The root of the term “blue chip” stems from the game of poker, as the blue chips represent the highest value. Investing in blue chip stocks can give you an additional measure of safety in today’s turbulent markets.
Pat McKeough believes investors will profit most, and with the least amount of risk, by putting the bulk of your stock portfolio in shares of blue chip companies—those that are well-established, with strong balance sheets and steady earnings and cash flow. These are companies that have bright prospects in healthy and growing industries.
The best blue chips offer both capital gains growth potential and regular dividend income. The dividend yield is certainly one of the most concrete indicators of a sound investment. It is the percentage you get when you divide the current yearly dividend payment by the share or unit price of the investment. It’s an indicator we pay especially close attention to when we select stocks to recommend in our investment newsletters.
We feel most investors should hold the largest part of their investment portfolios in securities from blue chip companies. All these stocks should offer good “value”—that is, they should trade at reasonable multiples of earnings, cash flow, book value and so on. Ideally, they should also have above average-growth prospects in expanding markets.
Meanwhile, when investing in any type of stock, at TSI Network we recommend using our three-part Successful Investor strategy:
1-Invest mainly in well-established companies;
2-Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);
3-Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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IBM will now transfer its quantum operations to a new business called Anderon, which will get $1 billion from the government to help build a chipmaking facility. It aims to start selling quantum computers to commercial clients by 2029.
The company is also buying drugmakers with promising products. That will bolster its already impressive pipeline of new drugs and help to offset declining sales for its legacy drugs as their patent protections expire.
These moves will continue to spur Johnson & Johnson’s long-term earnings growth. That will also let it keep rewarding investors with regular dividend hikes—it has increased the annual rate each year for the past 64 years.
Here are two companies that are already profitably taking advantage of AI; they should be among the leaders in the push to extend AI’s use.
In the quarter ended March 31, 2026, IBM’s overall revenue rose 9.5%, to $15.92 billion from $14.54 billion a year earlier. That topped the consensus forecast of $15.62 billion.
Increasingly, the company’s secret sauce is its “asset-light” business model. Under that plan, franchisees pay McDonald’s for food and marketing. Franchisees also pay building occupancy costs, such as property taxes and maintenance. That lets the company focus on expansion, including adding menu items and undertaking construction projects.
With the addition of KCS, the new CPKC also connects with important hubs and ports on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Mexico.
In November 2024, the company completed the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline, which pumps natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a new liquefied natural gas (called LNG Canada) facility in Kitimat, B.C. From there, tankers carry the LNG to markets in Asia. TC owns 35% of Coastal GasLink and operates it.
Here are two companies that are already profitably taking advantage of AI, and they should be among the leaders in the push to extend AI’s use.
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL, $74.26, is a buy. The company (New York symbol QSR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (www.rbi.com; Shares o/s: 457.2 million; Market cap: $25.8 billion; Dividend yield: 3.5%) is now launching an AI chatbot at Burger King that will run live in the headsets used by employees.
The voice-enabled chatbot, called “Patty,” is part of an overarching BK Assistant platform that will not only assist employees with meal preparation but also evaluate their interactions with customers for “friendliness.”
Thanks to this new approach, the stock has jumped over 40% in the past year and more gains seem likely as the plan is still in its early stages. The bank’s improving profitability will also give it more room for dividend increases.