Despite a positive start, stocks fell off after opening and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) finished down 0.16%, or 26 points. It was the blue chips' fifth straight session with little movement, as investors seem to be unsure if the market deserves to go further into record territory with earnings continuing to roll in. June new home sales topped expectations, coming at 497,000 versus estimates of 483,000, but Wall Street seemed to be unimpressed by President Obama's remarks on the economy. In his address, Obama touted mostly recycled ideas such as investing in infrastructure and raising the minimum wage that have gained little traction in the divided Congress.
Two industrial powerhouses on the Dow delivered earnings today. First, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT ) shares finished down 2.4% after missing estimates as many had expected. The slowdown in Chinese construction has hurt demand for materials and thus mining equipment, a key component of Caterpillar's business. The world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment said profits fell 43% as EPS came in at $1.45, down from $2.54 a year ago, and worse than estimates at $1.69. Revenue dropped 15.8% to $14.6 billion, below expectations of $15.1 billion. Management promised cost-cutting to cope with the decrease in demand, and cut its full-year EPS outlook from $7 to $6.50.
Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In 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 Johanna Bennett]
Technology stocks performed well on Wednesday. Former Dow component Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rallied after a better-than-expected earnings report. International Business Machines (IBM) led gainers in the Dow industrials.
- [By Jayson Derrick]
IBM (NYSE: IBM) has purchased Aspera, a developer of technology that speeds up the transfer of extremely large files over long distances. Big Blue has been attempting to grow its storage software sales as hardware sales continue to be a drag on the company. Shares gained 0.86 percent, closing at $180.23.
- [By Matt Thalman]
When the Dow falls more than 100 points, it's usually easy to find a few losers. This morning, I talked about why American Express, Du Pont, and Caterpillar were all lower;�click here to read about those stocks, or continue reading to learn about�JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) , AT&T (NYSE: T ) , and IBM (NYSE: IBM ) .
Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Rich Duprey]
Global tobacco giant�Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM ) announced this morning its second-quarter dividend of $0.85 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after raising the payout 10% from $0.77 per share.
- [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.
Top 5 Financial Companies To Buy 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 Jeff Reeves]
Though mostly in line with expectations, McDonald�� (MCD) just delivered disappointing third-quarter earnings that showed stagnant revenue yet again. A meager 2.4% increase in the top line this quarter followed a disappointing 0.9% increase last quarter.
Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In 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 Dan Caplinger]
Some stocks didn't manage to recover from early losses, however. Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) finished the day down 0.8%, extending its losses over the past few days. Given crude oil's price gain of nearly $1 per barrel today, most of Chevron's energy-company peers managed to post at least modest rebounds today, even though the sector has underperformed the broader market throughout the rally of the past six months. Investors might be concerned that the unfreezing of the company's assets in Argentina might lead Chevron to make greater investment in the country, potentially exposing it to future nationalizations of assets that could end up costing Chevron even more in lost assets. Avoiding political risk will be key for the company as it navigates various world energy markets.
- [By Travis Hoium]
Dow components ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM ) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) have actually fallen slightly on oil's new high because they may not see a big benefit from higher prices. Oil is becoming more expensive to extract, and demand isn't rising rapidly, which would lead to higher profits from refining, retail, and extraction. Instead, demand is flat or declining slightly in the developed world, and there are big worries that supply disruptions will hit the Middle East as violence spreads there.
Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In 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 Dan Caplinger]
Moreover, it's starting to appear that Clorox has weathered a tough part of its business cycle. Throughout the industry, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG ) , Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) , and Clorox all had to deal with rising costs for the inputs they needed to make their respective products. The companies responded by implementing price-cutting measures and passing on part of their higher costs to their customers. For its part, Clorox was able to expand its gross margins by a full percentage point, with a worse-than-normal flu season contributing to sales. Now that input-cost inflation is easing, P&G and Clorox expect to see better profitability, with growth starting to approach the faster rates that Colgate has enjoyed.
- [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL )
Colgate's shares are trading well below the $62 high they hit just last month. The consumer goods company is heavily levered to international sales, with more than 80% of its business coming from outside the U.S. and more than half coming from emerging markets.
Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Associated Press]
NEW YORK (AP) -- The National Retail Federation on Tuesday urged a federal judge to reject a proposed $7.2 billion settlement with Visa (NYSE: V ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) over alleged fee-fixing.
- [By Daniela Pylypczak]
Visa (V) released its fourth quarter earnings results on Wednesday after the closing bell, posting earnings that fell in line with expectations.
V’s Q3 Performance in Brief
- Revenue climbed 9% to $3 billion in Q4, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $3.02 billion.
- Net income came in at $1.2 billion for the quarter, or $1.85 per share, a 15% �increase from a year prior. Analysts had expected EPS to come in at $1.85.
- Net income for the full year 2013 was reported at $5.0 billion, an 18% increase from a year prior.Visa’s 2014 Financial Outlook
- Visa expects annual net revenue growth in 2014 to come in at the low double-digits on a constant dollar basis, with an expectation of two percentage points of negative foreign currency impact.
- Annual operating margins are expected to come in around the low 60s.
- Annual diluted class A common stock EPS growth is expected to be in the mid to high teens.
- Annual free cash flow is expected to come in at $5 billion in 2014.Visa Announces Share Buyback
Visa’s Board of Directors also approved a new $5.0 billion class A common stock share repurchase program. The shares may be repurchased from time to time as market conditions warrant,�and authorization for the program is subject to further change at the discretion of the Board.CEO Commentary
CEO Charlie Scharf commented, “Visa delivered strong financial performance during the fourth quarter and full year across our global businesses, a reflection of solid revenue and transaction growth. We continued investing in high growth regions of the world, in products and technology to drive our performance, while maintaining disciplined expense control. We also have been consistent and decisive in returning excess cash to shareholders and maintain this commitment. Both the increase in our quarterly dividend payment by 21% to $0.40 per share and our new $5 billion share repurchase auth - [By Dan Caplinger]
2. A simple savings account
Savings accounts aren't popular among financial institutions because they aren't big revenue generators. The profits from prepaid cards come from merchant charges that Visa (NYSE: V ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) collect, keeping a portion and giving the rest to card-issuing institutions. That's likely where SpendSmart expects to get the money to pay Bieber's $3.75 million endorsement fee. - [By Tim Beyers]
Getty Images There are some people who spend $5,000 each year going out to lunch. And then there are some who spend nothing. But according to a new Visa (V) survey, on average, Americans spend $936 a year -- or $10 per outing -- on restaurant-made lunches. That kind of money could easily help fund a winter trip to the beach, but it's going to stale chips, soda, and six-inch subs instead. Or, if you're among the 1 percent who spend more than $50 a lunch -- nearly $5,000 a year -- you'd have that beach trip completely covered. Here's a closer look at how the rest of us spend our lunch breaks: Men spend more. They spend 44 percent more, specifically: $21 weekly compared to $15 on average for women. So do the poor. Those who makes $25,000 or less spent more per meal, $11.70, than any other income bracket. Chitown = cheaptown. Midwesterners spent the least on eating out, just $8.90 per meal. Northeasterners ate out the least often -- just 1.5 times per week -- while Southerners spent an average of $10 each time on two weekly visits to the lunch counter. Resisting the temptation to get takeout for lunch can really pay off. "Simple choices have a large impact on your wallet," says Nat Sillin, Visa's head of U.S. Financial Education."Clipping a coupon, choosing a less expensive item, or brown-bagging it can save you hundreds over the course of a year." But Sillin isn't condemning eating lunch out. Rather, it's about being aware of how much you're spending and whether you can afford to spend that amount. "Going into debt for a tuna sandwich isn't worth it." Fair point. But what if you don't know where to start? Here are four tips for reducing your lunch tab without going hungry: 1. Bring leftovers. This should be obvious, but for many it isn't. Cook enough over the weekend for multiple weekday meals and then store the remainder in portable containers you can bring to work. Reheat, serve, and bask in the savings as you watch YouTube at your desk. 2. Buy frozen.
Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In 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 Paul Ausick]
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is about to be pilloried again for ��thical and legal��labor violations at the Chinese factory of one of its parts suppliers. A watchdog group called China Labor Watch reports that the Wuxi manufacturing plant of Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) has failed to pay workers millions of dollars in overtime wages, demanded 100 hours of mandatory overtime pay per month, required more than 11 hours a day of standing work with no rests except a 30-minute meal break, and other violations.
- [By Stoyan Bojinov]
Morgan Stanley reiterated its “Overweight” rating on the Cupertino-based consumer electronics juggernaut Apple Inc. (AAPL), but went lowered its price target for the company.
Katy Huberty, an analyst with the firm, noted “We increase FY14 EPS by $2.47 to $44 on better iPhone 5c pricing and margins offset partially by weaker Mac sales due to DRAM constraints. Our new interactive model allows investors to test the impact of iPhone user growth, upgrades, mix and margins.” In light of the mixed outlook, Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the stock from $630 to $540 a share.
Apple Inc. shares traded lower on Tuesday, shedding 0.31% on the day. The stock is down 8% YTD.
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