Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch For 2014

Kiplinger's Personal Finance writer Carolyn Bigda looks at a trio of favored blue chip stocks, each providing investors with yields above 5%.

Steve Halpern: We are here today with Carolyn Bigda of Kiplinger's Personal Finance. How are you doing, Carolyn?

Carolyn Bigda: I am fine, thank you.

Steve Halpern: In your recent article for Kiplinger's, which just hit the newsstands this week, you look at what you call Steady Eddie stocks, long-term dividend payers, and for this article, you focus on stocks yielding 5% or more. First off, you look at AT&T (T). Could you explain what the attraction behind that idea is?

Carolyn Bigda: Sure. AT&T is paying just north of 5%, which is a pretty big yield for telecom, and the company—as you said earlier—these are Steady Eddies.

And the company has raised its dividend consecutively for 29 years, which is a pretty good record. You have a pretty reliable dividend payer with a very attractive yield.

Best Industrial Conglomerate Companies To Own For 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 Anders Bylund]

  Samsung� (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF  ) �and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) just smoked a big peace pipe. The two companies have agreed to drop almost all lawsuits against one another, on a global level. But the one corner of the planet where the patent battles will rage on happens to be the absolutely crucial U.S. arena.

• [By Tim Beyers]

  Mr. Softy's problem is that it hasn't trained users to accept disruptive changes in design and development in the same way that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) has. Instead, Windows customers expect Microsoft to be stable and predictable. Modernizing -- as Microsoft did with Windows 8 -- means risking alienating big chunk of the installed base, Tim says.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Management expects to get to these ambitious targets thanks to several so-called flagship Android devices that are about to ship with high-end Qualcomm processors inside. The core processor strength is also bolstered by Qualcomm's powerful position in the market for high-speed wireless radio technologies. When it comes to next-generation protocols like 802.11ac Wi-Fi and LTE Advanced radio tower networks, even Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) leans on Qualcomm's products. That's a particularly important win, because Apple holds a strong market share in exactly the kinds of highly developed and high-speed markets where Qualcomm does its best work.

Top Blue Chip Companies 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 Matt Thalman]

  ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) reports on Thursday, while fellow energy stock Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) pulls in on Friday. For Exxon, the Street wants to see EPS of $1.90 on revenue of $105.54 billion. A year ago, Exxon posted EPS of $1.80 and sales of $127.36 billion. Earnings are thus set to rise, and that's what really matters. The EPS estimate of $1.90 is an average of 21 analysts' opinions, with the high end at $2.05 per share and the low end coming in at $1.63. The expected 17.1% year-over-year revenue drop for Q2 isn't a great sign, and it could pose a big problem if Exxon misses expectations. �

Top Blue Chip Companies 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 Dan Dzombak]

  IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) is today's worst Dow stock, down 2%, single-handedly holding the Dow back. I've written before why I'm not a fan of how the Dow is structured. Due to the simplistic nature of the DJIA, its weightings are based solely on stock prices, and IBM is the largest component of the DJIA, making up nearly 10% of the index -- this, despite the fact that IBM is by no means the largest company in the index at just half the size of ExxonMobil.

Top Blue Chip Companies 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 Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: United Health Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Philip Morris Inc (NYSE: PM), Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Economic Releases Expected: �German PPI, Canadian CPI, Chinese house price data

  Friday