intel

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

INTEL CORP. $37 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.9 billion; Market cap: $181.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) expects its revenue to rise by about 5% in 2015, compared to the consensus forecast of a 3.4% increase. That’s because businesses are replacing their older computers more quickly than expected. Intel only recently started making chips for mobile devices, so it offered manufacturers special discounts to encourage them to switch over. However, it expects to cut these subsidies, as it will soon launch a new mobile chip that combines a processor with a wireless modem. That cuts the need for two separate chips. The company has also raised its dividend by 6.7%. The new annual rate of $0.96 a share yields 2.6%....

The ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF, $38.79, symbol SDOG on New York (Units outstanding: 24.3 million; Market cap: $942.6 million; www.alpssectordividenddogs.com), is an ETF that applies the “Dogs of the Dow” theory on a sector-by-sector basis using the stocks in the S&P 500. The fund’s MER is 0.40%. The Dogs of the Dow approach involves buying the lowest-priced, highest-yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. At the end of each year, you pick the 10 stocks from the 30-stock Dow with the highest dividend yields. You then invest an equal dollar amount in each, hold them for one year and repeat these steps annually. The ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF picks five stocks from each of the 10 sectors as defined by the S&P 500 index—consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, health care, industrials, information technology, materials, telecommunication services and utilities. The ETF picks the stocks with the highest dividend yields. Each holding is then equally weighted so that every company has a similar influence on the ETF’s total return. The end result is a portfolio of 50 large cap stocks....

INTEL CORP. $37 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.9 billion; Market cap: $181.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) expects its revenue to rise by about 5% in 2015, compared to the consensus forecast of a 3.4% increase. That’s because businesses are replacing their older computers more quickly than expected.

Intel only recently started making chips for mobile devices, so it offered manufacturers special discounts to encourage them to switch over. However, it expects to cut these subsidies, as it will soon launch a new mobile chip that combines a processor with a wireless modem. That cuts the need for two separate chips.

The company has also raised its dividend by 6.7%. The new annual rate of $0.96 a share yields 2.6%.

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POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $97.21 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers; www.invescopowershares.com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index, which consists of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange, based on market cap.

The Nasdaq 100 Index contains shares of companies in a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, Amazon.com, Gilead Sciences, Comcast Corp. and Facebook.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day, at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. ADRs, $32.00, New York symbol PHG, plans to break itself into two separate, publicly traded companies by the end of 2015. One firm will consist of Philips’s lighting solutions business, which accounted for 32% of Philips’s 2013 sales of 22 billion euros (1 euro = $1.42 Canadian). These operations design and build light emitting diode (LED) systems for cities, arenas and other large-scale uses. This new company will not include Philips’s LED components and automotive lighting manufacturing operations, which it plans to set up as a separate firm. Philips still intends to sell a portion of this business, either to the public or to private investors....

WAL-MART STORES INC., $73.90, New York symbol WMT, continues to face strong competition in the U.S. from other discount retailers, particularly dollar stores. However, sales and earnings continue to rise at its overseas outlets. In the second quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended July 31, 2014, Wal-Mart’s earnings fell 3.4%, to $3.9 billion from $4.1 billion a year earlier. Per-share earnings declined 1.6%, to $1.21 from $1.23, on fewer shares outstanding. That matched the consensus estimate. Revenue rose 2.8%, to $120.1 billion from $116.8 billion, beating the consensus forecast of $119.0 billion. If you disregard unfavourable currency rates, Wal-Mart’s sales would have risen 3.4%....

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF, $38.74, symbol XLK on New York (Units outstanding: 340.3 million; Market cap: $13.2 billion; www.spdrs.com), aims to track the S&P Technology Select Sector Index, which consists of tech stocks in the S&P 500 Index. The fund’s MER is just 0.16%. The $13.6-billion fund’s top 10 holdings are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, IBM, Cisco Systems, Intel, AT&T, Oracle and Qualcomm. The ETF is broken down by segment as follows: technology, hardware, storage and peripherals, 20.6%; software, 16.6%, information technology services, 15.8%; Internet software and services, 15.1%; diversified telecommunication services, 11.4%; semiconductors and semiconductor equipment, 10.4%; communications equipment, 8.0%; and electronic equipment, instruments and components, 2.1%....

POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $94.06 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers; www.invescopowershares.com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index, which consists of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange, based on market cap.

The Nasdaq 100 Index contains shares of companies in a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, Amazon.com, Gilead Sciences, Comcast Corp. and Facebook.

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