Time Machine Society › Stock what-if calculator
If you had invested $1,000 in IBM stock (1970–2024)
$1,000 of IBM stock bought at the end of 1970 would have been worth $67,690 at the end of 2024 — 67.7x your money. Bought at the end of 2000, it would be $5,070 (5.07x). Bought ten years before that, at the end of 2014, it would be $2,206 (2.21x).
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IBM by the numbers
“Big Blue” was one of America's most valuable companies in the 1970s and '80s, hit a deep crisis in the early 1990s as the PC era took over, and sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005.
The ride wasn't smooth, though. Someone who bought at the end-of-1985 peak was down 57% by the end of 1992 and needed 11 years to get back to even. The ending looks easy; sitting through the middle was not.
$1,000 invested at the end of each year, valued at the end of 2024
| Bought | Value end of 2024 | Multiple | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| End of 1970 | $67,690 | 67.7x | +8.1% |
| End of 1971 | $62,869 | 62.9x | +8.1% |
| End of 1972 | $51,893 | 51.9x | +7.9% |
| End of 1973 | $66,680 | 66.7x | +8.6% |
| End of 1974 | $95,444 | 95.4x | +9.5% |
| End of 1975 | $69,232 | 69.2x | +9.0% |
| End of 1976 | $53,962 | 54.0x | +8.7% |
| End of 1977 | $53,026 | 53.0x | +8.8% |
| End of 1978 | $46,548 | 46.5x | +8.7% |
| End of 1979 | $51,418 | 51.4x | +9.2% |
| End of 1980 | $46,196 | 46.2x | +9.1% |
| End of 1981 | $51,940 | 51.9x | +9.6% |
| End of 1982 | $29,183 | 29.2x | +8.4% |
| End of 1983 | $22,285 | 22.3x | +7.9% |
| End of 1984 | $21,335 | 21.3x | +8.0% |
| End of 1985 | $16,333 | 16.3x | +7.4% |
| End of 1986 | $20,505 | 20.5x | +8.3% |
| End of 1987 | $20,657 | 20.7x | +8.5% |
| End of 1988 | $18,852 | 18.9x | +8.5% |
| End of 1989 | $23,399 | 23.4x | +9.4% |
| End of 1990 | $18,615 | 18.6x | +9.0% |
| End of 1991 | $22,577 | 22.6x | +9.9% |
| End of 1992 | $37,657 | 37.7x | +12.0% |
| End of 1993 | $32,511 | 32.5x | +11.9% |
| End of 1994 | $24,589 | 24.6x | +11.3% |
| End of 1995 | $19,566 | 19.6x | +10.8% |
| End of 1996 | $11,667 | 11.7x | +9.2% |
| End of 1997 | $8,375 | 8.38x | +8.2% |
| End of 1998 | $4,719 | 4.72x | +6.1% |
| End of 1999 | $4,014 | 4.01x | +5.7% |
| End of 2000 | $5,070 | 5.07x | +7.0% |
| End of 2001 | $3,545 | 3.55x | +5.7% |
| End of 2002 | $5,493 | 5.49x | +8.1% |
| End of 2003 | $4,559 | 4.56x | +7.5% |
| End of 2004 | $4,253 | 4.25x | +7.5% |
| End of 2005 | $5,053 | 5.05x | +8.9% |
| End of 2006 | $4,219 | 4.22x | +8.3% |
| End of 2007 | $3,739 | 3.74x | +8.1% |
| End of 2008 | $4,720 | 4.72x | +10.2% |
| End of 2009 | $2,975 | 2.98x | +7.5% |
| End of 2010 | $2,604 | 2.60x | +7.1% |
| End of 2011 | $2,044 | 2.04x | +5.7% |
| End of 2012 | $1,929 | 1.93x | +5.6% |
| End of 2013 | $1,933 | 1.93x | +6.2% |
| End of 2014 | $2,206 | 2.21x | +8.2% |
| End of 2015 | $2,490 | 2.49x | +10.7% |
| End of 2016 | $1,989 | 1.99x | +9.0% |
| End of 2017 | $2,072 | 2.07x | +11.0% |
| End of 2018 | $2,675 | 2.68x | +17.8% |
| End of 2019 | $2,165 | 2.16x | +16.7% |
| End of 2020 | $2,190 | 2.19x | +21.7% |
| End of 2021 | $1,878 | 1.88x | +23.4% |
| End of 2022 | $1,697 | 1.70x | +30.3% |
| End of 2023 | $1,393 | 1.39x | +39.3% |
How it's calculated
- Returns use each year's last closing price, adjusted for stock splits with dividends reinvested. Read every figure as "bought at the end of one year, sold at the end of another."
- Taxes, trading fees and inflation are not included; all amounts are nominal US dollars.
- Data runs through the end of 2024. Past returns don't guarantee future results, and this page is not investment advice.
Looks easy in hindsight?
Knowing the ending, everyone would have bought Apple and Nvidia. Hide the names, show only the mood of the time, and it gets a lot harder. Travel through ten turning points since 1970 and invest for yourself.