After nearly 60 years as Berkshire’s CEO, Buffett announced he’ll be stepping down from that role in January 2026. While Berkshire’s main business is insurance (it owns one of the largest insurance companies, GEICO), it has also invested in companies across a range of industries. TSMC is in the process of expanding its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the U.S. It has announced plans to invest $165 billion in U.S. fabrication plants, advanced packaging facilities, and an R&D team center. However, it has also warned that further import tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand and damage its U.S. investment plans.
Investing in Large-Cap Stocks
Its proprietary analytics platform, Aladdin, became the backbone of its risk evaluation process and is now widely used across the global investment community. At first glance, investing in some of the most expensive stock might seem out of reach to the average and beginner investors. Large-cap stocks like these are an important part of every investor’s portfolio. They generally provide more safety and stability than smaller stocks since most of them are established companies with strong brands.
- Their stock price rose from $250 in 2014 to an all-time high of $1700 in 2021 (adjusted for splits).
- Farran Powell is the managing editor of investing at Forbes Advisor.
- But the Santa Clara, California-based company has managed to dig in its heels and gain market share in the CPU, GPU and data processing space.
- This automaker has had a turbulent year, drawing backlash after co-founder and CEO Elon Musk became part of the Trump administration as a special government employee.
First Citizens BancShares is a financial holding company with operations primarily in the Southeastern United States. Thanks to its massive scale and strong cash flow, BlackRock is able to invest aggressively in new platforms, acquisitions, and technological advancements. The company distinguishes itself through its risk management expertise.
In the complex world of stock markets, prices fluctuate like the tides. Yet, amidst this ever-shifting landscape, some stocks stand out as very expensive. Conversely, $2,309.60 per Fair Isaac share may appear expensive in comparison, with its much smaller earnings — about $6 in the most recent quarter — relative to share price. In 1965, the company reported gains of just under $4.85 million. By 2019, the most recent year with revenue unaffected by the pandemic, the company reported net earnings of more than $21 billion, or $49,828 per share. This means that profits increased almost 17,000-fold between 1965 and 2019.
US stocks
As the term implies, a stock split divides the shares into multiple pieces. If that company instituted a 4-for-1 stock split, shares would separate into four equal parts. Thanks to the AI boom, Nvidia is currently the most valuable company in the world and was the first to reach a market cap of $4 trillion. In September, Nvidia announced plans to invest $100 billion in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and $5 billion in Intel (INTC -2.97%).
As of 2025, the company’s annual revenue stood at $9.81 billion, with an annual income of $397 million. From 2009 to 2013, the company’s total sales nearly doubled from $3.6 billion to $6.6 billion. The stock reached its all-time high in March 2015, hitting $4,600 for the first time. In addition to being an online marketplace, it provides online payment solutions and digital wallet services. It serves as a payment processor for transactions on the MercadoLibre marketplace and beyond. Since its inception, Markel Co. has acquired multiple companies in different sectors through its investment arm.
The stock is also exposed to economic sensitivity, as its customers, many of which are small businesses and freelancers, are vulnerable to economic downturns. Regarding performance, Alphabet delivers consistent revenue growth and high profit margins with minimal debt. It’s sometimes easy to forget that a big name like Google is merely one of several businesses that make up Alphabet. In 2015, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin restructured the Google search business as one of several subcompanies under the new parent company. But AAPL’s dependence on the iPhone is a two-way street, making it vulnerable to market saturation and declining sales.
How to Find the Largest Companies in the World
- The tech giant was the first Taiwanese company to be listed on the NYSE in 1997, with a fabled list of customers including Apple, AMD, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA, among others.
- The company earns most of its revenue from royalties and lease payments on its mineral rights, as well as from land sales and other real estate activities.
- I am a content writer and researcher with over seven years of experience covering all gaming and anime topics.
- He explained that if he had invested that money directly in the insurance business instead of buying more Berkshire shares, it would likely have earned higher profits.
- Thanks to demand for cloud-based AI services, 2024 was Oracle’s best year in decades, and 2025 is looking even better.
Because many of KLA’s customers are based in Asia, there is some geopolitical risk if trade and export tensions continue to exist between the U.S. and China. One of the biggest obstacles facing LRCX is that its revenue comes from a concentration of a few clients, and there are contingent geopolitical risks. With many Asian customers, LRCX would face difficulties if it faced U.S. restrictions on selling semiconductor equipment to China.
Best Multifamily Investment Companies In 2025
Their stock price rose from $250 in 2014 to an all-time high of $1700 in 2021 (adjusted for splits). Tencent is an internet and technology company, and it’s the most valuable publicly traded company in China. It’s known for its communication services, including the WeChat app, as well as for publishing video games and other digital content.
JPMorgan has launched multiple ventures in the growing cryptocurrency market. It partnered with Coinbase, one of the leading crypto exchanges, in July. The partnership makes it easier for the bank’s customers to invest in cryptocurrency. The bank is also incorporating AI technology into its operations. Generally, health care stocks like HCA are considered defensive investments—meaning they’re a conservative choice with minimal risk of losing money.
Best for buy-and-hold investors
If you’re new to investing, you’ll want to look invest 10k guide for companies with a competitive edge, with the potential for growth and stability. Valuation is also important, where metrics like a stock’s price-to-earnings or price-to-book ratios come into play. When compared to a company’s industry peers, these metrics can help you gauge whether a stock is overvalued or undervalued. Metrics help investors gain insight into a company’s overall financial health. You’ll also want to consider the company’s future growth since that will affect stock appreciation and earnings.
Oracle is also one of the initial equity funders for Stargate, a project announced in January 2025 to build U.S. Get step-by-step guidance on investing in Google (aka Alphabet) stock and learn the ins and outs of this behemoth tech company. ELV faces challenges with its debt management, with a negative free cash flow (as of September 2025). However, the company has a variety of healthcare businesses to help insulate it from market and membership shifts. The tech giant was the first Taiwanese company to be listed on the NYSE in 1997, with a fabled list of customers including Apple, AMD, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA, among others.
You can learn more about GOBankingRates’ processes and standards in our editorial policy. Tesla rode the growth of EVs to become the most valuable automaker in the world. Its most popular vehicle, the Tesla Model Y, was also the best-selling car worldwide in 2023 and 2024. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple in March 2024.
The company has pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy to expand its product offerings and market reach. Key acquisitions include Avago Technologies, Symantec Enterprise Security Business, and CA Technologies. In 2023, they acquired VMware (a cloud computing and virtualization technology company) for $69 billion. The company earns most of its revenue from royalties and lease payments on its mineral rights, as well as from land sales and other real estate activities.
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management firm, overseeing more than $13.5 trillion in client assets across virtually every asset class. It manages assets for institutional investors, governments, and individual clients in 100+ countries. Moreover, investors tend to evaluate stock prices relative to earnings. Given this measure, investors might happily pay $704,000 per share when it produces tens of thousands per share in returns in a single year, as Berkshire Hathaway typically does. As noted, investors can determine the highest-priced stock in multiple ways. For this article, GOBankingRates defined “expensive” by the quoted stock price.
It was the first company to mass-produce insulin and the polio vaccine. While there are several big banks in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase is the biggest. It managed $4.00 trillion in assets at the end of 2024, more than any other U.S. bank and the fifth-highest in the world. This automaker has had a turbulent year, drawing backlash after co-founder and CEO Elon Musk became part of the Trump administration as a special government employee.
