On January 24, 1984, Apple ended the day on Wall Street at $3,41 a share. Yesterday, on the eve of the Mac's thirtieth birthday - which was launched that very day - the Cupertino giant closed at $556,18 a share. This means that, during the three decades of life of one of the most famous devices of the group, Apple's shares have grown by 16.210%. Not bad, considering the S&P 500 rallied 1.001% over the same period.
But what would have happened – asks CNBC – if, instead of spending $2.495 on the purchase of the first Mac, a person had invested that money in Apple shares and then reinvested the related dividends? Today he would end up with a $400.000 stake. However, the Mac was not a product for all budgets, given that the average income of an American family was around $22.145 a year.
Apple's exploit – which landed on the stock exchange on December 12, 1980 with an offering price of 22 dollars – arrived in the last ten years: between 2002 and 2003, in fact, the shares had dropped below 10 dollars and then achieved a rapid ascent. In 2007, the year the iPhone was launched, Apple reached $100, to reach $200 before the 2008 crisis.
After going below $100 in 2009, in September 2012 it reached an all-time high around $700 a share. Now the stock has settled in the $550 area. But there are those, like activist investor Carl Icahn, who continue to believe that Apple is set to recover. Icahn has invested $3,6 billion in Apple stock, becoming one of the 15 largest shareholders.
