Investors have a lot to choose from when picking stocks to buy. But many are honing in on a handful of larger than life blue chips.
The 10 biggest companies in the S&P 500 index are collectively worth $4.36 trillion. The entire S&P 500 recently topped $20 trillion in value for the first time.
So the top 10 companies, a mere 2% of the 500 stocks in the index, make up almost 25% of the S&P 500’s total market value.
That is astonishing.
The rise in popularity of index ETFs that track the S&P 500 is one of the reasons why these 10 stocks are so widely held. When you buy the SPY (SPY), for example, you get exposure to all 500 companies in the index, which is weighted by market value.
Bulls are running wild on Wall Street again. Check out CNNMoney’s Fear & Greed Index
But the outsized importance of the biggest 10 companies is also a reflection of how many investors like to follow the old motto of former Fidelity markets guru Peter Lynch: Buy what you know.
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2018: Spark Therapeutics, Inc.(ONCE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jim Robertson]
On Wednesday, our Elite Opportunity Pronewsletter suggested going long again on small cap gene therapy stock Spark Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ONCE):
Financially, Spark Therapeutics has over $300M in cash on the books and no debt to speak of yet, which equates to a share price of just over four times cash. The Company has generated over $20M in revenue for the trailing twelve months, and although the Company is expected to continue to lose money for the next few years, any strong clinical data that hits the tape could rocket shares of ONCE overnight, just like we’ve seen with so many others over the years.
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2018: Warren Resources Inc.(WRES)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Shares of Warren Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: WRES) were down 31 percent to $0.0656. Warren Resources filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Gogo Inc (NASDAQ: GOGO) was down, falling around 15 percent to $9.40 after the company announced it has reached an agreement with American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ: AAL) to “continue to provide service on a meaningful portion of the American fleet currently served by Gogo.” Investors heavily sold off the stock as the company’s announcement implies it lost some orders to its main competitor, ViaSat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT).
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2018: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.(CLF)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares fell 1.99 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE: CLF), down 9 percent, and AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS), down 9 percent.
- [By Wayne Duggan]
The best candidates for window dressing trades this week include the top 2016 performers Teck Resources Ltd (USA) (NYSE: TECK), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE: CLF) and AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS).
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) rocketed on Thursday and were up more than 16% by 2:30 p.m. EST after the iron ore miner reported expectation-beating fourth-quarter results.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
The stock market rebounded sharply on Thursday, making up for losses earlier in the week. Major benchmarks were up around 1% following solid earnings performances from several key companies, and some optimism about the possible fate of Trump administration policy on issues like corporate tax reform also helped turn around negative sentiment from previous sessions. Strength in the labor market was also a positive, and individual stocks Select Comfort (NASDAQ:SCSS), SLM Corp. (NASDAQ:SLM), and Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) were among the best performers on the day. Below, we’ll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Thursday afternoon, the basic materials sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) and Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE: CLF).
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2018: Taylor & Martin Group Inc (TMG)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jim Cramer]
Net operating cash flow has increased to $743.90 million or 10.04% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC has also modestly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 0.44%.
- [By Laurie Kulikowski]
We rate THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, increase in net income, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and growth in earnings per share. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.
- [By Jim Cramer]
The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Life Sciences Tools & Services industry average. The net income increased by 0.9% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $471.60 million to $476.10 million.
- [By Jim Cramer]
The stock has risen over the past year as investors have generally rewarded the company for its earnings growth and other positive factors like the ones we have cited in this report. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
- [By Jim Cramer]
THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC’s earnings per share improvement from the most recent quarter was slightly positive. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC increased its bottom line by earning $4.70 versus $3.49 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($7.39 versus $4.70).
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2018: Principal Financial Group Inc(PFG)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
The twenty stocks in Worth’s basket are: Ameriprise Financial (AMP) Bank of America, Banner (BANR), Citigroup, Citizens Financial Group (CFG), East West Bancorp (EWBC), First NBC Bank Holding (FNBC), HFF (HF), KeyCorp(KEY), Legacy Texas Financial Group (LTXB), Lincoln National (LNC), Morgan Stanley, Old National Bancorp (ONB), PacWest Bancorp (PACW), PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), Principal Financial Group (PFG), Stifel Financial (SF), SVB Financial Group (SIVB), TCF Financial (TCB), and Wells Fargo.
Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In 2018: Bunge Limited(BG)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Steve Symington]
Shares ofBunge Ltd.(NYSE:BG)rose 10% on Wednesday after the agribusiness and food company released strong fourth-quarter 2016 results.
So what
Quarterly revenue grew 8.6% year over year, to $12.1 billion, and translated to 14.1% growth in adjusted earnings per share, to $1.70. Analysts, on average, were only expecting Bunge to report revenue of $11.4 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.57 per share.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Bunge (BG) has dropped 1.5% to $76.14 after getting cut to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
L Brands (LB) has jumped 3.9% to $44.80 despite reporting weaker than expected same-store sales.
- [By Casey Wilson]
Many companies provide the infrastructure needed for farmers to move crops from the farm to the grocery store. Among those are Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG), an agribusiness and food company that specializes in the purchase, storage, processing, and transport of agricultural goods. BG is up over 8% year to date and has grown over 1.5% in the past 30 days.
