Meet the Stock-Split Stock That Soared by 11,210% Over the Past 15 Years. Now, It's Poised to Join Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla in the $1 Trillion Club by 2026

Technological advances over the past 20 years have been nothing short of profound, and nowhere is that progress more evident than in the sizes of the world’s largest companies. Two decades ago, General Electric and ExxonMobil were the world’s largest companies by market cap, clocking in at $319 billion and $283 billion, respectively.

Now, the list of the largest companies is dominated by businesses at the cutting edge of technology. Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft are each worth more than $3 trillion, and each has spent time atop the chart at some point in 2024. Other tech-centric members of the $1 trillion club include Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Tesla, boasting valuations of between $1 trillion and $2.2 trillion.

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With a market cap of roughly $812 billion (as of this writing), Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) seems ordained to earn membership in this exclusive fraternity. The company offers a wide range of products that are staples in the data centers where most artificial intelligence (AI) systems reside, and Broadcom’s critical technology could push it past the $1 trillion milestone sooner rather than later.

A golden bull statue poised on the edge of a laptop.
Image source: Getty Images.

Broadcom is one of the world’s leading custom chipmakers, but also supplies a host of complementary products and services to players in the mobile, broadband, cable, and data center industries. Management estimates that “99% of all internet traffic crosses through some type of Broadcom technology.” This helps explain why its technology is crucial to the expansion of generative AI, much of which resides in data centers and the cloud.

Broadcom’s acquisition of VMWare last year also represents a compelling opportunity for the company. Management has said it’s making progress in converting VMWare’s software sales from a perpetual model to a subscription license model, which will continue boosting recurring revenue into 2025. Furthermore, as the integration of VMWare wraps up, Broadcom is guiding for improved operating margins and greater profits.

The results paint a compelling picture. In its fiscal third quarter (which ended Aug. 4), Broadcom’s revenue climbed 47% year over year to $13.1 billion, while its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) increased by 18% to $1.24. Management is predicting the growth streak will continue, and boosted its full-year revenue forecast to $51.52 billion, which would amount to growth of roughly 44%.

This maintained the company’s track record of consistent operating performance and impressive stock price gains, which prompted the 10-for-1 stock split Broadcom completed in July.

Meet the Healthcare Stock That Produced Nvidia-Sized Gains in Less Than a Year

Cautious investors have long known that healthcare spending rises steadily regardless of the direction of the overall economy. It’s considered a defensive sector, but it still contains stocks that can shoot through the roof, given the right conditions.

This year, the stars aligned for GeneDx Holdings (NASDAQ: WGS), a genetic testing specialist. The stock rose a whopping 6,070% during the 12-month period ended Nov. 13. To put this gain in perspective, Nvidia‘s legendary run over the past five years delivered a return of just 2,700%.

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Of course, everyday investors want to know if the genetic testing stock can climb even higher. Let’s look at the reasons it’s risen so far to find out if it deserves a spot in your portfolio.

In 2022, Sema4 acquired GeneDx, which was at the time a wholly owned subsidiary of Opko Health. Sema4 was employing artificial intelligence (AI) applications to build models of human health, and adding GeneDx’s genome and exome sequencing operation kicked the business into high gear.

When pediatric patients exhibit developmental disorders, autism, or unexplained epilepsy, running genetic tests to figure out what the problem is becoming standard practice. GeneDx can sequence a patient’s genome, which is a complete set of their genetic information. It can also sequence the much smaller portion of the genome that codes for proteins, called the exome.

GeneDx recently reported third-quarter revenue that grew 44% year over year to $76.9 billion. Investors were glad to learn the company’s new genome and exome sequencing operation is a lucrative one, now responsible for 78% of total revenue. Adjusted gross margin rose to 64.4% in the third quarter from 50.7% in the previous-year period.

GeneDx is still losing money on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis. After adjusting for stock-based compensation, depreciation, and other noncash expenses, though, the company earned an adjusted $1.2 million during the third quarter.

When reporting third-quarter results, management raised the midpoint of its revenue guidance for the full year to $287 million. A few months earlier, it was predicting $260 million. In response to the guidance raise, Wells Fargo increased its price target for GeneDx from $34 to $75 per share.

Wells Fargo raised its price target but kept an equal weight rating on the stock due to a steep valuation. The stock has been trading for around 7.5 times 2024 sales expectations. For comparison, America’s largest diagnostics businesses, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, trade for less than 2 times trailing-12-month sales.

There's a hidden risk lurking for AI stocks in 2025

AI robot hand gripping a time bomb, displaying a countdown timer set to expire in 2025
Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
  • Companies are facing rising depreciation costs from their massive chip investments, Barclays says.

  • Barclays warns these costs will significantly impact earnings estimates for top tech firms.

  • Depreciation costs could lead to AI stock price declines and valuation scrutiny, according to Baird’s Ted Mortonson.

Companies getting a boost from the booming AI trade are in a race against the clock to prove that their massive investments in GPU chips are paying off, but there’s a little-talked-about issue that will make that endeavor even harder.

Depreciation related to massive AI chip investments is the “not-so-hidden” cost of AI that few investors are factoring into their valuation analysis of these companies, analysts at Barclays said in a note earlier this year.

Depreciation is an accounting method that allows companies to spread out the cost of a capital investment over its useful lifetime. That means that when a mega-cap tech company buys billions of dollars worth of GPU chips, it doesn’t immediately record that as an expense, but rather as a capital expenditure.

That can lead to big profits upfront, as the capital outlays don’t hit a company’s profit and loss statement immediately but are rather recorded as a depreciation expense over the asset’s useful lifetime.

The lurking problem is that the useful lifetime of AI GPU chips can be a lot shorter than many expect, especially as AI chips go through an ever-accelerating innovation cycle, leading to higher-than-expected depreciation expenses that ultimately drag down profits.

The depreciation costs related to GPU chips will be so big that Barclays is trimming its earnings estimates of cloud hyperscalers Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms by as much as 10% heading into next year.

“Depreciation of AI compute assets is the biggest expense for these leading companies,” Barclays internet analyst Ross Sandler said. “We think this is a risk that may rear its ugly head as we start looking ahead into 2025, so we are flagging it early.”

With mega-cap tech companies spending hundreds of billions of dollars on pricey GPU chips from the likes of Nvidia, massive depreciation costs will add up over the next few years, especially as Nvidia shifts to a new product launch cadence of one per year.

“Because Nvidia has this very aggressive design cycle of roughly a year between major releases, all of those products have different skews and functionality and power profiles,” Baird managing director and tech strategist Ted Mortonson told Business Insider last month.

Nvidia, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft Could Help This Magnificent ETF Turn $250,000 Into $1 Million

Artificial intelligence (AI) might be the most revolutionary technology in a generation. Depending on which Wall Street forecast you rely upon, it could add between $7 trillion and $200 trillion to the global economy over the next decade.

Some companies are already reaping the rewards. Nvidia, for example, has added a staggering $3.2 trillion to its market capitalization in the last two years alone.

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But previous tech revolutions, like the dot-com internet boom and bust in the late 1990s and early 2000s, have taught us that picking winners and losers won’t be easy. After all, Amazon started out by selling books online in 1994, but most of its profit now comes from cloud computing instead — a business that didn’t even exist when the company was founded. Who could have predicted that?

Investors don’t have to be expert stock pickers if they buy an AI-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF). The iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF (NYSEMKT: IGM) owns practically every AI stock an investor could want, and it could turn an investment of $250,000 into $1 million over the long term.

A marble bull figurine with a stock chart in the background.
Image source: Getty Images.

The objective of the iShares ETF is to offer investors broad exposure to technology and technology-related companies spanning hardware, software, interactive media, and more. It was established in 2001 so it has navigated several tech booms including the internet, cloud computing, and enterprise software.

The ETF currently holds 278 different stocks, but it’s relatively concentrated. Its top four positions alone account for 33.1% of the total value of its portfolio, but they are among the key players in the AI industry:

Stock

iShares ETF Portfolio Weighting

1. Nvidia

9.48%

2. Meta Platforms

8.48%

3. Apple

7.67%

4. Microsoft

7.55%

Data source: iShares. Portfolio weightings are accurate as of Nov. 12, 2024, and are subject to change.

Nvidia supplies powerful graphics processors (GPUs) for the data center, which are used to develop AI models. Demand continues to outstrip supply, and the company’s revenue has soared by triple-digit percentages in each of the last five quarters. Nvidia just started shipping its new Blackwell GPUs, which offer an incredible leap in performance and cost efficiency, so they should drive strong sales growth for the foreseeable future.

Meta and Microsoft are both customers of Nvidia. Meta fills its data centers with GPUs to train its Llama large language models (LLMs), which it’s using to create new AI features for its Facebook and Instagram social networks. Microsoft, on the other hand, created a virtual assistant called Copilot which can generate text, images, and even computer code. Plus, the Microsoft Azure cloud platform offers developers access to the computing capacity and LLMs they need to build their own AI software.

Cathie Wood Backs Elon Musk's $2 Trillion DOGE Initiative, Says Tesla CEO's Access To 'Proprietary Data' And AI Gives Him An Edge

Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, has publicly backed Tesla Inc. TSLA Elon Musk’s appointment to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

What Happened: In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Wood said that Musk’s understanding of technology and data will be key in his new role at DOGE.

DOGE, named after the cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD, aims to minimize waste, eliminate unnecessary regulations, and reorganize agencies to enhance efficiency.

See Also: What’s Going On With Palantir Technologies Stock Today?

Wood stated that Musk’s companies, including X, formerly Twitter, Neuralink, and SpaceX, gather vast amounts of data, putting him in a unique position to improve government operations.

“The way we’re looking at this is, Elon understands we are at the threshold of a convergence among many technologies,” she stated.

Adding, “AI being at the center of it, and proprietary data is winning. So he has more proprietary data from all of these companies than I think any other CEO.”

Musk, who was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, will spearhead the commission aimed at reducing the U.S. federal budget, to cut up to $2 trillion.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican primary candidate, will co-direct the group with Musk.

Why It Matters: On Thursday, the official X, formerly Twitter, account of DOGE called for high-IQ candidates willing to work 80+ hours a week to streamline government spending and cut bureaucracy.

This criterion is similar to Musk’s well-known 2022 late-night email to Twitter employees, where he encouraged them to be “extremely hardcore” and commit to “long hours at high intensity.”

However, analysts have warned that Musk’s efficiency plans should not be underestimated, but it will likely take many years to achieve $2 trillion in government spending cuts.

Trump has previously stated that the work of the DOGE department is expected to be completed by July 4, 2026, at the latest.

Price Action: Dogecoin is currently priced at $0.378, reflecting a 4.14% rise in the last 24 hours. However, its trading volume has dropped by 37.06%, reaching $10.12 billion as of this writing.

Tesla shares closed Friday’s trading up 3.07%, ending at $320.72. In after-hours trading, the stock saw a slight increase, reaching $320.74 at the time of writing, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo courtesy: World Economic Forum

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Federal Realty Announces Senior Executive Team Realignment

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Federal Realty Investment Trust FRT announced today that Jeffrey S. Berkes, the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, will be leaving the company effective December 31, 2024. Don Wood, Federal’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Jeff has been my trusted partner and good friend here at Federal for the past 24 years and has been instrumental in growing the company and positioning the company as a leader in the industry. He’s one of the finest professionals and human beings in our business. I’ll surely miss working with him on a daily basis.” Mr. Wood will reassume the additional position of President of the Company. The position of Chief Operating Officer will not be backfilled.

Wendy Seher, the Eastern Region President and Chief Operating Officer, a 22-year company veteran, and Jeff Kreshek, the Western Region President and Chief Operating Officer, a 13-year company veteran will continue in their senior operating roles at the Company and report directly to Mr. Wood.

Jan Sweetnam, Federal’s Chief Investment Officer since 2022, will report directly to Mr. Wood as the company continues its increased focus on acquiring accretive, income-producing acquisitions and deploying capital into additional retail and residential development on its existing shopping center and mixed-use properties. Mr. Sweetnam’s acquisition efforts are supported by a deep team headed up by 24-year company veteran Barry Carty, Senior Vice President-East Coast Acquisitions, and Bob Franz, the Company’s newly promoted Vice President-West Coast Acquisitions based in Phoenix. Mr. Franz joined Federal in 2015 and has been responsible for sourcing and/or closing such high-profile West Coast acquisitions as Camelback Colonnade in Phoenix, Grossmont Center in San Diego, and the Primestor Portfolio in Los Angeles, among several other transactions.

About Federal Realty

Federal Realty is a recognized leader in the ownership, operation and redevelopment of high-quality retail-based properties located primarily in major coastal markets from Washington, D.C. to Boston as well as Northern and Southern California. Founded in 1962, Federal Realty’s mission is to deliver long-term, sustainable growth through investing in communities where retail demand exceeds supply. Its expertise includes creating urban, mixed-use neighborhoods like Santana Row in San Jose, California, Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, Maryland and Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts. These unique and vibrant environments that combine shopping, dining, living and working provide a destination experience valued by their respective communities. Federal Realty’s 102 properties include approximately 3,500 tenants, in 27 million commercial square feet, and approximately 3,100 residential units.

Federal Realty has increased its quarterly dividends to its shareholders for 57 consecutive years, the longest record in the REIT industry. Federal Realty is an S&P 500 index member and its shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbol FRT. For additional information about Federal Realty and its properties, visit www.federalrealty.com.

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SOURCE Federal Realty Investment Trust

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Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul: Netflix's Explosive Boxing Event Ends With Paul's Victory

Jake Paul, a YouTuber-turned-boxer, defeated boxing legend Mike Tyson in the first live boxing event hosted by Netflix Inc. NFLX.

What Happened: The event took place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday, where Paul, 27, won over 58-year-old Tyson in an eight-round heavyweight match via unanimous decision.

The match, sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, saw both fighters wearing 14-ounce gloves, a deviation from the standard 10-ounce gloves typically used in heavyweight fights.

The judges’ scores were overwhelmingly in Paul’s favor, with tallies of 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73.

See Also: Elizabeth Warren’s Sarcastic Take On DOGE’s Split Leadership Gets Slammed By Elon Musk

The fight was initially scheduled for July 20 but was postponed due to Tyson requiring medical attention for an ulcer flareup.

Tyson last competed professionally in 2005 but returned to the ring in a notable exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020, which concluded in a split draw.

Tensions escalated during the weigh-in when Tyson struck Paul.

Why It Matters: This event is a significant milestone for Netflix in its endeavor to expand into live sports content, supplementing its existing portfolio of live comedy stand-ups, award shows, and special events.

The streaming giant currently has over 282 million global paid subscribers, with its ad-supported plan recently reaching 70 million subscribers.

Last month, Netflix reported strong third-quarter financial results. The company’s revenue was $9.825 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year, beating the Street consensus estimate of $9.769 billion.

This successful foray into live sports content could potentially boost Netflix’s subscriber base and revenue in the future.

Price Action: Netflix shares ended Friday’s trading session down 1.57%, closing at $823.96. In after-hours trading, the stock edged up slightly to $825.50 as of this writing, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo courtesy: Netflix

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Extra Space Storage Inc. Announces 4th Quarter 2024 Dividend

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Extra Space Storage Inc. (the “Company”) EXR announced today that the Company’s board of directors has declared a fourth quarter 2024 dividend of $1.62 per share on the common stock of the Company. The dividend is payable on December 31, 2024, to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 16, 2024. 

About Extra Space Storage Inc.

Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, and a member of the S&P 500. As of September 30, 2024, the Company owned and/or operated 3,862 self-storage properties, which comprise approximately 2.7 million units and approximately 296.0 million square feet of rentable storage space operating under the Extra Space brand. The Company offers customers a wide selection of conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. It is the largest operator of self-storage properties in the United States.

For more information, please visit www.extraspace.com.

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SOURCE Extra Space Storage Inc.

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