Home Depot has revolutionized the home improvement industry over the past 45 years, growing from its first stores in Atlanta in 1979 to more than 2,300 locations at the end of 2024. Along the way, its stock became one of the best performers over the past four decades, consistently rewarding shareholders with strong earnings growth and regular dividends.

Today, Home Depot is valued at roughly $360 billion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the U.S. The strong stock performance helped co-founders Arthur Blank, Ken Langone and the late Bernie Marcus become billionaires, according to Forbes. 

Investing in individual stocks can be extremely rewarding, but identifying the best-performing stocks is easier said than done.

Many of the best financial advisors recommend investors use index funds to gain exposure to stocks, rather than trying to buy and sell individual stocks on their own. If you’re looking for a financial advisor in your area, Bankrate’s financial advisor matching tool can help.

If only you could go back in time to Home Depot’s IPO in September 1981 to purchase shares. A $1,000 investment in Home Depot at its IPO — say, the equivalent of a lawnmower — is now worth a staggering sum.  

Investing in Home Depot at its IPO: What $1,000 would be worth now

Home Depot went public on September 22, 1981, at a price of $12 per share. As of April 22, 2025, the stock traded for about $353 per share. But Home Depot has split its stock 13 times since first going public. A single Home Depot share at the time of its IPO would now equal nearly 342 shares thanks to the stock splits.

• A $1,000 investment at $12 per share would have resulted in 83 shares in Home Depot’s IPO (fractional shares weren’t a thing in 1981).
• Those 83 shares are now the equivalent of roughly 28,363 shares, which would be worth about $10.01 million at today’s prices.

Home Depot has also paid dividends since 1987, which shareholders have enjoyed alongside the stock appreciation. 

The company’s stock performance has been driven by its underlying business success. Home Depot is now the largest home improvement retailer in the world, generating net sales of $159.5 billion during its fiscal 2024 and $21.5 billion in operating income. Over the long term, you can’t have strong stock performance without strong business performance.

Here’s how Home Depot’s recent returns compare to a Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.

Source: Morningstar as of April 22, 2025

Investing in stocks: How to get started

The long-term performance of Home Depot’s stock shows just how rewarding investing in individual stocks can be. If you do decide to own individual stocks, you’ll want to remember that your results over time largely depend on the performance of the underlying business. Think about analyzing the company’s business, not what you think the stock will do in the short term.

Fortunately, there’s a way to achieve success investing in stocks that doesn’t require you to identify the winners ahead of time. Index funds allow investors to hold a diversified basket of stocks at a very low cost, earning the market return without the risk of picking individual companies. 

There are many index funds available, but ones that track the performance of the S&P 500 are often popular with investors because of their low cost and diversification benefits. You’ll own 500 of the largest companies in the U.S. across various industries and economic sectors. It’s a strategy that has produced annual returns of about 10 percent over many decades.

Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.