The best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 index over the past 20 years

The American technology company Nvidia Corp. is the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 stock index, a position it has maintained for the past 20 years, according to an analysis by visualcapitalist.com, which ranked the top eight stocks in the S&P 500, according to their returns over four different time periods (5, 10, 15 and 20 years), based on data from Ycharts, accessed via Bilello Blog.

According to the cited source, as of November 30, 2024, Nvidia ranked first in all of these time periods.

• The last five years

The best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 index over the past five years are: Nvidia (technology), with a total return of 2,462%; Tesla (auto - 1,469%); Super Micro Computer (technology - 1,432%), Axon (industrial - 777%), Quanta Service (industrial - 738%); Arista Networks (technology - 732%); Texas Pacific Land Corp. (energy - 681%); Builders FirstSource (industrial - 634%). The S&P 500 index has returned 87% over the past five years, according to the cited source. It notes that while it is not surprising to see companies like Nvidia and Tesla in the ranking, there are a few companies that deserve to be highlighted. One of these is Axon, an Arizona company that makes products for law enforcement and the military. Its original product was the Taser stun gun, but today it sells a wide range of equipment, such as body-worn cameras, commonly used by police officers.

Another notable company is Texas Pacific Land, one of the largest private landowners in Texas. The company earns royalties from oil and gas production from its land and recently joined the S&P 500 index.

• Last 10 Years

Many of the companies with the biggest returns over the past decade were also included in the five-year ranking. This top 10 looks like this, according to the source cited: Nvidia (technology), with a total return of 27,360%; AMD (technology - 4,817%); Texas Pacific Land Corp. (energy - 3,558%), FICO (technology - 3,216%), Builders FirstSource (industrials - 2,927%); Axon (industrials - 2,912%); Broadcom (technology - 2,148%); Arista Networks (technology - 2,040%). The S&P 500 Index has a 10-year return of 194%.

• Last 15 Years

The best performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index over the past 15 years are: Nvidia (Technology), with a total return of 47,035%; Texas Pacific Land Corp. (Energy - 19,952%); Axon (Industrial - 15,051%), Broadcom (Technology - 14,039%), FICO (Technology - 12,800%); Netflix (Technology - 10,631%); United Rentals (Industrial - 9,544%); Domino's Pizza (Consumer - 7,271%). The S&P 500 Index has a 15-year return of 443%.

United Rentals has one of the largest rental fleets in the world, with the majority of its locations located in North America. Customers can rent construction equipment, vehicles and more.

The cited source recalls that Domino's Pizza is the largest pizza chain in the world, with over 21,000 stores globally.

• Last 20 Years

The best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 over the past 20 years are: Nvidia (technology), with a total return of 92,790%; Netflix (technology - 54,258%); Texas Pacific Land Corp. (energy - 30,461%), Apple (technology - 22,923%), Booking Holdings (consumer - 21,694%); Mosnter Beverage (consumer - 15,439%); Intuitive Surgical (healthcare - 13,889%); Amazon (consumer - 10,577%). The return of the S&P 500 index over the past 20 years is 399%.

It is worth noting that Netflix and Booking Holdings were early players in the digitization of the industries in which they operate.