Anyone can play the stock market these days, and there are a whole host of great investment options to choose from. But some stocks seem like they’re only for the rich or truly savvy, with individual share prices topping four to five hundred dollars, with a few over a thousand dollars. This is a list of the most expensive stocks at present, but as tends to happen with the market, this list is bound to change as early as tomorrow. Check them out for yourself……
[Photo via Getty Images]
10. Biglari Holdings – $439.65
The company was founded and just 2010, and owns restaurants Steak n’ Shake and Western Sizzlin’, which serve western style food at relatively cheap prices, making them some of the most popular establishments in their regions. Some consider it to be the next Berkshire Hathaway, which explains its presence here. Sardar Biglari is a huge devotee of Berkshire’s Warren Buffet, which partially explains the success of his holdings company. He still has quite a long ways to go to catch Berkshire in terms of stock value, however.
[Photo via Getty Images]
9. Google – $562.69
There’s little room for doubt as to why Google appears on a list like this, as the tech company has a hand in everything these days and is constantly growing. Its newest division include robotics, self-driving cars, and high-speed internet in addition to all its web presence. Lately it’s been Google and Apple that have been dueling in terms of share price, even if Google is largely software while Apple has more of a software focus. But that’s starting to change as both companies grow larger.
[Photo via Getty Images]
8. White Mountains Insurance Group – $599.92
White Mountains is another massive holdings company that the everyman may not have heard of, but is still hugely important in the financial sector. They specialize mainly in property and casualty insurance. The company was founded by Jack Byrne who ran American Express’s Fireman’s Fund, a troubled fund which he managed to turn around an offer an IPO for in 1985. In 1991 the company was sold to Allianz AG, while Byrne retained the Fireman’s holding company and renamed it to White Mountains.
[Photo via Getty Images]
7. Markel Corp – $646.69
Another insurance holding company, and you might start to see a trend here. Markel was technically founded in 1930, but has gone through many reinventions over the decades to become the insurance powerhouse it is today. In 1986, Markel Corp. had an IPO at $8.33 per share which valued the company at $15 million. Today, share prices are well over six hundred dollars, and the company has acquired many, many other corporations in its wake.
[Photo via Markel]
6. Apple (pre-split) – $646.83
Even though Apple’s stock recently just split, I thought it would be good to include it here based on its last high. The 2nd largest IT company in the world has been a huge force both in the tech sector and in the stock market, and it will be interesting to see what the stock split does for them. Apple’s rival Microsoft has gone down a similar path and has split its stock many times. Most of the companies here with massive share prices have opted not to split their stock, which keeps their share prices enormously high.
[Photo via Getty Images]
5. Graham Holdings Company – $701.45
Did you think we’d get more than one space without another holdings company? Graham is one of the biggest around, and used to be The Washington Post Company until a few years ago when the paper was sold. The paper famously went to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos for the price of $250 million. Once the deal was finalized, it was agreed that The Washington Post Company would have to undergo a name change, and so Graham Holdings was formed as a result.
[Photo via Graham Holdings]
4. NVR Inc. – $1137.9102
NVR is the first stock on our list to break $1,000, and it’s a mortgage and homebuilding company, which makes it just a little bit different from the others on the list. If you haven’t heard of it, you may recognize it under the name of one of its subsidiaries, Ryan Homes, NVHomes, Rymarc Homes, Fox Ridge Homes or Heartland Homes. NVR serves 365,000 customers in 15 different states. It’s mostly located in the eastern region of the US, with offices in West Virginia, South Carolina, Washington DC, Maryland and more.
[Photo via NVR]
3. Priceline – $1229.48
Yes, that’s Priceline, the travel deals site. It survived the .com boom, and has refused to split its stock ever since, which explains its enormous share price. It’s an interesting case because like these holding companies listed above, it provides no actual services. But instead of assuming Risk, Priceline serves as a portal to cheap deals on hotels and airfare. The site makes revenue working out deals with these other companies, allowing easy access to their services for their customers, passing along deals in the process. William Shatner is the famous face of the brand in all their TV commercials.
[Photo via Getty Images]
2. Seaboard Corp. – $2899.00
Seaboard is a massive conglomerate that runs a number of agriculture and ocean transport businesses. It’s one of those companies that secretly runs the world without you even knowing who they are. The most well-known of their subsidiaries to those in the US might be Butterball, the food manufacturer. Seaboard has come under fire for a few cases of cruelty to animals as they make their food. In 2012, they were said to be treating many of their pigs poorly, and Seaboard faced SEC and FTC complaints as a result.
[Photo via Getty Images]
1. Berkshire Hathaway – $192,132.76
And then we have Berkshire Hathaway, and no that price is not a typo. Warren Buffet is the mastermind behind the company, and has never split the stock since 1960. It’s an example of the concept run wild, and shows just how high stocks can get if they’re successful enough and left unsplit. Warren Buffet has also only paid a divided once in the stock’s history. Berkshire is not included in measures like the S&P 500 due to its lack of liquidity and massive size.
[Photo via Getty Images]
