Is Eli Lilly And Co. (LLY) Splitting in the Near Future?

We recently published a list of 12 Stocks That Could Split in the Near Future. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) stands against other stocks that could split in the near future.

Stock splits don’t change how much a company is worth, but they make each share cheaper and easier for people to buy, considering it’s a forward split. Stock splits can vary from a simple 2-for-1 split to a larger 100-for-1 split or more. In a 2-for-1 split, each share is turned into two new shares. This makes each share half the price, but the total value of the company remains the same. For example, if a share costs $100, after a 2-for-1 split, you’ll have two shares that cost $50 each. This can make it easier to buy shares and attract more people to invest. Even though the share price goes down, the total amount of money paid out to shareholders stays the same. Hence, splitting shares doesn’t change how much control existing shareholders have in the company. The main goal is to make the company’s stock more appealing to investors. There’s no proof that stock splits make a company better, but they can make investors feel more positive about the company. But with these benefits come the costs and risks. The process requires legal work and can be expensive.

Splitting a stock doesn’t change a good company into a bad one or vice versa. The price might go up a bit after the split, but it won’t change the company’s long-term fundamentals. Sometimes, a low stock price can actually look bad for a big company. Still, many companies practice splitting stocks if their share prices are growing too high.

2025 Outlook

On January 16, Mark Newton, Fundstrat Global head of technical strategy, joined ‘Squawk Box’ on CNBC to discuss that the long-term market trends look positive. The market initially experienced a cooler-than-expected jump, but concerns were raised about the breadth of the market and the potential impact of interest rates on small-cap stocks. Mark Newton expressed a constructive view but noted that the market’s breadth had deteriorated significantly, with only about 25% of stocks currently above their 50-day moving average. This decline was particularly evident in sectors like healthcare, where seven sectors lost more than 4% in the last month.

Despite these challenges, Newton highlighted that technology stocks had rebounded, helping to keep indices afloat and maintaining long-term trends. However, he noted that near-term sentiment had become pessimistic regarding the potential policies of the president-elect, which added to market uncertainty. He maintained his target for the S&P 500 at 6650, suggesting that interest rates might begin to roll over in the coming months, which could be bullish for equities given their recent correlation with treasury yields.

Methodology

We sifted through ETFs, online rankings, and internet lists to compile a list of the top stocks trading over $400 as of January 19. We then selected the 20 stocks with high surges in their share prices in the past 5 years and a history of splitting stocks. From that, we picked the top 12 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q3 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Is Eli Lilly And Co. (LLY) Splitting in the Near Future?

An array of pharmaceutical pills with the company’s logo on the bottle.

Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY)

Share Price as of January 19: $725.72

Surge in Share Price in 5 Years: 419.93%

Stock Split Confirmed: No

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 106

Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) is a pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and markets human medications. The company’s growth is mainly driven by the increasing demand for weight loss and diabetes treatments. It has a strong pipeline of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist drugs. This means that it helps manage diabetes and weight by affecting certain hormones in the body.

In FQ4 2024, the company’s weight-loss drug sales fell short, with Mounjaro revenue at $3.5 billion (vs. the $5.35 billion estimate) and Zepbound at $1.9 billion (vs. the $2.08 billion estimate). This was due to slower-than-expected US demand and low inventories. However, the company expects 2025 revenue of $58 billion to $61 billion, surpassing analysts’ estimate of $58.52 billion. Despite recent stock declines, Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) is up 16% over the past year.

Despite this, Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) is still on track for 32% annual revenue growth in 2025. With its oncology business growing and treatments for Alzheimer’s and eczema yet to reach full scale, the dip in stock price offers a potentially good investment opportunity. The company is also investing $1.8 billion to expand its manufacturing facilities in Limerick and Kinsale, Ireland. These are efforts to meet the growing demand for incretin therapeutics and produce Kisunla, its newly approved Alzheimer’s treatment.

Overall, LLY ranks 2nd on our list of stocks that could split in the near future. While we acknowledge the growth potential of LLY, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than LLY but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.