If You’d Invested $10K in These 5 Stocks 25 Years Ago, You’d Be a Millionaire
Written by
Marc Guberti
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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Investing in benchmarks like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite can result in sizable long-term returns. For instance, Invesco’s popular QQQ ETF has generated an annualized 19.0% return over the past 15 years. That’s a much higher return than your bank’s APY, but what about turning $10,000 into $1 million?
Some stocks have produced those types of returns over the past 25 years, and they can be life-changing. Looking at stocks that have achieved this impressive feat can help investors gauge which stocks can produce those types of returns in the future.
Nvidia
On a split-adjusted basis, Nvidia stock cost $0.04 per share in 1999. A $10,000 investment in the AI giant would have brought in 250,000 shares. Those same shares are now worth $36.5 million today.
Deckers Outdoor
Deckers Outdoor is an athletic apparel company with iconic brands like HOKA and UGG. The stock was valued at $0.12 per share on a split-adjusted basis. A $10,000 investment would have been enough to buy 83,333 shares. They would be worth $16.8 million today.Â
Monster Beverage
It’s not all tech companies. Monster Beverage hovered at around $0.05 per share on a split-adjusted basis in 1999. The company’s energy drinks have since became a massive hit, and continue to gain market share. A $10,000 investment would have netted 200,000 shares, which are now worth $10.7 million.
Old Dominion Freight Line
Old Dominion Freight Line stock was worth about $0.48 per share in 1999 on a split-adjusted basis. The company offers a wide range of logistics services, and has become a leader in the industry. A $10,000 investment would have been enough for 20,833 shares, which would be worth $4.3 million.Â
The stock currently has an annual dividend of $1.04 per share, so holding onto those shares would result in $21,666.32 in annual dividend payouts, assuming they weren’t reinvested. Investors would have ended up with more than 20,833 shares if they reinvested all of the dividends.
Apple
The famed tech giant has been a top-producing stock for several years, but it was only valued at a split-adjusted $0.37 per share in 1999. A $10,000 investment would have been enough to obtain 27,027 shares, excluding dividend reinvestments. Those shares would now be worth $6.6 million.
What These Stocks Have in Common
All of the companies on this list enjoyed many years of rising revenue and profit margins. A company must be growing its top and bottom lines to warrant market outperformance. It’s also important to note how small these companies were in 1999, not just from a price-per-share standpoint.
If you want to find a stock that can turn $10,000 to $1 million in 25 years, you have to look for smaller companies. Apple only had a $6 billion market cap in January 1999. Meanwhile, Nvidia had a $4.3 billion market cap in January 1999. Deckers Outdoor only had a $20 million market cap in 1999, shortly due to its stock crash. Monster Beverage’s market cap was higher at $48 million, while Dominion Freight Lines had a $44 million market cap.
It’s riskier to invest in companies that have low market caps. While it would have been prudent to buy Deckers Outdoor, Monster Beverage and Dominion Freight Lines in 1999, it’s easy to say that in hindsight. Apple and Nvidia were more established, but still had market caps below $10 billion. Â
Smaller market caps can result in significantly outsized returns if you pick a winner, especially if the market doesn’t catch on right away. However, small-cap companies are also riskier, and are more likely to go out of business than large-cap companies.
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