Nvidia stock: $1,000 buy 20 years ago would be nearly $1 million now

In a note on Tuesday, Bespoke calculated that a $1,000 investment in Nvidia stock 20 years ago would be worth about $944,000 now, meaning you would be on the cusp of being a millionaire.

Maybe that’s not quite enough to immediately quit your job and retire, but more money on the front end would’ve certainly gotten you there. A $10,000 Nvidia investment would be worth $9.44 million today, and $100,000 would be $94.4 million, according to Bespoke.

Of course, that would’ve required a significant level of faith to hold onto Nvidia through some white-knuckle market downturns like the Great Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive rate-hiking campaign in over 40 years.

Bespoke also pointed out that Nvidia is the best performer on a total-return basis over the last two decades among all stocks on the S&P 1500, which includes the large-cap S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600.

You can thank the AI boom, which propelled Nvidia from a chip company best known for graphics processors used in video games to the indispensable supplier of technology that powers generative AI. In a sign of the times, the stock replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average last month.

Meanwhile, Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang has done well for himself too. He’s number 11 on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index with a net worth of $118 billion.

Another company that also experienced a transformation and has delivered massive gains is Netflix, which went from renting out DVDs by mail to becoming a streaming and original content powerhouse that has upended Hollywood.

Bespoke calculated that a $1,000 investment in Netflix stock 20 year ago would be worth more than $550,000 today.

Nvidia and Netflix are among eight stocks that have turned $1,000 into more than $100,000 over the last 20 years. Others include Texas Pacific Land, Apple, Booking Holdings, Monster Beverage, Intuitive Surgical, and Amazon, Bespoke said.

NFL legend Rob Gronkowski also showed us the power of picking the right stock at the right time. He told Fortune that he bought $69,000 worth of Apple stock on advice from his contractor 10 years ago, and that investment is now worth $600,000. 

“Let me tell you, he built my house, and he gave all the money back to me by telling me to invest in Apple,” he said.

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