Along the way, it beefed up its businesses by buying or merging with MetraHealth, HealthWise of America and AmeriChoice, among many others. Intel (INTC) has been one of the best stocks of the past 30 years, but it’s hard to see the semiconductor maker extending that record for another 30 years. First and foremost, Zynga works in close partnership with Meta (formerly Facebook), and both companies had their initial public offerings within the same year.
US stocks that increased the most in price
(keep in mind that these numbers are calculated after Tesla stock split). Microsoft’s focus on enterprise customers and – most importantly – its shift to selling cloud-based services such as Azure and Office 365 have been an astounding success. Today, Microsoft is a dominant player in cloud computing, and the stock price shows it.
The largest gain that was made by a blue-chip company took place in 2008. Investors were expecting negative developments and were actively short selling when Porsche announced that the company had already acquired about 75% of Volkswagen. As a result, Volkswagen share prices increased by 93% in a single day. The biggest short squeeze in history happened to Volkswagen stock in 2008.
What Was the Biggest Short Squeeze in History?
However, these 30 top stocks – a fairly familiar collection of Dow stocks, longtime dividend growth stocks, and mostly well-known foreign firms – have generated massive wealth for a great many investors over the decades. Stocks rising and falling is an everyday occurrence but when a market mover drags down an entire sector—and sometimes the entire market—people take notice. Below, we list some of the biggest price shocks in stock market history, as well as the winners and losers. Prices rise and fall as speculators place their bets, based on uncertain predictions of future price movements. But sometimes, the price can rise or fall astronomically in a matter of days.
- The combined company continued on its acquisitive path, and today claims a total of 75 prestige brands (or maisons, as the company calls them) organized into six business groups.
- A series of acquisitions and partnerships have been critical to driving the company’s outsized wealth creation over the past three decades.
- Each company is briefly discussed, focusing on its industry, growth metrics, and specific factors contributing to its success.
- Dow Jones on March 15, 1933, has gained 15.34% just in a single day, while Volkswagen became the world’s biggest firm by market capitalization after Porsche unexpectedly bought the company’s shares.
- The main fuel that has driven Nvidia’s rise to 3 trillion dollars in market capitalization was the first Ethereum mining, where miners were buying all the available Video Cards.
These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
The iconic tech firm was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2015, replacing AT&T (T). True, AAPL stock traded sideways for the first few years of the 21st century, but an explosion of innovation soon put an end to that. Under the visionary leadership of the late Steve Jobs, Apple essentially reinvented itself for the mobile age, launching revolutionary gadgets such as the iPod, MacBook and iPad. To say that Apple (AAPL) had a better time of it than Microsoft in the decade following the bursting of the tech bubble is quite an understatement.
The company was formed in 1987 via the merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with Moët Hennessy. The combined company continued on its acquisitive path, and today claims a total of 75 prestige brands (or maisons, as the company calls them) organized into six business groups. Certainly not the managers of Melvin Capital, one of several hedge funds that began placing multi-billion dollar short trades against GameStop (GME) in the lead-up to the 2020 holiday season. The price of the stock plummeted, dropping 26% during the day, erasing hundreds of billions of dollars in the process. The market held an overwhelmingly bearish outlook on its prospects, and the stock consequently fell victim to an unusually high number of short-sellers.
But more than any other endeavor, shareholders can credit Samsung’s success in mobile devices for cracking this list of the best stocks of the past three decades. Indeed, Samsung handsets are the perennial leader in global market share. Shareholders can credit the company’s outsized wealth creation to a remarkable track record of long-term growth on both its top and bottom lines. Taiwan Semiconductor boasts a compound annual revenue growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2% since 1994.
However, black swan events often seem inevitable when viewed retrospectively. Gateway Industries was by all measures an insignificant website design firm. Trading for just a penny per share, its sole employee, CEO Jack Howard, wasn’t considered particularly talented.
Historical Stock Market Events and FAQs
Prodigious consumption of Kweichow Moutai’s spirits and wines helped create nearly $400 billion in wealth over the past three decades – albeit with much of that wealth piling up rather recently. Lockdowns led to a surge in demand for spirits, which in turn sent shares soaring nearly 70% in 2020. The company’s Optum business is one of the largest pharmacy benefits managers in the U.S. and has been a main driver of UNH’s share-price outperformance over the past few years.
Apple
Of course, identifying the 30 best-performing stocks for the next 100 years is nearly impossible, as the paper’s author points out.
- A study of the performance of more than 64,000 global stocks from January 1990 to December 2020 revealed that the compound returns of 55.2% of U.S. stocks, as well as 57.4% of non-U.S.
- The sprawling South Korean technology and industrial conglomerate is engaged in a vast swath of activities.
- The company was incorporated under the UnitedHealthcare name in 1977 and went public in 1984.
The most important lesson for investors who are seeking to buy the next big stock is biggest stock gainers of all time to ensure their preferred company is innovative, has visionary leadership, and is relevant to current market trends. Investors should also diversify their portfolio by investing not only in tech-heavy stocks such as APPLE or Nvidia but also in other sectors to mitigate risks and increase their chances of catching big gainers. Companies that can adapt to changing market dynamics guided by strong leadership can be a good investment opportunity. Timing can also play a role in detecting and investing early before the price reaches its peak. The sprawling South Korean technology and industrial conglomerate is engaged in a vast swath of activities.
The company, which trades only on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, is the world’s largest beverage company, with a market value of roughly U.S. $345 billion. Diageo (DEO) is a distant second with less than half its Chinese counterpart’s market cap. Altria (MO) is another stock whose greatest days of wealth creation are probably behind it. What’s troubling is that Intel missed opportunities in mobile and numerous other applications. As a result, the Dow stock has been a market laggard for quite some time and has never recaptured its 2000 tech-bubble levels. The pursuit of diversification through acquisitions – and the fact that luxury goods tend to hold up comparatively well during economic downturns – has allowed LVMH to create outsized wealth over the past three decades.
The main fuel that has driven Nvidia’s rise to 3 trillion dollars in market capitalization was the first Ethereum mining, where miners were buying all the available Video Cards. Later, the Artificial Intelligence gold rush, where GPUs are widely used to train neural networks. Nvidia’s stock saw rapid growth in the mid-2010s, accelerating further due to the boom in gaming, mining, data centers, and AI technologies.
The holding company also has a large diagnostics business, but it’s the pharma division – and its leadership in cancer treatments – that gets the most attention from global investors. KO has maintained its edge over the decades by adding teas, coffee, sports and energy drinks, bottled waters, juices, and dairy and plant-based beverages to its traditional portfolio of fizzy refreshments. The company’s ever-expanding lineup has allowed it to remain relevant as one of the world’s most recognizable brands, even as consumers’ thirst for carbonated beverages has cooled. But what really changed the company’s fortunes was its often painful transition away from traditional software licensing to providing cloud-based services.
If you had invested in 2010 in AAPL, your investment would be worth 14.4 times more today. Apple makes quality products and has a loyal customer base that keep the company ahead of its competition in terms of market capitalization. Monster Energy is also one of the biggest share gains of all time, and probably the most surprising one so far. Monster Energy is an energy beverage that was launched in April 2002 by Hansen Natural Company (now Monster Beverage Corporation).
Altria
Nestlé serves as proof that when held patiently over several market cycles, defensive dividend payers can create more than their fair share of wealth over the long haul. Demand for products such as Charmin toilet paper, Crest toothpaste, Tide laundry detergent, Pampers diapers and Gillette razors tends to remain stable in both good times and bad. Well more than 60 consecutive years of annual dividend hikes – PG is a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats – also helped smooth out the ups and downs of the business cycle. Home Depot (HD), the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, has been a publicly traded company since 1981.
It’s also no coincidence that the world’s largest food company by revenue is a dividend stalwart. This European Dividend Aristocrat has a quarter-century of stable or rising payouts to its name. Wall Street typically ranks HD as one of its favorite Dow stocks, with analysts expecting even more outperformance in the years ahead. Bulls say the relentless global adoption of digital transactions should keep Mastercard’s record for wealth creation on track for the foreseeable future. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 4.6 million shares in Mastercard – a position initiated by lieutenant portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.