You're looking at investing all wrong.

The price of a stock isn't important. It's better to own 10 shares of a good $100 stock than 100 shares of a crappy $10 stock.

Splits don't mean that much either. For example, after a 2:1 split, you'd have 20 shares of a $50 stock, rather than the 10 shares of the $100 stock. No gain.

If you're looking for semi-regular income, then a dividend paying stock can be a good part of your portfolio. However, a dividend is no assurance that a stock's price will keep rising.
Some VERY profitable stocks (like Google, GOOG) don't pay dividends.

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