What if you invested $1,000 in Apple 20 years ago?
What does that look like on a brokerage statement? Check out the above chart and you'll see that if you invested $1,000 in Apple stock 20 years ago, it would today be worth almost $530,000. The same $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 would have theoretically turned into $6,186 over the same period.
If you had invested $1,000 in Apple stock on Feb. 4, 1997, today, you would have $1,343,269. Likewise, if you had invested $1,000 in an index fund replicating Nasdaq, you would have $11,038. A similar $1,000 investment in an index fund that replicates the S&P 500 would be worth $6,140.
Those gains translate to a 36.6% compound annual growth rate for Apple compared to a 7.4% CAGR for the S&P 500 in that time. That means that $10,000 in AAPL stock purchased 20 years ago would be worth about $5.08 million today, assuming reinvested dividends.
Therefore, if you had invested $1,000 in Apple stock in 1990, it would be worth approximately $598,972.50 today.
Apple debuted on the public markets in 1980. If you invested $1,000 in the company, then your investment would now be worth nearly $1.5 million. But how many people buy a stock on its IPO? Very few, especially in the 1980s when stocks weren't as accessible as they are now.
But if you were smart enough to invest $1,000 in Apple stock at the start of the year 2000, you'd be sitting on a monster gain of 21,230%. This means that modest investment would be worth a whopping $213,000 today (as of July 27).
Jake Lerch (Apple): A relatively modest investment of $10,000 in Apple when Steve Jobs returned to the company in February 1997 would have grown to more than $14 million today. AAPL total return level data by YCharts. Most of that astonishing return can be chalked up to the iPhone.
Those gains translate to a 23.2% compound annual growth rate for Amazon compared to a 6.2% CAGR for the S&P 500 in that time. As a result, $10,000 in AMZN stock purchased 20 years ago would now be worth $645,262.
If you had invested $1,000 during Amazon's IPO in May 1997, your investment would be worth $1,341,000 as of August 31, according to CNBC calculations.
Indeed, Apple shares will never get back to $700, says The Economist.
What if you invested $1,000 in Walmart 20 years ago?
To get a sense of what that sort of underperformance looks like on an account statement, have a look at the chart below. This chart illustrates the disconcerting fact that if you invested $1,000 in Walmart stock 20 years ago, today it would be worth only about $4,400.
Factoring in the company's five stock splits, these 454 shares would have increased to 101,696 shares, as of today. With Apple closing last week at $140.09, it means an initial $10,000 investment nearly 42 years ago would now be worth $14,246,593. Keep in mind that this figure doesn't take into account dividends paid.
Had you invested $1,000 in Microsoft 10 years ago, you would have turned a hefty profit by today. According to computations by CNBC, that modest amount would already have been worth $11,400 as of Nov. 9, 2023.
In other words, that $1,000 investment in 1980 would be worth more than $1.26 million today! But that's not all, because Apple has paid a dividend in several years since 1987. Assuming you never sold a single share along the way, you would've collected an additional $155,131 in dividend payments!
Stand pat on Apple
Moreover, with the stock trading at a 30 P/E ratio, it provides no obvious avenue for multiple expansion, a factor that's likely to limit its stock returns further. That could prompt Berkshire Hathaway to sell some of its shares, which in turn could negatively influence the stock.
Ten years ago, at market close on March 28, 2014, Apple's stock was trading at $16.85 per share. This means that $100,000 invested in Apple in March 2014 would be worth more than $1 million today.
If you had invested $1,000 in Apple stock on Jan. 9, 2001, today, you would have $604,588, 23 years later. On the other hand, a similar investment in the Nasdaq index would be worth $6,080, and the S&P 500 worth $3,662. Since their launch, the iTunes software as well as the music store have come a long way ahead.
That $1,000 investment would be worth $31,247,366,635.40 today based on a price of $28,122.63 for Bitcoin at the time of writing.
If you invested in Apple 10 years ago, that decision would have paid off. According to CNBC calculations, a $1,000 investment made on May 1, 2009, would be worth more than $13,000 as of midday May 1, 2019, for a total return of more than 1,200%. Over the same period, the S&P 500 returned just over 300%.
| Company | Ticker | $10,000 Investment 10-Years Ago Now Worth |
|---|---|---|
| Tesla | TSLA | $2,083,547.0 |
| Nvidia | NVDA | $860,199.4 |
| Patrick Industries | PATK | $427,369.4 |
| Repligen | RGEN | $719,857.1 |
What if you invested $10,000 in Tesla 10 years ago?
Tesla's Stock Trajectory
A $10,000 investment ten years ago, when the stock traded at $13.20, would have bought 757 shares. At the current price, those shares would be worth $125,910, a nearly 13-fold ROI.
As a result, those who bought $10,000 worth of Amazon's stock in January 2013 would have $78,138.51 today, with an annual rate of return of 22.42%. The growth proves the importance of holding stocks over the long term, as doing so can safeguard your investment against short-term headwinds.
Amazon stock hit $2,000 per share for the first time Thursday.
Five years ago, Amazon shares were $70.26 each. So, with $1,000 to invest, I could have bought 14 shares, leaving me $16.36 as spare change. At today's share price of $97.24, my position would be worth $1,361.36. Despite the roller-coaster ride, that's still a respectable 38% return over five years.
Achieving this milestone isn't a walk in the park by any means, but it can be more accomplishable than many realize, thanks to the power of investing and compound interest. A $10,000 investment in Microsoft 30 years ago, at the start of January 1994, would be worth nearly $2.4 million today with dividends reinvested.
