“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” While a trillion-dollar price tag is likely more common in today’s inflationary times, only a handful of companies have managed to attain that real-money status. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the first to do so in 2018 but six other stocks have since attained trillion-dollar valuations.
As the market expands and businesses grow, we’ll likely see more stocks join this elite group of companies. But it’s more than just becoming trillion-dollar milestone stocks. The lofty price tag indicates a company that dominates its industry and wields incredible influence. What follows are three industry heavyweights that are on their way to commanding similar leadership over their respective fields.
Broadcom (AVGO)
For Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) to join Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) as the next chipmaker worth $1 trillion, it’s going to have to nearly double in valuation. It’s worth $550 billion now so it’s more than halfway there. As it seems with most businesses these days, artificial intelligence (AI) will be how it achieves it.
Broadcom said generative AI represented close to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter or 20% of total semiconductor revenue. Demand for its AI accelerators from hyperscalers, which are cloud service providers at scale, should drive networking revenue 30% higher in 2024.
Semiconductors remain Broadcom’s bread and butter though. Apple recently signed a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement for the chipmaker’s 5G radio frequency components for Apple products. The tech giant accounted for 20% of all Broadcom revenue in 2022 and 2023.
A third driver of growth for Broadcom will be its software business. It completed its acquisition of VMWare in November and will layer its business on top of the software operations it acquired over the years from CA, Symantec and Brocade. It now expects software will account for half of all revenue.
Broadcom has become a well-diversified business. The semiconductor industry is very cyclical and the chipmaker has now smoothed out a lot of the volatility. It also lessened its dependence on Apple. It provides a straighter road for Broadcom to achieve trillion-dollar status very soon.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
A trillion-dollar bank might seem a difficult concept to grasp but JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) is probably the first one that will achieve it. The bank is halfway there as well with a $504 billion valuation. If the economy can avoid any major tumults it might achieve it sooner than many imagine.
The high-interest rate environment we’re in will certainly benefit JPMorgan’s bottom line by accruing greater net interest income. Even as the Federal Reserve considers cutting rates it does not look like it will be in the five or six steps originally expected. Most analysts think there will be three at most. This is not some pie-in-the-sky wish-casting either. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) analyst Betsy Graseck called JPMorgan “an underappreciated rate play.” She also looks for the bank to benefit from increased fees and efficiencies.
JPMorgan has become a rock amidst the tempest of financial uncertainty. It’s much the way the bank’s namesake founder was the salvation of other Wall Street banks and the stock market after the 1907 panic that threatened to bring down the country’s entire financial system. It was JPMorgan that rescued First Republic bank during the regional banking meltdown a year ago.
JPM further benefited from the crisis as depositors flocked to its bank helping to boost its total assets to almost $4 trillion. At the end of 2023, JPMorgan held $3.9 trillion in assets. That’s 20% greater than its closest peer, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). It solidifies the banking giant’s grasp as the biggest, most valuable financial institution.
Novo Nordisk (NVO)
The last of the three stocks that will hit the trillion-dollar milestone is Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO). At a $511 billion valuation, the Danish pharmaceutical giant arguably could do it sooner than the other two.
Novo Nordisk is leading the way forward with its twin glycogen-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies for diabetes and obesity, Wegovy and Ozempic. Sales are rocketing higher and show no sign of letting up. Ozempic sales surged 66% in currency-adjusted rates while Wegovy went stratospheric with 420% gains. Based on the strength of the sales, Novo Nordisk now expects revenue to grow by as much as 26% this year with operating profits surging 29% higher.
Demand for the drugs is so great Novo Nordisk has struggled to keep up. It’s employed third-party contractors to help and committed to spending nearly $9 billion in new capacity. It does have new competition in the space from Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), which means the stock likely won’t maintain its torrid rate of growth. Share are up 65% in the past year.
The pharma stock just completed a 2-for-1 stock split in September after shares quadrupled in value over the past five years. It would require a smaller gain for NVO stock to reach $1 trillion but achieving it is not out of the question.
On the date of publication, Rich Duprey did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.