blue chip
FedEx Corp., symbol FDX on New York, delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 other countries and territories. Its fleet of 80,000 trucks and 684 aircraft delivers over eight million packages a day. In its fiscal 2011 third quarter, which ended February 28, 2011, FedEx earned $231 million or $0.73 a share. That’s down 3.3% from $239 million, or $0.76 a share, a year earlier. The decline was mainly the result of $43 million in one-time costs associated with the combination of the blue chip stock’s FedEx Freight and FedEx National LTL (less than truckload) divisions into a single business unit. The company also paid more for fuel and reinstated merit salary increases. As well, bad winter weather in the U.S. increased its aircraft-maintenance costs. Revenue rose 11.0%, to $9.7 billion from $8.7 billion, as the improving economy continues to spur demand for delivery services....
Campbell Soup Co., symbol CBB on New York, is the world’s largest maker of canned soups. It also makes Prego canned pasta and sauces, Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 vegetable juices. The company gets 19.8% of its sales from international markets. Its biggest foreign markets are Australia and Europe. In the three months ended January 30, 2011, company’s sales fell 1.2%, to $2.13 billion from $2.15 billion. Soup sales fell 4.0% in the U.S. The company continues to face strong competition from generic brands. In response, it ran promotions that discounted the prices of some of its brands, particularly ready-to-serve soups. Earnings fell 7.7%, to $239.0 million from $259.0 million a year earlier. The company spent $417 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 4.1% to $0.71 from $0.74. The lower sales and higher advertising spending were the main reasons for the decline....
Blue chip stocks in Canada’s telephone industry continue to face rising competition. Along with wireless and cable companies, Internet-based phone services, such as Skype, continue to gain popularity. As well, three new wireless providers (Globalive’s WIND Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile) entered the Canadian market in 2010. More new wireless firms are likely to follow. This rising competition will continue to put pressure on BCE Inc. (symbol BCE on Toronto), Canada’s largest telephone-service provider. In light of this and other developments surrounding the stock, we’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on BCE in the latest Canadian Wealth Advisor, our newsletter for safety-conscious conservative investing....
Alcoa Inc. (New York symbol AA) is one of the world’s largest aluminum producers. The company is one of the blue chip stocks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. In 2010, Alcoa’s sales rose 14.0%, $21.0 billion from $18.4 billion in 2009. The company saw higher demand in most of its markets. In 2010, overall aluminum demand rebounded 13%, the biggest increase in 14 years. The company earned $262 million, or $0.25 a share, compared to a net loss of $985 million, or $1.06 a share, in 2009. The higher sales and higher aluminum prices were the main reasons for the improved earnings. The company also improved its productivity during the year....
High-quality foreign stocks are a great way to diversify your portfolio. Moreover, many fast-growing markets, like China and India, have positive outlooks. That’s because their people are generally younger than North Americans, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class. Even so, world stock market investing remains riskier than investing in North America. That’s because many emerging countries have language barriers, weak investor-protection laws, less commitment to openness, fairness and so on. Here are 3 simple ways to tap into world stock market profits at lower risk:...
Some investors have told us that they are pessimistic about the stock market because of lots of insider selling in the U.S. blue chip stocks they hold. The value of insider buying and selling as a market indicator seems self-evident. After all, company insiders — officers, directors, or owners of 10% or more of a company’s stock — are apt to know more than outsiders do about what’s going on in their businesses.
Insider trading: Not the conclusive indicator that many investors think it is
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In response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, regulators will probably require offshore drillers to install more equipment aimed at preventing future spills. These extra costs would hurt the profits of companies that are active in the Gulf. That should spur more development of less-risky onshore oil and natural-gas deposits, particularly Canada’s oil sands.
Safety, falling costs could drive producers back to the land
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Demand for wireless services is rising sharply in North America. That’s partly because device makers continue to release new cellphones and wireless devices, such as Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. As well, more customers are switching from traditional phones (or land lines) to wireless services.
Tap into wireless growth with blue chip stocks that operate networks
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Brookfield Asset Management, $26.37, symbol BAM.A on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 572.9 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion), is a holding company that mainly focuses on real estate, infrastructure and power generation. Its holdings include interests in Brookfield Renewable Power Fund and BPO Properties, which owns, develops and manages office buildings. Brookfield Asset Management also holds resource investments, including Norbord. Brookfield Asset Management has a complex holding company structure that could make it difficult to spot problems, should they arise. We see the stock as okay to hold, but don’t recommend it for new buying. RioCan, $18.56, symbol REI.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 242.0 million; Market cap: $4.5 billion) – see above – is a buy for income and growth....
On January 8 The Successful Investor will unveil a stock that’s primed for explosive growth in 2010. In fact, we think this blue chip stock’s prospects are so bright we’ve named it The Successful Investor’s #1 stock pick for the coming year. More on how you can get all the details on this exciting #1 pick in a moment, but first we’d like to share with you...