1 Stock-Split Stock — Up 27,500% in 25 Years — That’s a No-Brainer Buy in March and 1 to Avoid

Key Points

• Investors have been gravitating toward high-profile stock-split stocks for years.

• An industry-leading online travel company, with ironclad overseas market share, is trading at a 41% discount to its average forward earnings multiple over the last five years.

• Meanwhile, Wall Street’s highest-profile reverse stock split of 2025 is rife with red flags.

• 10 stocks we like better than Booking Holdings ›

Although artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated Wall Street headlines for years, it’s not the only trend that investors have been gravitating toward. On top of AI euphoria, investors can’t get enough of stock-split stocks.

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 superficial in the sense that they don’t affect a company’s market cap or its operating performance.

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While stock splits come in two varieties — forward and reverse — investors typically flock to the former and shun the latter. Reverse splits are designed to increase a company’s share price, often with the purpose of avoiding delisting from a major stock exchange. It’s the type of split typically enacted by a struggling business.

Image source: Getty Images.

Meanwhile, forward stock splits aim to make a company’s shares more nominally affordable for investors who can’t purchase fractional shares through their broker. Most companies that need to make their stock more nominally affordable for retail investors are out-innovating and out-executing their peers.

Additionally, public companies that fall into the forward split camp have historically outperformed Wall Street’s benchmark index, the S&P 500, in the 12 months following their announcement. This is why investors are usually on the lookout for Wall Street’s next blockbuster stock split.

As we ready for spring, one stock-split stock, which has skyrocketed 27,500% (including dividends) over the last quarter century, makes for a no-brainer buy in March. Meanwhile, another ultra-popular stock-split stock is best left in the display window.

The stock split-stock that makes for a no-brainer buy in March: Booking Holdings

Though a handful of high-profile companies have announced forward splits in recent memory, including streaming giant Netflix and digital workflow titan ServiceNow, it’s online travel leader Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) that stands out for all the right reasons in March.

On Feb. 18, the parent company of Booking.com, Kayak, Priceline, and OpenTable lifted the hood on its fourth-quarter and full-year operating results, which included news that its board approved a historic 25-for-1 forward split. With shares ending the Feb. 26 trading session at $4,250.26, a 25-for-1 split will lower each share to about $170 while simultaneously increasing the outstanding share count by a factor of 25. This should make it significantly easier for retail investors to participate in Booking’s ongoing growth story.

Online travel companies tend to be highly cyclical, which is a good thing from a long-term investment standpoint. While economic slowdowns and recessions are inevitable, they’re historically short-lived. Since periods of economic growth last notably longer than recessions, Booking Holdings is positioned to spend more time expanding than navigating choppy waters.

On a more company-specific basis, Booking is a juggernaut in select international markets. It’s a major player in Europe and is generating meaningful sales growth from Asia. The ironclad market share it holds in both regions has helped it sustain high-single-digit to low-double-digit sales growth.

Booking’s Connected Trip strategy, along with its incorporation of generative AI, is also pivotal to its future success. Management is leaning into generative AI for personalized travel recommendations and to assist virtual agents with automated replies. Booking’s goal is to earn a bigger piece of the travel industry’s pie by encouraging customers to bundle hotels, car rentals, and attractions with their flight purchases.

Lastly, its valuation is attractive following a nearly 30% pullback. Shares of Booking Holdings can be purchased for less than 14 times forecast earnings in 2027, representing a 41% discount to its average forward price-to-earnings ratio over the trailing five years.

Image source: Lucid.

The stock-split stock investors would be wise to avoid in March: Lucid Group

However, not all stock-split stocks are destined to be winners. Whereas Booking Holdings appears to be a bona fide bargain, investors would be best off keeping their distance from electric-vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID).

Lucid was Wall Street’s highest-profile reverse stock split of 2025, with the luxury EV manufacturer completing a 1-for-10 split that took effect before trading began on Sept. 2, 2025. At the time, it increased Lucid’s share price from nearly $2 to almost $20.

A reverse split made sense for Lucid for two reasons. One, it was getting dangerously close to falling below $1 per share — the minimum required for continued listing on the Nasdaq exchange. Secondly, some fund managers won’t buy stocks trading below $5. This move, in theory, put Lucid Group back on the radar for select money managers.

Unfortunately, cosmetic changes to Lucid’s share price haven’t improved its subpar operating performance.

With Tesla shifting away from its premium Model S to the mass-produced and considerably more affordable Model 3, the luxury EV sedan market was ripe for Lucid’s taking. However, persistent supply chain issues, coupled with waning demand for EVs, have led to ongoing disappointment for Lucid and its shareholders.

When Lucid became a public company in the summer of 2021, management was forecasting 90,000 units of production by 2024. But by 2024, the company’s EV output projection had fallen to around 9,000 units. While Lucid’s production forecast of 25,000 to 27,000 EVs in 2026 represents more than 40% growth at the midpoint, it has consistently failed to meet its own guidance.

But arguably the most damning headwind for Lucid Group is its balance sheet. Despite ample financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Lucid’s working capital is dwindling. It burned more than $2.9 billion in cash from its operating activities in 2025 and has racked up $15.6 billion in losses since inception.

Lucid’s EVs may be aesthetically pleasing, but its stock certainly isn’t. It’s a stock-split stock that investors can confidently avoid in March.

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Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Booking Holdings, Netflix, ServiceNow, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Nasdaq. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.