Best 3 Blue Chip Stocks to Buy After a Market Pullback -- Including Microsoft (MSFT) Stock

It's tempting to want to fill your portfolio with lots of growth stocks. The best do offer chances at astronomical returns -- but they can also be overvalued and just as likely to pull back as to advance. So consider including some blue chip stocks in your mix.

A blue chip stock is one tied to a relatively stable, large, established company. blue chip stocks often pay dividends, which can be a big plus. While they may not grow as briskly as some growth stocks will, they can be less volatile. Actually, some blue chip stocks offer impressive growth, too!

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Here are three blue chip stocks to consider for your long-term portfolio. Each seems attractively priced as I write this, and will likely become even more so should the market pull back.

1. Microsoft

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is a great example of a blue chip stock that's also a growth stock. It offers the best of both worlds -- relative stability and a rapid growth rate. The company, with a recent market value topping $3 trillion, has seen its shares deliver average annual gains of 21% over the past 15 years. In 2026, though, it's down roughly 12% at recent prices. That drop has made its shares even more attractively priced, with a forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22, well below the five-year average around 30. As my colleague Keithen Drury has noted, the stock hasn't been this cheap since 2019.

Part of the problem is that some investors are questioning the degree to which big tech companies like Microsoft are plowing money into artificial intelligence (AI) investments. That's a valid concern -- its capital expenditures over the trailing 12 months are more than double the comparable amount from just two years ago. But keep in mind that the stock is already significantly discounted and pays a growing dividend that recently yielded 0.9%. (Its annual dividend amount has grown from $2.09 in 2020 to $3.56 recently.)

Microsoft also remains a huge, diversified business, encompassing the dominant Office 365 suite of applications, the Azure cloud computing platform, the Xbox gaming platform, the Windows operating system, and even LinkedIn, among many other things.

2. Becton, Dickinson

Healthcare has been a rapidly growing sector for a long time, and it's likely to keep growing. One company poised to profit from that is Becton, Dickinson (NYSE: BDX), which also calls itself "BD."

The company is a leader in the development, manufacturing, and sale of medical supplies, devices, and diagnostic products. It earns much of its revenue from products such as catheters, syringes, blood collection tubes, specimen containers, biopsy needles, infusion systems, and medication dispensing systems -- items for which there will always be demand. (That demand results in recurring revenue, which is music to investors' ears.)

BD boasts that it cranks out more than 34 billion devices annually and spends heavily on research and development. Its 2025 annual report noted: "We built our strongest innovation pipeline ever in attractive end markets -- with more than 125 new products launched and an additional $1.3B added through over 20 accretive, high-growth tuck-in acquisitions."

It's also a dividend-paying stock, with a solid recent yield of 2.8%, and it has been upping its payout for more than 50 consecutive years. On top of that, BD has also been buying back shares, enough to hike its total shareholder yield (the dividend yield plus the effect of repurchases) to a recent 9%.

Meanwhile, BD's stock looks appealingly priced, with a recent forward-looking P/E ratio of 11.7, well below the five-year average under 17. Should the market pull back, the stock will likely hold up better than many growth stocks.

3. Clorox

Then there's Clorox (NYSE: CLX), a very familiar name, and home to brands such as Brita, Burt's Bees, Clorox, Fresh Step, Glad, Hidden Valley, Kingsford, Liquid-Plumr, Pine-Sol, and recent addition Purell. It's not known for being a fast grower -- its stock has total annualized returns of just 5.4% over the past 15 years -- and over the past year, shares are down more than 25%.

That drop has made its shares appealingly priced, with a recent forward P/E ratio of 13, well below the five-year average of 24. It has also pushed up the stock's dividend yield to a compelling 5.1%. Add in share buybacks, and the total yield for shareholders is around 8%. (Clorox has hiked its payout for 48 years in a row, so you can bet that it's aiming to keep doing so.)

One headwind facing the company is the surging price of oil, which management expects will cost it more than $20 million in quarterly gross profit. Clorox has been working on cutting costs and becoming more efficient, and CEO Linda Rendle recently reported some positive news in its third-quarter conference call:

Most of our categories were positive, though, this quarter, which is good news. I think the important part to note here is that even though the consumer is under stress... they're still really resilient in our categories, and that's a good sign. We're seeing them continue to buy innovation. Private label shares did not increase this quarter. They're still shopping for brands.

Clorox looks like a promising stock to consider, if you're patient and seeking income.

Selena Maranjian has positions in Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.