The trillion-dollar mark is now the new measuring stick for big companies. Giants like Apple and Microsoft are trading over the trillion-dollar mark, and it seems that more big names will follow.
Taking a step back and looking at who may reach the trillion-dollar mark by the end of the decade, a few names stick out to me. Meta Platforms (META 0.43%), General Motors (GM 0.48%) through its subsidiary Cruise, and Netflix (NFLX -0.63%). Here's why I think they have what it takes to be trillion-dollar companies.
1. Meta
It's hard to see how Meta won't reach the trillion-dollar valuation well before 2030. The company is the largest social network in the world, a leader in artificial intelligence, and has a high potential business in virtual and augmented reality.
The core business seems nearly impossible to disrupt at this point. There are too many network effects working in tandem for a competitor to disrupt the business, and Mark Zuckerberg seems to be on top of his game as well.
I don't like its spending of $10 billion-plus each year on the metaverse, but even with that cash drain, the company is generating $22.6 billion in net income and growing.
With a clear lead in advertising and a wide moat around social media, Meta is the surest bet to be a trillion-dollar company by 2030 out of this group.
2. Cruise
If you want upside, Cruise provides it. The company is about 80% owned by General Motors, which is actually the stock you need to buy to get exposure to Cruise. But GM's auto manufacturing business isn't going to be worth $1 trillion by 2030. Cruise could be.
Cruise is the autonomous ride-sharing business GM has been investing in for years. The company is now operating an autonomous fleet in three cities, but it's already mapping 15 cities, with most of those added in just the last six months. The Cruise Origin, which is a custom-designed autonomous vehicle, is also undergoing testing and is expected to launch either late this year or early next year.
GM CEO Mary Barra has projected that Cruise could generate $50 billion in revenue by 2030 from almost zero today. If that happens, it would be by far the fastest-growing company in transportation, and at that scale, it's unlikely many other companies could compete. I think this is an incredibly high-potential business and could be worth $1 trillion by the end of the decade despite being unknown to most investors today.
3. Netflix
A transformation is happening in media. The cable bundle is dying, and streaming companies are losing billions just trying to stay afloat. Netflix has the established user base and revenue to be one of the clear winners in streaming, and once the leaders are established, we should see profitability improve.
No other streamer has anywhere near Netflix's 238.4 million subscribers globally, and the company is taking advantage by raising prices and adding advertising to monetize those users even more.
Those added revenue streams should help margins and profitability through the end of the decade, which is what the market is looking for, given the current price-to-earnings multiple.
NFLX Market Cap data by YCharts.
An area that I think is untapped is in add-on streaming services like sports, which are a wide-open market. If Netflix can build a sports bundle on top of its current package, this could be a trillion-dollar stock.
Trillion-dollar opportunities
Meta, Cruise, and Netflix are leaders in enormous markets, and that's why they have the potential to be trillion-dollar companies. There's a lot of opportunity ahead for investors willing to buy and hold until the end of the decade.
