Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now

Second-quarter earnings season was a bit of a bust. Although earnings remain at an all-time high, the pace of earnings growth continues to look weak. Earnings growth is up just 3% from last year, a small improvement from the first quarter's 2.6% gain and the 2.8% average for the past four quarters.

The headlines reflected that disappointment, with stories about the biggest blue chips struggling with the weak global economy and falling short of expectations. That includes misses from bellwethers like IBM (NYSE: IBM), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).

But in spite of some earnings headwinds, there were a number of companies that bucked the trend and delivered big earnings surprises. For instance, take Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), which delivered a 44% earnings surprise last month that sent the company's share price soaring.

Top 5 US Stocks To Own 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 Robert Stephens]

  Philip Morris
  The 4.4% yield offered by Philip Morris� (NYSE: PM  ) �is well-covered at 1.5x, which seems to be very sensible and shows that the company is not over-extending itself when it comes to payments to shareholders. This makes the income from the stock even more sustainable and highlights its potential as a sound defensive play.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 M. Joy Hayes]

  When IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) and 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) objected to a proposed regulation that would grant some investors the right to list their director nominees on company proxy statements, they expressed the concern that shareholder-backed directors would serve the narrow group that supported them rather than representing all shareholders.

• [By Damian Illia]

  Results for third-quarter 2013 were above estimations regarding earnings, but below average in revenue. The challenges presented by the European market, plus the inactive IT spending have affected the firm�� revenues. A restructuring plan is on track, with the recent divestment of Changepoint, Professional Services and Uniface business units for $112.0 million in cash to M4 Global Solutions Holding B.V. during Jan 2014. These efforts are directed towards enhancing the core business over the long run, developing an innovative product pipeline at reduced costs to boost profitability. Nevertheless, the company faces intense competition from peers such as International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), BMC Software, Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), Accenture plc (ACN), and Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC).

• [By Matt Koppenheffer]

  Again, Buffett doesn't just talk the talk here. Buffett wrote in his 2011 letter to Berkshire shareholders that he'd been reading�IBM's (NYSE: IBM  ) annual report for�more than 50 years! Yet he hadn't bought it. But then, suddenly, in 2011 he purchased a massive position for Berkshire because, he says, his "thinking�crystallized." He probably came to understand that IBM has become far more than a race-for-the-latest-innovation technology company and that companies around the world depend on it for comprehensive solutions.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Stocks are surging today following a benign inflation reading that has helped soothe investor worries over imminent Fed rate hikes. E.I. Dupont de Nemours (DD), ExxonMobil (XOM), Home Depot (HD), International Business Machines (IBM) and Caterpillar (CAT) gained.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies 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 Jeff Reeves]

  Next Page

  High-Growth Stocks to Buy #1: Visa (V)

  Surprised that Visa (V), the payments processor that has been a household name for decades, is a high-growth stock?

• [By Charley Blaine]

  Visa (NYSE: V): Tuesday close: $212.06. P/E ratio: 25.09.

  The credit-card processor is seeing growth around the world. It also expects, like Nike, to be a winner from the World Cup.

• [By Reuters]

  Steven Senne/AP BOSTON -- Companies that help Target process payments could face millions of dollars in fines and costs resulting from the unprecedented data breach that struck the retailer during the holiday shopping season. Investigators are still sorting through just how thieves compromised about 40 million payment cards and the information of about 70 million Target (TGT) customers. But people who have reviewed past data breaches believe Target's partners could face consumer lawsuits and fines that payment networks such as Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) often levy after cybersecurity incidents. Target's partners "have deep pockets and are intimately involved in certain aspects of how Target gets paid," said Jamie Pole, a cybersecurity consultant in Asheboro, N.C., who works for government agencies and the financial industry. Fines and settlement costs could reach into the millions of dollars for individual companies, he said, though much will depend on how the ultimate liability for the breach is determined. Boston attorney Cynthia Larose of Mintz Levin said Target would likely seek to add its partners as defendants to lawsuits already filed over the breach. "These class-action lawsuits start to bring everyone in at some point," she said. After its systems were penetrated by hackers in the mid-2000s, retailer TJX Cos. (TJX) agreed to pay up to $40.9 million to cover fraud costs in a settlement with Visa. Visa also issued penalties of $880,000 against Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) of Ohio, which processed transactions for TJX. Asked about the business relationships and possible costs, Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation and pending suits. A Visa spokeswoman declined to comment. A MasterCard spokesman said the company couldn't discuss an ongoing investigation. Handling Target Transactions Several companies are involved in any purchase from a store such as Target. A bank issues the consumer's payment card

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now: 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 Matt Thalman]

  McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) lost 2.16% today after an analyst raised concerns about future headwinds the company will have to overcome and lower the earnings-per-share estimates. An analyst at UBS believes that weak sales in Europe combined with the impact of the currency exchange rates will lower McDonald's earnings in the coming months. Previously, UBS had a higher earnings-per-share estimate than most of the other firms that follow the company, but due to these issues, it has lowered EPS estimates down to the consensus level. The firm, though, still has a buy rating on the stock with a $110 price target. �

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Let's take a deeper look at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) dividend-generation skills.

  The fast-food giant just reported (link opens PDF) second-quarter earnings, with both sales and earnings falling slightly short of analyst estimates. Management sees tough times ahead in the second half of 2013 but also reminds investors that the company has "succeeded in a variety of operating and economic environments." All told, investors focused more on the negative short-term outlook than on the promise to come back swinging: McDonald's shares fell as much as 3.2% on the news, making it by far the weakest performer on the Dow (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) today.