Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2014

Although this past week was slightly shorter than most due to the long holiday weekend, it was still filled with drama and excitement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) opened sharply higher on Tuesday, and managed to close up 106 points for the day, but on Wednesday, the blue chip index closed lower by 106 points.�Thursday seemed like it would be a good day until just after 2:56 p.m. EDT, at which point the Dow began its 73-point decline before closing up just 21 points for the day.�Then Friday came along, and while the decline didn't come till late afternoon, the day started �with the Dow flat, but the fall lasted nearly two hours. When all was said and done, the index had lost 208 points on the last day of the week.�

All in all, the Dow Jones lost 187 points, or 1.22%, this past week, while the other major indexes also closed out the last week of May on a down note. The S&P 500 declined by 1.16%, and the Nasdaq slid lower by just 3.23 points, or 0.09%.

Best Food Stocks To Watch For 2015: 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 DAILYFINANCE]

  Gary Malerba/AP Neiman Marcus says 1.1 million debit and credit cards used at its stores may have been compromised in a security breach last year. The high-end retailer said Visa (V), MasterCard (MA) and Discover (DFS) have found 2,400 Neiman Marcus and Last Call customer cards that were used fraudulently. Last Call is Neiman Marcus' clearance chain. Neiman Marcus says it is notifying all customers who shopped in its stores in 2013 and offering them a free year of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection. Malicious software installed in Neiman Marcus' system attempted to take customer card information from July 16 to Oct. 30, the company said. The malicious software has been disabled. Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. reiterated in a post on its website Wednesday night that social security numbers and birth dates weren't stolen and customers who shopped online weren't affected. Customers that use its private Neiman Marcus credit cards were also not affected. The Dallas-based company said the investigation is ongoing. The company learned that malicious software was installed to its system on Jan. 1, after a forensics company discovered it. It informed federal law enforcement agencies and began working with the U.S. Secret Service and payment processors. Target (TGT) also suffered a security breach, during the holiday shopping season. Hackers stole about 40 million debit and credit card numbers. Personal information, including names, email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses of as many as 70 million customers was also stolen. Neiman Marcus said it has no knowledge of a connection between the two security breaches. A report published earlier this month by iSight Partners, a global cyber intelligence firm that works with the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, said the security breach that hit Target appears to have been part of a broader and highly sophisticated scam that potentially affected a large number of retailers.

Hot Blue Chip Stocks 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 Jeremy Bowman]

  Fellow tech blue chip IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) didn't fare as well today, however, falling 1.9% after getting downgraded by Goldman Sachs from "buy" to "neutral." Analyst Bill Shope argued that pressures on emerging growth markets and high profit-margin areas make the company less appealing. The tech giant has been struggling of late, falling 8% after a disappointing earnings report last quarter, and also took a hit following rival Accenture's recent guidance cut, as both event seems to indicate that the IT consulting industry may be flatlining. IBM will report earnings July 17; analysts are expecting EPS of $3.78.

Hot Blue Chip Stocks 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 Sue Chang]

  McDonald�� (MCD) �is projected to report third-quarter earnings of $1.51 a share, according to a consensus survey by Thomson Reuters.

• [By Grace L. Williams]

  McDonald�� (MCD) made the list after Morgan Stanley�� John Glass upgraded it to Overweight (hold your sarcasm) calling it, ��ne of few laggards with underappreciated competitive advantages.��McDonald�� will report earnings on Jan. 23.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Shares of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) have fallen 2.7% after the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations. Revenue rose 2.4% to $7.08 million, and earnings rose 4.5% to $1.38 per share, but both results were short of expectations. Performance in Europe and China was disappointing, and management said the rest of the year would be challenging as well. The company is facing headwinds such as slowing global growth and increasingly health-conscious consumers, which will keep growth low for the fast-food giant.�

Hot Blue Chip Stocks 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 Jake Keator]

  The revolution is in America (again)
  For some, the shift has already begun. It has been widely reported that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and GE (NYSE: GE  ) have already begun the transition back to the U.S. for manufacturing. In an interview last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook made headlines with the announcement that he would begin efforts in 2013 to bring manufacturing stateside. For years, Apple's business model has been in line with the offshoring trend, but the model only works as long as labor is cheap and evidence continues to mount that outsourcing to China is becoming less and less viable.

Hot Blue Chip Stocks 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 Ben Levisohn]

  The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 1,767.69, as Cliffs Natural Resources� (CLF) fell 4% to $26.27 on lower metal prices and NRG Energy (NRG) dropped 3.5% to $27.06 after it reported a profit of 37 cents, well below forecasts for 63 cents. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2% to 15,750.76, as taper talk hit Travelers (TRV), which fell 1.7% to $86.44, and Chevron (CVX), which dropped 0.9% to $120.

• [By Isaac Pino, CPA]

  Last summer, we�discussed�an instance of irresponsible corporate behavior at�Dow Chemical� (NYSE: DOW  ) . For years, Dow has fought tooth and nail to separate itself from the Bhopal, India, chemical spill, a tragedy that took place at the hands of its subsidiary in 1984. As a financial media outlet, it is our responsibility to bring attention to these types of company issues. For this reason, we decided to dig into a similar case recently -- a decades-old Ecuadorian oil spill linked to energy giant�Chevron� (NYSE: CVX  ) . We mentioned this case briefly in our Dow article:

Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  Philip Morris provides cigarette and tobacco products through established brands to an increasing consumer base around the world. The stock has done very well over the last few years and is now trading at all-time high prices. Earnings and revenue figures have been increasing and decreasing, in recent quarters, which has confused investors a bit. Relative to its strong peers and sector, Philip Morris has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Philip Morris to OUTPERFORM.