As the Fed begins its two-day meeting this morning, investors can only sit and wait until the proceedings are over and we get to hear what they discussed from Ben Bernanke later in the week. Many investors have concerns about interest rates rising, the future of the Fed's bond-buying program, and where the committee sees the economy moving. The uncertainty and fear has led investors to sell this morning, and as of 11:45 a.m. EDT, the markets are mixed.
All three of the indexes were in the red earlier this morning, but turned themselves around about an hour ago -- currently only the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) is lower. The blue chip stock index is down by 0.06% or 9.55 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq�are both higher, by 0.03% and 0.26%, respectively.
A few market winners
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) are moving higher by 2.05% as the company prepares for a bond sale in the future. This morning Apple filed a six-part bond offering through Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Moody's has already given Apple's debt a Aa1 rating, while S&P gave it an AA+ rating -- both are the second-highest ratings each company gives. While Apple has not officially revealed an amount, it is expected that the offering will be for roughly $15 billion to $16 billion. �
Best Construction Companies To Watch 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 Monica Gerson]
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is projected to report its February same-store sales. McDonald's shares fell 0.09% to $95.41 in the after-hours trading session.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) has fallen more than 1% on a downgrade from Janney Capital, which cut earnings expectations by half a percent and reduced same-store sales estimates for June and July. The fast-food giant has struggled to keep growth up despite headwinds in some international markets and increased competition within the U.S. market.
- [By Jim Jubak]
Energy stocks, well, I don�� see oil moving up a whole lot. It doesn�� look like it is going to be necessarily a bad time for energy stocks because oil is going to be dropping, but I don�� see a whole lot of energy in the sector. But the real problem, I think, is consumer stocks. These are kind of like the safe stocks that people go to when they want to be in the market but they��e a little worried about the market. You know the stocks I mean, McDonald�� (MCD), Coca-Cola (KO), Pepsi (PEP), the companies that have theoretically steadily growing earnings. The problem is we��e had a lot of bad news from those stocks in the fourth quarter and in, sort of, month-to-month figures from companies like McDonald�� for January and February that we��e not seeing much in the way of growth. Two problems there, one of which is sort of general, which is that we��e not seeing a whole lot of increases in growth, sort of acceleration in the growth rate in emerging markets. In fact, we have seen a deceleration, and that has had an effect on companies like McDonald��. The other is that we��e battling some individual, or sector trends, so that McDonald��, for example, is fighting against a lot more competition, in the sense that, for some percentage of the market, they are really not very exciting anymore as destination restaurants. For Coke and Pepsi, we��e dealing with the fact that cola drinks and sweetened fizzy drinks, in general, are sort of losing market share, again, losing some pizzazz. If you look at all of these sectors and say, ��kay, so what�� going to drive the market higher from here,��a lot of the sectors that were doing the job in January, and the first half of February, seem to have run out of gas, and that may leave us with very little, other than technology, and it�� hard to see technology being sufficient in and of itself to drive the market from here and that is what I �� look for in the week ahead, what�� our leaders
- [By Ong Kang Wei]
And that, unmistakably, is a brand. Although the value of a brand is intangible and cannot be measured in dollars, it is one of the most valuable assets a company can have. This is what differentiates a product from Coca-Cola (KO), Kraft Foods Group (KRFT), Nestle (NSRGY.PK) or McDonald's (MCD) from just another unknown manufacturer of these very much essential goods and services. In my eyes, brands are as good as a promise to consumers, which differentiates the product from the rest, and promises that the standard of that certain product will be much better than that of another manufacturer. Without this brand that people trust in and are loyal to, there will not be substantial profits and future growth for the company. Do you think Warren Buffett would have bought out Heinz (HNZ) without its world-famous brand name? Definitely not! It would be as good as just another ketchup brand left on the shelf.
Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 Anders Bylund]
But the dog days seem to be over now. In the following video, Anders explains why he still owns the stock, discusses what advantage it holds over larger rivals Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM ) , and digs into the big opportunity right ahead. This is still a tremendous growth stock -- it just took a yearlong breather.
- [By Tim Beyers]
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) lifted the Dow on an earnings beat, overcoming disappointing results from the index's top blue chip, IBM (NYSE: IBM ) . Revenue grew 18%, in line with expectations, while similar profit gains tracked ahead of estimates. Mr. Softy's $0.72 �a share of fiscal Q3 earnings beat the consensus by $0.04.
- [By Douglas A. McIntyre]
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison will use just about any excuse he can to brag about the company he founded. He discovered a new path, as Oracle used IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) earnings release to claim that the century old corporation had fallen to the No.3 spot in global software sales. �If so, that would mean Oracle now holds the No.2 spot behind Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The change in positions says a great deal about the power of Oracle’s enterprise customer base, and the erosion of some of IBM’s core businesses.
Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2015: 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 Ben Levisohn]
…large stocks can outperform in ��isk on,��rising markets, as well as in bifurcated markets like this year. A period of large cap outperformance is not necessarily a bear market phenomenon. The large cap rally during the dot-com boom is a classic example, as large technology companies led the market. In the ��0s, large multinational growth companies such as Coca-Cola (KO), Pfizer (PFE), and Philip Morris�(PM) led the charge. It is also important to note that during these periods both large and small stocks delivered positive returns.
- [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 Stocks To Invest In 2015: 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 Steve Symington]
1. Apple� (NASDAQ: AAPL )
Despite Apple's relentless chorus of skeptics, it's hard to ignore the fact this tech titan currently trades for a mouth-watering 9.3 times trailing earnings and just 8.3 times next year's estimates. When you subtract the nearly $145 billion (yes, with a "b") in cash on Apple's balance sheet, which is nearly 38% of Apple's entire market cap, its trailing price to earnings ratio drops to a ridiculous 5.8.� - [By Arrow Analysis]
According to a 2013 IDC report, Windows OS holds a 3.3% share in the smartphone market, compared to Google Android�� (GOOG) 78.6% and Apple�� (AAPL) 15.2%. However, now that this latest acquisition puts the company in charge of its own hardware and software, analysts presume this may change. Like Apple, Microsoft will now have exclusive rights over its devices, software as well as online presence, giving it an advantageous opportunity to further its position. Windows boasts of the fastest growing smartphone market, as well as the fastest growing platform with a 91% YoY gain. The company has continuously turned out award winning devices and has firmly carved its niche in the smart phone world. An IDC report of the fourth quarter of 2013 puts it among the top three smart phone makers of the world. Furthermore, continuing the trend of the Nokia mobile phone business, Microsoft plans to target the mid to lower end of the consumer spectrum in its range of affordable phones. This provides an opportunity of a $50 billion market annually.Concluding thoughts
- [By Daniel Sparks]
Investors may have overlooked Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) second-largest business segment: iPads. The segment is still seeing substantial growth rates. Fool contributor Daniel Sparks believes Apple's tablet line will continue to see solid growth going forward. In the video below, he cites two major reasons why.
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