Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch For 2014

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- The stocks the "smart money" loves right now just may surprise you.

Professional investors have spent most of 2013 playing catch-up with the broad market indices. By and large, they were too slow to click "buy" when the rally kicked off last November, and they were too quick to hit "sell" when stocks temporarily corrected in June. As the S&P 500 hits its head on new all-time highs again this week, that's putting scores of fund managers in buy mode as we round the corner to August.

And a handful of their favorite names may come as a surprise. After all, for an industry that's focused on consumer-driven blue chips for most of the year, any move to out-of-favor tickers says a lot about portfolio managers' priorities. So today, we'll take a closer look atfive of their favorite surprise stocks.

To do that, we're focusing on 13F filings. Institutional investors with more than $100 million in assets are required to file a 13F -- a form that breaks down their stock positions for public consumption. From hedge funds to mutual funds to insurance companies, any professional investors who manage more than that $100 million watermark are required to file a 13F.

Top 10 Internet Stocks To Invest In 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 Brian Stoffel]

  Imagine this scenario. You're a single mom, working 35 hours per week at your local McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) for $7.44 per hour. You've gone to school to work in different fields, but the economy is tough where you live, and this is the best option you could find.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Jacob Roche]

  A recent report from research group KPMG, and commissioned by Philip Morris (NYSE: PM  ) , revealed that while total consumption of cigarettes in Europe has fallen in recent years, the illegal contraband and counterfeit trade has grown from 8.3% of total consumption to 11.1%. The report suggests that the high profitability and low risk of penalties attracts organized crime, which can use the trade as a cash cow to fund far more objectionable activities. An ad from British American Tobacco (NYSEMKT: BTI  ) goes as far as to suggest that the trade could even be indirectly funding terrorism.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Doug Ehrman]

  The recent statistics released by Gartner�regarding the worldwide sale of devices including smartphones, tablets, and PCs, could lead you to conclude that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) is in trouble. Rather than accept this as pure reality, Fool.com contributor Doug Ehrman discusses different perspectives on the numbers in the video below. While it would be difficult to argue that Microsoft is keeping pace with either Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) or Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) on certain fronts, Microsoft continues to have its unique strengths.

• [By Mike Deane]

  After weeks of reports and speculation, Apple Inc. (AAPL) confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that it will be acquiring Beats Music and Beats Electronics.
  

  Beats Music is a music streaming service, and Beat Electronics makes the “Beats by Dre” headphones, speakers, and audio software. The Beats company was co-founded by rapper, DJ, and producer Dr. Dre and music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine, who will both be joining Apple. Apple stated that the purchase price is $3 billion (lower than the rumored price of $3.2 billion), consisting of “$2.6 billion and $400 million that will vest over time.”

  In Apple’s press release, Apple CEO Tim Cook gives the following comments on the deal: “Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple. That�� why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.��/p>

  The deal is expected to close in the fiscal fourth quarter.

  Apple stock was up slightly in after hours trading, after finishing the day down $1.62, or 0.62%. YTD Apple stock is up 13.11%

  AAPL�Dividend Snapshot

  As of Market Close on May 29, 2014

  Click here to see the complete history of AAPL�dividends.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  I've been a big fan of Apple (AAPL) for while now -- I own shares too. I'm happy to report that, from a technical standpoint, Apple couldn't look much better than it does now. And you don't have to be some kind of expert technical analyst to see why.

  Apple is currently forming an uptrending channel, a setup formed by a pair of parallel trendlines. When it comes to price channels, up is good and down is bad; it's as simple as that. Shares have bounced higher on each of the last four tests of trendline support, and so, with the most recent bounce just a couple sessions ago, now's a pretty good time to be a buyer once again.

  Relative strength (not to be confused with RSI, the momentum gauge we looked at earlier) continues to look exemplary for Apple right now. With a market that's teetering on new highs as I write, relative strength remains the single most important technical indicator to add to your toolbox right now. It speaks volumes that Apple's RS line is still in bull mode.

  The 50-day moving average has been a pretty good proxy for support for the last few months, so short-term traders may want to consider putting a protective stop just below it.

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From a new online retailer blowing away expectations in its first quarter since going public to the world's largest burger chain eating crow over its chicken wings, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders in the business world. Comcast (CMCSK), Netflix (NFLX), and You -- Winners (Mostly) The week kicked off with Netflix shelling out some dough to be able to stream its content faster for Comcast's Xfinity broadband subscribers. It's a move that's long overdue, as Netflix's monthly reports on different access providers showed that Xfinity speeds on Netflix video streams were starting to decline in recent months. This is the kind of stuff that would result in consumers either ditching Comcast or unsubscribing from Netflix so this "peering" arrangement benefits both companies. Naturally it's also good news for Comcast subscribers. No one likes to see online videos stop to buffer or degrade in image quality. Everybody wins -- mostly. (The down side, though, can be viewed like this: Netflix, the 800 lb. gorilla of streaming video, just caved on the net neutrality fight and agreed to pay for bandwidth. It'll have to pass that cost on to subscribers eventually. And with Netflix out of the fight, expect any smaller company that sees its content being throttled to pay the Danegeld quickly, too.) Sony (SNE) -- Loser The Japanese consumer electronics giant has been struggling on several fronts lately, and now it's retreating on the retail front, too. Sony revealed plans to close 20 of its 31 Sony Store locations in this country. The outcome probably won't come as a surprise to anyone that has walked by one of its locations. However, Sony's been scaling back through layoffs, selling off its Vaio computer business, and other acts of surrender. Keeping the Sony Store locations would just be a pu

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Chris Hill]

  Dollar General's (NYSE: DG  ) first-quarter profits rose rose 3%, but the retailer cut guidance for the full year. Business market software maker ExactTarget (NYSE: ET  ) rose more than 50% after Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM  ) agreed to buy the company for more than $2.3 billion. Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA  ) held firm after shares tanked on Monday in the wake of the company announcing it's cutting 18% of its staff. And IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) buys a company to better compete in the cloud computing space. In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts discuss four stocks making big moves.

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. I like this global technology juggernaut, the ability to consistently repurchase shares, raise dividends for 16 years and its vision to earn $20/share by 2015. The company has increased dividends for 18 years in a row, and has managed to boost them by 18.80%/year over the past decade. Currently, the stock trades at 14 times earnings and yields 1.90%. Check my analysis of IBM.

• [By Riddhi Kharkia]

  It is beyond doubt that the last decade has seen frequent reversals in positions in the tech sector with a few of the big names like Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) and IBM (IBM) facing rough times and going down as legacy leaders of the domain. In recent days, IBM shareholders were disappointed and concerned after the Chinese government issued a call to Chinese corporations, especially major banks, to replace American hardware with locally manufactured servers and other components due to spying allegations.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  The other winner is Dow heavyweight IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) , whose pricey shares have risen 1.8%. Like UnitedHealth, Big Blue beat analysts' earnings targets in the second quarter despite a not-so-impressive revenue performance. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share improved 8% to $3.91 on revenue that was down 3% year over year to $24.9 billion.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Dan Burrows]

  Rival Colgate-Palmolive (CL) has different concerns, namely sluggishness in emerging markets where it enjoys commanding market share and derives more than half its revenue.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Eric Volkman]

  The card's been swiped and the money is on its way. Visa (NYSE: V  ) has declared its latest common stock dividends, which are to be $0.33 per each class A and C share, and $0.139 in the case of class B. All will be handed out on Sept. 4 to holders of record as of Aug. 16. Those amounts match each of the credit card giant's three previous sets of distributions, the most recent of which was paid early last month. Before that, Visa handed out $0.22 per class A and C share, and $0.094 for class B.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Which isn’t to say there weren’t some winners. United States Steel (X) gained 3.7% to $27.31 this week on the back of a Cowen upgrade, while Visa (V) rose 2.7% after Mastercard (MA) announced a buyback, dividend increase and stock split.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Getty Images Recent events like the data breach that affected Target (TGT) customers across the nation have made consumers think twice before using credit and debit cards. In particular, prepaid cards -- onto which customers load a certain amount of money, and which can be used anywhere that accepts debit cards -- have created a great deal of confusion, as many people aren't clear about whether they offer the same fraud protections as credit cards or debit cards. Moreover, with wide variations in fees, it can be hard to figure out which prepaid card is best for you. To make it easier for consumers to choose among prepaid cards, Visa (V) came out on June 3 with a new set of standards. Although issuers won't be required to follow those standards, those cards that meet the requirements will receive Visa's designation, which it hopes will spur customers to demand those positive characteristics. But do Visa's moves go far enough? Let's look. What Visa Did Some of the most important standards are for fees. Visa wants to see banks set flat monthly fees that include everything that cardholders would generally want to do with a prepaid card. Specifically, Visa wants prepaid card issuers not to charge separate fees for declined transactions, in-network ATM transactions, PIN or signature purchase transactions, getting cash back at the point of sale or general customer service. In addition, Visa wants cards not to charge overdraft fees or provide overdraft coverage, which makes sense given that the entire point of the prepaid card is to limit users to the amount loaded on the card. Moreover, Visa wants prepaid card issuers to communicate their fee structures clearly, using some of the same methods that they are now required to use with credit cards, such as fee boxes and simple disclosures. In addition, a quick-use guide for consumers will help them minimize the costs of using particular cards. Protecting the Consumer Visa is including several important provisions fo

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch For 2014: 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 Bespoke Investment Group]

  As we have pointed out multiple times in the last several weeks, large cap Energy stocks led by Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) have been big laggards over the last year. As you slide down the market cap scale, however, relative strength has been improving. Small cap Energy sector stocks, for example, have been on a tear, and are outperforming the S&P 600 small cap index by the largest margin of the year.

• [By Dividend]

  Chevron (CVX) has a market capitalization of $234.18 billion. The company employs 62,000 people, generates revenue of $241.909 billion and has a net income of $26.336 billion. Chevron�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $59.975 billion. The EBITDA margin is 24.79 percent (the operating margin is 19.15 percent and the net profit margin 10.89 percent).