Best Blue Chip Companies For 2014

General Electric has gained 0.3% to $23.18 today after a report that it plans to unload its consumer lending division.

Exxon Mobil

The Wall Street Journal has the details:

The decision to divest the business, amid concerns about the company’s exposure to banking, marks an important moment in the evolution of GE and the country’s three-decade long consumer credit boom. GE Capital expanded to the point that its portfolio of loans and other assets now would rank it as the country’s fifth-largest commercial bank.

Preliminary work to separate the business through an initial public offering is under way, according to people familiar with the matter…An IPO could come early next year, the people said.

S&P Capital IQ’s Eric Hugel�considers what comes next for the U.S. blue chip:

10 Best Growth Stocks To Invest In Right Now: 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 Travis Hoium]

  The unemployment news, along with an announcement that the ECB will lower interest rates to 0.5%, has pushed oil 3.1% higher today. In turn, Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) is up 1.6% today, while ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) is 1.1% higher on hope that demand will increase. Demand for oil in mature markets like the U.S. and Europe has actually fallen over the past few years as the ongoing European recession hurt demand and more efficient vehicles hit the road. If lower interest rates can help Europe return to growth, it could have a big impact on the global demand for oil, which would be good for oil prices and, of course, producers like Chevron and ExxonMobil.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is the only major domestic integrated on the Credit Suisse list. The company has benefited greatly in 2013 from record oil and natural gas production in the United States. The company may be looking to expand domestic production by acquiring one of the top exploration and production stocks. Investors are paid a solid 3.4% dividend. The Credit Suisse price target is $140. The Thomson/First Call estimate is $135. Chevron closed Thursday at $123.22.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  What a Fool believes
  Could a move like this squeeze the profitability of natural gas exports for the U.S.? Potentially, yes, but there are other places around the world that are more likely to suffer from a move like this. Countries like Australia, which has struggled to keep costs under control and doesn't have feedstock as cheap as in the U.S., are more likely to suffer from this. Chevron's (NYSE: CVX  ) massive Gorgon LNG project is more than $15 billion over budget, so cost overruns could make the return on investment for these kinds of projects less lucrative.

Best Blue Chip Companies 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 Jon C. Ogg]

  Before thinking that these five are the biggest drags on the DJIA for 2014, other DJIA stocks have been dead weight for a bit longer then 2014. Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) are down some 18% from their 52-week high, and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) are down some 14% from their 52-week high. Their problems began in 2014, so they are not on the year-to-date loser list of the DJIA stocks.

• [By rsconsultant]

  This cutting edge engineering as of now has a real purchaser. IBM (IBM), one of the heading elite server manufacturers, has signed-up with Sandisk to prepare these speedy drives in its X6 servers. This highlights IBM's proceeded with efforts to hold its piece of the overall industry in the high-margin and superior server segment.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Exactly 36 years after it was created, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) made a number of great changes -- or changes that would have been great, if the Dow's overseers had stuck to their guns. On May 26, 1932, seven new stocks joined the Dow. Only one has remained part of the index ever since: Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) . Two others -- Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) -- were removed far too soon.

Best 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 Ben Levisohn]

  But regardless of the merits, Alcoa (AA), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Bank of America (BAC) are being booted from the index and replaced with Visa (V), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Nike (NKE).

• [By Sue Chang and Ben Eisen]

  American Express Co. (AXP) �shares gained 3.6% while its competitor Visa Inc. (V) �rose 4.7%. American Express said late Thursday its fourth-quarter earnings jumped to $1.31 billion, or $1.21 a share, from $637 million, or 56 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding expenses, AmEx would have earned $1.25 a share. Revenue increased to $8.55 billion from $8.14 billion a year earlier.

Best Blue Chip Companies 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 Tim Beyers, Nathan Alderman, and Alison Southwick]

  Amongst a slew of announcements at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference, what were the most important for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) investors?

Best 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 GuruFocus]

  The decade low yield of tobacco stocks can be clearly seen from our new interactive charts, which are embedded below. The chart shows the dividend yield of three tobacco stocks: Reynolds American (RAI), Philip Morris International (PM) and British American Tobacco (BTI).

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Other large-cap stocks didn't do quite so well over the last year but could see their fortunes change in years to come. Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) , for example, gained 5% and yields 4.1%. With domestic tobacco companies challenged by tightening regulations, rising taxes, and a shrinking smoking base, many have assumed that Philip Morris is the best bet in tobacco. But in the third quarter, it posted the weakest results, with volume taking a sizable drop and a strong dollar reducing its earnings. Bulls like its innovation and share buybacks.

• [By Ted Cooper]

  Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) returned 146% in stock price increases and dividends over the last five years. That's an average of nearly 30% per year. Clearly, investors who owned Philip Morris for any significant length of time during the last five years made out pretty well. Unfortunately, two new developments have emerged to make future returns less certain. All Philip Morris investors need to know about these two things before deciding whether to hold or sell their stock.

Best Blue Chip Companies 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 Jim Jubak]

  If those traders are right, and food commodity prices are headed much higher, it would be bad news for consumers and for consumer companies such as McDonald�� (MCD) and PepsiCo (PEP) that have to pay higher prices.

• [By Dan Burrows]

  Eventually global economic growth should pick up enough to help boost energy prices. Until then, investors can pick up CVX for about 11 times forward earnings and sit on the dividend and share repurchase program. Indeed, CVX bought back more than $1 billion in the third quarter alone.

  #5: McDonald’s (MCD)

  Dividend Yield: 3.3%
  YTD Performance: +12%