by Ian Cooper
Always keep an eye on stock splits.
While splits don’t change the value of a stock, they can serve as a positive signal. This can then lead to further liquidity and more investor interest. After all, if an attractive $500 stock were to split 10:1, bringing it to $50 a share, more investors are likely to jump in.
Look at O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY), for example.
At the start of June, it traded at about $1,365 before its 15:1 split.
Today, the stock trades at $89.42 and is still just as attractive. Helping, analysts at RBC Capital just reiterated an outperform rating on the stock with a price target of $98.
The firm “expects O’Reilly to report second-quarter comparable sales growth of 3.9%, slightly above the consensus estimate of 3.8%, with earnings per share of $0.78, in line with consensus expectations,” as noted by Investing.com.
In addition, O’Reilly Automotive started 2025 with solid results, achieving 3.6% comparable store sales growth. It also raised its full-year EPS guidance.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR)
In June, IBKR split its stock 4:1 – and now trades at $57.62, where it’s still attractive.
Helping, recent earnings weren’t too shabby.
In its first quarter, revenue of $1.43 billion was up 19% year over year. Customer accounts jumped 32% year over year to 3.62 million, as consumer equity soared 23% to $573.5 billion. However, EPS of $1.88 did miss by five cents. Still, overall earnings and growth were solid.
Fastenal (FAST)
Shares of Fastenal split 2:1 in May.
Now at $42.52, it’s also still an attractive opportunity thanks to earnings and a recent upgrade.
In its first quarter, its EPS of 52 cents was in line. Revenue of $1.96 billion, up 3.7% year over year, beat by $10 million. Fastenal was also upgraded to Peer Perform by analysts at Wolfe Research. “The crux of the call is we believe FAST is well positioned in the current environment, with a bit of a Goldilocks setup as a defensive stock that has torque to ISM inflection,” said the firm, quoted by Seeking Alpha.
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