The Highest Stock Returns in History (2024)

When the S&P 500 is used as a benchmark, the average stock market return is 10% per year. That's a solid rate of return and one that all professional traders would be happy with. Naturally, the average return on stocks will vary from industry to industry. What's more, there will be ups and downs along the way. The point here though is that 10% is a reasonable benchmark and stock returns exceeding that for a long period of time can be considered impressive.

When you scan the financial markets for potential trading opportunities, some stocks stand out more than others. For example, penny stocks have some of the highest historical stock market returns. A company can fall into this category if the stock trades for pennies, as the name suggests, but generally, anything under the $5 can be considered a penny stock.These stocks typically carry more risk because they're either in new companies or niche industries. However, the potential upside of accepting more risk is better returns.

Indeed, as you'll see in the following list, the average stock market returns in companies like Apple can exceed 150,000%. That's significant. Naturally, nothing is guaranteed. No stocks are guaranteed to provide a positive return. However, in return for a certain amount of risk, the following companies provided traders and investors with some of the highest return stocks in history.