Blue chip

A stock is called blue chip when thought to be a well-established company with a stable core of earnings and no huge liabilities (relative to the size of earnings). Most blue chip stocks pay regular dividend, even in times of worse than average business. The term comes from the high-value of the blue colored disks used in the game of Poker.

Examples (in 2004) are Shell (petroleum), Coca Cola (food) and IBM (IT).