Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been the hottest trend on Wall Street over the last three years, it's not the only catalyst responsible for sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 1.27%), S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.16%), and Nasdaq Composite to record-closing highs in 2025. Investor euphoria surrounding stock splits in brand-name companies has played a key role in lifting the tide for the stock market.
A stock split is an event that allows a publicly traded company to cosmetically alter its share count and share price by the same factor. These changes are superficial in the sense that they don't adjust a company's market cap or in any way affect its underlying operating performance.
While stock splits can adjust a public company's share price higher or lower, investors view these directional changes very differently. Reverse splits, which are designed to increase a company's share price, are typically shunned by investors. This type of split is often undertaken by struggling businesses that are attempting to avoid delisting from a major stock exchange.
Image source: Getty Images.
Conversely, investors usually line up to buy shares of companies announcing and completing forward splits. A company that has to lower its share price to make it more nominally affordable for retail investors who can't purchase fractional shares through their broker is almost always doing something right. In other words, these are companies that often have a rich history of out-executing and out-innovating their competition.
What's more, companies conducting forward splits have historically outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 in the 12 months following their announcement, dating back to 1980, according to a study from Bank of America Global Research. This is why investors are always on the lookout for Wall Street's next blockbuster stock-split stock.
As we kick off 2026, the puzzle pieces are in place for two magnificent companies to announce historic stock splits.
Meta Platforms
Social media titan Meta Platforms (META 2.61%) is one of seven members of the "Magnificent Seven." These are Wall Street's most influential businesses, and seven of the 12 public companies around the globe to have ever reached the $1 trillion valuation mark.
But unlike the other six members of the Magnificent Seven, Meta Platforms is the only component that's never completed a stock split. Its shares spent much of 2025 vacillating between $600 and $800.
However, a high nominal share price tells only part of the story. There needs to be one or more catalysts to incentivize a company's board of directors to announce a forward split... and the parent company of Facebook has two.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
The first impetus is Meta's steadily growing ownership by retail investors. If a company's outstanding shares are predominantly held by institutional investors, there's not much of a need or incentive to conduct a stock split. In other words, institutional investors don't require a lower nominal share price to buy a stake in a publicly traded company. In Meta's case, more than 29% of its outstanding shares are held by everyday investors, which is a large enough figure to warrant a historic stock split.
More importantly, Meta Platforms' growth trajectory strongly suggests that its share price will continue to head even higher. This makes a stock split somewhat important if retail investors are to continue participating in its long-term rally.
Meta is the parent of some of the most-visited social media apps on the planet, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook Messenger. Collectively, its family of apps attracted an average of 3.54 billion daily users in September. With no social media company particularly close to matching this figure, advertisers are often willing to pay a premium to get their message(s) in front of Meta's users.
In addition to being an advertising juggernaut, Mark Zuckerberg's company is enhancing its long-term growth potential by incorporating AI into its ad platform. Generative AI solutions are allowing clients to tailor static and video advertisements to individual users, which can improve click-through rates.
Furthermore, Meta Platforms is a cash-generating machine. It closed out the September quarter with close to $44.5 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and was approaching $80 billion in net cash generated from its operating activities through the first nine months of 2025. Zuckerberg's company has the luxury of investing in high-growth initiatives without the pressure of immediately monetizing them.
The table appears to be set for Meta to become Wall Street's blockbuster stock-split stock of 2026.
Image source: Getty Images.
Goldman Sachs
The second magnificent company that can kick off 2026 with a truly historic stock-split announcement is investment banking goliath Goldman Sachs (GS 4.20%).
Just like Meta Platforms, Goldman Sachs has never split its stock. Though Meta has been a publicly traded company for more than 13 years, Goldman's initial public offering occurred over 26 years ago. Over the course of more than a quarter of a century, shares of the company have vaulted from $60 to $879, which is where they closed out 2025.
Retail investors who can't buy fractional shares with their broker may be constrained with Goldman Sachs' stock approaching $900. But of greater importance, non-institutional ownership of Goldman's shares currently exceeds 30%. There's plenty of reason for the company's board to seriously consider a stock split.
The only wildcard is that Goldman Sachs is the most influential component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Unlike the market-cap-weighted S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, the Dow is a share price-weighted index. The higher a company's share price, the more influence it exerts within the Dow. As of the end of 2025, Goldman Sachs accounted for around 5,400 points out of the Dow's 48,063 points. Splitting its stock would diminish its influence within the ageless index.
However, there are reasons to believe that Goldman Sachs' stock is going to head even higher over the long run. Eventually, a forward split will be necessary.
NYSE: GS
Key Data Points
Goldman Sachs benefits from the disproportionate nature of economic cycles and its unique role on Wall Street. Although economic downturns are inevitable, periods of economic growth last substantially longer than contractions. It's a similar story on Wall Street, where bull markets last significantly longer than bear markets and short-lived crashes.
Lengthy periods of economic expansion and bull markets support Goldman's No. 1 position in advising mergers and acquisitions, as well as its status as one of the leading companies in global equities trading and fixed-income investing. It tends to thrive when the stock market is firing on all cylinders, but can also benefit from volatility on Wall Street.
Furthermore, Goldman has a rich history of crushing the consensus profit expectations of Wall Street analysts. Over the previous four quarters (ended in September 2025), it blew past earnings per share expectations by 10% to 43%.
The stage is set for Meta Platforms and Goldman Sachs to make history.
