10 Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Invest in for the Long Term

Investors often hold blue-chip stocks at the core of their portfolios. That makes sense. After all, blue-chip companies are leaders in their industries. Their names are familiar to investors.

What Are Blue-Chip Stocks?

Blue-chip stocks are from companies that are large, well-established, and financially sound. These companies have strong brand names and reputations, and they generate dependable earnings. Blue-chip companies usually boast consistent dividends and are often considered less risky, given their financial stability.

However, investors may differ in how they define blue-chip companies. Some investors demand that a blue-chip stock be included in a particular index, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Others may include only dividend-paying companies on their lists of blue-chip stocks. Still others may have specific market-cap thresholds for blue-chip companies.

The companies on Morningstar’s list of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for the long term share a few qualities:

• The stocks are from companies included on Morningstar’s list of the Best Companies to Own for 2025. Companies on this list have wide Morningstar Economic Moat Ratings and predictable cash flows, and they are run by management teams that make smart capital-allocation decisions.
• These stocks look undervalued, which means they’re trading below Morningstar’s fair value estimates.
• Their market caps top $100 billion.

10 Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Invest in for the Long Term—October 2025

These are the largest firms by market cap on Morningstar’s Best Companies to Own list whose stocks were the most undervalued as of Oct. 3, 2025.

1. Danaher DHR
2. Merck MRK
3. Roche ROG
4. Deere DE
5. S&P Global SPGI
6. Nestle NESN
7. Microsoft MSFT
8. Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO
9. PepsiCo PEP
10. SAP SAP

Here’s a little bit about each of these blue-chip stocks for the long term. Data is as of Oct. 3.

Danaher

• Market Capitalization: $150 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.80
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Value
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 0.57%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Diagnostics and Research

Medical-technology company Danaher is the most undervalued company on our list of best blue-chip stocks to buy and the first of four healthcare companies to make the list. The firm offers differentiated technology that is protected by various intangible assets, including patents, brands, copyrights, and trademarks, says Morningstar senior analyst Julie Utterback. Danaher seeks out attractive markets and makes acquisitions to enter or expand within those fields, and it also divests assets that are no longer core to the business. The company’s acquisition-focused strategy has contributed to it becoming a top-five player in the highly fragmented and relatively sticky life science and diagnostic tool markets. Danaher stock trades at a 20% discount to our fair value estimate of $270 per share.

Merck

• Market Capitalization: $223 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.80
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Value
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 3.63%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Standard
• Industry: Drug Manufacturers—General

Merck’s combination of a wide lineup of high-margin drugs and a pipeline of new drugs should ensure strong returns on invested capital over the long term, says Morningstar director Karen Andersen. After several years of mixed results, Merck’s research and development productivity is improving as the company shifts more toward areas of unmet medical need. Merck’s new products have mitigated the generic competition, offsetting recent major patent losses. In particular, Keytruda for cancer represents a key blockbuster with multi-billion-dollar potential. We expect Keytruda’s leadership in non-small cell lung cancer and several other cancers will be a key driver of growth for the firm over the next several years, but the 2028 US patent loss on the drug will create eventual pressure. Merck stock is trading 20% below our fair value estimate of $111 per share.

Roche

• Market Capitalization: CHF 232 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.82
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Core
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 3.07%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Drug Manufacturers—General

Drug manufacturer Roche’s drug portfolio and industry-leading diagnostics provide significant competitive advantages and underpin our wide economic moat rating, says Morningstar’s Andersen. “This Swiss healthcare giant is in a unique position to guide healthcare into a safer, more personalized, and more cost-effective endeavor,” she notes. With its biologics focus and innovative pipeline, we expect Roche to continue to achieve growth as its blockbuster drugs face competition. Roche stock trades 18% below our fair value estimate of $55 per share.

Deere

• Market Capitalization: $125 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.84
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Value
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 1.40%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Farm and Heavy Construction Machinery

Deere is new to our list of best blue-chip stocks to buy. The firm is one of the world’s leading providers of machinery serving agricultural, construction, and other industrial markets. As Deere has significant exposure to the agricultural industry, it is considered a cyclical stock that is sensitive to economic cycles. Company management seeks to reduce earnings volatility during downturns by reducing costs and building efficiency. Deere has also focused on technical innovation. “The company is well on its way to achieving its objectives over the 2026 and 2030 time frames, which are essentially about increasing the attach rate of technology sales to its equipment,” says Morningstar analyst George Maglares. Deere stock trades 16% below our fair value estimate of $550 per share.

S&P Global

• Market Capitalization: $145 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.84
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Core
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 0.79%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Financial Data & Stock Exchanges

Financial-services company S&P Global is also new to our list of best blue-chip stocks to buy. S&P Global has carved out a wide economic moat from its data-driven benchmarks focused on credit markets, financial indexes, and commodities price reporting. Once a benchmark is accepted by capital or commodity market participants, it is difficult to displace. As a result, S&P has strong pricing power in its ratings and index subscriptions. Strategically sensible acquisitions, including the 2022 acquisition of IHS Markit, and attractive distribution policies earn the firm’s management an Exemplary Capital Allocation Rating, says Morningstar analyst Rajiv Bhatia. S&P Global stock is trading at a 16% discount to our $570 fair value estimate.

Nestle

• Market Capitalization: CHF 193 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.85
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Value
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 3.96%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Standard
• Industry: Packaged Foods

Nestle is the largest food and beverage manufacturer in the world by sales. Its diverse product portfolio includes brands such as Nestle, Nescafé, Perrier, Pure Life, and Purina. Nestle faces competition from local operators, and past missteps have caused the firm to miss out on or be late to the latest consumer trends. However, current management is taking steps to reverse past trends, says Morningstar analyst Diana Radu. The management team aims to reinvigorate growth through active portfolio management, resetting legacy businesses, and further investment in high-growth categories (coffee, pet care, water, and nutrition). Nestle stock trades 15% below our fair value estimate of $110 per share.

Microsoft

• Market Capitalization: $3.8 trillion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.86
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Core
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 0.64%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Software—Infrastructure

Tech giant Microsoft rejoins our list of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for the long term. Microsoft is one of two public cloud providers that can deliver a wide variety of platform-as-a-service/infrastructure-as-a-service solutions at scale. It has also emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence because of its investment in OpenAI. Morningstar senior analyst Dan Romanoff sees Microsoft as a more focused company that offers impressive revenue growth with high and expanding margins. He argues that Azure is the centerpiece of the new Microsoft, as it is an excellent launching point for secular trends in AI, business intelligence, and Internet of Things. Even though we estimate it is already an approximately $75 billion business, it is still growing at approximately 30% annually. Microsoft stock trades 14% below our fair value estimate of $600 per share.

Thermo Fisher Scientific

• Market Capitalization: $198 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.86
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Value
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 0.31%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Diagnostics & Research

Thermo Fisher, the last of four healthcare companies on our list, is weathering the pullback in global biopharmaceutical spending better than most of its peers. As the premier life science supplier with an unmatched portfolio of products, resources, and manufacturing capabilities, the company has been able to retain and grow its wallet share among its customers across all channels, observes Morningstar regional director Alex Morozov. The firm remains in a great position to leverage its share gains in the biopharma channel and capitalize on strong long-term demand. Thermo Fisher stock is trading at a 14% discount to its fair value estimate of $630 per share.

PepsiCo

• Market Capitalization: $195 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.87
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Value
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 3.91%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Exemplary
• Industry: Beverages—Nonalcoholic

Despite years of anemic growth due to operational missteps, PepsiCo benefits from tight retail relationships on the back of strong beverage and snack brands. “Demand for snacks and beverages tends to remain resilient throughout economic cycles, and a large end-to-end supply chain gives Pepsi better control over execution, helping to shield its operations from external shocks,” says Morningstar analyst Dan Su. Management has course-corrected in recent years to drive steady top-line and profit expansion. Shares of PepsiCo stock are 13% undervalued compared with our $164 fair value estimate.

SAP

• Market Capitalization: EUR 274 billion
• Morningstar Price/Fair Value: 0.87
• Morningstar Style Box: Large Growth
• Trailing 12-Month Yield: 0.94%
• Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating: Standard
• Industry: Software—Application

Software application company SAP rounds out our list of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for the long term. With well-known products like Concur and Ariba, SAP is the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software and the global market leader in enterprise resource planning software. Morningstar senior analyst Rob Hales expects low to midteens revenue growth in the near and midterm, driven by the firm’s core cloud ERP offerings, Rise with SAP and Grow with SAP. Shares of SAP stock are trading 13% below our fair value estimate of $311.

What Are the Morningstar Fair Value Estimate, Style Box, and Capital Allocation Rating?

The Morningstar fair value estimate represents what Morningstar analysts think a particular stock is worth. Fair value estimates are rooted in the fundamentals and based on how much cash we think a company can generate in the future, not on fleeting metrics such as recent earnings or current stock price momentum.

The Morningstar Style Box, meanwhile, is a nine-square grid that provides a graphical representation of the investment style of stocks, bonds, or funds. Based on a series of inputs—including a company’s historical and long-term projected growth and its historical and forward-looking price multiples—a stock is classified as either a value stock, a growth stock, or a core stock. A stock is also classified as either small-cap, mid-cap, or large-cap based on its market capitalization.

Last, the Morningstar Capital Allocation Rating is an assessment of how well a company manages its balance sheet investments and shareholders’ distributions. Analysts assign each company one of three ratings—Exemplary, Standard, or Poor—based on their assessments of how well a management team provides shareholder returns.

How to Find More Blue-Chip Companies to Invest In

Of course, there are many other criteria that investors can use to find blue-chip stocks to buy for the long term. Here are some tools that investors can use to find more blue-chip companies to research further:

• Investors can use the Morningstar Investor screener to create their own lists of blue-chip stocks that meet their specific criteria. Set the Investment Type to stocks, and then choose what market capitalization threshold you’d like in the Criteria section. You can then refine your search for blue-chip stocks even further by adding valuation, profitability, and/or dividend requirements. You can also screen your list of blue-chip stocks by Morningstar Rating or economic moat.
• Investors who’d rather invest in blue-chip companies through a managed product like an exchange-traded fund or a mutual fund can also use the Morningstar Investor screener. For Investment Type, choose either mutual fund or ETF. In Search Securities, type in the keyword “blue chip.” Some highly rated funds and ETFs focused on blue-chip stocks include Fidelity Blue Chip Growth FBGRX and T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF TCHP. Just remember that large-company funds and broad US stock index funds own blue-chip stocks, so you may not necessarily need a separate blue-chip fund if you already own a core stock fund.