For much of the last seven years, the bulls have been leading the charge on Wall Street. The benchmark S&P 500 has gained at least 16% in six of the previous seven years, with the 2022 bear market being the exception.
While most time-tested businesses have benefited from this near-persistent optimism, many of Wall Street's trillion-dollar club members have enjoyed outsize returns. Just over a dozen publicly traded companies around the world have reached the trillion-dollar market cap plateau, including 12 found on U.S. exchanges. This consists of all members of the "Magnificent Seven," Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, artificial intelligence (AI) stocks Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, drug giant Eli Lilly, and the newest member, retail kingpin Walmart (WMT +0.97%).
Image source: Walmart.
But Walmart won't be the last public company to reach this elite status. Two other companies from the same sector (no, not technology!) have the necessary catalysts to reach a trillion-dollar valuation. However, there's a catch investors should be aware of that could stymie the ascent of both stocks.
Walmart becomes Wall Street's newest trillion-dollar club member
When the closing bell rang on Feb. 3, Walmart had officially crested the $1 trillion threshold. While its 55-year climb from initial public offering to trillion-dollar club member wasn't always smooth, it's checked all the right boxes for long-term investors.
Despite retail being a highly competitive industry, Walmart's size has, for decades, given it a sustainable competitive edge. Being larger than its peers and having deeper pockets has enabled it to purchase products in bulk, lowering the per-unit cost of each item. In turn, Walmart can undercut local shops and most national grocers on price for the basic necessities that drive consumers into its stores.
NASDAQ: WMT
Key Data Points
To build on this point, Walmart has continually won with its value proposition. Similar to Costco Wholesale, consumers visit Walmart's stores with the expectation that they're getting value for their purchase. This is especially true when the U.S. inflation rate is higher than the Federal Reserve's long-term target of 2%.
Shortly after President Donald Trump unveiled his tariff and trade policy in early April 2025, the prevailing rate of inflation began ticking higher. Input tariffs (duties applied to imported goods used to manufacture products domestically) have increased production costs, leading to a modest uptick in overall prices. When inflation becomes apparent in consumers' pocketbooks, Walmart typically benefits.
However, Walmart's innovation has also played a role in its ascent to $1 trillion. The company's online shopping push and Walmart+ subscription service have generated tangible returns. Global e-commerce sales soared 27% in the fiscal third quarter (ended Oct. 31).
Furthermore, Walmart has embraced artificial intelligence with open arms. This game-changing technology is making the company's supply chain more efficient and helping to predict ordering trends to ensure popular items are always in stock.
Image source: Getty Images.
JPMorgan Chase and Visa may be next -- but there's a catch
When a public company reaches the elusive $1 trillion mark, investors often turn their attention to guessing which brand-name business will follow in its footsteps. While most investors would probably be inclined to choose an AI-driven stock, given the enormous addressable market for artificial intelligence, two non-AI stocks from the same sector, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 1.92%) and Visa (V 0.80%), have the clearest path to the trillion-dollar club.
JPMorgan Chase is currently the closest of any public company to reaching a $1 trillion valuation. The largest U.S. bank by total assets ended the Feb. 4 trading session valued at nearly $864 billion.
While JPMorgan Chase isn't going to knock Wall Street's socks off with its growth rate, it brings a level of stability to the table that virtually all other banks can't match. It's one of the few big banks that navigated the financial crisis unscathed, thanks to its fortress balance sheet.
NYSE: JPM
Key Data Points
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also hasn't been afraid to aggressively invest in technology. Digital/online banking is considerably less costly for banks than phone-based or in-person interactions. Investing in tools that encourage mobile and online banking should eventually boost the company's bottom line.
Meanwhile, payment processing goliath Visa ended Feb. 4 with a market cap of $636 billion. Though it trails JPMorgan Chase by a considerable amount, Visa offers a faster (and sustainable) growth rate.
The beauty of Visa's operating model is that it's purely focused on payment facilitation and doesn't act as a lender. This distinction ensures it doesn't have to set aside capital during recessions or periods of uncertainty to cover credit delinquencies and/or loan losses. Visa has historically bounced back from economic downturns considerably faster than other financial institutions.
NYSE: V
Key Data Points
Visa also sports an undeniable international opportunity. Cross-border payment volume has been consistently expanding by a double-digit percentage, signaling that most overseas markets remain underbanked and thus represent a long-run growth opportunity for Visa and its payment-facilitating peers.
But there's a catch with JPMorgan Chase and Visa that investors should be aware of. Namely, financial sector stocks tend to be highly cyclical.
Although periods of growth last substantially longer than recessions, slowdowns and recessions are inevitable aspects of the economic cycle. Since the Great Recession ended, the U.S. has endured just one recession, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted only two months. Based solely on history, we're overdue for a cooling-off period for the U.S. economy -- and stock market, for that matter.
While Walmart won't be the last public company to reach a $1 trillion market cap, we could be waiting a few years before the next member joins this elusive club.
