Investing $20,000 in Apple Stock 10 Years Ago Paid Off More Than Investing the Same Amount in Amazon. Here's the Better Buy for the Next Decade. | The Motley Fool
Investing $20,000 in Apple Stock 10 Years Ago Paid Off More Than Investing the Same Amount in Amazon. Here’s the Better Buy for the Next Decade.
A $20,000 stake in Apple ten years ago would now be worth roughly $277,000 after dividends, while an identical investment in Amazon would have grown to about $133,000. Those returns helped lift Apple’s market value to $4.9 trillion and Amazon’s to $2.8 trillion as of Sept. 11, placing both firms among the world’s most valuable companies.
Stock Performance Comparison
Long‑time shareholders of both Apple (AAPL +1.75%) and Amazon (AMZN +1.94%) have enjoyed strong price appreciation, yet historical gains do not guarantee future outcomes. Investors must examine each company’s underlying fundamentals before deciding which stock may deliver superior returns over the coming decade.
Apple’s New Leadership
Apple installed John Ternus as chief executive on Sept. 1, succeeding Tim Cook. Ternus previously oversaw hardware engineering and now guides the company as it rolls out the iPhone Duo, a foldable handset priced near $2,000—comparable to other premium foldables on the market. The iPhone remains Apple’s revenue engine, contributing 54 % of total sales in the first three quarters of the fiscal year that ended June 27, with a 22.4 % year‑over‑year increase in iPhone sales.
Services Growth
Beyond hardware, Apple’s services segment—covering advertising, product support, the App Store and payment solutions—generated $91.7 billion in revenue over the nine‑month period, a 14 % rise from the prior year. Combined with iPhone strength, Apple posted third‑quarter sales of $109.4 billion, up 16 % sequentially. Nonetheless, the company has struggled to replicate iPhone‑level innovation elsewhere, having shelved its autonomous‑vehicle project and seeing limited commercial traction for the Vision Pro headset.
Amazon’s Expanding Portfolio
Amazon has evolved far beyond its original online marketplace, now operating physical stores, consumer devices such as Ring, the Prime subscription service, an advertising arm, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). In the most recent quarter, Amazon reported second‑quarter revenue of $200.6 billion, a 20 % year‑over‑year gain, while operating income rose 43.2 % to $27.5 billion. Sales growth was broad‑based: North America up 16 %, international markets up 15 %, and AWS up 37 %.
Cloud‑computing Momentum
AWS continues to be a profit powerhouse, delivering $16.6 billion in quarterly operating income—a 63.6 % increase that accounted for 60.5 % of Amazon’s total profit. The high‑margin cloud business benefits from escalating demand for data processing and generative‑AI workloads. To satisfy that demand, Amazon plans $220 billion in capital expenditures this year, a sharp rise from the $131.8 billion projected for 2025.
Outlook and Investment Decision
Apple’s future hinges heavily on the iPhone’s performance and its ability to spark new growth areas, while Amazon’s diversified operations and rapidly expanding AWS segment provide multiple avenues for revenue and profit expansion. Investors weighing a decade‑long horizon should consider Apple’s reliance on a single flagship product against Amazon’s broader, cloud‑driven growth engine when determining which stock may be the better buy for the next ten years.
Source: fool.com · 2026-09-13