Blue-chip companies rightfully make up the bulk of most people’s investment portfolios. These large-cap firms possess considerable industry leverage, as well as a vast sum of financial resources. Their status and importance to the underlying economy means that they are the least likely to crumble, regardless of external pressures. Ultimately, blue chips provide the confidence and stability to which you can pin your long-term hopes.
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But there’s a reason most financial advisers say to have at least a small allocation to speculative investments. Those large caps can offer somewhat modest returns. Single-digit annual gains and a 2% dividend yield? No … here and there, investors should try to generate bigger returns from more explosive small- and even micro-cap stocks.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: P.T. Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk.(TLK)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Wednesday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.45 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Telekomunikasi Indones (Prsr)Tbk PT-ADR (NYSE: TLK), down 4 percent, and China Telecom Corporation Limited (ADR) (NYSE: CHA) down 2 percent.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: Microchip Technology Incorporated(MCHP)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Microchip Technology (MCHP) sunk to the bottom of the S&P 500 today as semiconductor stocks got clobbered.
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Shares of Microchip Technology tumbled 7.5% to $61.23 today, while the S&P 500 declined 0.4% to 2,191.08. The SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) fell 4.8% to $52.29, while the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 4.8% to $67.68.
Today’s slaughter comes two days after Microchip Technology narrowed its third-quarter guidance. Stifel’s Kevin Cassidy and team had the details:
Microchip upwardly revised its December ending quarter…Non-GAAP EPS guidance was updated to $0.87 – $0.94 compared to $0.85 – $0.95 previously…The According to management, the upside is coming from better than expected integration of recent acquisitions. Management pointed out that significant gross margin improvements may be recognized as the inventory of higher cost products from the now closed Micrel fab is depleted. We have revised our revenue and non-GAAP earnings estimates and increased our 12-month target price to $70.
Microchip Technology’s market capitalization fell to $13.2 billion from $14.3 billion yesterday. It report net income of $324 million on sales of $2.2 billion in fiscal 2016.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
My colleague Tiernan Rey at Barron’s Tech Trader Daily quoted B. Rileys Craig Ellis in a post today, who called the selloff yesterday an unusually attractive entry opportunity forApplied Materials andMicrochip Technology (MCHP) buyers.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: CRB Futures Index(CR)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Monica Gerson]
Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) is expected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.86 per share on revenue of $644.60 million.
Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII) is projected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.35 per share on revenue of $641.85 million.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $67.56 on stronger-than-expected Q3 earnings.
Equities Trading DOWN
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: Cummins Inc.(CMI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Chris Lange]
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Friday was Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) which traded down about 5% at $159.44. The stocks 52-week range is $134.06 to $181.79. Volume was over 3.5 million versus the daily average of 1.2 million shares.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
There are lots of stories like that out there these days. People were perplexed about the Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and Cummins Engine (CMI) and Caterpillar (CAT) quarters, but they turned out to be classic buying opportunities after years of being sell opportunities if the stocks had run. I can’t explain to you how amazing that is. Here are three stocks that have spent months and months in purgatory when they have missed or guided down or slashed forecasts. Now they are up gigantically.
- [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]
Ever walk past a construction site? It’s hard not to be enthralled by all the heavy construction machinery moving things around. With the world’s developing economies still building at a relatively fast pace and developing economies, like the United States, in desperate need of upgrading their aging infrastructure, the companies behind that construction machinery could be just as exciting as a construction site in the years ahead. Which is why Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI), and Terex Corporation (NYSE:TEX) are three of the top construction machinery stocks to look at right now.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: S&P GSCI(GD)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Rich Smith]
The U.S. Army wants General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) to build it a super-tank — an improvement over the ubiquitous M1 Abrams main battle tank that is currently the mainstay of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps.
- [By Rich Smith]
As details about the Pentagon’s plan have emerged, it’s become clear that this will be a sizable program, amounting to perhaps $1 trillion in spending over 30 years — not just to upgrade the Minuteman missiles, but also to buy new B-21 stealth bombers from Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC)and have General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) and Huntington Ingalls (NYSE:HII) design an entirely new class of ballistic missile submarines (to be known as the “Columbia class.”)
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
General Dynamics (GD) is number four in the U.S. The company provides combat vehicles; information technology solutions for the military; maintenance overhaul and repair for military aircraft; submarines; and surface ships.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: Scana Corporation(SCG)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Monday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.43 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG), down 2 percent, and FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), down 2 percent.
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Friday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.32 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE: GNE), down 3 percent, and SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG), down 3 percent.
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Atlantic Power Corp (NYSE: AT), down 2 percent, and SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG) down 1 percent.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: Nucor Corporation(NUE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lee Jackson]
This top steel company could do very well if the economy sees a solid pickup this year and the administration’s infrastructure push remainsin place. Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the United States and Canada. The company alsois North America’s largest recycler.
- [By Jason Hall, Brian Stoffel, and Brian Feroldi]
With that idea in mind, we asked three of our top contributors to write about a stock they see as being a bargain today, and they gave us mortgage industry software lynchpinEllie Mae Inc(NYSE:ELLI), real estate holding companyStore Capital Corp(NYSE:STOR), and steelmaker extraordinaireNucor Corporation(NYSE:NUE).
- [By Peter Graham]
A long term performance chart shows shares of United States Steel Corporation performing better than Market Vectors Steel ETF (NYSEARCA: SLX); but now underperforming large cap Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) andmid cap Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD):
- [By Peter Graham]
A long term performance chart shows shares of Steel Dynamics outperforming peers large cap Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) and mid cap United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) along with Market Vectors Steel ETF (NYSEARCA: SLX):
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was raised to Buy from Neutral on Monday. Nucor was last seen trading up 1.5% at $55.73. It has a 52-week range of $44.81 to $68.00 and has a consensus analyst price target of $69.83.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Then there are the steel plays. United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was up 7.4% at $27.61 late on Monday. It has a market cap of $4.5 billion. Over the past five trading days the stock has gained 30%. Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was last seen up 1% at $59.34. Nucor has a total market cap of $18.8 billion. Over the past fivetrading days the stock has gained 17%.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: Reynolds American Inc(RAI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Just before 1pm today, shares of Reynolds American (RAI) took a sudden nosedive on reports that its merger with British American Tobacco (BTI) had “hit a snag” according to StreetInsider.com. Cowen’s Vivien Azer and team still think a deal gets done:
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Street Insider is reporting that BATS’ acquisition of RAI has “hit a snag,” and that “a potential transaction may be less likely near-term.” We view this source as less credible (vs. a WSJ or CNBC), in particular given the scant level of detail. While the delay in a consummated deal has extended longer than we thought, we still view the deal as likely (85% probability).
Shares of Reynolds American have dropped 1.3% to $55.47 at 2:26 p.m. today, while British American Tobacco has declined 0.2% to $112.71. Shares of Philip Morris International (PM), which could be interested in an acquisition of Altria Group (MO), have fallen 1% to$90.28 after getting cut toNeutral from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch, while Altria has risen 0.5% to$67.94 after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill.
- [By Leo Sun]
With interest rates set to rise this year, many dividend investors are likely worried that their stocks will slip as bond yields become more attractive. While some dividend stocks will inevitably decline, investors can still find some low-risk income plays that have high yields and cheap valuations. Let’s take a look at three such stocks — AT&T (NYSE:T), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI).
- [By Rich Duprey, Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, and Brian Feroldi]
It remains true that the tobacco industry will continue coming under pressure from anti-smoking activists, politicians, and regulators who seek to stub out cigarettes further by raising taxes on smokes, but companies such as Altria and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI) are largely able to offset their impact on profits by raising prices. The ability to command such pricing power without an overly large loss of customers obviously speaks to the addictive qualities of smoking but is also an otherwise enviable position to be in.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: SPX Corporation(SPW)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Damon Churchwell]
These companies manufacture processing products used by industries such as food and beverages, oil & gas, and wastewater treatment, among others. They serve a wide range of end markets that are mostly poised for increased earnings and are likely to spend on capital projects. While these positive trends persist, flow technology companies’ prospects ought to remain favorable. Let’shighlight several sector participants, starting with a top selection,SPX(NYSE: SPW),.
Top 10 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: 3M Company(MMM)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Dustin Blitchok]
Morrison’s resignation came about one hour after 3M Co (NYSE: MMM) CEO Inge Thulin pulled the plug.
In a Wednesday statement on his departure from what’s formally known as the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, Thulin said the group “is no longer an effective vehicle” for the technology company to promote job growth in the U.S.
- [By Paul Ausick]
3M Company (NYSE: MMM) traded up 0.91% at $201.53. The stock’s 52-week range is $163.85 to $214.57. Volume was about half the daily average of around 1.8 million shares. The company had no specific news Monday.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Time To Favor Optionality: Most macro data are similar to, or better than, when the merger was announced. As a result, the same returns have been obtainable, with significantly less stress, simply through owning 3M (MMM) or a basket of chemical companies that approximate the Dow-DuPont portfolio. Relative to the chemical sector, performance has been average, leverage appears reasonable but near-term FCF less-than compelling partly due to new capacity ramping. With the merger likely to close in the near-term (90% chance, in our view), we believe Dow-DuPont will have an opportunity to show how scale creates optionality. The overhaul at Celanese (CE) over the past few years shows the way.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Second, how will the Dow get to that big magic number? Well, the six biggest stock weightings in the DJIA are: Goldman Sachs (GS), 3M (MMM), International Business Machines (IBM), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), and Boeing (BA). What you will notice looking at a day like yesterday is that tech led the way sector wise. If the Dow is going to outperform, we need mega caps to outperform. We need those six stocks to outperform. So we need a day where financials and industrials outperform to get there. Given the trends in sector leadership, that is bound to happen…We are one Trump tweet talking about how yuuuuuuge Goldman Sachs is away from 20k.
- [By Keith Fitz-Gerald]
First, the Dow dropped below 19,800 points with two stocks – The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) – experiencing a $3.26 billion selloff alone. Big banking stocks including Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) and JPMorgan Chase and Co. (NYSE:JPM) sold off far more severely than the S&P 500 itself. Tech stocks were more or less unscathed, with the exception of Alphabet Inc. (NasdaqGS:GOOG), which received a 2.55% buzzcut of $26 per share.
- [By Paul Ausick]
3M Company (NYSE: MMM) traded down 1.05% at $210.38. The stock’s 52-week range is $163.85 to $214.57. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 1.8 million. The company had no specific news.
