and other line extensions. A key driver of the company is the strong market share and the economies of scale. Also, the company has combated unfavorable tax regulations with price increases, showing a good price-elasticity.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Altria has topped the tobacco industry for decades, with its leading Marlboro brand retaining its popularity around the world. But with the company having spun off its Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) division, Altria now has to rely on the U.S. market, with its unique challenges and risks. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Altria over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.

• [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.

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 Mike Deane]

  On Wednesday, Visa (V) announced that it will be raising its quarterly dividend from 33 cents to 40 cents per share.

  Visa’s 21.2% dividend hike will bring the company’s annualized payout to $1.40. The dividend will be payable on December 3 to all shareholders on record as of November 15. The ex-dividend date is Novembers 13.

  Visa’s shares down $1.09, or 0.55%, at Wednesday’s market close, and were sinking lower in after-hours trading. The company’s stock is up 28.7% YTD.

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Visa (V) is a stock to buy now because its one part of a duopoly.

  Say all you want about Discover Financial (DFS) and American Express (AXP), but MasterCard (MA) and Visa own the vast majority of the credit card world and always will. Discover came along years ago and hasn�� done much to penetrate the outer walls of its competitors. And we always want to own companies that dominate their space.

• [By Charles Carlson]

  The only three Dow stocks that do not are actually, interestingly, two of the newest members, Goldman Sachs (GS) and Visa (V), and the third stock is UnitedHealth Group (UNH), which is also a fairly new member to the Dow.

• [By Don Miller]

  By way of example, let's take a look at three solid companies with some of the best profit margins in their sectors:

  By the very nature of their business, financials tend to have wide profit margins, and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is no exception. The fourth-largest bank in the country in terms of assets, with outstanding customer service and a strong brand, WFC has a current profit margin of 25.5%. WFC offers a broad range of banking services, including retail banking, asset management, and retirement planning. WFC carries a market cap of $219 billion and a price/earnings (P/E) ratio of 11.3; the overall return for the past 52 weeks is 20.5%. Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) holds an 80% share of the world's microprocessor market, giving them a moat as wide as any brand on the planet. Intel invested $12 billion in research and development last year, far more than any of its competitors. Even though it briefly lost its technology edge in the smartphone and tablet market, its Atom processors are becoming much more competitive. This should achieve more design wins and give Intel pricing power. Even though the stock is off 11% in the last year, its sheer scale and profit margins of 18.1% make Intel a sleeping giant that's about to wake up. Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) has a coveted gatekeeper's role in the financial services marketplace, with the bulk of its revenue coming from transaction fees. As e-commerce and mobile payments continue to grow, Visa and counterpart MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) are in the catbird seat. Visa sports a fat profit margin of 47.2%, and the stock has more than doubled over the past five years.� Earnings are projected to increase by 19.6% per year over the next five years. With a presence in virtually every country on the planet and the explosion of e-commerce payments, Visa is a great way to tap into a business with unlimited growth opportunities.

  Now that you know where to invest, find out how to prot