15 Worst Performing Blue Chip Stocks in 2023

Ramish Cheema
11 min read

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In this piece, we will take a look at the 15 worst performing blue chip stocks in 2023. If you want to skip a background of what's been going on in this lucrative sector this year, then head on over to 5 Worst Performing Blue Chip Stocks in 2023.

In traditional poker, a blue chip had the highest monetary value and this fact has continued into the stock market as well. Highly valuable and well established firms are often called blue chips, and the term has been used on the market for more than a century now. These firms often earn billions of dollars in revenue, have thousands of employees, and have a global presence that spans several countries.

These factors lend the blue chip sector a semblance of stability that can be quite attractive, especially during a period of economic uncertainty. The most widely accepted classification of blue chip stocks comes through the Dow 30 index, which is fitting since it was a Dow news service reporter that originally coined the term in the 1920s. However, if you had invested your money in the Dow 30 this year, the returns would be rather lackluster. On average, the 30 companies in the list have returned 6.49% this year, which is quite low when we take a look at the high performing and technology stock heavy NASDAQ 100 index which is up 38.35% year to date as of mid August, with the returns tapering off of the 45% that the index had returned during the first half of this year.

Out of the 30 stocks in the index, 11 have returned more than 10% this year while 12 are in the red. The best performing blue chip stock this year in Dow 30 has been Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM). Salesforce is an enterprise technology software and services provider whose share price is sensitive to changes in the U.S. economy and the ability of the corporate sector to spend. Naturally, its shares had bottomed out from the $254 price at the start of 2022 to $129 by the third week of December as the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates and squeezed the budgets of companies at a time when multiple economists and analysts were also predicting a recession in the U.S. economy.

August is also earnings season in the stock market, with the earnings reports for the second quarter as well as forward guidance for the full year expected to set the tone for what's to come as investors wonder whether the Federal Reserve has reached the peak of its interest rate hiking cycle. We've covered some blue chip earnings in 12 Undervalued Blue Chip Stocks To Buy According to Analysts, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) whose EPS beat analyst estimates despite a quarterly revenue drop during a time that is typically a slow period for Apple as it ramps up new products for a September launch. Another blue chip firm that reported earnings is The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which now expects to grow its 2023 revenues annually by as much as 9% in an upgrade that spelled positive news for the economy ahead.

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