Investing

5 Stocks That Could Split in 2024 - From Costco to NVIDIA

Eric Bleeker

Published: May 5, 2024 11:32 pm

Berkshire Hathaway is the most expensive stock listed on U.S. exchanges with its A shares trading for an astounding $603,000 per share. After Berkshire, there’s a large gap to the next most expensive shares. NVR (NYSE: NVR) trades for $7,586 and third-place Booking Holdings trades for $3,577 per share. 

Slightly behind these companies is Chipotle (NYSE: CMG), which currently trades for $3,155 per share. Chipotle recently announced a 50-1 stock split which was greeted with immediate enthusiasm from investors. With many large tech companies (like Apple, Amazon, Tesla, and Alphabet) splitting their shares in recent years from per-share prices above $500, investors are now closely watching stock splits. 

Let’s look at 5 companies that are stock split candidates in 2024. 

1.) NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) 

Current Price: $887.83

Odds of a 2024 Stock Split: High 

I’ve written frequently about the possibility of an upcoming NVIDIA stock split and believe one will happen in 2024. NVIDIA last announced a stock split in 2021 when its shares were trading for about $600 per share. That split was 4:1. With NVIDIA trading slightly below $900 today, it’s likely the company would issue either another 4:1 split or potentially even a 5:1 split. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has been positive about the possibility of a split. In a recent interview with Jim Cramer, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang spoke positively about the idea of a stock split. I continue to believe NVIDIA will announce a stock split to be voted on in its Annual Meeting of Stockholders. That announcement could happen before the end of May. 

2. Costco (Nasdaq: COST) 

Source: jetcityimage / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Current Price: $743.90

Odds of a 2024 Stock Split: Medium 

Tech stocks get all the attention, but Costco has been on a serious roll recently. Its shares are up 49% in the past year and now trade for more than $740 per share. Incredibly, the company hasn’t issued a split since 2000! At the time Costco was trading for slightly less than $100 per share and issued just a 2:1 split. 

From that perspective, it would seem that Costco is far overdue for a split. Factors working against a split are the simple fact that Costco has traded above $100 per share for more than a decade and has not issued another split. Costco’s executive team has long been lauded for staying laser-focused on matters like customer satisfaction and not getting wrapped up in share price movements. Another factor may simply be that Costco’s executive team is worried about their current share price levels. 

Costco currently trades for a P/E of about 49X, which is at nosebleed levels relative to most retail peers. With shares trading at such a high level, the last thing a focused executive team would want is a sharp decline after a share split. Still, Costco seems like one of the stocks most overdue for a split in the entire market. 

3. MercadoLibre (Nasdaq: MELI) 

Current Price: $1,630.56

Odds of a 2024 Stock Split: Medium 

MercadoLibre issued fantastic earnings last week that sent their shares soaring higher. MercadoLibre is in the top 10 most expensive stocks on U.S. exchanges today, so it would seem a split should be coming soon. Especially since many tech peers have recently issued splits from similar price levels. 

While MercadoLibre has a long history of issuing dividends (with its first dividend issued in 2011), they don’t have a history of splitting shares. MercadoLibre IPO’d in August 2007, and has let its share price grow ever since. One factor that could impact MercadoLibre’s thinking is that while it’s based in Uruguay today, it started as an Argentinian company. Issuing a split could make the stock more affordable for local investors who wouldn’t need to find brokerages offering fractional shares. 

Overall, the success of MercadoLibre has been astounding in recent years, especially when you compare its share price to other e-commerce competitors like Sea Limited or digital wallet companies like Block (NYSE: SQ). If the company continues its recent run, a stock split seems likely in the years to come. 

4. Super Micro Computer (Nasdaq: SMCI)

Source: Suwat Rujimethakul / Getty Images

Current Price: $782.70

Odds of a 2024 Stock Split: High 

Super Micro Computer investors have been on a roller coaster the past few months. The stock is still up an incredible 174% year-to-date but is down significantly from its 52-week high of $1,229. Super Micro was down big after reporting its recent earnings. While the server-maker raised full-year revenue guidance to a midpoint of $14.9 billion, investors were expecting more. Needless to say, when a stock is up as much as Super Micro has been the past few months, expectations reach scorching levels. 

I’ve argued in the past that the stock could use a 5-for-1 split. The difficulty in assessing what Super Micro management might do is that the company’s stock has been relatively rangebound throughout its history. From its first month of trading in April 2007 to its lows in October 2018, the stock stayed below $10 per share. However, Super Micro has been blasting off since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022 kickstarted the boom in AI servers. My best estimate is that a split is still likely in 2024. Even if Super Micro were to split more conservatively at levels like 3:1 or 4:1, it would still trade for $200 to $300 per share. That would make its shares far more accessible to retail traders 

5. Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO) 

Current Price: $1,278.12 

Odds of a 2024 Stock Split: Medium 

Broadcom’s management is extremely savvy when it comes to managing Wall Street’s expectations. For one, they’re excellent at returning capital to shareholders. In the past twelve months, Broadcom has repurchased $14.4 billion worth of common stock while paying $8.1 billion in dividends. 

So, it seems pretty likely that a management team so focused on returning capital would also be ready to split shares if it benefited shareholders. At nearly $1,300 per share, Broadcom is one of the most expensive stocks in the market. In addition, it’s now large enough that it could be a candidate for inclusion in an index like the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow Jones is a price-weighted average, and Broadcom would need to split its shares to be an attractive candidate for the Dow. 

Add it all up and there’s a very good chance Broadcom splits its shares in the years to come. 

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