Since the beginning of 2023, no innovation has garnered more attention on Wall Street than the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). However, AI isn't the only trend that's been lifting the stock market's tide. Investor euphoria regarding stock splits in influential businesses has played an important role in fueling optimism on Wall Street.
In 2025, five brand-name companies have taken the plunge and completed splits, including Netflix (NFLX -2.64%), O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY -1.32%), Lucid Group (LCID -2.70%), Fastenal (FAST -1.01%), and Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR -2.67%).
A stock split is a tool publicly traded companies have at their disposal to cosmetically adjust their share price and outstanding share count by the same factor. These changes are purely superficial in the sense that they don't affect a company's market cap or operating performance.
Image source: Getty Images.
In addition to piquing the interest of everyday investors, stock splits can also garner the attention of Wall Street professionals. Based on the high-water price targets of select Wall Street analysts, two of the aforementioned five high-profile stock-split stocks offer up to 135% upside in 2026.
Netflix: Implied upside of 55%
The first high-flying stock-split stock that at least one Wall Street analyst believes can soar in the new year is streaming services provider Netflix, which completed a 10-for-1 forward split in mid-November.
On July 18, Jefferies analyst James Hawley kept his firm's buy rating on Netflix stock but upped the price target to $1,500, which is now a split-adjusted $150 per share and represents 55% upside from where shares closed on Dec. 8. In the research note, Hawley highlighted that North American sales growth (U.S. and Canada) has jumped to 15% from 9%, which suggests customer churn remains low, even as the company has increased its prices.
The note also adds that Netflix can grow its earnings per share (EPS) by more than 20% annually over the next three to five years.
NASDAQ: NFLX
Key Data Points
There's little question that Netflix continues to ride its first-mover advantage to substantial profits. It's overseen more original content releases than any of its peers, with shows like Stranger Things and Squid Game attracting new subscribers and ensuring existing customers remain within its ecosystem.
Netflix has also been successful with its innovation beyond the big screen. A little over three years ago, the company introduced an advertising-based tier as a more affordable option for its streaming subscribers. As of May 2025, approximately 94 million people had signed up for this ad-driven option.
Likewise, Netflix finally cracked down on password-sharing in May 2023 by requiring that accounts remain within a single household. The solutions offered by the company, which include paying for an extra member or having people outside the household set up a paid account in their name, have boosted total subscribers and profitability.
But it's not clear if Netflix shares can reach this lofty price target in 2026, given its recently announced deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, following the separation of Discovery Global, for $82.7 billion, which works out to $23.25 per share in cash and $4.50 per share in Netflix stock.
On paper, the deal makes plenty of sense, with Netflix gaining access to HBO and HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros.' valuable studio segment. However, serious antitrust questions will arise from this deal, which could cast a grey cloud above the company's stock throughout much of 2026. While this doesn't mean the deal won't get done, the legal and profit-driven uncertainties associated with this buyout may weigh on Netflix for the foreseeable future.
Image source: Lucid Group.
Lucid Group: Implied upside of 135%
Whereas Netflix, O'Reilly Automotive, Fastenal, and Interactive Brokers Group all completed forward splits this year, electric-vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group was the most-hyped reverse split of 2025. Its 1-for-10 reverse split, which lifted its share price from around $2 to closer to $20, went into effect in early September.
Investors typically gravitate toward public companies announcing and completing forward splits, and shy away from businesses that undertake reverse splits. Companies that need to increase their share price are often struggling on an operating basis and splitting their shares to avoid delisting from a major stock exchange.
Despite what history tells us, Benchmark's Mickey Legg has an optimistic view of Lucid Group stock for 2026. Even though he lowered his firm's price target on the company this year, the $30 Legg expects for Lucid shares would imply upside of 135%!
Legg's optimism for Lucid crescendoed in mid-July, which is when Lucid announced a partnership with Uber Technologies and privately held Nuro to launch a global robotaxi program. Lucid will be responsible for delivering 20,000 (or more) of its Gravity SUVs over six years.
NASDAQ: LCID
Key Data Points
However, Lucid has endured several missteps during its attempted production ramp-up, to the point where it's becoming difficult for investors to believe management's growth and production forecasts.
With Tesla moving away from its luxury Model S to mass-produce the more affordable Model 3 sedan, the luxury EV space was ripe for the taking. But due to a myriad of supply chain issues that coincided with and followed the COVID-19 pandemic, Lucid Air sedan production and delivery figures have been a major disappointment. While management had predicted 90,000 units of production for 2024 when the company went public in 2021, guidance had fallen to just 9,000 units of production by the time 2024 arrived.
Lucid also missed its opportunity with Gravity. Initially, the company's SUV was expected to hit showroom floors in 2024. This launch was eventually delayed until the spring of this year.
Perhaps the biggest snag in Legg's optimistic price target is Lucid's balance sheet. Although the company has received billions of dollars in backing from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, it's been burning cash and losing money at an extraordinary rate. It's burned through more than $2 billion in cash from its operating activities in the first nine months of 2025 and has lost close to $14.8 billion since the company was incepted.
Building an EV company from the ground up to mass production is a costly and time-consuming process. Lucid Group hasn't yet demonstrated that it possesses the necessary tools or intangibles to succeed, which makes it unlikely that Legg's lofty price target will be achieved in 2026.
