I’m watching the news this morning and an interesting chart was just posted on Fox Business News. Over the last 10 years here’s how the stocks of two of the biggest name brands in technology have performed:
- Microsoft (MSFT) – down 23.69%
- Apple (AAPL) – up 3,021.10% (That’s three thousand percent!)
This shows the power of quality and stick-to-it-iveness (Apple) vs. commodity (Microsoft and Dell). In October 1997, Apple’s stock was around $17 per share, Dell was around $33 per share and Michael Dell was advising Steve Jobs to close the company and return the money to shareholders.
In 2006 Apple’s market capitalization surpassed Dell’s. In 2008 Apple was worth 4 times more. Today, Apple is worth 10 times more than Dell.
Apple stuck to what it was good at.
Apple never compromised.
Apple focused on quality and let their competitors drive themselves out of business.
But it wasn’t easy. There were many naysayers. They were ridiculed. But they persevered.
Have the courage of your conviction. At a minimum you’ll sleep well at night and you’ll probably make more money, too.
