Stocks finished out a solid week today as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) both closed at record highs again. There were no major events pushing markets higher as stocks were more or less flat until late in the session. Investors have been enthused recently by strong earnings reports, economic data, and signaling from the Fed that its monetary stimulus will continue. In a speech today at the Chicago Federal Reserve, Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the recovery still has a way to go, indicating that stimulus measures should stay in place in the near term. For the day, the blue chips gained 36 points, or 0.2%.
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) , despite no big news, led all Dow stocks today, jumping 1.7%. Rival Dell, however, was back in the headlines as activist investor Carl Icahn made the case for his bid to take the No. 3 PC maker private. Since HP and Dell both operate in the same declining industry, any belief that one company's holding unlocked value is likely to rub off on the other. After hours, a judge ruled that the company must defend itself in a lawsuit alleging that former management had defrauded shareholders. Its shares, however, remained unmoved.
Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2015: 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]
Energy stocks, well, I don�� see oil moving up a whole lot. It doesn�� look like it is going to be necessarily a bad time for energy stocks because oil is going to be dropping, but I don�� see a whole lot of energy in the sector. But the real problem, I think, is consumer stocks. These are kind of like the safe stocks that people go to when they want to be in the market but they��e a little worried about the market. You know the stocks I mean, McDonald�� (MCD), Coca-Cola (KO), Pepsi (PEP), the companies that have theoretically steadily growing earnings. The problem is we��e had a lot of bad news from those stocks in the fourth quarter and in, sort of, month-to-month figures from companies like McDonald�� for January and February that we��e not seeing much in the way of growth. Two problems there, one of which is sort of general, which is that we��e not seeing a whole lot of increases in growth, sort of acceleration in the growth rate in emerging markets. In fact, we have seen a deceleration, and that has had an effect on companies like McDonald��. The other is that we��e battling some individual, or sector trends, so that McDonald��, for example, is fighting against a lot more competition, in the sense that, for some percentage of the market, they are really not very exciting anymore as destination restaurants. For Coke and Pepsi, we��e dealing with the fact that cola drinks and sweetened fizzy drinks, in general, are sort of losing market share, again, losing some pizzazz. If you look at all of these sectors and say, ��kay, so what�� going to drive the market higher from here,��a lot of the sectors that were doing the job in January, and the first half of February, seem to have run out of gas, and that may leave us with very little, other than technology, and it�� hard to see technology being sufficient in and of itself to drive the market from here and that is what I �� look for in the week ahead, what�� our leaders
- [By Michael Lewis]
Fast-food chains are making a formidable attempt at adapting to shifting consumer tastes. For decades, a solid cheeseburger at a low price had been enough to drive the rapid expansion of the businesses throughout the United States and overseas, but now it appears that fast eaters want more. With new products such as a Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger, and health-oriented flatbread sandwiches, The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ: WEN ) is proving to be a formidable competitor to the long-reigning number one chain, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) . The stock is feeling full as well, up more than 35%�in 12 months. The question now is, can the stock still move higher as management continues its renovation, or has this opportunity passed?
- [By Mark Yagalla]
Getting into the breakfast business is a direct challenge to McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) and its breakfast menu.�Breakfast is a popular and profitable business for McDonald's. Matter of fact, McDonald's has been toying with the idea of offering breakfast around the clock. The new breakfast menu from Taco Bell looks to eat into some of McDonald's business and capture this important time of day. For us Fools, who doesn't love a good breakfast?
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 Douglas A. McIntyre]
Some traditional brand powerhouses have lost ground in the Top 100 since 2009. These include BMW, FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL).
- [By Dan Caplinger]
One concern, though, is how the company handled news of Venezuela's currency devaluation. Clorox (NYSE: CLX ) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) also felt the pinch, with Clorox taking about a $0.05 to $0.10 per-share earnings hit and Colgate losing about $0.50 per share. But they also addressed the potential devaluation more proactively than P&G did. Clorox actually�anticipated�the devaluation in its February earnings report, projecting the potential hit if a devaluation took place. Colgate didn't provide specific guidance in advance but clearly saw it as an issue, delivering on a promise to give prompt guidance revisions after the devaluation occurred.
- [By Lee Jackson]
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is a top consumer staples name to make the UBS. Colgate sells its products in more than 200 countries and makes more than 75% of its revenue outside the United States, which provides geographic diversification and growth opportunities in emerging markets for the company. This diversity, matched with a huge list of consumer products, keeps revenues and dividends growing. Investors are paid a 2.3% dividend. The consensus target is $67.14. Colgate closed Tuesday at $64.34.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Investors have always been interested in stocks that pay dividends, but lately, low interest rates on bonds and other fixed-income investments have made solid dividend payers even more valuable. Among the most promising dividend stocks in the market is Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) , and one big reason is that it is one of the few exclusive companies to make the list of Dividend Aristocrats. In order to become a member of this elite group, a company must have raised its dividend payouts to shareholders every single year for at least a quarter-century. Only a few dozen stocks manage to make the cut, and those that do tend to stay there for a long time.
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 David Hanson]
In the following video, Motley Fool financial analyst David Hanson takes a question from a Fool reader, who writes, "Bought Visa (NYSE: V ) on a 'Hold' report at $178.54. Wish I would have picked it up when in the $140-$145 range. What is your opinion going forward on this stock?"
- [By Philip Springer]
The U.S. economy grew, sort of, at a miniscule annual rate of 0.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the Commerce Dept. This preliminary reading, the first of three, was far below pessimistic expectations. This underperformance has occurred several times since the on-again, off-again recovery officially began in June 2009.
No wonder U.S. government bond yields have declined this year, contrary to most expectations, with the 10-year Treasury going from 3 percent to as low as 2.6 percent.
The first quarter’s economic weakness was attributed primarily to a 7.6 percent decline in exports, partly because of economic weakness in Europe and Asia. Poor weather, a favorite excuse for everything that went wrong during the winter, probably played a part in the export slump.
Also noteworthy, however: Business spending on equipment fell at a 5.5 percent annual pace in the first three months of the year, the largest decline since 2009.
Regardless of the causes, the tepid (to be generous) GDP reading marks a continuation of the still-sluggish growth in the current five-year economic expansion.
The report came right before the Federal Reserve announced that it is continuing to reduce, or taper, its bond purchases to $45 billion a month, from the original $85 billion. The Fed says it’s starting to see faster growth after the harsh winter.
The Fed also maintained its guidance on short-term interest rates, saying they would remain near zero for a “considerable time” after the bond-buying program ends later this year. The current expectation is that the Fed won’t start to raise interest rates until well into 2015.
However, evidence of a possible economic rebound came the next day, May 2. The federal government�� jobs report for April showed a jump of 288,000, with a sharp decline in the official unemployment rate to 6.3 percent.
Meanwhile, corporate profits continue to grow, albeit modest
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 Lawrence Meyers]
That means you should go with either Altria Group (MO) or Philip Morris International (PM). And if you’re only interested in buying one, I think I�� select MO stock. It pays a slightly better divided (5.2% vs. 4.7%).
No comments:
Post a Comment