Wall Street's Biggest Stock Split of the Year Has Arrived -- and This Nearly 97,000%-Gainer Is Miles Ahead of Its Competition

For the better part of the last three years, next-big-thing innovations have been driving the broader market higher. The evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential for quantum computing have investors seeing dollar signs.

But AI and quantum computing aren't the only trends making waves on Wall Street. Investor euphoria surrounding stock splits in some of Wall Street's most influential businesses has been another key factor in sending the broader market higher.

A stock split is an event that allows a publicly traded company to cosmetically adjust its share price and outstanding share count by the same factor. These changes are cosmetic in the sense that they don't impact a company's market cap or underlying operating performance. However, investors view these adjustments differently.

Image source: Getty Images.

A reverse split, which is designed to increase a company's share price and concurrently reduce its outstanding share count by the same factor, is typically shunned by the investing community. Companies enacting reverse splits are often struggling on an operating basis and attempting to avoid delisting from a major stock exchange.

In comparison, most forward splits are being conducted by phenomenal businesses with well-defined competitive and innovative advantages. This type of split makes a public company's stock more nominally affordable for investors who can't purchase fractional shares through their broker. Not surprisingly, this is the type of split investors gravitate to.

Though four high-profile companies have announced and completed a split in 2025, Wall Street's biggest stock split of the year officially arrives today, Nov. 17.

Four brand-name businesses have taken the stock-split plunge in 2025

The brand-name company that effectively kicked off stock-split euphoria this year is auto parts chain O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY). Although it didn't complete its 15-for-1 forward split until mid-June -- the delay was to allow its shareholders to vote on the split at the company's annual meeting -- it announced its intent to conduct its largest-ever split in mid-March.

O'Reilly is benefiting from Americans hanging onto their vehicles longer than ever before, as well as its innovative hub-and-spoke distribution model, which ensures more than 153,000 parts and accessories can be delivered to retail stores on a same-day or overnight basis. Furthermore, it has repurchased 60% of its outstanding shares since the beginning of 2011, making its buyback program one of the most successful on Wall Street.

Wholesale industrial and construction supplies behemoth Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST) is no stranger to splitting its shares. The 2-for-1 forward split, completed in May, marked the ninth time the company has enacted a split since going public in August 1987.

Aside from its cyclical ties, Fastenal's innovation speaks for itself. Its internet-connected, on-site vending machines and FASTBin electronic inventory technology make Fastenal integral to the supply chains of the most important industrial and construction companies.

Electronic automated brokerage firm Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR) also joined the party in mid-June by completing its first-ever forward split (4-for-1).

Interactive Brokers' investments in automation have really been paying off for it and its shareholders. Lower operating costs have enabled it to offer a higher interest rate on cash held in client accounts compared to other online brokers, and its margin loan rates are considerably lower than those of its peers. Perhaps it's no surprise that all of its key performance indicators are soaring by a double-digit percentage from the previous year.

Lastly, electric-vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) became the highest-profile reverse split of the year, with its 1-for-10 split taking place in August. Following the split, Lucid's share price increased from around $2 to almost $20. This higher nominal share price should put it on the radar for more institutional money managers.

However, the catalyst behind this reverse split is the company's poor operating performance and ongoing cash burn. Lucid whiffed on its opportunity to seize hold of the luxury EV market, and supply chain issues have continued to hamper its ability to make good on management's production forecasts.

Image source: Getty Images.

Wall Street's blockbuster stock split of 2025 is finally here

But there's a new sheriff in town, as of Nov. 17, and its name is Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX). The streaming services giant announced its intent to conduct a 10-for-1 split on Oct. 30, with the effective date following the close of trading on Friday, Nov. 14. This means today, Nov. 17, Netflix will begin trading at its split-adjusted price.

This marks the third time Netflix has completed a forward split to make its stock more accessible to retail investors and employees who participate in the company's stock option program. It effected a 2-for-1 split in February 2004, less than two years after going public, and enacted a 7-for-1 split in July 2015. With Netflix's shares up nearly 97,000% since its initial public offering, it's no wonder another forward split was needed.

Netflix's success has primarily boiled down to two factors: being first and being innovative.

Netflix was the first content provider to embrace streaming. While the ride to get to where it is now has been bumpy at times, there's no questioning that Netflix made the right move. It's far more profitable than any streaming platform, has considerably more subscribers than its next-closest peer, and has overseen more original content releases (e.g., Stranger Things and Squid Game) than any other streaming service. Even though its competition is growing, Netflix has had little trouble maintaining its position at the top of the streaming pedestal.

Innovation has also been important. With an understanding that consumers demand value from their content provider, Netflix introduced an ad-based subscription tier in November 2022. This lower-cost option has attracted 94 million monthly active users, as of May 2025.

In conjunction with the introduction of an ad-based subscription tier, Netflix initiated a long-overdue crackdown on password-sharing in May 2023. Even though it took time for the ripples of these changes to work their way through Netflix's subscriber base, it appears to have boosted the company's overall monthly active user base.

Although Netflix remains well ahead of its competition on an operational basis, its valuation is also significantly ahead of its peers. Arguably, the one knock against Netflix stock (albeit a short-term concern) is that paying nearly 36 times forward-year earnings amid a historically pricey stock market is a recipe for a sizable pullback at some point in the presumed not-too-distant future.

Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Interactive Brokers Group and Netflix. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $43.75 calls on Interactive Brokers Group and short January 2027 $46.25 calls on Interactive Brokers Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.