5 years ago Google (GOOG) went public. Now at over $400 a share I could really careless what the stock does. Whether it is under or overvalued. The stock is just not in my price range; however, its interesting to compare what other stocks have done within that same 5 year span.
Who has outperformed Google?
The table below lists the S&P 500′s best performers since Google’s market debut on Aug. 19, 2004.
| Company | 8/19/2004 | 8/19/2009 | Change |
| Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) | $15.36 | $164.60 | 972% |
| Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG) | $24.48 | $222.51 | 809% |
| Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN) | $4.31 | $38.74 | 799% |
| Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) | $9.91 | $49.81 | 403% |
| Monsanto (NYSE: MON) | $18.13 | $81.79 | 351% |
| Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) | $7.17 | $32.10 | 348% |
| $100.34 | $443.97 | 342% |
Somehow I don’t seem surprised to see Apple (AAPL) on top. Out of the 6 stocks, Apple and Monsanto (MON) were the only stocks that were already listed.
The Search Engine Battle
This next chart is more evidence to show how much of a death grip Google has on the search market. The table below lists the performance values for Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO), and Google, since Google jumped on the scene.
| Company | 8/19/2004 | 8/18/2009 | Change |
| $100.34 | $445.28 | 344% | |
| Yahoo! | $28.11 | $14.75 | (48%) |
| Microsoft | $22.59 | $23.58 | 4% |
The numbers pretty much speak for themselves. It will be interesting to see where Google is in another 5 years. You have to imagine their imprint could be even bigger than today, with their expansion into open office solutions and software.
Better yet, what stocks will explode over the next 5 years that will have us kicking ourselves in the behind?
Source – Fool