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.
Hot Up And Coming Companies To Watch For 2015: 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 WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Andrew Burton/Getty Images Most of us couldn't imagine life without our cable or satellite TV, high-speed Internet access and wireless communications. They've become basic utilities, and we pay handsomely for them. Yet, we aren't very satisfied with the service we get. According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, customer satisfaction with subscription TV (cable, satellite and fiber optic service) and Internet service providers continues to decline. Satisfaction with pay TV fell 4.4 percent, to an ACSI score of 65 (on a 100-point scale), while ISPs -- which include many of the same companies -- dropped 3.1 percent to 63. These are the lowest scores of all 43 industries tracked by ACSI. "Customers question the value proposition of both, as consumers pay for more than they need in terms of subscription TV, and get less than they want in terms of Internet speeds and reliability," said Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder. The survey finds that customers are much more dissatisfied with cable TV than with fiber-optic and satellite service. Dish Network (DISH) at 67, the lowest-scoring satellite TV company, still rates higher than the best cable company, Cox Communications, with 63. Comcast (CMCSA) (parent company of CNBC) at 60 and Time Warner Cable (TWC) with 56 have the most dissatisfied customers. ACSI Managing Director David VanAmburg noted that for the last decade or so, the price of these communications services has been rising much faster than inflation. Some households, especially people living in an apartment, now pay more for TV and Internet service each month than they do for gas and electric. Another complaint: When there is a service issue, the customer service experience isn't very good. "These are not companies that do a very good job of providing good call center customer care or good face-to-face customer care," VanAmburg said. Wireless Service and a New Cellphone Favorite Americans aren't exactly thrilled with their
- [By Chris Hill]
Will Costco� (NASDAQ: COST ) continue to produce�big returns for shareholders? Should dividend lovers love Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) ? Will�Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM ) right the ship with its China operations? In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts discuss Costco, Apple, and Yum! Brands.
- [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]
Earlier this week, BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY ) CEO Thorsten Heins shocked the world with some bold predictions. First, at a Milken Institute conference on Monday, Heins argued that tablets will be obsolete in five years. Given that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) reported 65% year-over-year growth in iPad unit sales in its most recent quarter -- and still lost market share -- Heins' prediction may seem bizarre. However, his point was that smartphones are becoming more and more powerful, and so eventually there may be no advantage to having tablets with dedicated processing power. Instead, you could have a portable screen connected to a smartphone that does all the "heavy lifting."
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
Outside the Dow, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) finished up 1.5% after the Obama Administration vetoed an International Trade Commission ruling that Apple could not sell older models of iPhones and iPads through AT&T because it violated a Samsung patent. It was the first such veto by a president of an ITC ban in 25 years. The veto will not make a huge difference to Apple's bottom line as the older models do not sell well anymore, but it still represents an important win in the patent wars for Apple against perhaps its biggest rival.
Top 10 Blue Chip Stocks 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 John Divine]
Leading all Dow decliners, however, were McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) shares, which slumped 2.7% after a quarterly earnings miss and the forewarnings of future headwinds in the business moving forward. The fast food giant's CEO even made the concession that the company no longer had "as much pricing power" because of stiff price competition and customers who are willing to eat somewhere else if it saves them a few cents. The restaurateur lamented global economic struggles and the high price of marketing new, healthier options as it warned investors of the challenging fiscal year ahead.
Top 10 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 Kashafa Investment Research]
What works in P&G�� advantage is the fact that the company is already ahead of its peers in the emerging markets. As of 2012, P&G had sales of $33 billion in developing markets as compared to $24 billion for Unilever (UL) and $10 billion for Colgate (CL). This competitive edge over peers will sustain as P&G has product quality, innovation and has a significant marketing budget given its comfortable cash position.
- [By Travis Hoium]
Colgate-Palmolive
Toothpaste and toothbrushes may not be exciting business, but it's consistent and consumers tend to develop habits they rarely break. Once they find a toothpaste brand they like, it could be years before they try another one. That leads to another incredibly consistent business for Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) , one that has paid back investors with a dividend since 1895. � - [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.
Top 10 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 Wallace Witkowski]
That�� just in time for a ramping up of earnings season. During the four-day trading week, which ends Thursday ahead of the Good Friday holiday, nine Dow components report quarterly results. Those Dow components include Coca-Cola Co. (KO) , Johnson & Johnson Inc. (JNJ) , and Intel (INTC) �on Tuesday; IBM (IBM) �and American Express Co. (AXP) �on Wednesday; with UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) , General Electric Co. (GE) , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) , and DuPont (DD) �on Thursday.
Top 10 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 Victor Reklaitis]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 71 points, or 0.5%, to 15,067. Visa Inc. (V) �showed the largest gain among blue chips with its 1% advance, while Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) � and Merck & Co. (MRK) �were the biggest losers as they each fell 0.6%.
- [By Sean Williams]
And then there's payment processing company Visa (NYSE: V ) , perhaps one of the very few long-term investments you can get charged up about that combines the potential for rapid growth with consistency in nearly all economic environments. The way I see it, Visa has five opportunities that put it at the head of the class.
- [By Bloomberg]
Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images American Express (AXP) is seeking to broaden its customer base by offering its first no-fee credit product that grants holders access to all of the lender's rewards programs. The "EveryDay" card is AmEx's biggest debut in terms of the amount of money spent on development and marketing since AmEx launched its "Blue" brand in 2000, according to Ed Gilligan, president of AmEx. The card issuer, already the biggest by purchases, is seeking new kinds of customers including U.S. mothers by offering incentives such as extra points for shopping at supermarkets, Gilligan said. "This segment didn't think AmEx had a product that fit their needs," Gilligan said in an interview at the firm's New York headquarters. AmEx, whose business was built on charge cards that didn't allow consumers to carry a balance, is seeking ways to increase loans and net interest income, which Gilligan has said comprise a smaller part of revenue than for competitors. Loans are increasing at AmEx slightly faster than the rest of the industry and they're regarded as an important source of future revenue growth, he told analysts last month. Unlike with AmEx's charge cards, EveryDay customers will have a spending limit and won't be required to pay their balance in full each month, according to AmEx. They also won't get extra perks such as earning triple rewards for travel and dining or access to entertainment events that are available to some customers who pay an annual fee on other types of cards. Terms call for the new card to carry a zero-percent interest rate for the first 15 months and 12.99 percent to 21.99 percent afterward, according to the company. Customers will have access to the full rewards program, which includes perks like transferring travel points that aren't available on other AmEx products that don't have an annual fee such as Blue, the firm said. The new card comes with EMV anti-fraud technology -- named for founders EuroPay Interna
- [By Chris Hill]
Shares of Visa (NYSE: V ) rose to an all-time high this week after the company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Earlier in the week, Mastercard (NYSE: MA ) reported a 12% increase in first-quarter profits, but shares fell on lower-than-expected revenues. In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts discuss Visa, MasterCard, and the future of electronic payments.
Top 10 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 Paul Ausick]
The largest percentage loser among the Dow 30 today was Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), down 4.16% to close at $111.60 in a 52-week range of $111.25 to $127.83. The company�� earnings report included lower production, lower margins, and lower prices for both crude and refined products. There was not a lot to like about what the company had to say. Chevron�� volume today was more than double the daily average of around 5.8 million shares.
Top 10 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 Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Lorillard have jumped 4.6% to $51.29 at 1:32 p.m. today, while Reynolds American has gained 2.5% to $52.12 and British American Tobacco has dropped 1.1% to $107.62. Altria Group (MO), meanwhile, has risen 0.4% to $36.43 and Philip Morris International (PM) has declined 0.9% to $80.21.
- [By Rupert Hargreaves]
For example, let's take a look at�Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM ) . Now for the last four quarters, Philip Morris has paid out $3.49 in dividends per share. For the same period, the company has earned $5.28 per share, which gives us a dividend cover of 1.5 times and a payout ratio of 66%.
- [By abirk]
Philip Morris International (PM) is reaching new heights in 2013. With its products being sold in 180 countries it is the proud owner of about 15 cigarette brands- Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, and Chesterfield being some of them. FY2013 looks bright for this tobacco giant. Reasons Why 2013 Is Looking Bright
No comments:
Post a Comment