Blue Chip Stock

A blue chip is stock in a company that's big, well known, and has a long track record of stable performance, usually with a solid balance sheet and a history of weathering downturns better than smaller, newer companies. The term borrows from poker, where the blue chips are traditionally the highest-value ones on the table. Blue chip stocks aren't immune to falling, nothing is, but they're generally treated as the steadier end of the stock market, favored by more conservative investors over higher-risk, higher-growth bets.