Blue Chip Stocks: Meaning, Features and Risks

What are Blue Chips Stocks? 

A Blue Chip Stock is a share issued by a company that enjoys a highly esteemed position in a share market, has a stable financial position, and has a good reputation for being an industry leader for an extended period. These companies are well-established companies with a large market capitalization and are known for their attractive dividend pay-out policies. Blue Chip Stocks are generally issued at a high value because of the great market reputation of the companies issuing them. Blue Chip Stocks have emerged as the safest investment channel in recent years due to their ability to generate consistent earnings and dividends over time. An investor sticks to these stocks because of their perceived stability and the potential for long-term capital appreciation. Blue chip companies often have strong financial stability and are believed to stand against any kind of market downfall, but they are not immune to market fluctuations, so it is always advisable to diversify the investment portfolio to minimize the risk. 

 

What are the Best Blue Chip Stocks in India?

In India, Companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Infosys, ITC Limited, Asian Paints, and Nestle India Ltd are considered to be blue chips. Well-known global blue chip companies are Apple, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, etc. 

Features of Blue Chip Companies

The features associated with Blue Chip Companies that distinguish it from other companies have been discussed below:

1. Large Market Capitalisation: Blue Chip Companies generally enjoy high market capitalisation with large-cap stocks. Their large-scale operation and stable profitability allow them to have easy access to capital, enter a new market, and diversify their product line better than other companies.

2. Financial Stability: Blue Chip Companies are featured with a stable financial position, often supported by consistent revenue and earnings growth. They have a strong balance sheet position, consistent cash flows, and a low debt ratio with high credit ratings, granting them the ability to face economic downfalls.

3. Consistent Earnings and Dividends: Great market reputation and high capitalisation of Blue Chip Companies help them to earn and maintain their profitability ratio which ensures continuous cash flow. A part of this profit is distributed among the shareholders at regular intervals as a dividend. These reliable earnings and regular dividend distribution add value to their reputation.

4. Market Leadership: Blue chip companies often are the leaders in their industries and enjoy a significant market share. They have well-established brands, products, or services, and wide distribution networks that mark their strong market presence and give them a competitive advantage over their peers.

5. Creditworthiness: Creditworthiness is the ability to pay off debt without being a defaulter. Blue Chip Companies is characterised by high capital and a stable financial position, hence the shares issued by them enjoy high creditworthiness making them the most reliable stocks in the market.

6. Dynamic and Track Record: Blue Chip Companies generally have years of working experience. In their long history of operation, they face numerous market cyclones and adapt accordingly to survive the downfall, making them dynamic. Besides this, they keep track of their success over the years to deal with the upcoming market changes.

7. Low-Risk Factor: Although every business and business entity is surrounded by risk all the time, Blue Chip Companies are generally considered less volatile and risky. These companies have a well-established market reputation, stable financial position, significant market share, and global presence that help them to cut down the risk factor.

8. Strong Corporate Governance: Blue Chip Companies have a well-defined managerial structure that ensures transparency in their operations and financial reporting. They exhibit all the Corporate Governance practice habits that ensure accountability and fairness towards the investors. This feature helps them to win the confidence and trust of the shareholders.

How to identify Blue Chip Companies?

For investors who are new to the financial world, it might be confusing to identify the Blue Chip Companies among thousands of large-cap companies. Therefore, one should look for some key features of Blue Chip companies that help to identify them among the crowd:

• Firstly, One should look for financial stability and a great market reputation. A substantial and consistent rise in profitability, stable cash flow, transparency in the reporting system, and a good track are key factors to identify Blue Chip Companies.
• Secondly, look for a company that is a leader in the industry with a well-established brand name and a dominant market share.
• Thirdly and most importantly, look for the dividend payout history of the company. Companies with a record of consistently paying dividends and increasing them over time are considered Blue Chip Companies.
• Last but not least look for the involvement of Institutional Investors. Institutional Investors are the prominent market players and always opt for big and safe investing channels. Their participation and investment are one of the blue-chip traits.

Are Blue Chip Stocks a Good Investment?

Blue Chip Stocks are always considerably preferable over stocks due to low-risk factors. However, there are several other factors that make it a good investment channel:

1. Stability and Reliability: Blue Chip Stocks are shares issued by companies that have a stable financial position, continuous cash flow, and consistent profitability and earnings. The long history of operation and experiences help them to cope with economic and market downfalls. This makes Blue Chip Stocks more reliable and provides a sense of security to investors.

2. Consistent Dividend Income: Blue Chip stocks are a good and consistent source of steady income, especially for investors with income-earning goals. Blue Chip Companies are known for their regular dividend payment policy, which draws the attention of investors.

3. Diversified Portfolio: Blue Chip Companies are the dominant market leaders and are found in various sectors and industries. So, investing in these companies allow investors to own a diversified portfolio and spread the risk across different sector and industries. Diversified portfolios always have advantages over other investing channels.

4. Liquidity: Blue Chip stocks are always in demand and enjoy high market value due to the great market reputation of the company. This makes these stocks easily tradable in the market and highly liquid. Liquidity provides flexibility and ease to investors to access their investment capital as per their needs.

5. Capital Appreciation: Blue Chip Companies are generally associated with stability, but they possess the capability to offer the potential for long-term capital appreciation. These companies have a strong market presence, brand recognition, competitive advantages, and the ability to generate sustained growth. All this sum up to add value to the stocks of these companies in the long run, thereby generating capital gain for investors.

However, it should be noted that Blue Chip stocks are less risky in comparison to smaller or growing companies, but are not risk-free. There is always some degree of risk associated with every investment.

What are the Risks involved in Blue Chip Stocks?

Blue Chip Stocks, like any other investment alternatives are surrounded by market and economic risks, however, the degree of risk may vary. Lets’s understand this in detail:

1. Economic and Market Downfall: Although it is believed that long history of operations and experience makes Blue Chip Companies capable of facing market cyclones, still they are not immune to such downfalls. During the market depression, even well-established companies experiences declining sales, reduced profitability, and a fall in the market value of their shares.

2. Expensive: Blue Chip stocks are issued by the dominant market leaders who can affect the market substantially. The great market reputation of these companies makes the stock expensive and beyond the reach of many small investors. Hence the investment remains concentrated in the hands of the institutional investors.

3. Low Growth Rate: The Blue Chip Companies are well-established and fully-grown companies for whom growing days are in their past. Hence investors who invest with the objective to grow and earn out of capital appreciation shall not opt for Blue Chip stocks, as these stocks appreciate steadily.

4. Dividend Reduction or Suspension: Blue Chip Companies are famous for their consistent dividend pay-off policies, but there is no guarantee that they will continue to do so in the future. Any downturn or change in business strategy can lead to Dividend Reduction or Suspension, which may adversely affect the interest of the investors.

5. Legal Risk: Blue Chip Companies are large-cap companies that operate under complex legal environments. Any changes in laws and regulations may adversely affect the financial performance and reputation of the company. This may pull down the market value of the stocks which can cause capital loss to the investors.