Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own For 2014

�While its two peer indexes finished the day essentially unchanged, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) dropped 0.3% as AT&T (NYSE: T  ) Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) sank the blue chips following earning releases. Durable-goods orders for March were down significantly, falling 5.7% against an expected drop of 3.1%, and February's increase was also revised downward. It was the worst drop orders in seven months for products like cars, appliances, and furniture, and the category fell 1.4% excluding the more volatile transportation segments. Stocks were up Europe and Asia earlier, but concern about earnings and the durable-goods report seems to have dampened any carryover effect.

After reporting earnings last night, AT&T shares finished down 5% and fell another 1.5% after hours. Investors were disappointed that Ma Bell reported losing a net total of 69,000 cell phone subscribers. The country's No. 2 telecom made strong gains on tablet data plans, but that wasn't even to avert concerns that its bigger rival, Verizon, was leaving it in the dust. EPS were in line with estimates at $0.64, but revenue fell by 1% in the quarter, a bigger drop than expected.

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2015: 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 MONEYMORNING.COM]

  Many analysts expect Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) to raise more than $20 billion. That would surpass the $19.65 billion Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) raised in 2008 and make Alibaba the largest U.S. IPO to date.

• [By Morgan Housel]

  I'll be reading a slug of annual reports (called 10-Ks) over the next few weeks, first page to the last. This week: Visa (NYSE: V  ) .

  Here are five things I learned from Visa's annual report (which you can read here).

Top 5 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 Robert Stephens]

  Philip Morris
  The 4.4% yield offered by Philip Morris� (NYSE: PM  ) �is well-covered at 1.5x, which seems to be very sensible and shows that the company is not over-extending itself when it comes to payments to shareholders. This makes the income from the stock even more sustainable and highlights its potential as a sound defensive play.

• [By Morgan Housel]

  For most of the last decade, investors scooped up stocks that had big international exposure with the idea that they would provide a hedge against a weakening dollar. Companies that do most of their business overseas, like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) (73% overseas), Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) (all overseas), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) (85% overseas), looked compelling as a hedge against the U.S. economy's faults.

Top 5 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 Andrew Marder]

  Unlike J. Crew and Tory Burch, the reason I want in on Five Guys is for the beautiful simplicity of the business. Murrell now oversees a business that should generate over $1 billion in revenue in 2013. While the company is still far short of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) $6.6 billion, Five Guys seems to be managing a feat that McDonald's has failed at over the last few quarters: growth.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) lost 2.16% today after an analyst raised concerns about future headwinds the company will have to overcome and lower the earnings-per-share estimates. An analyst at UBS believes that weak sales in Europe combined with the impact of the currency exchange rates will lower McDonald's earnings in the coming months. Previously, UBS had a higher earnings-per-share estimate than most of the other firms that follow the company, but due to these issues, it has lowered EPS estimates down to the consensus level. The firm, though, still has a buy rating on the stock with a $110 price target. �

Top 5 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 Bryan Murphy]

  First and foremost (and just for the record), no, I don't have a short position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). It's a point that needs to be made clear early, to stave off the lynch mob that will most assuredly develop after I dare to suggest AAPL is anything but a perfect stock. This isn't a "hit piece". It's just a handful of things for everyone - bulls as well as bears - to consider before making any long-term conclusions about Apple.