It’s been exactly 10 years since Steve Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO. And Apple stock definitely lost much of its wow factor in the S&P 500, Matt Krantz writes for Investor’s Business Daily.
Matt Krantz for Investor’s Business Daily:
Shares of the technology giant are up 1,022% since Tim Cook replaced Jobs as the Apple CEO on Aug. 24, 2010. Yes, that tops the S&P 500’s 286% rise in that time. But it ranks Apple stock just 45th for stock gains in that time in the S&P 500. That gain barely puts Apple in the top 10% among the 459 current S&P 500 members trading since then, says an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
Apple stock simply is not the exceptional S&P 500 stock it used to be.
Apple stock soared 6,712% in the roughly 14 years following Jobs’ return to Apple in Sept. 1997 until he resigned for health reasons. That made Apple the S&P 500’s No. 2 top stock following only Monster Beverage (MNST), which shot up 39,344% in that time riding the energy drink craze.
And Apple stock’s remarkable 15,839% run from 1982 up until Jobs’ tenure ended in 2011 is one of Wall Street legend. It ranks third among the S&P 500 in that time… Apple’s not even the top-performing S&P 500 technology stock anymore with Cook at the helm [it’s Nvidia].
Apple stock is getting lapped by many of its top rival’s stocks. Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN) are up 1,587% since Cook took over ranking it No. 20 in the S&P 500 in that time. And even historical arch rival Microsoft (MSFT) is topping a post-Jobs Apple stock. Despite Apple’s relentless advertising painting Microsoft as hopelessly outmoded, Microsoft stock is up 1,132%, topping Apple.
MacDailyNews Take: You cannot replace Steve Jobs. Period.
Elevating Mr. Lukewarm Wallpaper Paste to CEO, will necessarily dim Apple’s “wow factor.” Jobs likely expected as much.
Let’s face it: Elon Musk should hire Tim Cook to do PR for The Boring Company.
Now in defense of AAPL stock, Apple is the a top payer of S&P 500 dividends in terms of sheer dollars, as Krantz reminds. Apple is paying out $12.3 billion annually in dividends, secondly only to Exxon Mobil at $12.4 billion a year.