Forget, for a moment, Apple and Google’s see-saw battle for market cap bragging rights and consider this chart:
The idea for it came from a long-term investor who bought Apple for $1 a share (split adjusted) in May 1998 and has watched it double many times over.
The first doubling was the hardest. Getting from $1 to $2 took Apple more than six years, from 1998 to 2004.
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Since then, Apple’s share price has doubled on average every 22.6 months—and that includes the massive sell-offs of 2008 and 2012 when the stock doubled, fell back sharply, and then recovered.
Apple (AAPL) is currently trading within the $64-to-$128 range. It passed $128 in February 2015 before retreating below $100.
For more on Apple, watch:
Past performance is no guarantee of future results, of course. If it were, you might expect Apple to clear $128 by October 2016 and reach $256 two or three years later.