The bull market that began on the heels of the Great Recession helped fuel surging stock prices for the most successful companies, putting shares out of reach of smaller investors. To address this issue, some companies have turned to the age-old practice of stock splits to make shares more accessible to individual investors and employees.
While a stock split itself isn't necessarily a reason to buy shares, the underlying business momentum fueling stock price gains is usually a good indicator. It also signals to investors that management is confident that the upward trajectory will continue, giving them a reason to split the stock. It isn't unusual for these best-in-class businesses to have three things in common: an industry-leading position, brisk secular tailwinds, and a large addressable market.
With that as a backdrop, let's look at three stock-split growth companies that meet those lofty criteria.
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1. Nvidia
After a 14-year hiatus and more than 2,000% stock price gains, Nvidia (NVDA 3.71%) surprised investors on July 19, 2021, with a four-for-one stock split. Since then, even in the face of the recent market correction, shares of the semiconductor giant have still gained 49% since the split.
What's driving those gains? Demand for the company's graphics processing units (GPUs) used by gamers continues to increase, as Nvidia now controls 83% of the discrete desktop GPU market. Beyond gaming, Nvidia chips are the processor of choice in cloud computing and data center operations, which are accelerating as a result of the digital transformation. At its GTC Conference held just last week, the company added CPUs to its arsenal in a further push into data center servers.
Its strategy is bearing fruit. In the fourth quarter, Nvidia reported record revenue in three of its four major operating segments, resulting in revenue that grew 53% year over year. This was driven by gaming revenue that climbed 37%, data center revenue that surged 71%, and professional visualization revenue that soared 109%.
The company is also well positioned to power the metaverse and the continuing quest toward self-driving cars with its state-of-the-art processors. Furthermore, Nvidia's record revenue of $26.9 billion last year pales in comparison to the company's total addressable market (TAM), which is expected to top out at a staggering $250 billion by 2023.
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2. Alphabet
It's been nearly eight years since Alphabet (GOOGL -1.97%) (GOOG -1.96%) last split its shares, but the company broke that streak in early February when it revealed plans for a historic 20-for-1 stock split, scheduled to take place in July. Since its last split on March 27, 2014, Alphabet shares gained a whopping 410%.
Google's search dominance has helped fuel those gains, with roughly 92% of the worldwide search engine market. This has helped cement the company's market leadership in digital advertising, collecting an estimated 29% of worldwide digital ad spending. Then there's Google Cloud, the third-largest provider of cloud services, with an estimated 9% of the market and growing more quickly than its top competitors.
Alphabet's triple threat has fueled impressive financial results. Q4 revenue climbed 32% year over year, while operating margins marched higher, pushing net income up 38%. That's impressive growth for the fourth-largest company in the world, with a market cap of $1.87 trillion.
Its growth is far from over, fueled by strong secular trends. Digital ad spending is expected to climb to $873 billion by 2024, while estimates for the global cloud computing market clock in at $482 billion. Alphabet's revenue of $257 billion last year still leaves plenty of room for future upside and additional market share gains.
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3. Amazon
From little acorns grow mighty oaks, and from humble online bookstores, mighty e-commerce titans evolve. At least, that was the case with Amazon (AMZN -1.65%). And in terms of stock splits, the online retailer has gone the longest since its last pared its shares in the dot-com era, circa 1999. Since then, however, shares have skyrocketed 5,490%, leading to current plans for a 20-for-1 stock split.
Amazon is the undisputed leader in e-commerce. While estimates vary, the company controlled roughly 40% of online sales in the U.S. last year, with an industry-leading 8% of global digital retail in 2020.
Furthermore, Amazon dominates the area of cloud computing, a space it pioneered. During Q4 2021, Amazon Web Services (AWS) boasted a 33% share of the cloud infrastructure services market, controlling more than No. 2 Microsoft (MSFT -2.45%) and No. 3 Google Cloud combined.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Amazon has quickly become a force in the digital advertising market. While the company only began to break out its results in Q4, Amazon's ads generated more than $31 billion in 2021, up 63%, and giving it the third-largest share of global digital ad spending, behind Alphabet and Meta Platforms (META -10.56%).
This trifecta of businesses drove solid results for Amazon last year, with net sales that climbed 22% while net income climbed 57%.
Yet, there are worlds left to conquer. Global e-commerce alone is worth $5.55 trillion, while cloud computing and digital advertising represent $482 billion and $873 billion, respectively. When viewed in the context of Amazon's net sales of $470 billion last year, there's a long runway for growth ahead.
