The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its worst week since September at the beginning of March, making it clear that the stock market in 2025 is going to be much different than the market environment we saw in 2024.
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That said, it’s worth remembering that many of the top performers on Wall Street in recent years have been driven by short-term news cycles and buzzworthy technology like artificial intelligence, crypto mining or quantum computing. While these trends did pay off to those who got in at the right time, many “boring” businesses also delivered for their investors via stable share prices and reliable dividends. And if you’re worried about volatility on Wall Street lately, these are exactly the kinds of blue-chip stocks you should be looking at as they provide stability in uncertain times.
The best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2025 are more like the tortoise and less like the hare. The following 10 picks all offer entrenched operations with massive market values of $35 billion or higher, along with generous dividends that are at greater than 2%.
Here are 10 of the top blue-chip stocks to buy now:
| Stock | Sector | Market Value | Dividend |
| Altria Group Inc. (ticker: MO) | Consumer staples | $98.3 billion | 6.9% |
| AT&T Inc. (T) | Communication services | $189.1 billion | 4.1% |
| CVS Health Corp. (CVS) | Health care | $82.2 billion | 4.1% |
| International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) | Technology | $233.5 billion | 2.6% |
| Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | Health care | $398.4 billion | 3.0% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) | Financials | $639.3 billion | 2.2% |
| Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) | Consumer staples | $37.6 billion | 5.0% |
| Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) | Industrials | $110.2 billion | 2.8% |
| NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) | Utilities | $152.6 billion | 3.0% |
| Prologis Inc. (PLD) | Real estate | $108.9 billion | 3.4% |
Altria Group Inc. (MO)
Market value: $98.3 billion Sector: Consumer staples Dividend: 6.9%
A fixture of low-risk stock lists, tobacco giant Altria is among the best blue-chip stocks to buy for long-term stability and consistent dividends. The firm has an amazing track record of 56 years of consecutive dividend growth, providing regular paydays that are independent of the broader consumer spending environment. And while there admittedly isn’t a ton of growth in cigarettes, MO has been incredibly successful in driving strong earnings year after year thanks to its powerful brands including Marlboro cigarettes, Skoal smokeless tobacco and NJOY vaping products. While it may not ever double your money in short order, MO is a blue-chip stock that can provide peace of mind amid market volatility.
AT&T Inc. (T)
Market value: $189.1 billion Sector: Communication services Dividend: 4.1%
Telecommunications leader AT&T has been trying to reshape its business over the last few years to adapt to the demands of the modern economy. That began with a restructuring in 2022 to streamline its operations, jettison its ill-advised focus on media by spinning off its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD), and investing heavily in faster internet speeds through a fiber optics network as well as its 5G internet services. Thanks in part to lower interest rates that have reduced the cost of borrowing for these efforts, AT&T seems to be winning over investors as it is the best-performing large-cap telecom stock by far with gains of more than 20% since Jan. 1 and more than 50% gains in the last 12 months. As for income potential, its generous dividend remains only about half of its earnings — an encouraging sign that the generous payouts are sustainable and perhaps ready for additional increases in 2025 and beyond.
CVS Health Corp. (CVS)
Market value: $82.2 billion Sector: Health care Dividend: 4.1%
CVS Health is known for its leading position in the pharmacy space, filling prescriptions for some 90 million patients a year. However, the company is rapidly expanding into more than just drugs. It currently has more than 1,000 Minute Clinics providing urgent care services, and its Signify Health arm boasts more than 11,000 licensed clinicians delivering 2.7 million annual in-home evaluations. Health care is a reliable sector, since folks get sick and need care in any economic environment. CVS has the reach to capitalize on this trend in the long term. And with little prospect of broad health care reform to increase access or affordability, CVS urgent care and pharmacy services are certain to be in strong demand across the years to come. Its generous dividend remains roughly a third of its current earnings per share, which is a good sign this blue-chip stock’s payday is stable and ripe for future increases.
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)
Market value: $233.5 billion Sector: Technology Dividend: 2.6%
Founded back in 1911, IBM was once the preeminent technology company on the planet — and then, in more recent decades, an example of a stagnant tech dinosaur left behind by revolutions like Big Data and cloud computing. Big Blue has been steadily turning things around since 2020, however, after naming its former cloud leader Arvind Krishna the CEO of the firm to refocus the business on what really matters. That approach has paid off in many ways, but most recently through a double-digit pop in a single session on Jan. 30 after strong fourth-quarter earnings that encouraged investors. With a big brand and an above-average dividend in an otherwise stingy sector, IBM stands out as a blue-chip tech stock to buy in 2025 on current momentum and a long-term track record of success.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Market value: $398.4 billion Sector: Health care Dividend yield: 3%
Founded almost 140 years ago, J&J is a health care leader with unrivaled scale. Just how big is it? It’s so big that the firm sold off its consumer health business and powerhouse brands including Tylenol and Benadryl back in 2022 via a spinoff that valued the new firm at more than $40 billion and raised a cool $4 billion for Johnson & Johnson in the process. And after all that? Well, Johnson & Johnson remains one of the 25 largest U.S. corporations anyway. It’s also one of just two companies with a AAA rating for its credit (tech giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is the other). This blue-chip dividend stock has a jaw-dropping track record of 62 consecutive years of dividend growth, proving an unrivaled staying power and long-term commitment to shareholders.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
Market value: $639.3 billion Sector: Financials Dividend yield: 2.2%
JPMorgan is a behemoth of the global financial industry, ranking as the largest bank in the world by many measures outside of the sprawling state-owned entities in China. This blue-chip stock has deep roots dating back to 1799, including weathering the financial crisis of 2008 much better than its peers like Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC), each of which remain below their pre-crash peaks from more than 17 years ago. That tradition of weathering storms elsewhere in the sector continued more recently via the buyout of First Republic Bank in 2023 after the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history, adding important accounts at fire-sale prices while the rest of the banking industry was worried about contagion. There are no certainties on Wall Street, but the proven staying power of this blue-chip bank should give investors confidence that their money will be safe for a long time in JPM stock.
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC)
Market value: $37.6 billion Sector: Consumer staples Dividend: 5%
The firm behind some of the most recognizable brands in the grocery store, Kraft Heinz’s slate of brands includes Heinz ketchup and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, but also Jell-O, Capri Sun, Oscar Mayer and many more. The last decade or so has seen a big transformation for consumer giant Kraft Heinz after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) led a $28 billion deal to take Heinz private and then later merge it with Kraft in 2015. That deal came with a lot of debt, and the newly formed company struggled for a bit as a result. But KHC has paid a consistent 40-cent quarterly dividend since 2019 that is currently less than 60% of earnings thanks to improvements in operations and profitability lately. Shares are more than 20% above their 52-week lows on the expectation of “risk-off” blue-chip stocks returning to favor, proving the attractiveness of this low-risk consumer stock in 2025.
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)
Market value: $110.2 billion Sector: Industrials Dividend: 2.8%
In an age of geopolitical uncertainty, the stability and long-term track record of Lockheed make it an attractive aerospace and defense firm among blue-chip stock investors. Its past innovations include the F-35 Lightning, the F-117 stealth fighter, the F-16 Fighting Falcon and other impressive war machines. From an operational perspective, the firm’s aeronautics division is protected from any current discussions of government cutbacks thanks to a friendly posture from Republicans and President Trump. From an income perspective, the blue-chip stock has a strong record of dividends with a generous $3.30 quarterly payout that is double what it was a decade ago.
NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE)
Market value: $152.6 billion Sector: Utilities Dividend: 3%
NextEra is the largest publicly traded utility on Wall Street with projected fiscal 2025 revenue of almost $30 billion and a market value that is two to three times most of the other big-name firms in the sector. Utilities can generally be sleepier than other investments, but that makes them the perfect low-risk blue-chip stocks as they offer consistent income and low volatility rather than the hope of a big share price move. Billing itself as the world’s largest generator of wind and solar energy, NextEra is diversifying its portfolio away from fossil fuels to future-proof the business and remain a leader in the coming years regardless of short-term economic trends.
Prologis Inc. (PLD)
Market value: $108.9 billion Sector: Real estate Dividend: 3.4%
The largest U.S. real estate stock, Prologis is a logistics hub operator that boasts 1.2 billion square feet of space across warehouses and industrial properties. Its top tenants are Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and FedEx Corp. (FDX), as these massive companies need these facilities to do business — and will continue to send rent checks to PLD in any economic environment under long-term deals. Furthermore, Prologis has a very wide moat given the cost and time involved with any competitor building facilities quickly enough to compete in the regions where it operates. As a real estate investment trust, or REIT, Prologis is structured in a way that it must send 90% of its taxable income back to shareholders — providing a consistent stream of dividends that blue-chip investors can rely upon.
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10 Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for 2025 originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 03/11/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
