Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own Right Now

Stocks have turned down to start the new week, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) has sunk into the red on this Monday. More than half of the blue chip index's members are falling so far, helping the Dow to lose 50 points, or around 0.4%, as of 2:15 p.m. EDT. News from the Federal Reserve's stimulus program has prompted some investors to back off of the recent run-up on the markets-here's what you need to know.

A slowdown ahead for the Fed?
On Friday, The�Wall Street Journal reported the Fed's plan to slowly decrease�its current $85 billion per month bond-buying measure, weaning the markets off of stimulus gradually while keeping an eye on employment and inflation. Investors had to know the stimulus program would end eventually, although considering how well stocks have performed on the back of easy money, any disappointment from Wall Street over a potential end to quantitative easing comes as little surprise. The Fed hasn't released any definitive start date for winding down its latest QE measure yet, but with unemployment recently falling to 7.5%, the central bank seems more confident in the economy's footing.

Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks 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 Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  BlackBerry's decision to jettison the PlayBook is a good one. The device never had a chance at replicating the user experience Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) created with the iPad, because of a lack of developer support. With Android vendors including Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) and even Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) itself selling high-quality 7-inch tablets for $200 or less, it became virtually impossible for competitors (aside from Apple) to make money in this market.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Tamara Walsh: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) stock has enjoyed a solid run so far this year, with its stock price surging more than 25% year-to-date. However, there could be more momentum ahead for shares of Apple following the iDevice maker's product refresh this week. At a media event on Tuesday the tech giant unveiled two new, larger iPhone models, as well as a smartwatch and payments platform called Apple Pay. Apple already has the payment information for around 800 million iTunes and App Store customers. Therefore, this move puts Apple in an advantageous position to capitalize on the growing mobile payments market. Meanwhile, the wearable smart watch device marks the first new product category for Apple in about four years.

• [By Chris Neiger]

  Take, for example, Nokia's (NYSE: NOK  ) move to the Windows Phone OS. Nokia wasn't using Android for its platform before it moved to Windows Phone, but it is trying to sell phones that aren't running on Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iOS or Android -- which have a combined smartphone global market share of 91% right now.

• [By jaggom]

  Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) have been in a battle for a long time. The Cupertino-based organization spent a ton of its $40 billion war chest to cut down Google's Android. Then again, Apple has done well despite stiff rivalry. Its results are presently superior to Google, and the organization is picking up footing with its iphones. Also, with a strong quarterly dividend and a share buyback in the billions, Apple stock is a superior purchase to Google. Give us a chance to examine whether Apple can produce further solid results going ahead.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Jae Jun]

  Having missed out on Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA), stumbling upon FleetCor is a pleasant surprise. FleetCor Technologies is a company that provides fuel cards and payment products used by employees. The company also has lodging cards, but since the overall concept is the same, I will focus most of the discussion on fuel cards.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Dan Caplinger]

  IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) , though, fell 0.6%, which made it the biggest loser in the Dow on a percentage basis. As numerous Fool contributors have noted earlier today, Oracle scored a big win in its challenge to IBM's strategy of dominating the Big Data market, when a study showed that Oracle's technology performed better than IBM's. As troubling as that is for Big Blue, it ordinarily wouldn't have a big impact on the broader stock market. But because IBM's share price is so high, it has a disproportionately heavy weighting in the price-weighted Dow. As a result, if IBM can't resolve its problems, a stock decline could make it very hard for the Dow to advance overall.

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  On Tuesday afternoon, Apple announced a "landmark partnership" with International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). Together, the two companies aim to gain foothold in segments of the corporate world like healthcare, retail, and transportation. And they intend to use mobile to do it.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own Right Now: 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 Victor Selva]

  Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) manufactures and markets cigarettes outside the U.S. in 180 countries. The company麓s plan is to introduce new packaging, new blends and other line extensions. A key driver of the company is the strong market share and the economies of scale. Also, the company has combated unfavorable tax regulations with price increases, showing a good price-elasticity.

Best Blue Chip 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 Stephan Dube]

  Another great international producer is also making its presence felt in offshore Brazil. Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) , part of the same ventures as Shell in the Santos basin with the Atlanta and Oliva assets, holds working interests in three quality deepwater fields in the Campos basin: Frade, Papa-Terra, and Maromba.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  We have patiently waited for equity prices to fully digest downward 3Q revisions. Initial indications were that numbers needed to move lower, but the magnitude has taken both buy side and sell side by surprise. The Chevron (CVX) interim update citing weak downstream performance in 3Q should be the final communication the Street needs to fully digest a weak quarter…

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Brown's assessment is supported by Shell and other oil majors' experiences with shale drilling outside of North America. For instance, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) retrenched from its operations in Poland last year after initial tests failed to produce commercial quantities of natural gas. Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) echoed similar concerns, offering a bleak outlook for shale production potential in Europe. �

• [By MLP Trader]

  Of course, this is just a thought experiment for how the company could continue and reward shareholders in its current form. I think a buyout is a much more likely outcome. The company is an extremely tempting target for a Crescent Point (CSCTF.PK), Chevron (CVX), or Exxon (XOM). With an Enterprise Value of about $3.5 billion, it's a bite size for larger integrated oil companies. According to a 3rd party estimate, the present value of Lighstream's booked reserves alone is significantly higher than that. And Lightstream has a huge inventory of unbooked locations and a million acres of completely undeveloped land.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own 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 Matt Thalman]

  We'll hear from a number of the Dow's components this week. First up is McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) , which is scheduled to release results on Monday before the opening bell rings. Wall Street's estimate for earnings per share is $1.40, which will be important for the company to beat, though perhaps it's not the most important detail of the report. This has been a rough year for the fast-food restaurant, which has struggled with beating same-store sales figures. For most investors, that will be what they want to see in the report.