A blue chip stock is the stock of a well-established company having stable earnings and no extensive liabilities. Most blue chip stocks pay regular dividends, even when business is faring worse than usual. They are valued by investors seeking relative safety and stability, though prices per share are usually high. Typically, such stocks are perceived to offer reliable returns, low yield, and low risk. Many blue chips are components of popular indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. It has been suggested that shareholder be merged into this article or section. ... A corporation is a legal person which, while being composed of natural persons, exists completely separately from them. ... In the most general sense, a liability is anything that is a hindrance, or puts one at a disadvantage. ... Dividends are payments made by a company to its shareholders. ... Look up share on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In finance, the return on investment (ROI) or just return is a calculation used to determine whether a proposed investment is wise, and how well it will repay the investor. ... In financial economics, the yield of a financial instrument/security (finance), usually a debt instrument, or other investment is the rate of return the holder earns on that instrument. ... Risk is a concept which relates to human expectations. ... In economics and finance an index (for example a price index, a stockmarket index) is a benchmark of activity, performance or any evolution in general. ... The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DJI) is one of several stock market indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company founder Charles Dow. ... The S&P 500 is a list of 500 U.S. corporations and a stock market index, owned and maintained by Standard & Poors. ...

Alternately, blue chip stocks are sometimes defined as companies whose stocks have large market capitalization values (for example, over $1 billion.) Market capitalization, often abbreviated to market cap, is a measurement of corporate size that refers to the current stock price times the number of outstanding shares. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 3. ...

The term comes from blue-coloured poker chips, which are typically the most valuable^{[citation needed]}. Examples are Royal Dutch Shell (petroleum), The Coca-Cola Company (food) and IBM (information technology). Before its total collapse in 2001, Enron was considered to be a blue chip stock. Harry Trumans poker chips Casino poker chips are special tokens representing a fixed amount of money. ... Royal Dutch Shell PLC is a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest energy corporations in the world, and one of the six supermajors (vertically integrated private-sector oil, natural gas, and petrol (gasoline) companies). ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ... The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups in the world. ... now. ... Information Technology (IT)[1] is a broad subject concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information, especially in large organizations. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Enron Corporation was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. ...

The term "blue chip" is also commonly used to describe collegiate athletes who are being targeted for recruitment (drafting) by professional sports teams. "Blue chip" players have proven themselves to be amongst the best at their respective positions in their sports and are more sought after by professional teams than other players.

Somewhat similar terms include:

Bellwether 

The stock of a company recognized as a leader in its industry. For example, IBM is considered a bellwether stock in the computer industry. Often, the performance of a bellwether is an indication of how that industry is doing as a whole.

Large Cap 

These are companies with extremely large market capitalization, or "market cap", which is the product of the number of shares outstanding and the price of the stock.

another blue chip is Wal-mart. In politics, a bellwether (often, incorrectly, bellweather or bellwhether) is a region whose political tendencies match in microcosm what occurs in a wider area. ... now. ... Market capitalization, often abbreviated to market cap, is a measurement of corporate size that refers to the current stock price times the number of outstanding shares. ...