Consumer products have proven themselves to be excellent long-term investment options. The track record goes as far back as the 19th century when companies like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble began to established decades-long track records of growth.
Virtually nobody alive today was around to benefit directly from those initial public offerings (IPOs), so their history of growth is less beneficial to today's investors. Fortunately, some of the consumer growth stories I found actually occurred during the lifetimes of many current investors.
Additionally, some of these stocks were priced at a point where an average investor might have been comfortable buying $1,000 worth of shares. Three of the best examples of this growth over the last 30 years are Apple (AAPL -0.35%), Amazon (AMZN 3.43%), and Monster Beverage (MNST 0.41%).
Apple
Apple may have launched its IPO in 1980, but a sustainable boom in the stock price didn't begin until Steve Jobs returned to the company in February 1997. Jobs sought to remake the Mac into a PC that could compete against Microsoft even as it partnered with that company to offer Mac-compatible versions of Microsoft's productivity tools. Apple also changed how consumers listened to music with the iPod.
However, it was the launch of the iPhone in 2007 that eventually turned Apple into the world's largest publicly traded company. The iPhone was so successful that it launched a new industry around smartphones, and that product drives the majority of the company's revenue to this day.
Moreover, it has expanded into wearables and has more recently seen its largest growth in Apple Services, which includes Apple TV, Apple Pay, and other service-related offerings.
Thanks to that success, a $1,000 investment in this tech stock when Steve Jobs took back his CEO title in 1997 rose to just over $1.2 million in October 2023. Today's investors shouldn't expect a 1,200-fold return. However, the enduring popularity of the iPhone and Apple's services business should keep the company on a long-term growth trajectory.
Amazon
Amazon was an e-commerce pioneer that sold little more than books when it launched its IPO in May 1997. Additionally, the stock was one of the more notable victims of the dot-com bust as it lost over 90% of its value between 1999 and 2002.
Nonetheless, the company changed significantly over time. By 1998, it had started to expand beyond books into other types of merchandise. It also ventured into tech in 2006, launching the cloud industry with the introduction of Amazon Web Services (AWS), which constitutes most of its operating income today.
Such expansions made it so successful that a $1,000 investment in its IPO would be worth more than $1.3 million today. It's highly unlikely Amazon will experience another 1,300-fold gain in our lifetime, and most of its future growth will likely come from the tech side of the business. Still, with AWS leading a secular move into the cloud, the company's growth is probably far from done.
Monster Beverage
Like Apple, Monster stock didn't experience sustained success until decades after its launch. It began as Hansen's in the 1930s, and a previous IPO ended in bankruptcy in 1988. It wasn't until April 2002 that Hansen's introduced its first energy drink.
Energy drinks contain large amounts of caffeine, sugar, and other legal stimulants. In recent years, many consumers have chosen such beverages over other caffeinated drinks, such as coffee and tea.
Image sources: IRI, Beverage Industry Magazine.
Although Red Bull came to market before Monster, the latter carved out a significant niche in this industry. The success of this product would eventually lead to Hansen's adopting Monster Beverage as its name in 2012 and selling its non-energy beverage lines to Coca-Cola.
As of 2022, it claims a 30% market share. Since a private company owns Red Bull, Monster is the largest accessible investment in this industry for stock traders.
Moreover, if one invested $1,000 in the beverage stock when it offered its first energy drink in 2002, the position would be worth nearly $1.1 million today. Assuming Grand View Research's forecast of an 8% compound annual growth rate for the energy drink industry comes to pass, Monster's robust gains will likely not come to an end anytime soon.
