[imagesource: Xijian]

It’s Amazon, isn’t it? OK fine, Apple? Microsoft?

Ah, of course, Tesla. That’s why Elon Musk was briefly the richest man in the world.

Sorry, wrong on all fronts, because the best performing company in the S&P 500 Index over the last 30 years is actually Monster Beverage Corporation.

That’s right, the energy drink guys.

Charlie Bilello, founder, and CEO of Compound Capital Advisors shared some data, which was picked up by MyBroadband.

First of all, here’s Bilello’s list of the top 30 stocks in the S&P 500 over the past 30 years, shared via his Twitter account.

You can click on the image for an enlarged version:

Those figures are accurate as of the end of February 2021, so they don’t reflect changes over the past few days.

For those wondering what an early investment in Monster would have yielded by now, $10 000 invested in Monster Beverage Corporation back in August 1995 would be worth a cool $35 million as of the end of February.

Using Bilello’s stats for the 30-year period ending December 31, 2020, MyBroadband crunched the South African numbers:

If you were a South African who invested R10,000 in the company in 1995 your return would have been even more impressive.

In August 1995, one US Dollar cost you R3.65. Fast forward 25 years and one dollar now costs around R15.00.

Image: Joe Yonan/The Washington Post

An investment of R10,000 in Monster Beverage Corporation in August 1995 would therefore now be worth R121 million.

You are still sitting pretty if you snapped up the likes of Amazon, Netflix, Starbucks, Apple, and Microsoft nice and early, but it’s Monster that’s way out in front.

Those who really want to dig deeper into the rise and rise of the energy drink company should listen to this podcast.

[source:mybroadband]