CHEVRON CORP. $103 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $206.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.chevron.com) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S., after ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM).

Chevron gets 90% of its earnings by producing oil and natural gas. The remaining …read more »

In an effort to dampen speculation, the CME Group, which owns the NYMEX futures exchange, recently raised the minimum amount of money traders must invest when buying crude-oil futures contracts. Even so, we feel oil prices will remain volatile in light of ongoing political unrest in the Middle East.

To lower your risk, we continue to advise that you stick with …read more »

GENERAL MILLS INC. $39 (New York symbol GIS, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 638.4 million; Market cap: $24.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.generalmills.com) is buying 51% of the private company that makes Yoplait yogurt, as well as 50% of the company that holds the licensing rights to the brand. Controlling Yoplait …read more »

APACHE CORP. $124 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 383.4 million; Market cap: $47.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apachecorp.com) plans to spend $8.1 billion to develop its oil and natural-gas projects in 2011, up 8.3% from its earlier estimate of $7.5 billion. The increase is partly due to higher …read more »

The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami severely disrupted the operations of these two Japanese carmakers. Honda appears to be in a better position to recover from the disaster than Toyota.

TOYOTA MOTOR CO. ADRs $82 (New York symbol TM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $139.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork …read more »

SONY CORP. ADRs $28 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $28.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.sony.com) had to shut down its PlayStation Network for nearly a month because online intruders stole personal data. This service lets users of its PlayStation console play video …read more »

J.C. PENNEY CO. INC. $36 (New York symbol JCP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 229.9 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.jcpenney.com) reported that its sales rose 0.4% in the three months ended April 30, 2011, to $3.94 billion from $3.93 billion a year earlier. The shutdown of …read more »

THE BOEING CO. $76 (New York symbol BA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 738.3 million; Market cap: $56.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.boeing.com) has struggled in the past few years, mostly due to production problems with its new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet.

The plane is now three years behind schedule. …read more »