Consumers and the business press lavish all sorts of attention to high-tech giants like Apple, Google, Facebook, and other Wall Street darlings. Even their informal moniker “high-tech” exudes a bit of superiority.  Why does everybody pay so much attention? Well, every day, we use our computers, phones, and TVs. They’re part of our daily life.  As I type this on my laptop, Michael Dell’s surname is right there, staring at me throughout my workday. But we also pay attention because of how much money these companies make, right? Apple, Google, and other Silicon Valley behemoths have very happy shareholders.

So what stock has given investors the absolute best returns over the past few decades, since the crash of 1987? Well, it isn’t Apple, which gave investors a 5,542 percent return. It’s not Microsoft either; its investors saw “only” a 9,906 percent return.
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