Dow Today: Chevron (CVX) Leads The Day Higher, International Business Machines (IBM) Lags

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed down 49 points (-0.4%) at 12,422. During the day, 807.7 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 829.3 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio closed at 1,035 issues advancing vs. 1,957 declining with 125 unchanged.

The Dow component that led the way higher today was Chevron (NYSE:CVX), which sported a $1.07 gain (+1%) bringing the stock to $106.04. Volume for Chevron ended the day at 7.3 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 9.2 million shares.

Chevron has a market cap of $217.19 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. Shares are down 1.3% year to date as of Thursday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 3%.

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The company has a P/E ratio of eight, below the average energy industry P/E ratio of 8.1 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Chevron as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, robust revenue growth and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

• You can view the full Chevron Ratings Report.

Holding the Dow back today was International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lagged the broader Dow index with a $1.39 decline (-0.8%) bringing the stock to $179.16. This single loss is lowering the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 10.52 points or roughly accounting for 21.5% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for International Business Machines ended the day at 5.2 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 5.2 million shares.

• See our dividend calendar or top-yielding stocks list.

International Business Machines has a market cap of $215.14 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are down 0.8% year to date as of Thursday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.6%.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 14.4, equal to the average computer hardware industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates International Business Machines as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full International Business Machines Ratings Report.

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