Kiplinger

The 10 Best Tech Stocks of All Time

The best tech stocks today have been helping the market hit record highs seemingly every other day. That's no secret. Less well-known is how technology has delivered such a disproportionate amount of the market's lifetime wealth creation.

We know of tech's outsize role because a finance professor made a startling discovery about the stock market: Over a 90-year span, 96% of all stocks collectively performed no better than risk-free one-month Treasury bills. After analyzing the lifetime returns of 25,967 common stocks, Hendrik Bessembinder determined that just 1,092 of those stocks - or about 4% of the total - generated all of the $34.8 trillion in wealth created for shareholders by the stock market between July 1926 and December 2016. Even more striking, a mere 50 stocks accounted for almost 40% of that amount.

You can see where this is heading. Of these elite 50 names, fully one in five is a tech stock. In other words, when it comes to lifetime wealth creation, the best tech stocks have punched well above their weight.

Before we get to our profiles of the 10 best-performing tech stocks of all time, a word of caution. Accurately identifying the

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Kiplinger

Kiplinger5 min read
4 Steps for Managing Income Withdrawals in Retirement
If you’re like most Americans nearing retirement, you’re worried about whether you have enough savings. In fact, only 22% of those approaching retirement believe they’ve saved enough to retire comfortably. At a time when the stock market is down, inf
Kiplinger4 min read
Got Crypto? The IRS Really Wants to Know
The 2022 crypto price crash understandably has some investors concerned. But for those of you who haven’t run for the hills, it’s worth knowing that cryptocurrency currently has the attention of not only the Biden administration, and Congress, but th
Kiplinger4 min readAmerican Government
Where the Midterm Election Races Stand Today
With the congressional midterm elections only weeks away, here’s how we think things will shake out. In early spring, Republicans appeared well on their way to steamroll through the midterms and win back control of the House and Senate. Democrats wer

Related Books & Audiobooks