The stock market continues to be on shaky ground. Despite repeated all-time highs in the last 12 months, the S&P 500 is down 5% from its all-time highs and dipped more than 3% in the last month. Concerns over the Iran war, rising fuel prices, and a volatile labor market are taking a toll on the market.
But remember, this isn’t uncharted territory. The market ebbs and flows, even dipping into correction territory on average every one to two years or so. The stock market doesn’t stay down for long. The benchmark index is up 222% in the last 10 years — and if investors pull their funds out of the stock market every time it dips, they lose the opportunity to benefit from the inevitable bounce.
Image source: Getty Images.
That’s why I think now is a good time to invest in blue chip stocks, which represent companies that are financially responsible, established, and have a history of solid dividends. These three names are high on my list right now for investors who are worried about the stock market’s performance over the last month.
American Express
American Express (AXP +3.08%) has long been my favorite credit card and fintech stock. It’s done a great job of branding to an affluent clientele who apparently didn’t bat an eye when the annual fee for the company’s vaunted platinum card jumped $200 to $895.
Its efforts to attract a younger clientele are also paying off. American Express reports that millennial and Gen Z customers are its fastest-growing base, making up 65% of all new accounts in 2025.
“Our premium value propositions resonate particularly well with younger consumers, with approximately 75 percent of new U.S. consumer Gold and Platinum account acquisitions coming from Millennial and Gen Z customers,” CEO Stephen Squieri said in a letter to shareholders. “In fact, the average age of new customers we acquired on the U.S. Consumer Platinum Card and Gold Card in 2025 was 33 and 29, respectively.”
Revenue in the fourth quarter was $17.18 billion, up 10% from a year ago, and net income of $2.46 billion was up 13% from last year.
On top of that, American Express stock pays a quarterly dividend yielding 1.3%.
Today’s Change
(3.08%) $9.47
Current Price
$316.50
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$217B
Day’s Range
$315.00 – $322.52
52wk Range
$238.52 – $387.49
Volume
55
Avg Vol
3.7M
Gross Margin
60.65%
Dividend Yield
1.08%
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group (UNH 0.57%) has had a tough 12 months, with the stock down 46% in that time. But I don’t think that’s a reflection of where UnitedHealth is headed, and this is an ideal time to buy a blue chip stock when it’s heavily discounted.
The problem with UnitedHealth Group started when it missed earnings projections in the first quarter of 2025 and acknowledged that it misjudged its pricing in setting customer premiums — it undercharged and then took a hit when customers used hospital and physician services more than it expected. I don’t look for it to repeat that error, and it will be adjusting its Medicare Advantage bids for 2026 and 2027 to right-size its profit margins.
“We confronted challenges directly and finished 2025 as a much stronger company, giving us the momentum to better serve those who count on us and continue to improve our core performance,” CEO Stephen Hemsley said.
Today’s Change
(-0.57%) $-1.75
Current Price
$305.98
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$278B
Day’s Range
$304.83 – $312.97
52wk Range
$234.60 – $606.36
Volume
255K
Avg Vol
10M
Dividend Yield
2.89%
Full-year revenue for 2025 was $447.6 billion, up 12% from a year ago. While earnings of $19 billion were down 41% from a year ago, UnitedHealth is projecting earnings in 2026 to be more than $17.75 per share, up from $16.35 per share in 2025. In the meantime, investors can benefit from the stock’s generous dividend yield of 3.2%.
Enterprise Products Partners
With the war in Iran, there’s a lot of attention focused on oil and gas stocks. But rather than investing in integrated energy companies that have upstream, midstream, and downstream operations, I favor Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 0.99%). This midstream company focuses on transporting oil and gas from production sites to refineries or markets. That means maintaining more than 50,000 miles of pipeline, as well as more than two dozen facilities and 21 deepwater docks.
Enterprise Products Partners
Today’s Change
(-0.99%) $-0.38
Current Price
$38.03
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$82B
Day’s Range
$37.03 – $38.20
52wk Range
$28.26 – $39.73
Volume
3.9K
Avg Vol
4.6M
Gross Margin
12.86%
Dividend Yield
5.72%
That consistent business model makes for a safe investment even when the economy is a little shaky. Enterprise Products Partners doesn’t need to worry about the costly effort of drilling new wells — it just needs to transport oil. Revenue in the fourth quarter was $13.79 billion, down slightly from $14.2 billion in the same period of 2024. But net income of $1.64 billion was an improvement from $1.62 billion in the previous year, and the company showed earnings per share of $0.75, up a penny from Q4 2024.
And Enterprise Products Partners has the best dividend yield in this group, at a whopping 5.8%, making it an appealing blue chip name for income investors.
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