Geopolitical tremors out of Russia and the Ukraine have shaken up the markets today, so the major indices are off about 1%. If the recent bumpiness has you nervous, you can keep this in mind: I do expect the U.S. economy to heat up once we’ve put this severe winter weather behind us. So while we may see some near-term bumpiness in the market, I’m optimistic that we’ll weather those dips just fine and have a good first half of 2014 and beyond.
Even though the stock market might be oscillating day to day, volatility is now moderating and I suspect that we can use these daily oscillations to step up and buy these premium stocks.
But before you buy, let’s look at the 50 big blue chips that have been upgraded and downgraded this weekend. After taking a close look at the latest data on institutional buying pressure and each company’s fundamental health, I decided to revise my Portfolio Grader recommendations for each of the stocks listed below.
Upgrades������� Last Week’s Holds Now Buys
Best Services Companies To Invest 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 Dividend Growth Investor]
Altria Group (MO) was able to spin-off its Kraft Foods division in 2007. Shareholders in Altria received shares in Kraft for each share of Altria stock they held. In 2008, this was followed by the spin-off of Phillip Morris International (PM), which represented the international tobacco business of Altria Group.
- [By Garrett Cook]
Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) was down, falling 1.02 percent to $82.85. Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Philip Morris International from Buy to Neutral and lowered the target price to $87.
- [By Lawrence Meyers]
That means you should go with either Altria Group (MO) or Philip Morris International (PM). And if you’re only interested in buying one, I think I�� select MO stock. It pays a slightly better divided (5.2% vs. 4.7%).
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM ) will release its quarterly report on Thursday, and projections suggest that it will manage to deliver decent results for investors. But shareholders don't seem convinced about Philip Morris earnings, as they've recently sent the stock down substantially from its May highs.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Aaron Levitt]
Recent deals with oil and gas majors like Chevron (CVX) have made ARII’s backlog for new rail cars jump to a whopping 6,300. That�� almost as many cars it shipped altogether in 2012. Those backlog orders and tank car leases have also helped ARII beat earnings estimates in the last few quarters.
- [By Anna Prior]
Chevron Corp.(CVX) said it expects its second-quarter production to decline slightly from the year-earlier period as lower output abroad offsets a modest increase domestically.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Dan Caplinger]
What about individual stocks?
You can buy put options to protect against declines in particular stock positions as well. Often, though, those prices will be even higher on a proportional basis than broader index options, as the risks in a single company are much greater. For instance, if you'd bought put options on Thursday to sell IBM (NYSE: IBM ) for $200 with just a week before expiring, you would've paid $2.35 per share. Of course, given the stock's $17 decline on Friday, that trade would have worked out, as the option closed Friday at $9.75 -- more than quadrupling in value.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Rupert Hargreaves]
Even so, thanks to its checkered past, many companies such as Visa� (NYSE: V ) �and�MasterCard� (NYSE: MA ) �have been late to the party.�However, astute companies, such as�Deutsche Bank� (NYSE: DB ) have been active in the market since the mid 1970s.
- [By Dimitra DeFotis]
The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.57 points, or 0.03%, to 1,978.91 on Monday, the fourth rise in the past five trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 22.02 points or 0.13% to 16,982.59, snapping a three-day losing streak. Among the Dow’s laggards: Caterpillar (CAT), Visa (V), Microsoft (MSFT)�and Coca-Cola (KO). Dow transports were down 1.13% on the day.
- [By Alanna Petroff]
2. Get ready for Alibaba: The company is expected to price its IPO after the market close in a range of $66 to $68 per share. The Chinese e-commerce giant is set to start trading in New York Friday in what could be the biggest initial public offering of all time. The company could raise more money than Facebook (FB, Tech30) or Visa (V) when they went public.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Among heavily traded DJIA stocks, today�� big gainer was Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) which got a boost from a court ruling approving the $7.65 billion swipe-fee settlement among merchants, Visa, and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Visa traded just over its daily average of 3.2 million shares and closed at $207.36, up 1.93%, in a 52-week range of $146.25 to $208.00. The 52-week high was set in the last hour of trading today.
Top 10 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 Wallace Witkowski]
On the S&P 500, Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) �, PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) �, U.S. Steel Corp. (X) �and Apple Inc. (AAPL) �were the big gainers.
- [By John Maxfield]
And finally, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) are up by 0.7% this afternoon. The iPhone maker is holding its Worldwide Developers Conference today in San Francisco. Many are expecting the company to announce an overhaul of its mobile operating system, as well as a new music-streaming program to complement its iTunes Store and compete with the likes of Pandora. According to Gene Munster, a widely followed analyst at Piper Jaffray, "In a larger sense, Monday will set the stage for more measurable products over the next 6 quarters."
- [By Ravagadus]
Incidentally, this may also be the only explanation why Amazon is foraying into streaming video devices from Next month. Apple(AAPL)TV, Roku and Chromecast and a huge list of Smart TVs and Gaming consoles are already fighting for a piece of the cake in this segment. Amazon has one of the world's strongest tech brands and a pre-installed user base who would not think twice before purchasing a device from Amazon. Even a 100$ bill for an Amazon device to 20 million customers wouldn�� be such a bad idea.
- [By Eric Bleeker, CFA, Jason Moser, and Chris Hill]
While all the noise in the TV space continues to surround larger names such as an Xbox One or�Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) planned TV attempts.�Intel� (NASDAQ: INTC ) has been working in the background to create its own television offering: a set-top box that will deliver programming via broadband connections.�
Top 10 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 abirk]
Buffalo Wild Wings faces stiff competition from McDonald's Corp�(MCD), Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG). Last year, McDonald�� faced chicken wing problem and was left with 10 million pounds of unsold chicken wings. This made Buffalo Wild Wings to secure its position. Further, it was selling wings by the portion instead of by the number. Darden Restaurants is not performing well, and its fiscal second-quarter earnings missed consensus by a large margin. Its key brand Olive Garden also underperformed for the majority of fiscal 2013. Further, the company is planning to spin off its Red Lobster brand. This paved the way for Buffalo Wild Wings to dominate the market.
- [By Nicole Seghetti]
3. McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) McDonald's can be crowned not only a Dividend Aristocrat, but also the king of fast food. This server of Big Macs has boosted its dividend for 36 straight years. The stock currently boasts a dividend yield of 3%.�
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Dan Caplinger]
Investors have always been interested in stocks that pay dividends, but lately, low interest rates on bonds and other fixed-income investments have made solid dividend payers even more valuable. Among the most promising dividend stocks in the market is Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) , and one big reason is that it is one of the few exclusive companies to make the list of Dividend Aristocrats. In order to become a member of this elite group, a company must have raised its dividend payouts to shareholders every single year for at least a quarter-century. Only a few dozen stocks manage to make the cut, and those that do tend to stay there for a long time.
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