In this article, we explore the 10 Best Blue Chip Stocks to Buy for the Long Term.
Uncertain times need quality stocks. According to Sammy Simnegar, manager of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, “quality tends to work when there’s uncertainty.” Simnegar notes that high-quality businesses, particularly those with robust recurring revenues, offer “a unique combination of predictability, growth, and resilience, making them what I consider to be cornerstones of stable, long-term investing.” This is a timely observation as the world is shifting in ways that are rattling even the most seasoned investors.
For starters, artificial intelligence has upended the software industry. Considering what technology can do, some on Wall Street see the software industry as facing an existential threat. One analysis shows that investors who were previously pricing in 15-20% medium-term revenue growth for major software names are now underwriting closer to 5-10%. The result has been a bruising stretch for software stocks. As of late February 2026, the Morningstar US Software Capped Index had plunged 19.4% year to date.
Then there is the Middle East. Fresh hostilities in the region have rattled global markets, and as predicted, oil prices are sharply higher. The result is that consumer and airline stocks have taken a hit, and the specter of broader economic disruption is higher than ever, says Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson.
Against this backdrop, the case for blue chip stocks is much stronger. Sonu Kalra, manager of Fidelity’s Blue Chip Growth Fund, argues that “in the midst of extreme uncertainty, high-quality companies with deep competitive moats, pricing power, and strong brands may be best positioned to navigate the unknown.” These are best-in-class businesses built to endure, and in many cases, to thrive precisely when conditions are most difficult.
That said, this article presents several blue chip names whose quality might see them through the current uncertainty.
Our Methodology
To come up with the 10 Best Blue Chip Stocks to Buy for the Long Term, we combed through blue-chip-focused ETFs, including SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust and iShares S&P 100 ETF, and compiled a list of key holdings across sectors. We then filtered for stocks with an upside potential of more than 20%. We limited our final selection to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment. These stocks are also popular among analysts and elite hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research shows we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
Best Blue Chip Stocks to Buy for the Long Term
10. S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)
S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On February 17, UBS analyst Alex Kramm cut his price target on S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) to $550 from $620 while keeping his Buy rating intact. Kramm cited a softer business outlook and the stock’s sharp underperformance following the company’s Q4 FY2025 earnings report.
S&P posted Q4 revenue of $3.92 billion, up 9% year over year, and nudging past analyst expectations of $3.90 billion. Full-year 2025 revenue came in at $15.34 billion, up 8%. Management explained that private markets revenue was the main growth engine; it grew 16% in the quarter. The S&P Dow Jones Indices division also supported the growth with a 14% expansion due to rising equity markets and strong ETF inflows, said management. The quarter’s EPS came in at $4.30, up 14% year over year, but missed the consensus estimate of $4.32.
Management raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $19.40-$19.65. The firm described the overall guidance as disappointing. This disappointing guidance landed especially hard because it came just three months after S&P Global’s investor day, where management had set ambitious targets, UBS noted. They said the weak outlook represents a setback for views on management execution, and noted that positive momentum had been building heading into the print.
S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) provides financial information and analytics through its divisions S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Commodity Insights. Its major products include credit ratings, market data, benchmarks such as the S&P 500 Index, and energy and commodity analytics.
9. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On February 27, Moody’s Ratings affirmed Meta Platforms Inc.’s (NASDAQ:META) Aa3 long-term issuer rating, Aa3 senior unsecured notes ratings, and (P)Aa3 senior unsecured shelf rating, and also maintained a stable outlook. The action follows Meta’s strong operating performance revealed in the Q4 FY2025 earnings report.
Meta holds the leading position in non-search digital advertising, said Moody’s, a position that is supported by a global user base of approximately 3.6 billion daily active people across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. This is why the firm reiterated the ratings across the board. Moody’s also cited robust operating performance, strong execution, conservative credit metrics, and substantial liquidity as another key pillar supporting the rating.
Moody’s projects Meta will grow revenue by more than 20% in 2026 and 18% in 2027. This is roughly twice the expected growth rate of the broader digital advertising market. However, Moody’s expects Meta’s elevated capex to result in limited to no free cash flow generation over the next two years.
Meanwhile, Meta shared its Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings on January 28 in which it brought in $59.9 billion in quarterly revenue. This was up 24% year on year and comfortably beat Wall Street’s estimate of $58.4 billion. For the full year, revenue hit $200.97 billion, up 22% year over year, and crossed $200 billion for the first time. Management said the revenue growth was due to more ads being shown and higher prices per ad. Quarterly EPS came in at $8.88, up 11% year over year, and surpassed the $8.19 that Wall Street anticipated.
Meta said that it expects Q1 FY2026 revenue to range from $53.5-$56.5 billion, which is above the analyst consensus of around $51.3 billion. CFO Susan Li attributed this to “strong demand we observed at the end of Q4 and continuing into the beginning of 2026.”
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) develops and operates social networking and messaging applications, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The company generates revenue primarily through digital advertising across its platforms and invests in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality through its Reality Labs division.
8. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On March 2, Amazon Leo, Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) low Earth orbit satellite broadband network, signed an agreement with Vodafone and its African subsidiary Vodacom to connect 4G and 5G mobile masts in remote areas across Europe and Africa. The announcement was made at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The deal allows Vodafone to deploy mobile base stations in hard-to-reach areas without laying costly fiber or fixed wireless links back to its core network. Instead, it will use Amazon Leo’s satellite backhaul to deliver speeds of up to 1 Gbps download and 400 Mbps upload.
Beyond expanding reach, Vodafone will also use Amazon Leo to boost network resilience. This way, the telecom giant will be able to keep emergency and critical services online in the event that fiber links connecting mobile masts are severed. The rollout starts in Germany before expanding to other European markets. Afterwards, Amazon Leo will be deployed progressively across Africa through Vodacom. Both companies expect the first connected mobile sites to go live in 2026.
Separately, on March 1, Wolfe Research maintained an Outperform rating on Amazon with a $250 price target. The firm argued that Wall Street is significantly underestimating the commercial value of Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic. Wolfe projects the partnership will contribute $25 billion in Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue by 2027, up from roughly $3.9 billion in 2025.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) operates a global e-commerce platform that sells a wide range of consumer products and digital content, while also providing third-party marketplace services. The company’s major business segments include online retail, cloud computing through AWS, subscription services such as Prime, and advertising.
7. Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On March 3, 2026, Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) and Formula 1 announced the launch of a new fan companion agent. This tool will be available on F1.com and will help F1’s 827 million fans understand the new 2026 regulations by providing clear answers and insights 24/7.
Powered by Salesforce’s Agentforce platform, the new agent tracks trending questions to deliver timely, personalized insights, especially targeting younger fans, who make up 43% of Formula 1’s audience. The launch expands F1’s use of Agentforce 360 to streamline fan support, enhance marketing, and strengthen partnerships, as Salesforce and Formula 1 deepen their collaboration to elevate fan experiences and drive smarter business growth through AI.
Salesforce also introduced Agentforce for Communications on February 26, 2026, adding five new AI agents to help telecom companies improve customer service, sales, and operations.
On February 26, Roth Capital cut its price target on Salesforce to $325 from $395, while maintaining a Buy rating. The firm cited two years of sluggish revenue growth that led to cost controls. Although Salesforce may have found a new growth driver in its AI-powered Agentforce products, Roth lowered its forecasts due to continued near-term weakness.
Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) provides customer relationship management software and cloud-based enterprise applications. Its core offerings include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and the analytics platform Tableau.
6. Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On February 27, TD Cowen analyst Jared Levine reiterated a Buy rating on Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) and kept the price target unchanged at $658. The move was in response to Intuit’s Q2 FY2026 earnings that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
In the earnings report, which Intuit shared on February 26, the company said its revenue touched $4.65 billion, up 17% year over year and ahead of the $4.53 billion consensus. The non-GAAP EPS came in at $4.15, a 25% jump from the prior year and well above the $3.68 analyst estimate. Also, GAAP operating income rose 44% to $855 million. The company reaffirmed its full-year FY2026 guidance, projecting revenue of $20.997-$21.186 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $22.98-$23.18.
Despite the beat and reaffirmation, Intuit’s stock fell 4% in after-hours trading. TD Cowen attributed the reaction not to company-specific concerns but to broader investor anxiety about AI disruption across the software sector. The firm called those fears “overdone” and described the current valuation as an attractive risk-reward entry point.
Because of the earnings performance, Intuit’s Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $1.20 per share, payable April 17, 2026.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) develops financial management and compliance software for consumers, small businesses, and accountants. Its major products include QuickBooks for accounting, TurboTax for tax preparation, Credit Karma for personal finance, and Mailchimp for marketing automation.
5. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On February 28, Morgan Stanley argued that online travel agencies (OTAs), with Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) as the prime example, are better positioned to benefit from AI than widely feared. This stance directly challenges the consensus view that AI agents will disintermediate traditional booking platforms.
The bank’s key finding is that early agentic AI travel tools are not bypassing OTAs. Instead, they are redirecting users back to their apps and websites to complete bookings. This is because major AI platforms are reluctant to act as merchants of record given the payment risk, customer service burden, refund liabilities, and regulatory obligations involved.
This dynamic preserves Booking’s most critical structural advantage, which is that it remains the merchant of record, said Morgan Stanley. The bank added the Booking retains ownership of the transaction and continues to capture valuable consumer browsing and purchase data. These assets, said Morgan Stanley, are making Booking an indispensable partner in an AI-driven travel world rather than a casualty of it.
In a different update, on February 19, Benchmark cut its price target on Booking to $5,600 from $6,400 while maintaining a Buy rating. The analyst cited valuation concerns even as the company delivered a strong Q4 FY2025 earnings report.
In the earnings report, Booking’s quarterly revenue was $6.35 billion, up 16% year over year and surpassed estimates by 3.87%. The $43 billion gross bookings came in $1 billion ahead of consensus, and room nights grew 9% to 285 million.
Regardless, Benchmark noted two issues that tempered the enthusiasm. First, the quarter showed surprise marketing deleverage, which means marketing costs rose faster than expected relative to revenue. Second, Q1 FY2026 room-night guidance came in below Wall Street expectations, even as rival commentary had pointed to stronger trends ahead.
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) operates online travel and reservation services through brands such as Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Rentalcars.com, and KAYAK. The company provides platforms for lodging, flights, rental cars, and vacation packages.
4. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On March 2, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) unveiled VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9 (TCP 9). This is the next version of the company’s private cloud platform for telecom data centers. It is built on VMware Cloud Foundation 9 and designed to help global telecom operators cut costs while delivering sovereign cloud and AI services from a unified infrastructure.
Broadcom estimates TCP 9 can deliver a 40% five-year total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction compared to fragmented, siloed architectures. The cost reduction is largely driven by better hardware utilization, said Broadcom. It added that the platform is built to help telcos move beyond connectivity and into AI monetization.
On operations, TCP 9 introduces ESX Live Patching, which allows critical security updates to be applied without taking systems offline. This effectively makes 100% network uptime achievable, Broadcom stated. The company added that TCP 9 adds a unified GitOps-based automation framework (using ArgoCD) that keeps both network functions and cloud infrastructure in sync from a single source of truth. This reduces manual errors and ensures consistency across the network.
Separately, on February 26, Broadcom announced it had begun shipping the industry’s first 2nm custom compute System-on-Chip (SoC). The SoC is built on the company’s proprietary 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (XDSiP) platform.
Broadcom said the chip has been delivered to Fujitsu, where it will serve as the foundation for FUJITSU-MONAKA. This is Fujitsu’s next-generation Arm-based high-performance processor aimed at AI and HPC workloads.
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions. Its major products include networking chips, broadband and wireless components, storage adapters, and enterprise software for cybersecurity and mainframe operations.
3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On March 3, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) announced it has acquired thousands of NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to expand its distributed cloud infrastructure for AI inference workloads. The $14.2 billion cybersecurity and cloud computing company, whose stock has risen 26% over the past six months, said the deployment will support AI research, fine‑tuning, and post‑training optimization across its global network while reducing latency and data-transfer issues.
Akamai emphasized that while hyperscalers focus on AI training, it is targeting the unique demands of the inference era. The company previously launched Akamai Inference Cloud in October 2025 and continues to add GPU capacity to meet strong demand. Akamai provides cybersecurity and cloud services to enterprises worldwide.
On March 2, Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore reiterated an Overweight rating on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) with a $260 price target. Moore also reinstated NVIDIA as Morgan Stanley’s top pick in semiconductors, which displaces Micron Technology.
Morgan Stanley rotated away from NVIDIA as its top pick back in September 2025, first shifting to SanDisk and then to Micron in November. The bank attributed the move to the thesis that AI tailwinds would generate stronger earnings leverage in memory stocks. Explaining why the firm swung back to NVIDIA, Moore described the company’s current trading level as a “surprisingly good entry point.” He noted that NVIDIA now trades at roughly 18 times projected 2027 earnings, which is a multiple the firm views as compelling for a company with NVIDIA’s dominant position in AI chips and data center hardware.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) designs and develops graphics processing units and accelerated computing platforms. Its major products include GeForce GPUs for gaming, NVIDIA RTX for professional visualization, and data center solutions such as NVIDIA A100 and H100 for artificial-intelligence and high-performance computing.
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On February 25, Nikkei reported that Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) raided Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Tokyo offices as part of an investigation into suspected violations of the country’s Antimonopoly Act. The investigations, Nikkei said, are focused specifically on whether the company used its dominant software position to steer customers toward its Azure cloud platform and away from rival services.
Nikkei detailed that the JFTC accuses Microsoft of making its widely used software difficult or impossible to run on cloud platforms other than Azure. This effectively locks customers into Microsoft’s own ecosystem. The JFTC also suspects that businesses that chose to run Microsoft software on competing cloud platforms were charged higher licensing fees.
In response to the allegations, Microsoft Japan said it is fully cooperating with the JFTC in its requests. Japanese regulators are also expected to seek clarification from Microsoft’s US parent company, which means the investigation will broaden beyond just the local subsidiary.
Meanwhile, on February 24, Infosys announced the completion of a major data modernization program for CSX Corporation, one of North America’s largest freight rail operators, built on Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Purview. This marks one of the largest deployments of Microsoft’s unified data platform in the transportation and logistics sector.
Arun Ulag, President, Azure Data, Microsoft, noted that this development is a concrete enterprise win for Microsoft Fabric, the company’s all-in-one analytics and data platform. The company has been positioning this platform as the centerpiece of its commercial cloud strategy since launching it in 2023.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) develops and sells software, hardware, and cloud services. Its major products include the Windows operating system, Microsoft Office productivity suite, Azure cloud platform, LinkedIn, and Xbox gaming consoles.
1. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is one of the best blue chip stocks to buy for the long term. On February 26, Oracle announced a multi-year extension and expansion of its title partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing. The deal deepens what Oracle described as the most integrated team technology partnership in Formula 1.
The partnership’s original five-year deal, signed in 2022, was worth $300 million. However, the companies did not disclose the financial terms for the extension.
In terms of technology, the deal will enable the development of the Red Bull Ford Powertrains’ new next-generation hybrid engine. Secondly, OCI will run real-time models covering energy deployment, aerodynamic configurations, tire behavior, and full-race scenarios under the new rules. Third, the deal will enable the deployment of an AI-powered strategy agent trackside this season.
In a separate update, on February 10, Oracle announced that Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB), one of India’s oldest private banks, has fully deployed Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications across its finance, HR, and customer experience functions.
The deployment covers three Oracle product lines. Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP now manages TMB’s financial operations, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM handles workforce management, and Oracle Fusion Cloud CX has streamlined the bank’s sales and customer service operations.
Oracle said that the implementation was delivered by its partner firms, Deloitte and Kovaion Consulting. Deloitte handled finance and customer experience deployment, while Kovaion Consulting led the HR rollout.
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) develops and markets enterprise software, hardware systems, and cloud services. Its major products include Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Cloud applications for enterprise resource planning, human capital management, and customer experience, as well as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for computing, storage, and networking.
While we acknowledge the potential of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ORCL and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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