Thursday, January 1, 2015

Top Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now

New products and changes introduced over the last week include a variable rate preferred ETF from Invesco PowerShares; Advisors Asset Management has launched a unit investment trust; and Emerging Global Advisors has rolled out the EGShares Blue Chip ETF.

Other new products include a small business retirement plan comparison calculator from WMSI, and a tax app for the new year from W&S Financial Group Distributors.

Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:

1) Invesco Announces Variable Rate Preferred ETF

Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC has announced the coming launch of the PowerShares Variable Rate Preferred Portfolio (VRP) on May 1. VRP is based on the Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities Floating and Variable Rate Index and will generally invest at least 90% of its total assets in preferred securities that make up the index.

The index is market-capitalization-weighted and is designed to track the performance of preferred stock, as well as certain types of hybrid securities that are functionally equivalent to preferred stock, that are issued by US-based or foreign issuers and that pay a floating or variable rate dividend or coupon. VRP and the index are rebalanced monthly.

Best Insurance Stocks To Invest In 2015: 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 Chuck Carnevale]

    But it was with the last couple of sentences of his blog post that I took the greatest exception. More precisely, I found that his example of Phillip Morris International (PM) to be misleading. However, not because of what Roger included, but rather because of what he left out. I will elaborate more right after the following excerpt where he closed out his blog post:

  • [By Johanna Bennett]

    With the euro dropping to a 22-month low today against the greenback, it’s little surprise to see companies like McDonald’s (MCD), Philip Morris International. (PM) and Pall (PLL), �which derived more than 40% of their revenue from Europe over the last 12 months, put in some lackluster showings.

  • [By Melvin Backman]

    Reynolds American (RAI) fell 2.6% in early trading, and Lorillard (LO), which Reynolds agreed to buy last week, is down 2%. Philip Morris (PM) shares fell nearly 1%, and Altria Group (MO) was down about 1.5%.

  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $1.16 per share on revenue of $7.01 billion.

    UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $1.09 per share on revenue of $31.99 billion.

Top Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

    Alamy Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From an underwhelming iPhone event to Pandora's new CEO, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst moves in the business world. Apple (AAPL) -- Loser Shares of the consumer tech giant had rallied heading into Tuesday's iPhone event, but the love didn't last. The stock began to sell off while Apple was still presenting its updated smartphones. There were no smartwatches, no high-def smart TVs, and no magical unicorns offered up at the presentation. The market was also unimpressed to find that the cheaper iPhone that everyone was hoping would make inroads into Android's 80 percent global market share wound up being just $100 cheaper than the new iPhone 5s. Apple only updates its iPhones annually, so it was also a letdown to see the company once again fail to produce phones with screens larger than four inches. Yes, Apple is spicing up the shell colors across both new iPhone lines, but the actual screens are too small compared to the larger Android devices that many consumers are choosing these days. Pandora (P) -- Winner The leading music streaming service had been searching for a new CEO for months, and it finally found one. Brian McAndrews -- who at one time ran digital marketing powerhouse aQuantive before selling it to Microsoft (MSFT) in a $6 billion deal -- will take control of the leading media platform that serves up 1.35 billion hours a month to its more than 72 million active listeners. It's a smart hire. Pandora didn't need a big terrestrial radio guru. Pandora isn't about content programming. It already has the technology in place that serves up timely music recommendations and adapts to a listeners preferences. Pandora's major challenge remains to monetize its growing airplay, and that's where McAndrews is the perfect fit for a fast-growing company that's just starting to impress marketers. The Dow -- Loser The Dow Jones Industr

Top Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Editor , Dividend Growth Investor]

    Chevron (CVX), through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. This dividend champion has rewarded shareholders with a dividend increase for 26 years in a row.

  • [By Matt Thalman]

    Last week's big losers
    Oil giant Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) lost 2.13% this past week, after the company reported its third-quarter earnings that had declined from the same quarter last year. The company did report slightly higher sales figures, but profit fell on weaker margins from the refining business. Still, management and some investors still believe the company has a bright future. Two projects that should boost revenue and profits are Gulf of Mexico deepwater wells and the plan to move natural gas from Australia to Asia, where demand continues to increase and push prices higher. �

  • [By David Smith]

    Massive payments already
    Absolutely not. Harking back to 2011, of the top 25 corporate-tax payers, we see that ExxonMobil easily had first place locked up. Its $27.3 billion in income tax payments made for an effective tax rate of approximately 42%. Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) was next with $17.4 billion in income taxes paid, for a 43.3% effective rate. And ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) was in third place, its 45.6% effective rate making for tax payments of $10.6 billion. But that wasn't all. In addition to its income taxes, Exxon, for instance, recorded another $70 million-plus in sales taxes and other taxes and duties.

Top Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Ben Levisohn]

    Since the Dow is a price weighted index, the inclusion of Visa, which trades at more than $200 a share, and Goldman Sachs, which trades near $175, at the expense of Alcoa and Bank of America, which trade under $20, changing the stocks that would have the most influence on the index. Before the changes, the three highest priced stocks were International Business Machines (IBM), Boeing (BA) and 3M (MMM). Now they’re Visa,�International Business Machines and Goldman Sachs.

  • [By Beth Piskora]

    They are listed below:

    Altera (ALTR)��ielding 1.7%

    Apple (AAPL)��ielding 2.5%

    Applied Materials (AMAT)��ielding 2.6%

    Cisco (CSCO)��ielding 2.9%

    EMC Corp. (EMC)��ielding 1.5%

    International Business Machines (IBM)��ielding 2.0%

    KLA-Tencor (KLAC)��ielding 3.2%

    Microchip Technology (MCHP)��ielding 3.6%

    Oracle (ORCL)��ielding 1.5%

    Qualcomm (QCOM)��ielding 2.1%

    Texas Instruments (TXN)��ielding 2.9%

    Xilinx (XLNX)��ielding 2.3%

    Subscribe to S&P's The Outlook here��/P>

  • [By Monica Gerson]

    International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) reported downbeat first-quarter revenue. IBM posted its adjusted earnings of $2.54 per share on revenue of $22.48 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $2.54 per share on revenue of $22.93 billion. IBM shares tumbled 4.18% to $188.20 in the after-hours trading session.

Top Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Eric Volkman]

    McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) is serving up another dividend. The company has declared its latest quarterly payout, which amounts to $0.77 per share. This will be paid on June 17 to shareholders of record as of June 3. That amount matches each of the firm's previous two distributions, the most recent of which was handed out in mid-March. Prior to that, it paid $0.70 per share.�

  • [By Eric Parnell]

    After taking these risks into consideration, maintaining an allocation to stocks remains worthwhile in such an environment. Given the volatility that often accompanies the turbulent May to October period, it may offer some particularly good trading opportunities as either broader markets or specific securities experience steep corrections followed by swift rallies. But risks must be monitored closely and holdings should be viewed with a potentially shorter time horizon depending on how events unfold in the coming months. Emphasizing stocks that exhibit quality, low volatility, value and current income that are also not technically overbought provides an additional way to control risk in the current environment. This includes allocations such as the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) and high quality individual names such as Exxon Mobil (XOM), International Business Machines (IBM), McDonald's (MCD), General Electric (GE) and Oracle (ORCL). It should be noted that IBM, General Electric and Oracle were all positions that were scooped up following recent sharp pullbacks.

  • [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 BubbleBustInvesting]

    It is hard to say. What we can say, however, is that Starbucks is a good bet for value investors, as is McDonald's (MCD) which reported Q1 earnings last week, while Panera Bread and Dunkin' Brands are better bets for growth investors.

Top Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Holly LaFon]

    A: The stock market is a market of individual stocks that represent fractional ownership interests in real businesses. The key to investment success is first and foremost to identify individual, highly durable businesses and then have the discipline to buy them when prices are attractive and the risk/reward trade-off is compelling. We invest in what we understand, continuing to pour over the universe of businesses within our many circles of competence that meet our management, capital allocation, business model, and valuation criteria. Some areas that we believe offer the greatest opportunity in terms of prospective returns include:

    Global market leaders such as Nike (NKE), Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Philip Morris International (PM) that are beneficiaries of a growing global middle class and consumer culture. The global wealth effect, particularly in developing economies, is a real and very powerful force that should serve as a tailwind for these types of global brands over the long term. Well-managed financial services companies with true franchise value due to the success of their particular products or brand that have the ability and management prowess to build market share over time in a highly fragmented marketplace. Wells Fargo and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) are representative examples in this category. The depth of the recent financial crisis is well known. What is less understood is that certain market leaders used the downturn to dramatically strengthen their capital base and significantly grow their market share at the expense of weaker competitors. Certain health care-related businesses such as UnitedHealth Group and Laboratory Corporation of America that stand to benefit from growing health care spending by aging populations around the world. Workhorse technology companies such as Texas Instruments (TXN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Google that are market leaders with durable competitive moats and that also offer an attractive risk/reward proposition at
  • [By TaniaC]

    Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL) is a consumer products company whose products are marketed in over 200 countries and territories throughout the world. It operates in two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care and Pet Nutrition.

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