LONDON -- I use a market statistics to identify shares for further research. Whatever the market conditions, stock-picking software will always identify a share worth buying.
AstraZeneca� (LSE: AZN ) (NYSE: AZN ) is the 12th biggest company in the FTSE 100. It is a true blue chip. According to a large number of investment strategies, the shares should be bought today.
What's to love?
AstraZeneca shares satisfy selection criteria that makes them attractive to three different types of investor. AstraZeneca currently ticks the boxes for value, income, and momentum strategies.
A value play
Investors have long been�skeptical�of the company's ability to develop new drugs. Perhaps as a result of this, AstraZeneca shares made no progress at all in the three years ending 2012.
Today, AstraZeneca trades on a 2013 P/E of just 9.6 times 2013 forecasts. AstraZeneca's rating is in the bottom 10% of the entire index. Low valuations like that are usually the result of masses of negative sentiment.
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 Associated Press]
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) CEO Don Thompson revealed at an analyst conference this week that he shed about 20 pounds in the past year by getting his "butt up" and "working out again." But he said he hasn't changed his habit of eating at McDonald's "every single day."
- [By Chris Hill]
In this segment of Friday's Investor Beat, Motley Fool analyst Ron Gross gives investors one stock that he'll be watching closely this week. He takes a look at Arcos Dorados (NYSE: ARCO ) , which holds the franchise rights to McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company reports earnings next week, and while it has been a long-time holding for Ron in the Motley Fool's Million-Dollar Portfolio service, he sees reasons to be concerned here. The company's store growth is slowing, so he'll be watching closely to see what the company has to say next week.
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now: 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 Evan Niu, CFA]
Well, Samsung has released a new ad again targeting Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) directly, showcasing some of these new features while demonstrating two indisputable instances where the Galaxy S4 will always triumph over the iPhone 5.
- [By Eric Bleeker, CFA]
Back in the late '90s Microsoft controlled upward of 90% of computing devices, which at the time were largely just PCs. However, across the past five years, the explosion of smartphones and tablets means Microsoft controls less than 25% of "connected devices" today, thanks to�Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and�Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG ) dominance of that mobile growth.�
Hot Internet Companies To Buy Right Now: 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 Steve Heller]
It seems that once you've grown large enough to disrupt business as usual for MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) and Visa (NYSE: V ) , you run the risk of getting muscled. MasterCard recently announced plans to raise prices on intermediated payment processors (read: digital wallets) that chose to withhold valuable transaction details from MasterCard. In other words, this measure takes direct aim at eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY ) PayPal and other digital wallets such as Google Wallet that do not share transaction details with the payment processor.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Stocks bucked their recent Monday weakness today as Visa (V), International Business Machines (IBM), United Technologies (UTX), Micron Technology (MU) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) gained. But your view of today likely depended on the index you were watching.
Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 1,872.34, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to 16.457.66. Those benchmarks were trumped by the Nasdaq Composite, which advanced 1% to 4,198.99, and the small-cap Russell 2000, which finished up 1.8% at 1,173.04.
The price-weighted Dow was given a boost by its big weightings in Visa, which rose 1.8% to $215.86, International Business Machines, which advanced 1.1% to $192.49 after Morgan Stanley named it a top alpha generator among mega-cap stocks, and United Technologies, which gained 1.8% to $116.83. United Technologies’ Sikorsky division agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle claims that it charged too much for spare parts. Micron Technology gained 8% to $23.66 after a positive report at RBC Capital Markets and Drexel, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) rose 4.3% to $70.72.
Deutsche Bank’s David Bianco notes that small-caps and non-mega caps need interest rates to stay low…
On 2014E EPS, Russell 2000 (R2000) PE is 23.6 and S&P 500 PE is 15.6. The relative forward PE of the R2000 vs. the S&P at 1.5x is amongst the highest since 1995. Within the S&P, the PE at non-mega caps is also demanding vs. history. The median trailing PE of S&P 500 stocks at 18.5x is 2 points higher than its average since 1983 and is well into the late 1990s range. EPS growth, while expected to accelerate, is unlikely to reach the mid to low teens pace of the last two cycles. Hence, we think small and non mega-cap stocks are more dependent on interest rates staying below historical norms to justify current valuations and are more susceptible to moderation in growth expectations.
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- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Matt Sayles/AP Celebrities don't make the best financiers. Several years ago, a handful famous people jumped into the prepaid debit card business, only to find it wasn't quite the easy route to profits they might have believed it to be. Perhaps they were under that impression because, to coin an old phrase, the financial sector is where the money is. But succeeding in it can be much trickier than it looks. Fed by All Those Fees It's easy to understand why the prepaid card market would be appealing for someone looking for a good side business. In a word: fees. Using a prepaid card generates a raft of payouts for the customer. These can include activation fees, monthly subscription fees, loading fees, ATM withdrawal fees (not to mention ATM balance inquiry fees), customer service fees ... and on and on. How can card issuers tack on so many costs to a simple financial instrument? After all, a typical credit or debit card using the Visa (V) or MasterCard (MA) network carries few if any fees for the user. But prepaid cards are targeted towards a different kind of customer -- lower-income individuals, and those who can have a difficult time securing financial instruments (such as teenagers). Many of these folks lack the income or credit score for a traditional credit card and might not have the means to satisfy the requirements of a traditional bank account. In other words, since they have limited options, as a group these individuals are virtually a captive market for prepaid products. I'd Just Like an Autograph Instead, Thanks
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 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 Anders Bylund]
Next, IBM (NYSE: IBM ) shares jumped 2.2%. Thanks to Big Blue's heavy weight in the Dow's price-weighted system, this move alone accounted for about one-third of the Dow's total points gain. The stock is clawing its way back from a disappointing earnings report earlier this month. IBM is currently hosting its annual IBM Impact conference in Vegas, and investors seem to enjoy the new products that are on tap. The DreamFace application, for example, underscores IBM's commitment to flexible analysis tools for big-data problems.
- [By Rex Crum]
H-P�� results also come following mixed results from IBM Corp. (IBM) �and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) , and amid growing concerns about the turnaround efforts launched by Chief Executive Meg Whitman. �
Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy 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 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.
- [By Taylor Muckerman]
Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) has obviously taken notice, because it now has plans to invest up to $1.5 billion with YPF to develop its Vaca Muerta field. One would be hard pressed to fault Chevron for its interest here. The industry believes that as much as 308 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 16 billion barrels of oil rest in this formation alone. That's more shale oil in one field than all of Venezuela is forecast to have and more shale gas than Russia's predicted bounty.�
- [By Amber Harris]
A few of Ketterer's most recent stock purchases include: Eli Lily and Co (LLY), Chevron Corp (CVX) and Synnex Corp (SNX).
Eli Lily and Co (LLY)
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