General Electric has gained 0.3% to $23.18 today after a report that it plans to unload its consumer lending division.
Exxon MobilThe Wall Street Journal has the details:
The decision to divest the business, amid concerns about the company’s exposure to banking, marks an important moment in the evolution of GE and the country’s three-decade long consumer credit boom. GE Capital expanded to the point that its portfolio of loans and other assets now would rank it as the country’s fifth-largest commercial bank.
Preliminary work to separate the business through an initial public offering is under way, according to people familiar with the matter…An IPO could come early next year, the people said.
S&P Capital IQ’s Eric Hugel�considers what comes next for the U.S. blue chip:
Top Blue Chip Stocks 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 Dividend]
Philip Morris International (PM) has a market capitalization of $135.05 billion. The company employs 87,100 people, generates revenue of $77.393 billion and has a net income of $9.154 billion. Philip Morris International�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $14.827 billion. The EBITDA margin is 19.16 percent (the operating margin is 17.89 percent and the net profit margin 11.83 percent).
- [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.
Top Blue Chip Stocks 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 Matt DiLallo]
One of the most promising potential plays in the country is in the Neuquen Basin in what is called the Vaca Muerta formation, which actually means "Dead Cow" in Spanish. One of the first movers here is Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) which drilled two exploratory wells into the formation last year. The company is drilling another exploratory well this year with plans to drill three more appraisal wells. It's looking to expand its presence in the country even as it evaluates the results from those wells.�
- [By John Divine]
Lastly, Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) , one of just six blue chip decliners, fell 0.8% on Thursday. The energy titan is working toward a deal with Argentina's YPF to develop the Vaca Muerta basin, thought to be one of the two or three largest shale oil and gas reservoirs in the world. But with all that potential reward comes some geopolitical risk, and a hefty investment, which could approach $15 billion in time.
- [By Claudia Assis]
Energy companies in the Gulf also shut down about 40% of natural gas production. Several energy firms, including BP PLC (BP) , Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) , Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) ,�Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) �and Chevron Corp. (CVX) , began evacuating workers earlier in the week.
- [By Jeff Reeves]
But it�� hard to fight against this kind of big negativity, or the fact that other stocks like Chevron (CVX) or U.K.-based BP (BP) look like better bargains based on forward earnings projections and current valuations.
Top 10 China Stocks To Invest In 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 Rick Munarriz]
Grimace may be one of the endearing McDonaldland characters, but too many grimacing employees at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) may also be the undoing of the world's largest restaurant operator.
Top Blue Chip Stocks 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]
Investors have been talking about Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) hooking up with Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM ) for years. However, switching chip foundries is much easier said than done and the transition can take quite a while. Well, DIGITIMES now reports that the long-rumored deal has finally been inked as Apple continues to distances itself from Samsung.
- [By John Divine]
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) stumbled 2.3% as the tech giant's heavily anticipated event failed to impress Wall Street. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company showed off two new iPhone models, the 5S and the 5C, as well as its new iOS 7 software. The two new phones are dramatically different: The 5S boasts fingerprint-recognition technology and fancy new sensors on its camera, while the 5C is a plastic model priced for the masses. A lot of the information from today's unveiling had been leaked or rumored already, and the failure to surprise may have contributed to the stock's decline.
- [By Anders Bylund]
The road to riches in the smartphone industry is littered with broken bodies. Nokia (NYSE: NOK ) and BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY ) are fighting for their lives. Mighty Microsoft can hardly find a toehold in the tablet and smartphone spaces. The Motorola Mobility purchase has become a burdensome albatross for Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) . Even Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) market-leading growth and profitability are slowing down.
- [By Morgan Housel]
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) is likely the most innovative company of modern history. A year ago, investors were rigidly convinced that a combination of superior products, fast growth, and what looked like a cheap stock meant Apple shares could only go one way: up. Analysts had an average price target of nearly $900 a share. They had their answers, and no need to ask further questions.
Top Blue Chip Stocks 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 WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]
IBM provides key information technology products to companies participating in a multitude of industries around the world. The stock has done well in recent years and is now consolidating in a range extending back a year. A recent disappointing earnings release sent the stock to the bottom end of its recent range. Earnings, revenue figures, and institutional shareholders have sent mixed signals to investors. Relative to its peers and sector, IBM has underperformed year-to-date. WAIT AND SEE what IBM does this quarter.
- [By Jonathan Fishman]
I have been following XRTX for the last couple of years as I cover the HDD industry very closely. XRTX sells HDD capital equipment, and following them helped me get a better feel for the CAPEX environment for the HDD duopoly. I witnessed XRTX's revenues plunge from about $455M a quarter back in 2010, to under $200M a quarter in Q1-13, a decrease of approximately 65% in revenues and more than 85% in net profits. This was mainly because NetApp (NTAP), once responsible for more than 45% of XRTX's Enterprise Data Storage Solution business, or $150M a quarter, started to source their disk arrays in-house. This trend was true with Dell (DELL) as well. I've summed up, NetApp's, Dell's and IBM's (IBM) contributions to XRTX's revenues for the past 8 quarters in the Enterprise Data Storage Solution segment.
- [By Alex Planes]
Technology and pharmaceuticals gained a permanent foothold in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) on June 29, 1979. The index added IBM (NYSE: IBM ) and Merck (NYSE: MRK ) that day, replacing floundering automaker Chrysler and food-products company Esmark for only its second component swap in the previous 20 years -- still the slowest rate of changes in Dow history.
- [By Dr. Zen]
Not Warren Buffett. Not IBM (IBM). But how does an 82-year-old bargain hunter learn new tricks of buying tech stocks at new high prices and predicting future tech trends? Well, he read a corporate turnaround playbook written for IBMers. He read it not just once, but twice!
Top Blue Chip Stocks 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 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).
- [By Steve Heller]
It seems that once you've grown large enough to disrupt business as usual for MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) and Visa (NYSE: V ) , you run the risk of getting muscled. MasterCard recently announced plans to raise prices on intermediated payment processors (read: digital wallets) that chose to withhold valuable transaction details from MasterCard. In other words, this measure takes direct aim at eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY ) PayPal and other digital wallets such as Google Wallet that do not share transaction details with the payment processor.
Top Blue Chip Stocks 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 Wallace Witkowski]
Other earnings highlights in the coming week include Dow components McDonald�� Corp. (MCD) , DuPont (DD) , AT&T Inc. (T) , and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) . Notable S&P 500 companies include Halliburton Co. (HAL) , Netflix Inc. (NFLX) �, Amgen Inc. (AMGN) �, TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) �, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) �, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) �, Ford Motor Co. (F) �, Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) �, and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) �
- [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.
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