Here's How Much Investing $100 In General Electric Stock Back In 2010 Would Be Worth Today

Investors who owned stocks in the 2010s generally experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 SPY total return for the decade was 250.5%. But there’s no question some big-name stocks didn’t keep pace along the way.

GE's Difficult Decade

One of the biggest market laggards of the decade was industrial giant General Electric Company GE.

GE has been one of the blue chip stocks in the U.S. market for over a century and was one of the original Dow Jones Industrial Average components. But a difficult energy environment coupled with some questionable accounting, ill-timed investments and poor balance sheet management created a perfect storm for GE investors in the 2010s.

GE started the 2010s trading at around $14.50. The early years of the decade were actually good to GE investors, and the stock rallied as high as $33 by mid-2016. Unfortunately, the gains stopped there for GE.

Shares traded back down below $20 by late 2017. By late 2018, GE shares were back below $10 after the company cut its once-robust dividend to just 1 cent per share and was booted from the Dow.

2020 And Beyond

GE ultimately hit its 2010s low of $6.66 in December 2018 before bouncing back to $11 to close out the decade.

Despite the struggles, GE investors did manage to squeak out a profit in the 2010s, and $100 worth of GE stock in 2010 would be worth about $101 today, assuming reinvested dividends.

Looking ahead, analysts expect GE will finally start to gain some ground in 2020. The average price target among the 16 analysts covering the stock is $12, suggesting 8.5% upside from current levels.

Related Links:

10 Worst Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2019

10 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2019

Photo credit: Momoneymoproblemz, via Wikimedia Commons