Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 2014

Kiplinger's Personal Finance writer Carolyn Bigda looks at a trio of favored blue chip stocks, each providing investors with yields above 5%.

Steve Halpern: We are here today with Carolyn Bigda of Kiplinger's Personal Finance. How are you doing, Carolyn?

Carolyn Bigda: I am fine, thank you.

Steve Halpern: In your recent article for Kiplinger's, which just hit the newsstands this week, you look at what you call Steady Eddie stocks, long-term dividend payers, and for this article, you focus on stocks yielding 5% or more. First off, you look at AT&T (T). Could you explain what the attraction behind that idea is?

Carolyn Bigda: Sure. AT&T is paying just north of 5%, which is a pretty big yield for telecom, and the company—as you said earlier—these are Steady Eddies.

And the company has raised its dividend consecutively for 29 years, which is a pretty good record. You have a pretty reliable dividend payer with a very attractive yield.

5 Best Oil Stocks To Own For 2015: 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 Stoyan Bojinov]

  On Tuesday, New York-based “Big Blue” bellwether IBM Corp. (IBM) announced its commitment to developing and investing in open source software, namely Linux.

  IBM re-affirmed its dedication to work more closely with the Linux OS in light of the LinuxCon event taking place this week. The company is reportedly setting aside roughly $1 billion over the course of the next four to five years to invest in the development of Linux-based technologies and platforms. Sources say the money will likely go into building a “cloud” based on IBM Power servers running Linux; the company did not disclose whether it was financing Linux developments internally or through third-party projects.

  IBM shares sank lower on Tuesday, shedding 0.51% on the day. The stock is flat YTD.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 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 Jim Jubak]

  McDonald's (MCD) beat on earnings by a penny, but revenue grew year over year by just 2% and came in $15 million short of Wall Street projections.

  Verizon (VZ) beat analyst estimates by four cents a share, but reported revenue $29 million below expectations.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) lost 2.16% today after an analyst raised concerns about future headwinds the company will have to overcome and lower the earnings-per-share estimates. An analyst at UBS believes that weak sales in Europe combined with the impact of the currency exchange rates will lower McDonald's earnings in the coming months. Previously, UBS had a higher earnings-per-share estimate than most of the other firms that follow the company, but due to these issues, it has lowered EPS estimates down to the consensus level. The firm, though, still has a buy rating on the stock with a $110 price target. �

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 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 Sean Williams]

  But, have you ever stopped to consider which toothpaste is America's favorite? If you've walked down the toothpaste aisle in the grocery store you've probably noticed that it goes on forever, which can make choosing a toothpaste a chore. Well, here's a big hint toward the answer: America's favorite toothpaste comes down to either Colgate, which is made by Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) , or Crest made by Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) .

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 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 Dividends4Life]

  Chevron Corporation (CVX) is a global integrated oil company (formerly ChevronTexaco) with interests in exploration, production, refining and marketing, and petrochemicals.
  Yield: 3.3% | Years of Dividend Growth: 26

• [By John Divine]

  The oil and gas sector was the only major sector to decline today, and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) shares acted unsurprisingly, slipping 0.8% as a result. Today, the company announced a $1.5 billion investment in an Argentine energy company, but for the $240 billion Chevron, that's just a drop in the bucket.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Chevron Corporation (CVX). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis: Company Description: Chevron Corporation is a global integrated oil company (formerly ChevronTexaco) has interests in exploration, production, refining and marketing, and petrochemicals.

• [By Jesse Solomon]

  The unrelenting reign of Big Oil: It's not called Big Oil for nothing. With a market value of over $400 billion, Exxon Mobil (XOM)is the second largest company in the world. Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) aren't too far behind. And all them are listed in the S&P 500, the popular index of America's largest companies.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 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 Brendan Byrnes]

  In this video segment Whitney discusses the bear case for Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) , and two reasons he thinks the streaming media company can weather the potential threat from deep-pocketed competitors such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) or Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) . The�full version�of the interview can be found�here.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Other data points of interest from IBM�� cloud-based digital analytics platform:

  Mobile traffic accounted for 37% of all online traffic, up more than third from a year ago Mobile sales accounted for 21.5% of all online sales Smartphones drove 24.4% of online traffic, nearly double the traffic from tablets Tablet traffic drove 1.5x more sales than smartphone traffic Average sale per tablet user was $137.96, compared with $119.21 per smartphone user Sales to users of iPhones from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) totaled 17.5%, more than 4x the sales for users of Google Inc.�� (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system iPhone users posted an average sale per user of $131.52 compared with $113.13 for Android users Shoppers referred by Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) averaged $93.73 per order and shoppers referred from Pinterest averaged $103.30 per order Facebook referrals converted to sales at more than twice the rate of Pinterest referrals

  One final note. Earlier this morning we looked at shopping versus NFL football to see which was the real American sport. The numbers are finally in for last night�� Steelers/Ravens game. More than 18.6 million viewers watched the prime-time broadcast of the game, but that number is probably far less than went shopping.

• [By FinanceGuru]

  Should Apple worry? The big question then is whether Apple (AAPL) -- which has been on an absolute roll with its iPhone products lately -- has anything to be worried about vis-a-vis an even higher end, premium-tier Galaxy S5. While Samsung would handily win the "spec wars" with three times the RAM and a much sharper display, it's important to note that Apple's key differentiation point isn't necessarily the hardware, but the harmony of the hardware and the software.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  There have been numerous rumors over the past week that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) are thinking about taking their relationship to the next level. Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have chimed in with reports to that effect.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 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 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.

• [By Steven Russolillo]

  Visa(V) is the only Dow component that currently has a stock price above $200. Eight companies have stock prices above $100 as of Thursday’s close.

• [By Jared Cummans]

  Credit card giant Visa (V) reported Q3 earnings after the closing bell on Thursday.

  V Earnings in Brief

  The company reported EPS of $2.17, easily beating analyst estimates of $2.10 and marking a 15% growth from the same quarter a year prior. Revenues for the quarter came in at $3.16 billion, edging out The Street’s expectation of $3.15 billion. Total operating expenses for the quarter came in at $1.1 billion, a 3% decrease YoY; this stemmed from a reduction in personnel and marketing fees. Total processed transactions for the quarter was a massive 16.7 billion.

  CEO Commentary

  CEO Charlie Scharf had this to say concerning the release: “We are pleased to report 15% earnings per share growth in the face of a continued, subdued global economy.�As expected, revenue growth was affected by a strong U.S. dollar and tepid growth from cross-border transactions. More importantly, global payments volume and processed transactions remained healthy and strong. While some of the headwinds will likely continue in the short-term, we are confident our investments in products such as Visa Checkout, new technologies like tokenization, and new relationships with financial institutions and merchants will continue to drive double-digit revenue growth over the long-term.��/p>

  V’s Dividend

  The company declared a dividend of $0.40 per share, which will be paid on 9/3/2014.

  Stock Performance

  Wall Street was not impressed with Visa’s numbers, as the stock fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading, leaving some scratching their heads as to what was bringing the ticker down.

  V�Dividend Snapshot

  As of Market Close on July 24, 2014

  Click here to see the complete history of V dividends.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was the big DJIA gainer, and it being the largest DJIA stock by weighting made all the difference in the world. Its stock was up 4.1% at $231.00 in the final minutes before the closing bell. The gains of AmEx were the big driving force here, and Visa’s nearly 9% weighting in the DJIA makes it three times more dominant than the average DJIA stock.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 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 Holly LaFon]

  GuruFocus: You��e buying a lot of global brands, and they all had in common emerging market growth, like Proctor and Gamble (PG), Pepsi (PEP), Philip Morris (PM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ). Is that was a conscious investment theme or is that a coincidence?

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  On Wednesday, Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) announced that its board has approved a 10.6% increase to its quarterly dividend.

  PM has increased its dividend from 85 cents to 94 cents per share, or $3.76 annually.

  The dividend will be paid on October 11 to shareholders of record on September 26. The stock will go ex-dividend on September 24.

  Philip Morris shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock has been mostly flat YTD.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  There are definitely concerns for Phillip Morris, which include decreased market share in many areas and poor debt management. However, up until this point, Phillip Morris has done a good job rewarding its shareholders. While history usually repeats itself, that�� not necessarily an all-positive in this case. Phillip Morris didn�� hold up well in 2008/early 2009. If a similar environment were to present itself again, then Phillip Morris wouldn�� be a top option ��regardless of the impressive yield. In the meantime, Phillip Morris is an OUTPERFORM.