Hot Blue Chip Stocks For 2014

Stocks took no time getting back to work after the long weekend today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) was flying out of the gate this morning. The blue chips were up more than 200 points before 10:30 a.m., but cooled off later in the day to finish up 106 points, or 0.7%. The gains were driven by two key pieces of economic data showing strong jumps and central banks in Europe and Japan indicating that lax monetary policies will remain in place. The gains were enough to give the Dow another all-time closing high.

Coming out before markets opened, the Case-Shiller 20-City Index showed the biggest gain in home prices in seven years, jumping 10.9% in March from a year ago, ahead of expectations of 10.2% gain. Though the news is two months old, it shows that the spring home-buying season has added further fuel to the housing recovery. Prices in the west including Phoenix, Las Vegas, and San Francisco grew the fastest.

Later in the morning, the consumer confidence report from the Conference Board showed an increase from 68.1 in April to 76.2 in May, easily topping projections of 72.5. The rating was the highest for the month of May since before the recession and its measurement of consumer attitudes hit its highest mark since February 2008.

Hot 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 WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  Visa facilitates transactions for consumers, companies, governments, and other entities around the world. The company recently reported earnings that have sat really well with investors. The stock has been steadily trending higher and is now trading near all-time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have been increasing which has really pleased investors. Relative to its strong peers and sector, Visa has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Visa to OUTPERFORM.

• [By Sean Williams, Travis Hoium, and Alex Planes]

  In that spirit, we three Fools have banded together to find the market's best and worst stocks, which we'll rate on�The Motley Fool's CAPS�system as outperformers or underperformers. We'll be accountable for every pick based on the sum of our knowledge and the balance of our decisions. Today, we'll be discussing Visa (NYSE: V  ) , the world's largest electronic payment processing network.

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Credit card use is up, and that's great news for industry heavies Visa (NYSE: V  ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) , both of which have been on a tear over the past few month. To make things even sweeter, delinquencies have dropped, too, and now stand at a level not seen since 1990.

Hot 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 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.

• [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. �

Top 10 Performing Stocks To Buy 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 Paul Ausick]

  The world�� largest wireless carrier, China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL), reportedly has�awarded initial contracts for the build-out of China�� first 4G wireless network. This is especially good news for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has been trying to reach an agreement with the Chinese carrier to offer the iPhone to China Mobile�� customers.

Hot 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 Roberto Pedone]

  One stock that insiders are buying up a large amount of here is Philip Morris International (PM), which manufactures and sells cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside the U.S. Insiders are buying this stock into modest strength, since shares are up 5.5% so far in 2013.

  Philip Morris International has a market cap of $143 billion and an enterprise value of $168 billion. This stock trades at a reasonable valuation, with a trailing price-to-earnings of 17.25 and a forward price-to-earnings of 14.6. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 4.2%, and for next year it's pegged at 11.8%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $3.59 billion and its total debt is $25.50 billion. This stock currently sports a dividend yield of 3.8%.

  A director just bought 123,500 shares, or about $11.01 million worth of stock, at $89.15 per share.

  From a technical perspective, PM is currently trending below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock has been downtrending over the last two months and change, with shares dropping from its high of $95.38 to its recent low of $85.21 a share. During that move, shares of PM have been mostly making lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action.

  If you're bullish on PM, then I would look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above some near-term support at $87.65 to $87 and then once it takes out its 200-day at $88.72 and its 50-day at $89.25 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 5.10 million shares. If we get that move soon, then PM will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $91.40 to $92.26 a share. Any high-volume move above those levels will then put $94 to $95 into range for shares of PM.

   

• [By Efficient Alpha]

  Philip Morris International (PM) is a favorite of mine, not only for its 4% dividend but also for its protection against global inflationary pressures. The company can pass through higher commodity prices and smokers will keep coming back for more. The company has 16% of the international market and is making strong progress in China. Asia accounts for 36% of sales, followed by the EMEA region (27%), the EU (26%) and Latin America/Canada (11%). Shares have posted an annual return of 15% since its spinoff in 2008.

Hot 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 Alex Planes]

  Tabulating a dynasty
  IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) was created on June 16, 1911, as the result of a merger between three technically inclined manufacturing businesses. It was known as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company until 1924 -- the same year that Ford built its 10 millionth Model T. CTR, as it was sometimes known, traced its origins to an inventor named Herman Hollerith, who devised a punched-card tabulator that offered tremendous time savings for enterprises (like the U.S. Census) engaged in the tedium of tallying up vast quantities of data. However, it wasn't Hollerith who built IBM into the business-services behemoth you know today. Much of IBM's character was formed during the tenure of the two Thomas Watsons, a legendary father-and-son executive pair that guided the company for more than half a century. You can read more about IBM's origins and its Watson-driven rise to prominence when you click on this link.

Hot 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 Maxfield]

  Blue-chip stocks are mixed in intraday trading following the release of disappointing housing data and downbeat quarterly results from McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) . With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) is up a negligible two points, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) is up by 0.2%.

• [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 WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  McDonald�� is a well-recognized company that fulfills cravings and demand for quick and delicious food choices that many consumers across the globe enjoy. The company continues to adopt new technologies in order to enhance their customer experience. The stock has been rising in recent years but is now pulling back a bit as investors book gains. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been on the rise, however, investors have expected a little more from the company. Relative to its peers and sector, McDonald’s has been an average year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what McDonald’s does this quarter.

Hot 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 Dan Caplinger]

  Lately, energy stocks have made a nice comeback. After lagging the Dow for the first half of 2013, both ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) have started out July on the right foot, with Exxon hitting a new five-year high today and Chevron approaching its own all-time record-high share price.

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Technology, energy and material stocks advanced the most out of 10 S&P 500 groups as investors bought shares of companies most tied to economic growth. Chevron Corp. (CVX), the world�� third- biggest energy company by market value, increased 2.9 percent to $123.49. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, added 4.2 percent to $8.62. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities jumped 1.4 percent for the second week of gains.