Kathy Kristof, of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, takes a look at companies sharing the wealth. Below, she highlights three blue chip firms that are buying back stock and boosting their dividends.
Steve Halpern: We're here today with Kathy Kristof of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. How are you doing Kathy?
Kathy Kristof: Great! How are you, Steve?
Steve Halpern: Very good. The November issue of Kiplinger's just hit the newsstands, and in the latest issue, you wrote an article entitled Companies That Share the Wealth. Could you explain this trend?
Kathy Kristof: Absolutely. Companies have been building up cash hordes. Honestly, ever since the debacle of 2008-2009, companies got very nervous about having enough capital, and so instead of raising dividends, a lot of them cut dividends and started hording their cash.
Now companies have more cash on their balance sheets than ever before, and the market doesn't look as tenuous, and so they're feeling much more comfortable about giving back some of that cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks, and both of those things are obviously very good for shareholders. It just puts a little more cash in your pocket.
Top Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch 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 Dividend Growth Investor]
In a previous article, I outlined that it is getting more difficult to find quality dividend paying stocks to buy. Most of the usual suspects like Kimberly-Clark (KMB) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL) are very overvalued today, which prevents me from adding to my positions there. Other companies like Chevron (CVX) are attractively valued today, but unfortunately my portfolio is overweight in them. Currently I find the oil sector to be cheap and have some of the lowest P/E ratios in the market. However, I would hate to be concentrated in one sector which is exposed to the fluctuating prices in its commodity products.
- [By Kashafa Investment Research]
What works in P&G�� advantage is the fact that the company is already ahead of its peers in the emerging markets. As of 2012, P&G had sales of $33 billion in developing markets as compared to $24 billion for Unilever (UL) and $10 billion for Colgate (CL). This competitive edge over peers will sustain as P&G has product quality, innovation and has a significant marketing budget given its comfortable cash position.
- [By Lee Jackson]
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is a top consumer staples name to make the UBS. Colgate sells its products in more than 200 countries and makes more than 75% of its revenue outside the United States, which provides geographic diversification and growth opportunities in emerging markets for the company. This diversity, matched with a huge list of consumer products, keeps revenues and dividends growing. Investors are paid a 2.3% dividend. The consensus target is $67.14. Colgate closed Tuesday at $64.34.
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 Dan Caplinger]
Earnings season isn't close to over, but we've already seen a huge number of stocks in the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) report their first-quarter results. So far, we've seen more companies do better than expected than do worse, but given the extent to which analysts lowered the earnings bar in the run-up to the beginning of earnings season, investors aren't entirely confident about whether the overall performance of corporate America is strong enough to keep the bull market in stocks roaring for a sixth straight year. This week, Dow components Merck (NYSE: MRK ) , ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM ) , and Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) will add their results to the mix, and what they say about some of the most challenging sectors of the U.S. economy right now could help determine which direction the Dow moves in the weeks and months to come.
- [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.
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 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 MONEYMORNING.COM]
Today I'm refereeing a boxing match between two of the biggest tech legends around: International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ).
- [By Jeff Reeves]
Continued softness in competitors like Oracle (ORCL) and IBM (IBM) hints that the enterprise IT business is suffering, and CSCO�� outlook confirms that. So investors better be prepared for a bumpy ride over the next several months — particularly if the market experiences a broad selloff.
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
IBM (NYSE: IBM ) was a big gainer for the second day in a row, rising 1.7% after authorizing an additional $5 billion for share buybacks, bringing the grand total available to $11.2 billion. The tech giant also raised its quarterly dividend 12% to $0.95, giving it a yield of 1.9%. Coming a week after an earnings miss sent shares plunging 8%, IBM seems eager to fight back, gaining yesterday as well on the release of its MessageSight machine-to-machine communication software.
- [By Jim Jubak]
This is the part of the cloud market where Google competes��nd where Google cuts prices. The public cloud sector is dominated by Amazon.com (AMZN) with Microsoft (MSFT), Google, IBM (IBM), and Rackspace Hosting (RAX) competing for the Number Two slot.
Hot Blue Chip 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 Paul Ausick]
Another DJIA stock leading the decline today is McDonald�� Corp. (NYSE: MCD). Today was the first of two days of protests and demonstrations against McDonald�� urging the company to raise wages to a minimum of $15 an hour. McDonald�� is not being singled out; protests are also promised against Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, and other fast food outlets in about 100 cities. McDonald�� stock is down 0.70% at $95.71 in a 52-week range of $86.73 to $103.70.
- [By Neha Marwah]
Yum! Brands (YUM) has been facing difficulty in its top international market China from where it earned over 50% of its revenue in 2012. Post December 2012 the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell started witnessing difficult times in China after the food regulatory agency ran a search over the antibiotic levels of the chicken that these quick service restaurant chains, including McDonald�� (MCD) and Burger King (BKW) use.
- [By Bloomberg Businessweek]
Alamy McDonald's (MCD) may recently have struggled to lure customers, but it still does far more business at each location than rival burger chains. The average McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. drew $2.6 million in revenue last year. Average sales for No. 2 chain Burger King (BKW): $1.2 million, according to data from its largest franchisee, Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST). What accounts for this more-than-a-million gap? "Everything from marketing and site selection to product initiatives and franchisee selection have been historical factors," said Nick Setyan, vice president in charge of equity research at Wedbush Securities, in an email. Here are four factors that drive higher sales volumes at McDonald's: 1. McDonald's gets more customers during off-peak hours. Look no further than the strength of its breakfast business relative that of Burger King, says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at restaurant consultancy Technomic. Egg McMuffin is part of the fast-food vocabulary in a way Burger King can't match. And beverage and snack offerings such as McCafe and wraps have helped increase McDonald's sales between meals. The dramatic impact from off-peak business explains why chains such as Taco Bell (YUM) are entering the battle for morning customers, while others such as Starbucks (SBUX) are seeking more afternoon and evening business. 2. The power of the Happy Meal. McDonald's has the largest share of kids meal sales in the fast-food industry and gets about 10 percent of total sales from Happy Meals, the most commonly advertised child-oriented fast-food item on television. Burger King, meanwhile, is still trying to win back "parties with kids and seniors and women," said Josh Kobza, Burger King's chief financial officer, at a conference last year. One way to do that: "We got rid of the creepy king character that tended to scare away women and children." 3. McDonald's has an edge on efficiency. Despite recent operational challenges at McDonald's,
- [By Travis Hoium]
Shares of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) have fallen 2.7% after the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations. Revenue rose 2.4% to $7.08 million, and earnings rose 4.5% to $1.38 per share, but both results were short of expectations. Performance in Europe and China was disappointing, and management said the rest of the year would be challenging as well. The company is facing headwinds such as slowing global growth and increasingly health-conscious consumers, which will keep growth low for the fast-food giant.�
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