Imagine it’s 2015. You’ve just gone to the movies to see Inside Out, and you’re playing with Snapchat filters on your phone. You’ve also just bought $1,000 of shares in Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). Flash forward to 2025. How much is your stake worth now?
Here’s the answer: $3,470. Pretty great, right? You’d have enjoyed an annualized return of 13.2%. Given the S&P 500 has delivered an annual long-term return close to 10% (ignoring inflation), that 13.2% beats the market’s historical average by a wide margin.
But the S&P 500 has had a much stronger decade with an annualized gain of 12.9%, nearly matching Salesforce’s performance.