, Columnist
Raise a Glass to the Decade’s Best-Performing Stock
With a 16,150% return, a New Zealand-based milk company showed how to innovate premium value from a basic staple.
More than just another fine investment.
Photographer: John Kobal Foundation/Moviepix/Getty
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It may have been the decade of smartphones, on-demand everything, and Instagram memes, but the prize for the world’s best-performing stock in the MSCI World Index goes to a dairy company in New Zealand.
How A2 Milk Co. managed to punch its way to a 16,150% return, in U.S. dollar terms, says a lot about global trends over the past 10 years. That growth now puts it at a market cap of $7.4 billion, a fraction of the $144 billion for Netflix Inc. (which returned 4,000%) but well ahead of comparably sized iconic department store chain Macy’s Inc.