Nerdy takeaways
- Blue-chip stocks are big companies known for being valuable, stable and established.
- Blue-chips are popular among investors for their reliability, though they’re not immune to market downturns.
- Most blue-chip stocks are part of a large-cap market index like the S&P 100, Dow Jones Industrial Average or Nasdaq 100.
- A large-cap index fund or ETF is a good way to get exposure to blue-chip stocks.
While there is no formal definition of a blue-chip stock, these companies are known for being valuable, stable and established. They’re typically big names — often household names — in their industries, and investors count on them for their reliability.
What is a blue-chip stock?
A blue-chip stock is a stock from a company with a large market capitalization, a long history of growth and a place in a major market index. Blue-chip stocks often pay dividends as well. Blue-chip stocks are well-established, have strong financial numbers and often have name recognition.
- Large market capitalization. Market cap is a measure of the size and value of a company. Blue-chip stocks are often large-cap stocks, which typically means they have a market valuation of $10 billion or more.
- Growth history. Blue-chips have a reliable, solid history of sustained growth and good future prospects. They might not be flashy like fast-growing tech stocks, but that’s because they’re already established.
- Component of a market index. Blue-chip stocks are in major market indexes like the S&P 500, the S&P 100, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and/or the Nasdaq 100.
- Dividends. Not all blue-chip stocks pay dividends, but many do. Dividends are regular payments made to investors from a company’s revenue. Companies that pay dividends are often mature, which means they may no longer need to invest as much revenue back into their growth. (Interested in dividends? View our list of high-dividend stocks.)
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7 best blue-chip stocks
Since there is no hard and fast definition of blue-chip stocks, we filtered for stocks featured on the S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 or Dow Jones Industrial Average indexes with a market cap of $200 billion or more. We made sure those stocks offered a dividend and have been a public company for more than 20 years. Here are those stocks sorted by annual performance.
The best-performing blue chip stock by one-year return is Western Digital Corp (WDC), which is up 0.49. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ticker | Company | Dividend | Performance (Year) | |||
WDC | Western Digital Corp | $0.49 | 835.75% | |||
MU | Micron Technology Inc | $0.58 | 790.56% | |||
INTC | Intel Corp | $0.04 | 485.03% | |||
LRCX | Lam Research Corp | $1.05 | 313.65% | |||
MRVL | Marvell Technology Inc | $0.24 | 269.67% | |||
AMAT | Applied Materials Inc | $1.86 | 262.95% | |||
KLAC | KLA Corp | $0.80 | 208.19% | |||
Source: Finviz. Data is current as of July 1, 2026, and is intended for informational purposes only. | ||||||
» Looking to buy blue-chip stocks? You'll need a brokerage account first. Here's our list of the best online brokerages for stock trading.
Why invest in blue-chip stocks
No one type of stock should make up the bulk of your portfolio. Diversification, as always, is key when investing, even if you’re investing in companies that are widely considered rock-solid.
Diversifying requires spreading your money around among many types of companies. That means including companies with small, mid and large market capitalizations, as well as companies from various industries and geographic locations.
However, blue-chips are popular among investors, especially those closer to retirement or more risk-averse investors, because of their reliability. That doesn’t mean they’re immune to market downturns, but it does mean they’ve shown a history of weathering these storms and bouncing back.
Investors also appreciate the dividends blue-chip stocks typically pay. Dividends are especially attractive if you’re investing for income, as many investors do in retirement. Blue-chip stocks tend to pay reliable, growing dividends.
An alternative: Blue-chip funds
Whether you’re buying blue-chip stocks or not, building a portfolio out of individual stocks takes time and research.
That’s why many investors turn to low-cost index funds or exchange-traded funds instead. These funds contain a curated collection of investments and allow you to purchase a large selection of stocks in one transaction. It’s easy and instant diversification — at least, of course, among blue-chip companies.
Index funds and ETFs track an index, which is a specific segment of the stock market. Since blue-chip stocks typically have large market caps, a large-cap index fund or ETF is a good way to get exposure to these companies. You can also buy a fund that tracks the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average since both include blue-chip stocks.
» Ready to get started? Here’s more on how to invest in index funds.
Neither the author nor editor held positions in the aforementioned investments at the time of publication.
