Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own For 2014

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) ��U.S. stocks prepared to end 2013 on a high note pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 to intraday records and leaving the indexes on track for the biggest annual percentage gains since the 1990s.

The S&P 500 (SPX) �rose 6 points, or 0.3%, to 1,847 contributing to a 29.5% rise for the year and leaving it on track for its largest annual percentage jump since 1997. The Dow industrials (DJIA) �added 44 points to trade at 16,548, a day after the index notched its 51st record close of 2013. The blue chips are on track for an annual rise of more than 26%.

Best Consumer Companies To Watch 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 Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include new buy ratings for IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) and Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM  ) . But it's not all good news, so let's start off with a look at why one analyst is ...

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was another big drag on the Dow on Wednesday. Its drop of 0.9% at $187.99 in the final minutes is exaggerated in “DJIA terms” because�the Dow�is a price-based index. The drop was tied to problems with its Watson unit by the Wall Street Journal, which is said to not be living up to its financial expectations. IBM’s pressure remains.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 Morgan Housel]

  For most of the last decade, investors scooped up stocks that had big international exposure with the idea that they would provide a hedge against a weakening dollar. Companies that do most of their business overseas, like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) (73% overseas), Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) (all overseas), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) (85% overseas), looked compelling as a hedge against the U.S. economy's faults.

• [By Fede Zaldua]

  Imperial trades cheaply and pays a great, sustainable and for-ever-growing 4.5% cash dividend yield. The company's 2014 10.4 times P/E multiple represents a 40% discount to what most European consumer staples sell for. Besides, the owner of brands such as Davidoff and Gauloises, trades at a much more conservative level than its direct tobacco peers. Philip Morris International (PM) and British American Tobacco (BTI) sell for 2014 15 and 14.2 times earnings, respectively.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 MONEYMORNING.COM]

  Of course, a roster of A-list clients helps a great deal. Some of Open Text's stable of blue chip clients include The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), BP plc (NYSE: BP), and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V).

• [By Ben Eisen]

  Visa Inc. (V) � shares retreated 5% Friday following the release of the financial services company�� earnings. CEO Charles Scharf said the firm expects ��lightly more pronounced��difficulties in year-over-year comparisons next quarter due to the effects of a strengthening dollar.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 Sue Chang , Saumya Vaishampayan]

  $AAPL: Apple (AAPL) shares are down 1.2% despite good news from Washington, D.C. The U.S. government on Tuesday upheld a ban on the import and sale of several Samsung Electronics Co. (KR:005930) � devices, taking Apple�� side in its battle with the Korean company, according to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman decided not to exercise his veto on the ban on Samsung products, saying there was no basis on policy grounds for doing so. In August, Froman had overturned a similar ban on some Apple products that had favored Samsung, the newspaper said.

• [By Erin Kennedy and Evan Niu, CFA]

  Last week, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) acquired social media data analytics firm Topsy for a reported $200 million. Topsy specializes in analyzing Twitter�data, and is one of the customers of Twitter's data licensing business, where it sells access to its "Firehose." Apple has failed it almost all of its attempts to be social, so it's leaving social media to the experts.