5 best blue chip stocks to invest in for sustainable gains in May – excluding Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Yesterday, the biggest company in the world in terms of market cap reported its latest earnings. But Apple Inc. is far from the only blue chip stock around.

It’s understandable to want to invest in blue chip companies where possible: tried-and-true companies with larger market caps and established credentials. However, not all blue-chip corporations are created equal, and size is not the only thing that determines a winner.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of our top blue chip picks for May 2024, in terms of growth prospects, recent financials, stock price and more.

1. Mitsubishi Electric (MIELY)
2. GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline)
3. Alphabet (GOOG)
4. Nvidia (NVDA)
5. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 

1. Mitsubishi Electric (MIELY)

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment company, and one of Japan’s most well-known blue chip stocks. The company is more than 100 years old, having been founded in 1921.

Like many other Japanese stocks, Mitsubishi’s share price has been flying high recently. The Mitsubishi stock price is up 17% in the past month, over 40% so far the year to date and a whopping 62% in the past year alone. 

However, mid 2024 in particular is an interesting time to be a Mitsubishi investor. That’s because the company will soon see the completion and fruition of its ‘Midterm 2024 Corporate Strategy’, first developed back in 2021 and implemented from 2022, which has seen the company target multiple goals, including increased shareholder returns. 

In fact, by end 2024, the company aims to target up to JPY70 billion in share buybacks for investors,¹ a payout ratio of around 40%. 

2. GSK 

GSK is a UK pharmaceutical company (formerly called GlaxoSmithKline) with operations all over the world. 

Many big pharma companies in the same league as GSK have floundered since the end of the pandemic, but GSK has retained a steady positive presence in the market. Recently, this can partially be attributed to sales of GSK’s HIV treatment drug Cabenuva. 

The company’s stock price is up by close to 5% this week and 2.89% 15.62% this year to date so far (YTD), and 17.58% in the past year. 

Compare this to rival pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, whose stock price is down 8.39% in the past year – or Pfizer, whose stock price has dropped more than 30% in the past 12 months. 

With the positive results, GSK updated their guidance for the 2024 financial year. 

The company said it now expects higher 2024 turnover growth (between 5% to 7%) and a core operating profit growth of 9% to 11%, an increase of about 2% on its previous guidance. 

Core EPS is also expected to be higher, at 8% to 10% instead of the previously-thought 6% to 9%. 

GSK is also improving its dividend for 2024, at 15 pence per quarter at 60p for the full year, making now a great time to be a GSK investor. 

3. Alphabet (GOOG) 

With a market cap that now exceeds $2 trillion, Google parent company Alphabet Inc is one of the world’s mightiest dividend stocks,as well as being one of the legendary ‘Magnificent Seven’ Silicon Valley stocks. 

But that’s not all the company is – as of last week, it’s also officially a dividend-paying stock. 

Alphabet announced at its latest earnings report on April 25th that it would be paying out a $0.20 per share dividend on June 17th to all who’ve been shareholders as of June 10th, as well as share buybacks worth a whopping $70 billion. 

Needless to say, the market responded positively, with Google’s stock price climbing more than 13% overnight following the announcement, which came after markets closed in the US. 

Before the past week, though, Alphabet was already doing well with investors – even in spite of negative press, due to the company’s extensive layoffs of staff worldwide. 

The Alphabet stock price is up almost 19% in 2024 so far, and an impressive 56.23% in the past year. 

4. Nvidia (NVDA)

Was there any doubt that Nvidia would make this list? The Silicon Valley chipmaker has without a doubt been the ultimate stock success story of 2024 and 2023 so far, with its stock price climbing nearly 200% on average in the past year, and an impressive 72% in 2024 so far alone. 

As the poster child for all things AI (and the chips that they require), Nvidia is showing no signs of slowing down its pace. 

Earlier this year, at Nvidia’s annual GTC conference, the company unveiled the Blackwell – what it called the most powerful GPU chip ever invented. 

Nvidia reports its next financial results toward the end of this earnings season, on May 22nd, and many are predicting yet another smash hit of better-than-expected revenues and profits for the company. 

Until then, according to analysts, we are likely to see “intense fighting between bulls and bears”, according to Invezz analyst Ritesh A. Tradepedia analyst Constantinos Loizou told Techpedia the following:² 

“The medium and long term trend in the Nvidia stock remains bullish. As things stand, we expect additional ascent following the upward break of the critical resistance of $977, with an upside target at the psychological $1,000 and higher at $1,080. On the other hand, any downward break of $840 could open the doors for some short-term corrections likely toward $772, as it will complete a bearish reversal pattern.”

While this may sound alarming, it could actually be a welcome brief dip for would-be Nvidia investors to get in on the action. 

5. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 

AMD is an American tech company and also a semiconductor maker, albeit on a smaller scale to giants like TSMC and Nvidia. It’s an ‘old faithful’ blue chip stock for many, as one of the earliest Silicon Valley companies hailing all the way back to 1969. 

As a chipmaker, AMD has seen its stock price rise with the AI tide and is up more than 60% in the past year. 

Furthermore, at a stock price of around $145,69 currently, it’s a far cheaper way to gain exposure to the generative AI boom than Nvidia, whose stock is currently priced at over $850 per share.  

AMD also has decent growth prospects as an AI stock, according to those in the know. Respected Bank of America Securities analyst Vivek Arya said on Wednesday that AMD could capture 5 to10% of the AI market in future years, worth upwards of $90 billion dollars.³ 

Sources: 

¹ Mitsubishi Corporation, 2022; ² Techpedia, 2024; ³ Business Insider, 2024

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