Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own For 2014

After breaking up and down on differing jobs reports, stocks surged today as investors got the news they were hoping for from the Department of Labor. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) �finished up 1%, with the S&P finally cracking 1,600, and the blue chips topping 15,000 before receding slightly to finish at 14,974.

The Labor Department said the country added 176,000 jobs in April, just 10,000 more than economists projected, but it also sharply revised up numbers from the previous two months. March's official figure was boosted from 88,000, to 138,000, while February's numbers jumped to 332,000, from 268,000. The drop from February to March may be, in part, an effect of sequestration. The unemployment dropped to 7.5%, from 7.6%, though the Labor Department said the number of unemployed was roughly the same.

Investors shrugged off some negative data points from other reports, as factory orders in March dropped 4%, and the ISM Services Index came in 0.9 points below expectations. Still, the employment report seems to indicate that the economy is continuing to grow at a reasonable pace.

Hot Oil Stocks To Own 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 Carroll]

  Big oil rival Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) isn't having much of a day to remember, either, as shares have fallen 0.9% so far. The company did post good news today, however: Chevron won a lawsuit�against the U.S. over a dispute surrounding its oil fields near Bakersfield, California. The companies have battled for years over the split between Chevron's and the Department of Energy's stakes in the fields. While Chevron's still disputing the DoE's share, the U.S. will have to reimburse the company for 42% of its legal fees for a two-year period.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 rsconsultant]

  Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) wasn't fit as a fiddle at the close of 2013. Feeble orders from Samsung (SSNLF), one of its biggest customers, kept Fairchild down, and it was not able to take advantage of its supplier relationship with Apple (AAPL).

• [By Dan Burrows]

  It’s one thing to spruce up the bottom line by cutting costs. It’s quite another to grow the company by creating demand for BlackBerry smartphones — perhaps an impossible task now that Samsung (SSNLF) and Apple (AAPL) dominate the market.

• [By Doug Ehrman]

  In unrelated cases, both Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) have found themselves in court surrounding books. In the case of the search king, the Google Books Library Project has drawn the attention of the Author's Guild, which wants to be compensated for the 20-million books than have been scanned thus far. The 2nd�Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently reversed the lower court�in its certification of a class action against Google. Apple is in court facing charges that it conspired�with five major booksellers to push the agency pricing model of competitors.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 Matthew Coffina]

  Philip Morris International (PM)

  Among our holdings, Philip Morris is arguably the most exposed to depreciating emerging market currencies, since it doesn�� have any US sales. Unfortunately, currency fluctuations are an unavoidable tradeoff for emerging markets��relatively stable cigarette volumes.

• [By Ted Cooper]

  Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) returned 146% in stock price increases and dividends over the last five years. That's an average of nearly 30% per year. Clearly, investors who owned Philip Morris for any significant length of time during the last five years made out pretty well. Unfortunately, two new developments have emerged to make future returns less certain. All Philip Morris investors need to know about these two things before deciding whether to hold or sell their stock.

• [By Rich Smith]

  The commonly accepted wisdom in the cigarette industry goes something like this: Smoking is in decline in the United States. Therefore, if you want to make money on tobacco, you must look abroad. You must buy Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) stock.

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Own 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 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.