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These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A new research paper has examined all 29,078 US stocks that have existed since 1926 and identified the top 30 performers of all time.

These stocks, some of them household names, have generated enormous wealth for those who purchased even just one share of the company and held on to it for nearly 100 years.

Of course, identifying the 30 best-performing stocks for the next 100 years is nearly impossible, as the paper's author points out.

"The majority (51.6%) of these stocks had negative cumulative returns," finance professor Hendrik Bessembinder of Arizona State University wrote.

But with a healthy dose of luck, $1 invested in 1926 would have been worth $2.67 million at the end of 2023, assuming it was invested in the right company.

Bessembinder also observed that the 30 best-performing stocks delivered consistently modest annualized gains, reinforcing the slow and steady mantra championed by long-term investors.

"Annualized compound returns to these top performers relatively were modest, averaging 13.47% across the top seventeen stocks, thereby affirming the importance of 'time in the market," Bessembinder wrote.

From soda to cigarettes to computers and airplanes, these are the 30 top-performing US stocks since 1926, according to the paper, which assumed that dividends were reinvested.

  1. Emerson Electric

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Emerson Electric Company Canadian headquarters is shown in Markham. Reuters/Mike Cassese

Ticker: EMR
Return of $1 invested: $24,098
Investment date: September 5, 1944 - December 29, 2023

  1. Walgreens Boots Alliance

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
A Walgreens store in Richmond, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Ticker: WBA
Return of $1 invested: $27,053
Investment date: February 15, 1934 - December 29, 2023

  1. Kroger

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Ticker: KR
Return of $1 invested: $28,345
Investment date: January 26, 1928 - December 29, 2023

  1. Pfizer

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
AP

Ticker: PFE
Return of $1 invested: $28,990
Investment date: January 17, 1944 - December 29, 2023

  1. Tootsie Roll

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
A Tootsie Roll bag of candy is seen in New York Thomson Reuters

Ticker: TR
Return of $1 invested: $34,401
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. Bristol-Myers Squibb

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Ticker: BMY
Return of $1 invested: $34,867
Investment date: September 8, 1933 - December 29, 2023

  1. Caterpillar

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Caterpillar Seth Perlman/ AP Photo

Ticker: CAT
Return of $1 invested: $36,903
Investment date: December 2, 1929 - December 29, 2023

  1. FMC Corp

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Markets Insider

Ticker: FMC
Return of $1 invested: $37,001
Investment date: April 22, 1931 - December 29, 2023

  1. Trane Technologies

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Markets Insider

Ticker: TT
Return of $1 invested: $39,238
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. Northrop Grumman

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
A UAV helicopter build by Northrop Gruman is on deck aboard the soon to be commissioned littoral combat ship USS Coronado during a media tour in Coronado, California April 3, 2014 Reuters

Ticker: NOC
Return of $1 invested: $39,495
Investment date: December 10, 1951 - December 29, 2023

  1. Exxon Mobil

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
AP

Ticker: XOM
Return of $1 invested: $40,273
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. UST Inc

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
A man holds an electronic cigarette as he vapes at a Vape Shop in Monterrey, Mexico. UST produced smokeless tobacco products. File photo. Daniel Becerril/Reuters

Ticker: Delisted after acquisition by Altria in 2009
Return of $1 invested: $43,963
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - January 5, 2009

  1. CVS Health

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
CVS said it was reviewing the FDA announcement regarding dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone. MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images

Ticker: CVS
Return of $1 invested: $46,939
Investment date: September 27, 1928 - December 29, 2023

  1. Archer Daniels Midland

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
The Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York Reuters

Ticker: ADM
Return of $1 invested: $51,811
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. Johnson & Johnson

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Ticker: JNJ
Return of $1 invested: $54,281
Investment date: September 25, 1944 - December 29, 2023

  1. Wyeth

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Reuters

Ticker: Delisted after acquisition by Pfizer in 2009
Return of $1 invested: $57,024
Investment date: April 29, 1926 - October 15, 2009

  1. Hershey

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Hershey

Ticker: H
Return of $1 invested: $69,099
Investment date: December 1, 1927 - December 29, 2023

  1. Deere & Co

    These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
    John Deere equipment is seen at a John Deere dealership in Taylor, Texas Reuters

Ticker: DE
Return of $1 invested: $69,886
Investment date: June 29, 1933 - December 29, 2023

  1. Universal Corp

    These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
    Farm workers make their way across a field shrouded in fog as they hoe weeds from a burley tobacco crop near Warsaw, Ky., in this Thursday, July 10, 2008 file photo. Ed Reinke/AP/FILE

Ticker: UVV
Return of $1 invested: $70,318
Investment date: November 11, 1927 - December 29, 2023

  1. Abbott Laboratories

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
REUTERS/Handout via Abbott Laboratories Thomson Reuters

Ticker: ABT
Return of $1 invested: $78,038
Investment date: March 1, 1937 - December 29, 2023

  1. Pepsico

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

Ticker: PEP
Return of $1 invested: $86,360
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. Coca-Cola

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
8.5 ounce bottles of Coca-Cola at the Cadillac Championship golf tournament in Doral, Fla. AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

Ticker: KO
Return of $1 invested: $123,724
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. S&P Global

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Getty Images

Ticker: SPGI
Return of $1 invested: $128,787
Investment date: February 14, 1929 - December 29, 2023

  1. Eaton

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Eaton

Ticker: ETN
Return of $1 invested: $151,173
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

  1. International Business Machines

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Ticker: IBM
Return of $1 invested: $175,437
Investment date: December 31, 1925- December 29, 2023

5. Boeing

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner. ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Ticker: BA
Return of $1 invested: $212,206
Investment date: September 5, 1934 - December 29, 2023

  1. General Dynamics

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
General Dynamics MPF General Dynamics via U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center

Ticker: GD
Return of $1 invested: $220,850
Investment date: January 28, 1926 - December 29, 2023

  1. Kansas City Southern

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ticker: Delisted after 2021 acquisition by Canadian Pacific
Return of $1 invested: $361,757
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 13, 2021

  1. Vulcan Materials

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
Vulcan Materials

Ticker: VMC
Return of $1 invested: $393,492
Investment date: December 31, 1925- December 29, 2023

  1. Altria Group

These are the 30 best-performing stocks of all time
AP

Ticker: MO
Return of $1 invested: $2,655,290
Investment date: December 31, 1925 - December 29, 2023

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