Between 31-Dec-1996 and 31-Dec-2019, an outstanding group of 92 stocks provided annual returns above 15%. Out of about 10,000 stocks trading on US Stock Exchanges, these are the only companies that have returned more than 15% for a 23-year long period ending 31-Dec-2019. The dashboards from big brokerage companies do not provide any way to easily identify this list of companies. Therefore, the individual investor never gets to identify such companies and loses the opportunity to invest in such companies.

Quite surprisingly, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC (BRK) – Warren Buffett’s holding company is not in our list because the annualized return of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY between 1996 and 2019 was 10.4%, substantially less than the 15%-plus return from stocks in our list.

Here, we have shared some of these exceptional performers and explained the reasons for choosing this specific period. To access the full list of 92 stocks, subscribe to our premium content.

Why we chose the period from 31-Dec-1996 to 31-Dec-2019?

This period includes various economic cycles, including the two significant recessions – dot-com crash (2000-2003) and the financial crisis (2007-2008). By identifying the best stocks during this period, we wanted to identify companies that have survived two major recessions during the last 30 years.

Companies that thrived while going through these challenging periods are truly outstanding. Because these companies did well during multiple tumultuous periods in the past 23 years, they are very likely to continue to succeed and provide better returns than other stocks.

Highlighting some of our 92-Stellar Stocks

Here are some of the 92 stocks that consistently returned over 15% annually from 31-Dec-1996 to 31-Dec-2019: This list is not the top 10 among the list. Rather, we have picked a few stocks that are diverse and would give you a perspective into the kind of companies that are unconventional but successful for the long-run.

The important question is – How can you, as an individual investor, make use of this list/stock screener. One way would be to identify those companies from this list whose performance since 2020 beginning has been much below their historical performance before Dec-2019. Given a history of great performance for 23 Years, recent underperformance since 2020 is likely a result of the pandemic and related macro-economic changes. Some of these companies have not yet recovered fully. Assuming they return back to their historical performance, they will provide extremely good returns if bought now.

Tickers	CompanyName	Exchange	Sector	Industry	Sub-Industry	Todays Price	% Price Change (1 day)	Shares Outstanding	Market Capitalization	MarketCap (Price X No. of Shares)($)	Revenue ($)	MarketCap / Revenue	Total Cash	Total Cash / Revenue	Price Performance (5-Days)	Price Performance (4-Weeks)	Price Performance (13-Weeks)	Price Performance (26-Weeks)	Price Performance (52 Weeks)	SMA change 7D	SMA change 21D	Date of 52-Week High	52-Week High	% Below 52-Week High	Date of 52-Week Low	52-Week Low	% Above 52-Week Low	% Recovered from 52-Week low	% Drop peak to bottom 52-Week	Date of 104-Week High	104-Week High	% Below 104-Week High	Date of 104-Week Low	104-Week Low	% Above 104-Week Low	% Recovered from 104-Week low	% Drop peak to bottom 104-Week	1-Year Returns	3-Year Returns (Annualized)	5-Year Returns (Annualized)	10-Year Returns (Annualized)	1-Year Return as of 2019	3-Year Return as of 2019 (Annualized)	5-Year Return as of 2019 (Annualized)	7-Year Return as of 2019 (Annualized)	10-Year Return as of 2019 (Annualized)	17-Year Return from 2002 to 2019 (Annualized)	23-Year Return from 1996 to 2019 (Annualized)	Annualized_Return_since_inception	Years_since_Inception	Cash Flw Grwth Rt (3 Yr)	Cash Flw Grwth Rt (5 Yr)	Free Cash Flow (Millions)	Inception_Date	Inception_Price	Return_since_inception	Ratio_since_inception	Years_since_Inception_2019	Ratio_since_inception_2019	Annualized_Return_since_inception_2019	Price 3-Year before	Price after 3 years with ARR 10Y 2019	Price after 3 years with ARR 17Y 2019	Next 3-Years return with ARR 10Y 2019 (annualized)	Next 3-Years return with ARR 17Y 2019 (annualized)
NFLX	NETFLIX INC	NASDAQ	Communication Services	Entertainment	Movies & Entertainment	479.56	0.32635983263598	444500000	194750000000	213164420000	3.19E+10	6.6822702194357	7800000000	0.24451410658307	3	21	12	27	67	7.1429035000616	16.646458909987	11-24-2023	479.56	0	12-28-2022	276.88	73.201386882404	100	42.263741763283	11-19-2021	678.8	-29	05-11-2022	166.37	188.2490833684	61.118591807662	75.490571596936	67	-1	12	26	21	36	45	57	45	47		32	21.520547945205	34.82%	50.24%	2930	05-23-2002	1.1964	39983.58408559	400.8358408559	17.619178082192	270.4530257439	37.41578498933	488.24	4621.2375244116	4972.2819536081	112.80007656234	118.05745144598
AMZN	AMAZON.COM INC	NASDAQ	Consumer Discretionary	Broadline Retail	Broadline Retail	146.74	0.020448503851145	10300000000	1330000000000	1511422000000	5.25E+11	2.8794475138122	64800000000	0.12345208611164	3	15	9	22	57	1.7661571789625	9.3169896953238	11-24-2023	146.74	0	12-28-2022	81.82	79.34490344659	100	44.241515605833	11-19-2021	183.8285	-20	12-28-2022	81.82	79.34490344659	63.641755343917	55.49112352002	57	-2	14	23	20	35	43	32	30	31		32	26.545205479452	-5.82%	13.27%	-8570	05-15-1997	0.0979	149787.64044944	1498.8764044944	22.643835616438	943.73850868233	35.324298628971	154.97	748.47604489634	793.17229236501	72.137885342833	75.498337469174
MSFT	MICROSOFT CORP	NASDAQ	Information Technology	Software	Systems Software	377.43	-0.11115522032553	7400000000	2510000000000	2792982000000	2.08E+11	13.453670520231	104400000000	0.5028901734104	0	14	15	13	54	2.9011960417182	10.277491916559	11-22-2023	377.85	0	01-05-2023	222.31	69.776438306869	100	41.164483260553	11-22-2023	377.85	0	11-03-2022	214.25	76.163360560093	99.743276283619	43.297604869657	54	22	30	26	56	36	28	29	18	11	13	24	37.72602739726	19.77%	24.67%	57410	03-13-1986	0.0972	388202.4691358	3883.024691358	33.824657534247	1622.4279835391	24.424548454309	210.39	558.89177408332	402.51445298376	13.980467388582	2.1680302962006
AAPL	APPLE INC	NASDAQ	Information Technology	Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals	Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals	189.97	-0.70043385081805	15700000000	3000000000000	2982529000000	3.85E+11	7.7448169306674	55900000000	0.14515710205142	0	13	3	8	26	3.5634518556565	3.8397660151079	07-31-2023	196.45	-3	01-05-2023	125.02	51.951687729963	91	36.360397047595	07-31-2023	196.45	-3	01-05-2023	125.02	51.951687729963	90.928181436371	36.360397047595	26	17	34	26	86	36	22	21	25	38	28	19	42.978082191781	17.69%	13.44%	97490	12-12-1980	0.1283	147967.03039751	1480.6703039751	39.076712328767	572.19407638348	17.643364104601	117.34	455.97702196393	804.42242562588	33.891388397147	61.783061254244
META	META PLATFORMS INC	NASDAQ	Communication Services	Interactive Media & Services	Interactive Media & Services	338.23	-0.95463996017453	2600000000	744550000000	879398000000	1.17E+11	7.4969991474851	37700000000	0.32139812446718	1	14	14	29	204	3.9392390336768	3.0853127513542	11-22-2023	341.49	-1	11-28-2022	108.78	210.93031807318	99	68.145480101906	12-28-2021	346.22	-2	11-03-2022	88.91	280.41840062985	96.894796160274	74.319796661083	204	8	21	21	51	21	21	33				21	11.52602739726	9.59%	10.96%	17570	05-18-2012	38.2318	784.68238482101	8.8468238482101	7.6246575342466	5.3685675275556	24.65894191515	269.7
GOOG	ALPHABET INC	NASDAQ	Communication Services	Interactive Media & Services	Interactive Media & Services	138.22	-1.2855306384802	5900000000	705700000000	815498000000	2.85E+11	2.8654181307098	115100000000	0.40442726633872	0	12	2	10	42	3.7416973377829	-3.2402289020074	10-11-2023	141.7	-2	12-28-2022	86.46	59.865833911635	94	38.983768525053	11-19-2021	149.9525	-8	11-03-2022	83.49	65.552760809678	82.347188264059	44.322368750104	42	17	22		28	19	21					18	9.6684931506849	18.17%	31.15%	61910	03-27-2014	27.8478	396.34082405073	4.9634082405073	5.7671232876712	2.4005846063244	16.398050351718	87.1095
GOOGL	ALPHABET INC	NASDAQ	Communication Services	Interactive Media & Services	Interactive Media & Services	136.69	-1.2997328326955	6800000000	815210000000	929492000000	2.85E+11	3.2659592410401	115100000000	0.40442726633872	0	12	2	10	41	3.65234375	-3.4955768499319	10-11-2023	140.55	-3	12-28-2022	86.02	58.904905835852	93	38.797580932053	11-19-2021	148.9265	-8	11-03-2022	83.43	63.837947980343	81.317322299665	43.979076927209	41	16	22	18	27	18	20	21	16			23	19.276712328767	18.17%	31.15%	61910	08-19-2004	2.5108	5344.0815676278	54.440815676278	15.375342465753	26.672574478254	23.808403961295	86.819	207.42857047852		14.91514700083

Behind the Numbers

1. Apple (AAPL): Apple’s has returned 28% annualized during this 23-Year period from 31-Dec-1996 to 31-Dec-2019. It has continued to give good annualized return since 31-Dec-2019 of about 25%, which is close to the 28% annualized before 31-Dec-2019. Our hypothesis is that almost all of the companies in our list are exceptionally good companies and (in the post-pandemic world) they would continue to provide returns similar to those they had provided before 31-Dec-2019.
2. Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) is the only IT company among the top-10 in this list and returned 25% annualized from 1996 to 2019. Tyler Technologies provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler’s end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate efficiently and transparently with residents and each other. The public sector’s IT needs have continued to grow, especially after the pandemic. It has continued to give good annualized return since 31-Dec-2019 of about 11.3%. Though much less than the 25% annualized return before 31-Dec-2019 that Tyler provided, the company is very well positioned in the public sector IT services sector and we expect that it would return back to its historical performance, especially given its long history ( the stock has been trading for 55 years).
3. GILEAD SCIENCES INC (GILD) has returned 21% annualized during this 23-Year period from 31-Dec-1996 to 31-Dec-2019. Gilead Sciences, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and COVID-19. Gilead has not recovered back to its pre-pandemic annualized returns. Since 31-Dec-2019, GILD’s stock has returned 0.0% Annualized (as of 7-June-2024 ). We believe GILD, like other Bio-Pharma companies is going through an industry-downturn. If GILD’s stock returns back to its 21% annualized return for the period since 31-Dec-2019 in the next two- to-three years, its return would be significantly higher than 21% during the next two-to-three years. GILD is 28% below its previous 156-week high – a unique way to look at price-undervalue relative to historical-peak-prices.
4. DXP ENTERPRISES INC (DXPE) has returned 18% annualized during this 23-Year period. Its one-year return (as of 7-June-2024) was 41%. DXP Enterprises, Inc. is a leading products and service distributor that offers solutions to industrial customers. It provides pumping solutions, supply chain services and maintenance, repair, operating and production (MROP) services. Given the nature of this business, and DXPE’s leadership position, DXPE’s stock is very likely to continue to grow at its historical growth rate. Since 31-Dec-2019, DXPE’s stock has returned 4.2% Annualized (as of 7-June-2024 ). If DXPE’s stock returns back to its 18% annualized return for the period since 31-Dec-2019 in the next two- to-three years, its return would be significantly higher than 18% during the next two-to-three years.
5. SEMTECH CORP (SMTC) has returned 16% annualized during this 23-Year period from 31-Dec-1996 to 31-Dec-2019. Since 31-Dec-2019, SMTC’s stock has returned -11% Annualized (as of 7-June-2024 ). We regard SMTC as one of the undervalued stocks in our list, as it has not recovered back to its historical performance. SMTC is 66% below its previous 156-week high – a unique way to look at price-undervalue relative to historical-peak-prices. SMTC is 24% below its previous 52-week high and is 50% below its previous 104-week high. This comparison relative to previous 156-week’s, 104-week’s price-peaks (in addition to 52-week’s) is an unique data point readily available in our screener/dashboard and helps in identifying undervalued stocks.

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