Key Points
-
Your money would have grown like gangbusters.
-
It’s not too late to become an Amazon.com shareholder.
-
10 stocks we like better than Amazon ›
It can be fun to play “what-if” games — including with stocks. It can sometimes get frustrating, though, such as when you’re wondering how much money you’d have if you’d invested in this or that company a decade or two ago. It’s even worse if you did buy the stock back then, but then sold way too early.
Here’s a look at what your stake would be worth if you’d invested $10,000 in Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) 20 years ago. Let’s get to the answer first: Your investment would now be worth $1,183,328. Yup — your investment would have increased in value 118-fold. If you’d started with just $1,000, you’d be sitting on $118,332, enjoying an average annual gain of roughly 27%, well above the S&P 500‘s 9.2% average.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »
Image source: Getty Images.
Here’s another way to look at the question: How many shares would you have now if you’d bought 100 shares 20 years ago? Well, the shares split 20-for-1 in that period, turning your 100 shares into 2,000. The total gain would still be a 118-fold increase, though.
Don’t kick yourself too hard. Many of us (myself included) bought and then sold Amazon along the way. Remember that most stocks, even great ones, don’t go up in a straight line. There will be ups and downs and slow years.
Fortunately, it’s not too late to buy into Amazon.com now. The shares are even appealingly valued at current levels, with a recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 35, below the five-year average of 47.
There’s still a lot of potential growth ahead. The company’s cloud-computing platform, Amazon Web Services, is a leader, with its revenue rising 17% in the last quarter, year over year. (Amazon’s overall revenue grew by 9%, which is still impressive given the company’s immense size.)
Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon right now?
Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $641,800!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,023,813!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,034% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025
John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Selena Maranjian has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
