If You Invested in These Popular Stocks During the COVID Pandemic, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today
Written by
John Csiszar
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
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For veteran market watchers, the volatility of the stock market in 2025 brings back echoes of 2020, when the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on asset prices. At the time, even the most popular stocks of the day suffered huge losses as investors seemed to lose total interest in owning them. But if you had the fortitude to step up and buy shares, you could have made a handsome profit in just five short years.
The lesson is an appropriate one in light of the recent market volatility. As in 2020, even the most popular market leaders have been absolutely hammered in a short period of time, with some companies down over 20% or more in a matter of days.
To help keep things in perspective, here’s a look at how five of the most popular stocks in the S&P 500 have performed over the past five years, since the approximate time of their pandemic-era lows. By way of comparison, each stock’s year-to-date performance and average analyst one-year projections are shown as well, offering a glimpse of how well the stocks might bounce back after their 2025 dips.
Nvidia (NVDA)
- Price on March 16, 2020: $4.89
- Price on April 21, 2025: $96.91
- Percentage return: 1,882%
- Year-to-date return: -28.7%
- Average analyst 12-month price target: $164.74
Nvidia may seem like a recent phenomenon to retail investors, but it’s actually been on a tear for decades. Although it’s notoriously volatile, that volatility is often to the upside. In fact, as of Dec. 10, 2024, Nvidia was the best-performing S&P 500 stock over the past five-, 10-, 15- and 20-year periods, according to Visual Capitalist.
It suffered mightily during the pandemic bear market, but that just spring-loaded the company for incredible future growth. Analysts are still bullish on the stock for the foreseeable future, as it’s the undisputed leader in artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
A $1,000 investment in Nvidia made on March 16, 2020, would be worth over $19,700 as of April 21, 2025.
Apple (AAPL)
- Price on March 16, 2020: $58.78
- Price on April 21, 2025: $193.16
- Percentage return: 229%
- Year-to-date return: -18.3%
- Average analyst 12-month price target: $237.87
Apple is likely the most well-known company on this list, as it has been innovating and developing outstanding consumer products since 1976. That was the year that the budding tech firm, co-founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, released its Apple I computer.
Like all tech stocks, Apple got absolutely creamed during the pandemic sell-off, but smart investors knew to trust the company’s unstoppable dominance. Ultimately, Apple went on to become the first company with a $3 trillion market capitalization.
If you invested $1,000 in Apple back in March 2020, you’d have nearly $3,300.
Tesla (TSLA)
- Price on March 16, 2020: $29.67
- Price on April 21, 2025: $227.50
- Percentage return: 667%
- Year-to-date return: -37.8%
- Average analyst 12-month price target: $311.27
Tesla is the very epitome of a “feast or famine” stock. For years, the stock has been caught in a tug-of-war between bullish and bearish investors. The bulls see it evolving into an AI company dominating the robotaxi and autonomous vehicle market. The bears, on the other hand, see rapidly declining auto sales, an inattentive CEO and “pie-in-the-sky” ambitions that could come to nothing.
A March 2020 $1,000 investment in Tesla would be worth over $7,500 now.
Amazon (AMZN)
- Price on March 16, 2020: $84.46
- Price on April 21, 2025: $167.32
- Percentage return: 98%
- Year-to-date return: -21.5%
- Average analyst 12-month price target: $248.71
In the tech world, if you can’t keep up with the latest trends, even with an original killer idea, you might end up on the scrap heap of “one-trick ponies.” Amazon courted this risk in its earliest days, when it was simply an online bookstore. But thanks to its ability to adapt, it now stands as the fourth-largest company in the S&P 500.
The company’s AI integration across its very profitable Amazon Web Services division have analysts excited for Amazon’s future.
A $1,000 investment in Amazon on March 16, 2020, would be worth over $1,800 as of April 21, 2025.
Meta Platforms (META)
- Price on March 16, 2020: $145.33
- Price on April 21, 2025: $484.66
- Percentage return: 233%
- Year-to-date return: -17.4%
- Average analyst 12-month price target: $722.91
Meta Platforms was still known as Facebook back in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, before it rebranded itself as its focus shifted to opportunities in the evolving metaverse. While that may not have gone as well as founder Mark Zuckerberg may have wanted, the company is still firing on all cylinders.
In addition to absolutely dominating the ever-growing social media space, the company is pulling in huge amounts of advertising revenue due to its improvements in targeted marketing. The company is also investing heavily in AI, which seems to be the wave of the future in the tech industry.
A $1,000 investment in Meta in March 2020 would be worth nearly $3,000 today.
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