10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy Right Now

With no compelling reason to be pessimistic today, Wall Street started the week off strong Monday, bidding stocks higher as Europe took further steps to stop the bleeding in Greece. Data today also show an abrupt jump in consumer borrowing, with Americans taking nearly $20 billion worth of debt in May, up sharply from the $10.9 billion more citizens borrowed in April. When all was said and done, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) tacked on 89 points, or 0.6%, to end at 15,225.�

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH  ) led all blue chips higher Monday, adding 2.1%, as the health insurer enjoyed the benefits of a favorable article in Barron's, making the case for a 40% run-up in the stock over the next several years. The staggered rollout of Obamacare is cited as the major catalyst for the stock's potential in the bullish piece, which Wall Street clearly paid attention to. Shares even hit a 52-week high during trading today.

Big-box retailer Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT  ) also outperformed, jumping 2% Monday. It's easy to see how Wally World could benefit from today's intel on consumer credit; in a consumer-driven economy, a rapid increase in personal debt is one surefire way to increase spending, and the ubiquitous retailer is no stranger to that concept. The third-largest company in the Dow has recently gotten creative in terms of how to ramp up in-store purchases, and it now even offers its own credit card and banking solutions.�

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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 Sue Chang]

  IBM (IBM) , also on the Dow, is expected to post fourth-quarter earnings of $5.99 a share. ��e maintain our neutral on IBM ahead of their upcoming earnings results. The risk/reward is more balanced at present stock price levels, but ultimately IBM will need to return to growth to drive stock price appreciation,��Joseph Foresi, an analyst at Janney Capital Markets, said in a note.

• [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).

• [By Jared Cummans]

  IBM (IBM) was among several blue chips to report after the bell today, though it did not fare as well as some of its peers.

  Analysts had been expecting EPS of $3.96, a figure that IBM beat with a reading of $3.99. It was the predicted revenues of $24.77 billion where IBM fell short, noting $23.7 billion in that category. Shares slumped as much as 6% in after-hours trading, as a drop in revenue is a trend that has been worrying investors.

  IBM’s grip on emerging markets has been slipping, with revenues declining this past quarter in key markets overseas. Now, the firm has shown declining revenues in each of the last six quarters, causing quite the sell-off of its stock.

  IBM shares had been up $2.07, or 1.11%, when markets closed Wednesday. With the losses in after-hours trading, IBM’s stock is down more than 5% this year.

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  Warren Buffett mentioned doing this before his recent investment in IBM (IBM). Basically, he wanted to know why people would be likely to prefer IBM to competitors and why they stay with IBM. In his CNBC interview, Buffet seems to say there is a certain tendency to bet on the known quantity when it comes to IT providers. He especially mentions this in regard to foreign companies. It was interesting to see Buffett mention doing this kind of scuttlebutt with IBM ��because in past interviews he's said that while he used to do all the Phil Fisher scuttlebutt ��he'd gotten to the point (by the 1990s and 2000s) where he kept Phil Fisher�� principles in mind but he could basically make a decision just from reading public reports.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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 Jim Woods]

  Last week, traders weren�� very kind to the equity markets. They were particularly hard on financial stocks, as the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) was down more than 4% in the week ended 4/11. Things were even worse for many individual financial-related stocks, including credit card payment processors MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V).

• [By Adam J. Wiederman]

  Alamy They're "the gift most everyone buys for the holidays," according to USA Today. This holiday season alone, nearly 81 percent of shoppers will buy at least one gift card -- totaling nearly $30 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. The benefits of buying gift cards are clear: They make great last-minute gifts (in a way that seems more personal than cash) and they vastly reduce the odds of you getting someone something just don't want or will never use. In fact, the percentage of consumers who made a holiday return has plummeted over the past few years as gift card purchases rose, according to data from America's Research Group. But if you're not careful, these gift cards could end up leaving you -- or your giftee -- with less money than you thought. Hidden Fees and Dates Recent changes to federal law have made gift cards even more consumer-friendly. For example, gift cards must now remain valid for five years. This law has worked as intended -- the amount unused on gift cards now only totals 1 percent of total sales ... down from 6.4 percent just four years ago, according to CEB TowerGroup. But this unused amount still totals more than $1 billion each year. To make sure your gift card purchase (or receipt) isn't included among these sunk costs, here are some tips to remember whether you're on the giving or receiving end of a gift card this year. If You Are Purchasing a Gift Card: 1. Stick to buying store-branded gift cards. Bankrate.com's annual Gift Card Survey uncovered that the major gift cards offered through banks and credit card companies (generic Visa (V) or American Express (AXP), for example) charged either purchase fees or maintenance/inactivity fees (or both). On the other hand, only a small handful of store-branded cards reviewed carried similar fees. 2. Send either an e-gift card or purchase the gift card in store. Many gift cards (even store-branded ones) carry purchase fees disguised as "delivery fees." For example,

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  After last week’s record high, the S&P 500 looked poised for a breakout. Then reality took over, as Russian troops landed in Ukraine, world markets shuddered, and U.S. stocks followed suit thanks to drops in 3M (MMM), Visa (V) and Walt Disney (DIS).

• [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).

Best Regional Bank Companies To Own 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 Marc Bastow]

  The qualifications for being a purple chip are basically a screen for stability and performance: smooth earnings profiles, including seven years of consecutive EPS growth, and market caps north of $1 billion. Not surprisingly, you’ll find Procter & Gamble (PG), McDonald’s (MCD) and IBM (IBM) on Macke’s list of what I’d call the “usual suspects.”

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Wendy�� has had a rough go of things in recent years, but after the 2011 sale of its Arby�� restaurants to a private equity group the burger chain has been able to stay focused and worry about efficiency and modest international investment. Wendy�� re-entered Japan in 2012 and that same year managed to topple Burger King (BKW) as the No. 2 burger chain in America behind McDonald�� (MCD).

• [By Neha Marwah]

  However, other players too got adversely affected and suffered softer sales throughout the year. McDonald�� (MCD) and Starbucks (SBUX), both reported decline in sales and experienced a slowdown in same store sales.

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  The most recognizable league sponsors for 2013 are led�by McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP).�Each�has�the financial�capacity to sponsor the league, as well as to�spend tens of millions of dollars outside its sports sponsorships. That�should come as no surprise.�Both rely on a large portion of the American consumer population for revenue. For the two companies, there is no such thing as overexposure. Consequently, neither of them needs to market to the relatively small audience reached by the NFL’s online site.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy 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 Aimee Duffy]

  Hawaii only has two operating oil refineries. Tesoro (NYSE: TSO  ) plans to close the one it owns, Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) owns the other, and the cost of shipping crude oil out there is the main reason that gas is so expensive. California is ranked second largely because it has the highest taxes on gas in the country. The combined local, state, and federal taxes tack on just shy of $0.69 per gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  The calculus of oil prices is only part of what is factored into big oil stocks. Exxon may have a disadvantage against Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and BP PLC (NYSE: BP) in terms of exploration prospects and access to the biggest booming market — shale. Investors who want to look out five years or more, already may have gambled on possible winners. Shares in each of the other oil giants have bested the S&P during the past month.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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 Jon C. Ogg]

  Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target is now $68 (versus a $59.93 close) at Morgan Stanley.

• [By James Well]

  Analysts��Consensus Position on Pfizer
  
  Thirteen analysts including those at TheStreet, Thomson Reuters/Verus, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley and Argus Research are optimistic about the performance of Pfizer going forward and, hence, reiterated a consensus buy recommendation at an average target price of $31.78 per share. Last Wednesday, analysts at Goldman Sachs removed Pfizer from Goldman�� conviction buy list (CL) where Pfizer has been since Aug. 9, 2011, and placed it on the buy list but raised its price target from $34 to $35 per share. Jami Rubin, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, claimed that Pfizer has gone up by 82.5% since being added to the CL as against 53.9% for the S&P 500 during the period and, therefore, there was the need to replace Pfizer with AbbVie at a price target of $60 because they claimed AbbVie has greater upside at this time.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy 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 Evan Niu, CFA]

  Depending on how you measure success, you may have already considered the iPhone to be Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) greatest product. The device revolutionized the smartphone industry, and has grown to comprise over half of the business with $86.7 billion in trailing-12-month sales. The iPod fell by the wayside in terms of revenue long ago, an inevitable victim to self-cannibalization.

• [By Stoyan Bojinov]

  Consumer electronics juggernaut Apple Inc. (AAPL) fell off Wall Street’s “favorite” list near the end of 2012 and selling pressures plagued the stock for almost all of 2013. The stock did manage to find its footing mid-year, although its 2013 performance was still lackluster as it rallied a paltry 3%.�Let’s examine the company’s current dividend policy and what lies in store for the stock in 2014 from a dividend perspective.

  Apple Inc.’s Current Dividend Policy

  Apple pays its dividend quarterly and currently offers a yield around 2.2%. The stock reinstated its dividend in the second-half of 2012 and its first payout was $2.65 per share. Apple raised its dividend in 2013 by 15%, marking the first annual increase for the stock, with its new distribution coming in at $3.05 per share. Based on analyst estimates, its payout ratio sits around 28% in 2013, and is expected to come in at 26% in 2014. Looking at these numbers coupled with Apple’s sizable cash flow, the company should have no issues raising its dividend again next year.

  Dividend.com DARS Ratings for Apple Inc. Overall Rating:Neutral (3.4/5) Metric Rating Explanation Relative Strength Stock is performing in-line with the market or better. Overall Yield Attractiveness Stock’s dividend yield is above average. Dividend Reliability This rating is related to the length and consistency of a company’s dividend payouts, as well as our opinion on how likely the company is to continue payouts in the future. Dividend Uptrend Dividend payouts are consistent, but increases small. Earnings Growth Earnings estimates are uptrending.
• [By Rex Moore]

  In this segment, Damon talks about turning Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iOS and Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Android tablets into personalized, portable TV screens.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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.

• [By GuruFocus]

  Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) Reached the 52-Week Low of $80.78

  The prices of Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) shares have declined to close to the 52-week low of $80.78, which is 16.5% off the 52-week high of $96.73. Philip Morris International Inc. is owned by 33 Gurus we are tracking. Among them, 17 have added to their positions during the past quarter. Seven reduced their positions. Philip Morris International Inc. is a Virginia holding company first incorporated in 1987. Philip Morris International Inc. has a market cap of $129.42 billion; its shares were traded at around $80.78 with a P/E ratio of 15.20 and P/S ratio of 1.70. The dividend yield of Philip Morris International Inc. stocks is 4.40%. Philip Morris International Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 14.50% over the past five years.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Altria has topped the tobacco industry for decades, with its leading Marlboro brand retaining its popularity around the world. But with the company having spun off its Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) division, Altria now has to rely on the U.S. market, with its unique challenges and risks. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Altria over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.