With the first quarter's earnings season essentially in the books, the bull run we've seen from� the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) over the past weeks ran out of fuel as the blue chips finished down slightly by 0.1%, or 19 points.
On a day with no major earnings releases or significant economic reports, acquisitions stole the headlines, specifically Yahoo!'s (NASDAQ: YHOO ) purchase of the blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion. The deal represents CEO Marissa Mayer's first major acquisition since taking the helm last year, and the blogging service brings Yahoo! 300 million unique visitors a month, about half of which access the site through mobile devices. Elsewhere, drugmaker Actavis said it would purchase Warner Chilcott in an all-stock transaction for $5 billion, and Internet security specialist Websense jumped 29% after agreeing to be taken private by Vista Equity Group for $907 million. The deals helped pump some lifeblood into equities as the Dow was up as much 0.25% at midday, but the rally faded in the afternoon.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Own In 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 Rick Munarriz]
It's easy to kick Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) when it's down, but everybody else may be suffering a similar fate.
There's no denying that Apple has lost a few steps. Sales are slowing, and when the consumer tech giant reports quarterly results later this month, it may be the bellwether's first year-over-year decline in ages. The walk down to the bottom line is even more cruel. Margins have been contracting as customers flock to cheaper iPad Mini, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S devices that don't carry the same kind of markups that Apple packs for its newer gadgetry.
- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
Perhaps Tim Cook's best-known claim to fame is that he constructed what's widely regarded as the best supply chain in the world for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) . Market researcher Gartner even ranks companies based on supply chain prowess, and Apple takes the cake by a long shot. The Mac maker's composite score in the 2012 rankings put it ahead of McDonald's, one of the largest fast food chains in the world, as well as the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart. Apple outscored rival Samsung by nearly three-fold.
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) fans shouldn't get too excited here. It's not the iconic iTunes Music Store that's raking in the big digital bucks. Streaming through Pandora (NYSE: P ) and smaller sites is starting to generate material revenue for the record labels.
Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Watch 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 Eric Volkman]
It's one of the steadiest dividend payers on the market, and it's continuing to fly level. Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) has declared a fresh quarterly common stock dividend, which is to be $0.34 per share, paid on August 15 to shareholders of record as of July 23. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution; this was paid in May. Prior to that, Colgate-Palmolive handed out $0.31 per share.
Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks 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 Freelance Individual Investor]
And speaking of client wins, there are some simple truths about ARUN's client base which can't be denied. Some of the most technologically savvy, analytical and discerning buyers are choosing ARUN. Again, there is little discussion here about technology. But why should you listen to me, or any financial analyst or CFA, try to be an 'expert' on technology. When companies issue Requests For Proposals, they bring in very astute and analytical people to evaluate the choices. This is especially true in University settings where academia will scrutinize every minute detail. Universities such as Northwestern, Indiana University, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Florida State, Texas A&M, Holy Cross, San Diego State, Shanghai University of Finance, Purdue University and many other large, medium, and small universities around the world are choosing ARUN's technology. Many K-12 schools are also converting to ARUN. In addition, the Department of Defense and the FDIC have given substantial business to ARUN in the Government vertical. They also have a substantial client list in the medical and enterprise verticals. The recent revelation about partnering with Google to implement a complete solution set in all Starbucks stores throughout the U.S. is one prominent example. Their client portfolio now exceeds 30,000 and they continually receive repeat business and outstanding customer service evaluations from their clients. These facts provide all the evidence needed that the ARUN proposition is much more than providing access points. They continue to work closely with all major mobile device providers, Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), IBM (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT), Verizon (VZ), and many others in advancing the functionality of Wi-Fi capabilities. In addition the disclosure of ARUN receiving the highest quadrant in the recent Gartner ranking provides additional independent analysis of ARUN's industry leading product portfolio. They also appear to be leading the conversion to th
- [By Paul Ausick]
At noon ET on Black Friday, online sales are up 7% compared with the same period a year ago and the average order value this year is $142.33. The data is collected and reported by the Digital Analytics Benchmark group at International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM).
- [By Rich Smith]
How much does IT cost?
On Friday, the Pentagon opened up a firm-fixed-price, multiple-award, task-order contract�under its Information Technology Enterprise Solution-2 program, or ITES-2S, allocating $494 million in funds to pay for Army IT hardware and software purchases. ITES-2 �is a program that simplifies and streamlines the process for buying IT hardware and software for the Army. The Pentagon gave Dell, IBM (NYSE: IBM ) , and four privately owned companies the right to bid on individual "task orders" placed under ITES-2S, as and when the Army puts such mini-contracts up for bid. - [By Trey Thoelcke]
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) has�said in a statement that it will vigorously fight the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan by�shareholder Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund�over its alleged failure to disclose its involvement in the U.S. National Security Agency’s (NSA) spy program and the subsequent loss of business in China.
Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Watch For 2014: 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 Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Alcoa have jumped 4.3% to $8.28 today at 1:26 p.m, which would have made it the Dow’s best performer today instead of AT&T (T) and its 2.8% gain. Still it’s hard to complain too much today as the Dow’s three new members are having solid, if not extraordinary, days. Nike (NKE) has jumped 1.3% after its CEO told analysts that his company could have $30 billion of sales in 2015 and $36 billion by 2017. Goldman Sachs (GS), meanwhile, has gained 1.3% to $155.04 and Visa (V) has advanced 0.8% to $183.98.
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