Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy For 2014

I just bought shares of a fund aimed at generating income and lowering volatility, by owning securities with wide valuations and above-average dividend; it can be considered a stock hedge fund for the retail investor, suggests Vivian Lewis, editor of Global Investing.

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Global Equity Income Fund (EXG) favors active management in a declining market based on CIO Michael Wilson's strategy for closed end funds.

Morgan Stanley recently rated overweight, based on the fund's actively-managed strategy. EXG uses covered calls to boost income and lower portfolio volatility.

Writing calls is a good strategy for boosting income, but you have to focus on it. The fund, run by the same two managers since its founding in 2007, is focused.

EXG is largely invested in non-US shares (mostly continental and about 10% UK) and writes calls on broad foreign equity index options (usually slightly out of the money).

The calls are offset by its portfolio of high-yielding foreign blue chip individual company stock. The current top positions in the fund include Royal Dutch, Nestle, Roche, Vodafone, HSBC, Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, BP, Unilever, Bayer, Astra Zeneca, Diageo, and ABB.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment 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 Piyush Arora]

  Impact on Micron
  Micron is the third largest DRAM manufacturer, commanding an estimated market share of almost 27.4%. Its stock price has more than tripled over the last year, as its acquisition of Elpida Memory has strengthened its market position and expanded its manufacturing capacity. And the recent deal between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and China Mobile has made Micron an even more attractive investment option.

• [By Douglas Ehrman]

  Microsoft (MSFT) recently announced that it was extending its trade-in program to include "gently used" the Apple (AAPL) iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5. The program extends the one that gives consumers a minimum of $200 for iPads that are turned in at Microsoft stores. The brilliance of the plan is that it allows consumers to use the credit toward any Microsoft product they want, including a new Xbox or a new PC. While Microsoft would ideally like to drive sales of either its Nokia (NOK) Lumia series Windows Phones (or other Windows Phones) or the company's recently announced Surface 2 tablets. Either way, if Microsoft can use the program to drive sales, it is something for investors to take note of when considering the stock.

• [By Mani]

  [Related -How Apple Inc. (AAPL) Could Make Money From iBeacons?]

  This is where BLE steps in. BLE is active but low power. The effective range of 20 metre (clear field with no obstacles is 70 metre) means that a retail store could cover its entire showroom with a $99 three-unit bundle. Using the smartphone enables more sophisticated interactions than just user authentication and purchase.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  In the age of mobile ads, the heavyweights are losing the upper hand. According to a recent report from IDC, the mobile display ad market is being taken over by publishers like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) , Pandora Media (NYSE: P  ) , and Twitter. That's good news for those companies, and bad news for incumbent ad networks from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) , Millennial Media (NYSE: MM  ) , and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) .

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Robert Rapier]

  Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) is just the opposite. I was once an investor in this giant Brazilian integrated oil and gas company, whose stock has fallen by nearly two-thirds over the past five years. Over that same span, shares of US integrated majors Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) rallied 98 percent and 48 percent, respectively.

• [By DailyFinance Staff]

  The looming Fed taper has been the talk of Wall Street for months, but it still came as a surprise to investors when it actually happened. Stocks rallied Wednesday following the Fed's decision to cut its $85 billion a month purchase of bonds by $10 billion, beginning in January. Outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy continues to "make progress." The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) soared 292 points on the news, its third biggest one-day gain this year. The Dow also hit a closing high, as did the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC), which gained 29 points. And the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) rose 46 points. Consider it Bernanke's final present to the market before he retires from his position atop the Fed. Among the big blue chip winners, 3M (MMM) rose 3 percent, while Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Goldman Sachs (GS) all rose 2 percent. But Microsoft (MSFT) was flat, reflecting across the board weakness in tech stocks. Many of the biggest players on the Nasdaq lost ground despite the overall market rally. Apple (AAPL) and Twitter (TWTR) ended lower and Tesla (TSLA) lost nearly 3 percent. Part of the reason for the tech weakness was an earnings miss and a weak forecast from Jabil Circuits (JBL), a key maker of electronics. Its shares plunged 20 percent. But homebuilders were strong following a report showing that housing starts last month rose to highest level in nearly six years. Lennar (LEN), which also posted strong earnings, jumped 6 percent. William Lyon Homes rose 4 percent, KB Homes (KBH) and Toll Brothers (TOL) each rose 3.5 percent. Ford (F) shares skidded more than 6 percent after lowering its profit forecast for next year. The company also warned that it may not meet its target for 2015 and 2016. In part, Ford blames the high expenses tied its planned launch of a record number of new vehicles next year. Finally, the movie theater chain AMC Entertainment (AMC) rose 5 percent from its $18 a share IPO price. This is exp

• [By Robert Rapier]

  As an example, in 2009 Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) and ExxonMobil teamed up on the Gorgon natural gas project in Australia. The Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields are estimated to contain 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which will supply natural gas to the growing Asia Pacific market for decades. Chevron has invested more than $18 billion, and the total project cost has risen to $52 billion (40 percent over budget). That’s a lot of capital spent on something that hasn’t yet shown up as production, but once it does it will produce for many years.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  With quarterly reports out from Dow energy components like ExxonMobil (XOM) �on Thursday and Chevron (CVX) �on Friday, investors will be combing outlooks for evidence of the economic recovery, said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Dan Caplinger]

  Starbucks has done a good job of fending off challenges to its core coffee business in recent years. Fast-food giant McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) has had great success with its McCafe line of premium beverages, but a recent rise in customer service complaints had Fool contributor Rick Munarriz speculating that dealing with longer preparation times for premium drinks might be behind the surge in unfriendly employees and longer drive-thru waiting times. By contrast, the customer experience at Starbucks is one of its primary attractions, and customers don't hesitate to stand in long lines waiting to make their purchases.

• [By Chad Fraser]

  As is the case in the U.S., Canada’s fast-food restaurant market remains hotly competitive. One challenger that has been pushing hard to pick up market share is McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), which continues to upgrade its restaurants and add to its McCafé menu lineup.

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Wells Fargo reported on Wednesday that it has cut its rating on fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation (MCD).

  The ratings firm has downgraded MCD from “Outperform” to “Market Perform,” and has given the company a valuation range of $100 to $102. This range suggests up to a 6% increase from the stock’s current price of $96.38.

  Analyst Jeff Farmer commented: “In 2013, MCD’s Global quarterly SSS comparisons eased dramatically as the year progressed, falling from +7.3% in Q1 2012 to +0.1% in Q4 2012. The increasingly favorable comparisons meant very little with both Global and U.S. two-year SSS trends materially decelerating in 2013 despite the more favorable comparisons. McDonald’s U.S. market share losses in three of the last four months through November have increasingly captured our attention. MCD largely attributed its softening 2012 U.S. SSS results to the combination of a lack of meaningful new food news and relatively late response to increasingly value-focused promotional efforts from its key competitors. MCD was more aggressive in 2013 with both new products and promoting value, but the company’s recent U.S. market share losses suggest that the long-delayed raising of the competitive bar by WEN and BKW is creating a tangible top- line headwind for McDonald’s, and one we expect to persist in 2014.”

  McDonald’s shares were down 58 cents, or 0.60%, during pre-market trading Wednesday.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Monica Gerson]

  Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.43 per share on revenue of $7.94 billion.

  Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.74 per share on revenue of $30.16 billion.

• [By Alexandra Scaggs]

  Then the bank appeared to backpedal a bit in its note yesterday, cutting back on its recommended holdings in Ultimate Software Group(ULTI) and Mastercard(MA) and adding to its recommended positions in Anadarko Petroleum Corp.(APC), an energy stock, and Philip Morris International Inc.(PM), a consumer-staples stock. Morgan Stanley strategist Adam Parker �and his�team found that times when value stocks outperform growth stocks by such a wide margin “are typically followed by periods where value outperforms.”

• [By Matthew Coffina]

  Philip Morris International (PM)

  Among our holdings, Philip Morris is arguably the most exposed to depreciating emerging market currencies, since it doesn�� have any US sales. Unfortunately, currency fluctuations are an unavoidable tradeoff for emerging markets��relatively stable cigarette volumes.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Dividends4Life]

  Memberships and Peers: KMB is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: The company's peer group includes: Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) with a 3.1% yield, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) with a 2.3% yield, and Clorox Corporation (CLX) with a 3.4% yield.

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Matt Thalman]

  Consider that the mother of all server companies, IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) just announced quarterly earnings this past week and missed on the top and bottom lines. It was the company's first earnings miss since 2005. The main reason for the miss was weak demand in the IT hardware segment, and analysts think this is a bad sign moving forward for the whole industry, not just for IBM.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  At noon ET on Black Friday, online sales are up 7% compared with the same period a year ago and the average order value this year is $142.33. The data is collected and reported by the Digital Analytics Benchmark group at International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM).

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Dan Caplinger]

  2. A simple savings account
  Savings accounts aren't popular among financial institutions because they aren't big revenue generators. The profits from prepaid cards come from merchant charges that Visa (NYSE: V  ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) collect, keeping a portion and giving the rest to card-issuing institutions. That's likely where SpendSmart expects to get the money to pay Bieber's $3.75 million endorsement fee.