The Most Successful Stocks Of All Time

If you are looking for the next big stock, then a peek at history could help you. You can learn valuable investment lessons by studying the most successful stocks of all time. Although the most successful stocks tend to change over time, their characteristics are often the same.

For instance, successful stocks or companies are often profitable, outperform the S&P 500 for decades, and are usually household names. Let’s take look at the most successful stocks of all time.

These Are The Most Successful Stocks Of All Time

It is almost impossible to compile a true list of the most successful stocks of all time because successful companies often are acquired, split up, or merge with other successful companies.

Nonetheless, we have tried our best to compile an accurate list of the most successful stocks of all time. We used market capitalization as the parameter to determine the most successful stocks of all time:

Apple

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, makes and sells smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and related services.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	About $1.8 billion	$2.84 trillion
Share Price	$22 (10 cents on a split-adjusted basis)	$181.35

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	1.04 billion
Berkshire Hathaway	915.56 million
State Street	576.28 million
Geode Capital Management	285.17 million
Fisher Asset Management	52.35 million

Microsoft

Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) designs, makes and sells software, services, devices and solutions.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$61 million	$2.42 trillion
Share Price	$21	$326.04

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	537.57 million
State Street	292.11 million
Geode Capital Management	144.37 million
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust	39.26 million
Fisher Asset Management	24.46 million

Alphabet

Founded 2015 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) delivers online advertising, cloud-based solutions, and other related products and services, including apps, subscription-based products, and more.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$23 billion	$1.55 trillion
Share Price	$85	$122.83

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investors	No. of Shares
BlackRock	365.93 million
State Street	192.05 million
Geode Capital Management	97.33 million
Dodge & Cox	43.49 million
Sanders Capital	26.62 million

Amazon.com

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) deals in cloud computing, digital streaming, e-commerce, online advertising and artificial intelligence.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$54 million	$1.21 trillion
Share Price	$18 (7.5 cents on a split-adjusted basis)	$123.04

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	607.62 million
State Street	331.90 million
Geode Capital Management	165.31 million
Polen Capital Management	44.88 million
Fisher Asset Management	44.37 million

NVIDIA

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) designs, makes, and sells computer graphics processors, chipsets, and related multimedia software.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$40 million	$951.2 billion
Share Price	$12	$387.10

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	183.69 million
State Street	91.54 million
Geode Capital Management	46.06 million
Fisher Asset Management	10.08 million
Matrix Capital Management Company	5.41 million

Tesla

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) designs, develops, makes, and sells electric vehicles and energy generation and storage systems.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$1.7 billion	$744.39 billion
Share Price	$17	$243.88

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	178.66 million
State Street	99.68 million
Geode Capital Management	50.05 million
Primecap Management	9.88 million
DE Shaw	6.24 million

Berkshire Hathaway

Founded in 1839 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) deals in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, freight rail transportation, finance, utilities and energy, and more.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	Unavailable	$735.64 billion
Share Price	Unavailable	$510,840

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
Gardner Russo & Quinn	2,580
Davis Selected Advisers	2,040
Markel	1,110
First Eagle Investment Management	967
BlackRock	896

Meta Platforms

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) develops and operates social media applications to help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$104 billion	$678.16 billion
Share Price	$38	$264.95

Five institutions holding the stock

Hedge Fund	No. of Shares
BlackRock	152.93 million
State Street	86.99 million
Geode Capital Management	43.94 million
Sanders Capital	13.72 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	10.44 million

UnitedHealth Group

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH) offers healthcare coverage, software and data consultancy services.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$160 million	$456.42 billion
Share Price	$14	$492.63

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	74.93 million
State Street	45.55 million
Geode Capital Management	17.1 million
Sanders Capital	5.12 million
Dodge & Cox	3.49 million

Visa

Founded in 1958 and headquartered in San Francisco, California Visa Inc (NYSE:V) offers digital payment services and facilitates global commerce. The company also provides debit cards, credit cards, commercial payment solutions and prepaid products.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$44 billion	$456.25 billion
Share Price	$44	$223.75

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	123.84 million
State Street	72.90 million
Geode Capital Management	32.22 million
TCI Fund Management	19.29 million
Sands Capital Management	9.01 million

Exxon Mobil

Founded in 1882 and headquartered in Irving, Texas, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) deals in the exploration, development, and distribution of oil, gas, and petroleum products.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$1.3 billion	$437.41 billion
Share Price	$28	$107.43

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	277.97 million
State Street	219.17 million
Geode Capital Management	73.87 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	30.12 million
First Eagle Investment Management	13.44 million

Eli Lilly

Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY) discovers, develops, makes and sells pharmaceutical products, including for diabetes, oncology, immunology, neuroscience and other treatment areas.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$140 million	$423.05 billion
Share Price	$23	$446.25

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	65.57 million
State Street	33.24 million
Primecap Management	25.37 million
Geode Capital Management	14.87 million
Fisher Asset Management	4.10 million

Johnson & Johnson

Founded in 1886 and headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) develops, makes and sells healthcare-related products.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$3.5 million	$416.47 billion
Share Price	$37.50 (59 cents on a split-adjusted basis)	$160.24

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	201.49 million
State Street	140.27 million
Geode Capital Management	48.71 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	8.41 million
Fisher Asset Management	6.24 million

JPMorgan Chase

Founded in 1968 and headquartered in New York City, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) is a financial holding company that offers a range of financial and investment banking services in all capital markets.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$394 million	$411.25 billion
Share Price	$20.50	$140.71

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	193.85 million
State Street	123.86 million
Geode Capital Management	52.31 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	19.87 million
Fisher Asset Management	8.41 million

Walmart

Founded in 1945 and headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) operates in the retail and wholesale business and offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$5 million	$409.77 billion
Share Price	$16.50	$153.06

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	99.86 million
State Street	60.15 million
Geode Capital Management	25.10 million
Fisher Asset Management	8.68 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	6.82 million

Mastercard

Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Purchase, New York, Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) operates in the payments industry and helps connect consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$5.5 billion	$348.17 billion
Share Price	$39	$368.67

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	65.16 million
State Street	34.76 million
Geode Capital Management	16.37 million
Akre Capital Management	5.87 million
Polen Capital Management	5.16 million

Procter & Gamble

Founded in 1837 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) is among the world’s largest consumer goods companies. The company owns several popular brands, including Tide, Ariel, Pampers and more.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	Unavailable	$345.15 billion
Share Price	Unavailable	$146.56

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	161.84 million
State Street	102.29 million
Geode Capital Management	46.75 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	8.44 million
Sanders Capital	6.75 million

Broadcom

Founded in 1961 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) designs, develops and sells semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$8.2 billion	$331.88 billion
Share Price	$24	$804.55

Five Institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	29.84 million
State Street	16.63 million
Geode Capital Management	7.81 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	1.92 million
Fisher Asset Management	1.19 million

Home Depot

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) deals in the sale of building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, and decor products.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$1 billion	$302.71 billion
Share Price	$12	$297.50

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	77.14 million
State Street	45.56 million
Geode Capital Management	19.14 million
Fisher Asset Management	8.40 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	3.84 million

Chevron

Founded in 1906 and headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) offers administrative, financial management and technology support to companies for energy and chemical operations.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	Unavailable	$301.7 billion
Share Price	Unavailable	$159.06

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	133.84 million
Berkshire Hathaway	132.41 million
State Street	125.82 million
Geode Capital Management	32.63 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	12.47 million

Oracle

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) offers products and services that target all corporate information technology needs.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$292 million	$290.17 billion
Share Price	$15	$110

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	117.13 million
State Street	62.59 million
Geode Capital Management	27.75 million
First Eagle Investment Management	20.67 million
Harris Associates	19.18 million

Merck

Founded in 1891 and headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey, Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) provides health solutions through its prescription medicines, biologic therapies, animal health and consumer care products, and vaccines.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$2.47 billion	$279.93 billion
Share Price	$23.50	$110.70

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
BlackRock	209.10 million
State Street	116.39 million
Geode Capital Management	51.22 million
Fisher Asset Management	12.35 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	9.50 million

Coca-Cola

Founded in 1886 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) makes and sells non-alcoholic beverages.

	IPO	Today (as of this writing)
Market Cap	$24 million	$261.07 billion
Share Price	$40	$60.50

Five institutions holding the stock

Institutional Investor	No. of Shares
Berkshire Hathaway	400 million
BlackRock	311.54 million
State Street	169.62 million
Geode Capital Management	76.98 million
Dimensional Fund Advisors	13.78 million

FAQ

Which stock has had the highest return in the last 30 years?

• Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) (on the basis of 30-year total return – 213,088%)
• Apple (on the basis of annualized dollar weighted return – 23.5%)

What would $1,000 invested in Apple in 1984 be worth today?

Apple shares traded at a split-adjusted price of 13 cents on Jan. 23, 1984. Thus, one could have purchased 7,692.31 Apple shares with $1,000. Based on Apple’s current share price of $181.43 (at the time of writing), a $1,000 investment in 1984 would be worth nearly $1.4 million today.

What is the fastest-growing stock in history?

Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ) is considered to be the fastest-growing stock in history. This China-based company is a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon, which is a key component for solar panels. It has generated a total return of 280% over the last three years (compared to 25% for the S&P 500).

What is the best stock to buy right now?

Many stocks could fall in the category of the best stocks to buy right now, including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY), JD.Com Inc (NASDAQ:JD), Alphabet, Amazon and CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE).