These are the 10 best performing stocks of all time

• New research identifies the 10 best-performing US stocks since 1926.

• Of the 29,000 U.S. stocks traded since 1926, most had negative returns, but the top performers showed consistent gains.

• The study confirms the importance of ‘time in the market’, according to the author, Hendrik Bessembinder.

A new research paper examined all 29,078 US stocks in existence since 1926 and identified the ten best-performing stocks of all time.

These stocks, some of which are household names, have generated enormous wealth for those who bought even one share of the company and held it for almost 100 years.

Of course, identifying the ten best-performing stocks for the next hundred years is virtually impossible, as the author of the article notes.

“The majority (51.6%) of these stocks had a negative cumulative return,” wrote Finance Professor Hendrik Bessembinder of Arizona State University.

But with a healthy dose of luck, the dollar invested in 1926 would have been worth $2.67 million by the end of 2023, assuming it was invested in the right company.

Bessembinder also noted that the top 10 performing stocks consistently delivered modest year-over-year gains, reinforcing the slow and steady mantra of long-term investors.

“The compound annualized returns of these top performers were relatively modest, with an average of 13.47% for the top seventeen stocks, confirming the importance of ‘time in the market,’” Bessembinder wrote.

From soda to cigarettes to computers and airplanes, these are the 10 best-performing U.S. stocks since 1926, according to the newspaper, which assumed dividends were reinvested.

1. Pepsico

ticker: FUT
Return on $1 invested: $86,360
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 29, 2023

1. Coca-Cola

ticker: KO
Return on $1 invested: $123,724
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 29, 2023

1. S&P Global

ticker: SPGI
Return on $1 invested: $128,787
Investment date: February 14, 1929 – December 29, 2023

1. Eaton

ticker: ETN
Return on $1 invested: $151,173
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 29, 2023

1. International business machines

ticker: IBM
Return on $1 invested: $175,437
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 29, 2023

5. Boeing

ticker: BA
Return on $1 invested: $212,206
Investment date: September 5, 1934 – December 29, 2023

1. General dynamics

ticker: GD
Return on $1 invested: $220,850
Investment date: January 28, 1926 – December 29, 2023

1. Kansas City South

ticker: Deleted after takeover in 2021 by Canadian Pacific
Return on $1 invested: $361,757
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 13, 2021

The story continues

1. Vulcan materials

ticker: VMC
Return on $1 invested: $393,492
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 29, 2023

1. Altria Group

ticker: MO
Return on $1 invested: $2,655,290
Investment date: December 31, 1925 – December 29, 2023

Read the original article Business insider