After a surprising burst over the last week that sent shares to record highs once again, Wall Street fell back slightly today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) closed down 32 points or 0.2%. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) disappointed in its earnings report, as the beverage giant dropped 1.9%, the blue chips' worst performer today. The secular decline in U.S. soda consumption seems to be finally catching up with the world's most valuable brand, as unadjusted profits fell 4%. In addition to weak U.S. sales, the company blamed bad weather, including cold and wet conditions in the U.S. and flooding in Europe, for the poor quarter. Soda volume fell by 4% in North America, but the company still finished with an adjusted earnings per share of $0.63, in line with estimates. Revenue was down 2.5% to $12.75 billion, missing estimates of $12.95 billion.
On the economic slate, the June consumer price index was up 0.5%, above expectations, but the core rate grew just 0.2%, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, indicating that inflation is under control. Last month's figures for industrial production and capacity utilization came in essentially in line with estimates, and the National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index jumped to 57, ahead of expectations of 51, indicating that the housing market remains strong despite rising interest rates.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest 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 Dividend Growth Investor]
In a previous article, I outlined that it is getting more difficult to find quality dividend paying stocks to buy. Most of the usual suspects like Kimberly-Clark (KMB) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL) are very overvalued today, which prevents me from adding to my positions there. Other companies like Chevron (CVX) are attractively valued today, but unfortunately my portfolio is overweight in them. Currently I find the oil sector to be cheap and have some of the lowest P/E ratios in the market. However, I would hate to be concentrated in one sector which is exposed to the fluctuating prices in its commodity products.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Colgate-Palmolive Co (NYSE: CL) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.73 per share on revenue of $4.46 billion.
Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP) is projected to report its Q2 earnings at $2.83 per share on revenue of $2.36 billion.
Top 10 Blue Chip 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 Tim Melvin]
Some of the traditionally defensive stocks like Phillip Morris International (PM) and Merck (MRK) also fail our test for operating conditions and financial changes. Yield chasers have also pushed the value of their shares to unsustainable levels, and are unlikely to see much more than mid- to low-single-digit profit growth for several years.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) has experienced more than impressive growth in both its share price and its profits in the past four years. Lately its gains have petered out. The problem is that much of that growth has come from a few countries in Asia, and if one analyst report is accurate, there will be little to no growth from those areas ahead. Nomura Securities is downgrading Philip Morris to a Reduce rating from Neutral, but for all practical purposes it is a Sell rating. The firm’s $76 price target suggests downside of more than $10 ahead.
- [By Jacob Roche]
A recent report from research group KPMG, and commissioned by Philip Morris (NYSE: PM ) , revealed that while total consumption of cigarettes in Europe has fallen in recent years, the illegal contraband and counterfeit trade has grown from 8.3% of total consumption to 11.1%. The report suggests that the high profitability and low risk of penalties attracts organized crime, which can use the trade as a cash cow to fund far more objectionable activities. An ad from British American Tobacco (NYSEMKT: BTI ) goes as far as to suggest that the trade could even be indirectly funding terrorism.
Top Bank Stocks To Own 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 Evan Niu, CFA]
With Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) underperformance over the past year, many tech-heavy investors have partially sat on the sidelines as the broader market continues to march to all-time highs. Investors aren't the only ones getting hurt by Apple lagging; brokers are getting hurt, too.
- [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]
AP/Dave Martin The last week of February was a redemptive week for three fading retailers, but it's hard to argue that any of them will remain market darlings for long. J.C. Penney (JCP) was one of the market's biggest winners, soaring 29 percent after posting improving quarterly results. The struggling department store chain posted a narrower loss than analysts were forecasting, posting positive comparable-store sales during the holiday period for the first time in a couple of years. Barnes & Noble (BKS) also moved higher by 8 percent last week on strong financial results. The bookseller that outlasted Borders came through with a quarterly profit of $0.86 a share, blowing past the $0.61 a share that Wall Street pros were targeting. Its Nook business is still suffering from sharp declines, but its actual superstores are holding up surprisingly well. An analyst at Maxim Group boosted his price target on the shares from $20 to $32. Best Buy (BBY) also got a boost from a better than expected report during the holiday quarter. Best Buy's profit for the holiday period declined to $1.24 a share, but that was well ahead of the $1.01 a share that analysts were expecting. Shares of Best Buy also rose 8 percent on the week. These chains seemed to be on the way out last year, and all of them have brought in new CEOs over the past two years. Seeing the stocks move at least 8 percent higher and as much as 29 percent higher last week may suggest that reports of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated, but let's not assume that the storm clouds have cleared at any of them. Penney Arcade The troubled Ron Johnson era ended at J.C. Penney last year. The retail guru -- who had been instrumental in turning Target (TGT) from "cheap" into "cheap chic" before heading to Apple (AAPL) in time to start rolling out the wildly successful Apple Store chain -- flopped at the meandering department store chain. Investors cheered when Johnson arrived at J.C. Penney in late 201
- [By Eric Volkman]
Alamy Late last month, Chinese hardware giant Lenovo (LNVGY) was the subject of many headlines -- not all of them complimentary -- when it signed a high-profile deal to buy the Motorola Mobility smartphone unit from Google (GOOG). The Asian firm is ponying up a cool $2.9 billion to acquire the business, which is monstrously unprofitable to the tune of a $645 million operating loss in the first nine months of 2013. The market didn't appreciate this. Disturbed by the idea of gallons of red ink spilling from Motorola Mobility onto Lenovo's results, investors traded down the firm's stock by as much as 14 percent after the deal was made public. This might have been compounded by the firm's previous announcement, made only days earlier, that it was spending $2.3 billion to purchase IBM's (IBM) x86 -- read: lower-end -- line of servers. Was such a sell-off, in reaction to either or both, justified? At Home Abroad Lenovo is one of those companies that likes to expand by acquisition. Few Westerners had ever heard of the IT manufacturer in 2005 when it closed its first big buy -- the personal computing division of IBM, for total consideration of around $1.75 billion. The purchase seemed a counterintuitive move when everyone knew that a future stuffed with wireless Internet and portable computing was just around the corner. But guess what? Lenovo not only sold plenty of notebooks and desktops, it managed to grow into the top PC manufacturer in the world. According to figures from Gartner (IT), in Q4 2013 the company was the clear market leader in terms of PC vendor unit shipments. It moved nearly 15 million PCs during the quarter, a figure 6.6 percent higher than in the same period the previous year. This was particularly impressive considering that total shipments for the industry dropped by almost 7 percent over that time frame. Lenovo was able to do this because, for most of its life, it's made big strides in less affluent markets and is continuing to do so. In
- [By David Zeiler]
So when Robinson says another of the best tech dividend stocks to buy now is Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), you shouldn't be surprised.
Though the companies are often viewed very differently, Robinson sees a number of similarities.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest 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 Ben Levisohn]
The Dow was weighed down by Nike, which fell 3% to $76.84 ahead of next week’s earnings, while United Health dropped 2.6% to $72.14 and Pfizer declined 2.2% to $30.65. Only five Dow components finished in the green, including Visa (V), which rose 3.1% to $205.66 after Mastercard’s (MA) big dividend/buyback/stock-slit announcement.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest 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 Keith Speights]
IBM (NYSE: IBM ) probably ranks as the most significant publicly traded rival to Accenture in the health care field. While Big Blue doesn't report revenue for health care, the industry is an important area of focus for the company. In 2011, IBM counted more than 8,000 staff dedicated to health care. That number is likely a good bit higher now.
- [By Holly LaFon]
Last quarter, there were four winners: Chihin, Errold, Luishernandez and Clemo69. They correctly guessed that Buffett bought DaVita (DVA), Wells Fargo (WFC) and IBM (IBM). Congratulations!
- [By Rex Crum]
H-P�� results also come following mixed results from IBM Corp. (IBM) �and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) , and amid growing concerns about the turnaround efforts launched by Chief Executive Meg Whitman. �
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
We recently had a chance to interview one of the portfolio managers for the Ranger Equity Bear ETF (NYSEMKT: HDGE), which is an actively managed short selling exchange-traded fund. It acts like a short selling hedge fund but with instant market liquidity features that an ETF structure provides. The ETF’s major short selling position in shares of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was what really piqued our interest. Investors did well who decided to move out of IBM as Big Blue’s stock price has managed to fall by more than $11 per share since then. It turns out that the team here remains a short seller of IBM, and this is indirectly a bet against Warren Buffett.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest 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 Ben Levisohn]
Chevron (CVX) offered an update to its business yesterday after the close–and investors haven’t been pleased. Shares of the oil giant have fallen 0.7% to $115.36 at 1:19 p.m.
BloombergReuters has the details:
Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, warned on Wednesday that third-quarter earnings would be lower than in the second quarter due to “significantly lower” earnings from its refining division as fuel margins were squeezed…
Analysts, on average, had been expecting earnings per share of $3.08 for the third quarter, which would have been up from $2.77 in the second quarter and $2.57 in the third quarter of 2012, according to estimates on Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
JPMorgan’s Katherine Lucas Minyar says the big hit from refining shouldn’t come as a surprise:
CVX expects 3Q13 downstream earnings to decrease significantly relative to the prior quarter, though we note that one-time impacts related to timing effects and F/X losses may amplify the drop…The company indicated the sequential uptick in throughput was driven by higher volumes at its Richmond refinery, slightly offset by planned maintenance at the El Segundo facility. US marketing margins saw a notable decrease q-on-q across all regions, and refining margin indicators in the US West Coast and Singapore are sequentially lower as well. Given the currently weak refining margin environment, we believe most investors were anticipating relatively soft downstream results.
That might explain why refiners are holding up better than expected today. Valero (VLO) has gained 3% to $35, while Tesoro (TSO) has risen 1.6% to $41.19.
Citigroup’s Faisel Khan worries about the upstream business:
Domestic production appears to be tracking in-line with our estimates with interim production through August averaging 651mboe/d. However, international interim guidance of 1,938mboe/d is notably lower than our 3
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies 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 Jessica Alling]
Other earnings
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) is also down in trading this morning after reporting lighter sales in many of its territories. Asia was the weakest geographical region, with lower sales in Japan and negative results in China. Overall revenue was up 1% and earnings were flat at $1.3 billion for Mickey D's, but the company still reported a 2% increase in EPS, though the $1.26 per share missed expectations by a penny. The fast-food chain is contending with some difficult comparisons to a strong period in 2012, making its results look weaker. The stock is down 1.84% as of this writing, with investors concerned about continued impacts of international economic headwinds and tougher outlooks for the coming quarters. - [By Jeremy Bowman]
Some minimum-wage workers at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) joined with fellow fast-food employees and walked off the job today, demanding a $15-an-hour wage in a weeklong protest. The minimum-wage issue appears to be gaining traction after the D.C. Council recently passed a law designed to make Wal-Mart pay its future workers there a minimum of $12.50 an hour, and President Obama's recent statement that the widening income gap was damaging the country. McDonald's has also been the target of much derision and mockery since a sample budget for employees, which among other things implies that a worker needs two jobs, found its way to the media. Shares of Mickey D's were unaffected by the strike, falling 0.2%, but the issue will continue to circulate and could become a greater concern.
- [By Alex Dumortier, CFA]
GE vs. McDonald's on growth
Two Dow bellwethers, General Electric (NYSE: GE ) and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) , have reported results for the first quarter, producing contrary data points with regard to global growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment