Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$4,629
+$3,629 profit4.63x13.9% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $4,564
Its shares paid about $42.44 in dividends over the last 12 months.
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$4,085
US federal long-term rates: 15% for most people, 0% on lower incomes, 20% + 3.8% on high incomes. No state tax included; none inside a Roth IRA.
Growth Over Time
Performance Metrics
Total Invested
$1,000.00
Current Value
$4,629.39
Total Profit
$3,629.39
Multiplier
4.63x
CAGR
13.9%
Max Drawdown
-32.1%
Inflation-Adjusted
$3,365.54
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2015 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Walmart | $4,629.39 | 4.63x |
| S&P 500 | $4,563.57 | 4.56x |
| Gold | $3,553.29 | 3.55x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,261.86 | 1.26x |
Dividends
Over the last 12 months, the 43.35 shares you'd own now paid about $42.44 in dividends (about $3.54 a month). That's 4.2% of the $1,000 put in.
Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $3,730; reinvested dividends added the other $899.03, 25% of the gain.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
Back in 2015
- In February 2015, Walmart announced a $1 billion plan to raise pay for current U.S. store workers to at least $9 an hour starting in April. fortune.com
- In 2015, a gallon of gas averaged $2.43, a movie ticket averaged $8.43 and the new iPhone 6s started at $649 without a contract. eia.govfonearena.comthewrap.com
- During 2015 itself, Walmart fell 26%, #79 of the 82 investments we track. The best was Netflix (+121%); the worst was Chipotle (−34%). Full 2015 results →
$1,000 in Walmart, year by year
Of the 82 investments we track that were available at the start of 2015, Walmart ranks #36 by growth to today — just behind ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and ahead of Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). See the full 2015 ranking →
Walmart started 2015 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 12% in 2014. It was worth less than the $1,000 put in at the start of 2016 and 2017, and has been above it since the start of 2018. Its best January was 2026, at $4,857. Today it's 4.7% below that, so selling then would have beaten holding. It rose in 9 of the 11 full years since. It moved ahead of the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2025 and has stayed ahead since. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Jan 2015 ($1,000) to Oct 2015 ($678.60), a drop of 32%. At its lowest month-end, in Oct 2015, it was worth $678.60.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2015 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2016 | $736 | −26% | $1,014 |
| Start of 2017 | $845 | +15% | $1,135 |
| Start of 2018 | $1,245 | +47% | $1,383 |
| Start of 2019 | $1,207 | −3.1% | $1,322 |
| Start of 2020 | $1,569 | +30% | $1,739 |
| Start of 2021 | $1,966 | +25% | $2,058 |
| Start of 2022 | $1,971 | +0.3% | $2,649 |
| Start of 2023 | $1,988 | +0.8% | $2,170 |
| Start of 2024 | $2,238 | +13% | $2,740 |
| Start of 2025 | $3,840 | +72% | $3,425 |
| Start of 2026 | $4,857 | +26% | $4,038 |
| Today | $4,629 | −4.7% | $4,564 |
Values at the start of each year (first trading day for stocks). The S&P 500 column includes reinvested dividends, like the stock values.
Historical Context
At the start of 2015, Walmart was priced at $23.07 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 43.35 shares. Walmart is the largest retailer in the United States.
Measured from one January to the next, Walmart's best year since then was 2024 (+72%) and its worst was 2015 (−26%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2015 and the start of 2016, the position fell 26% from its high.
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in Walmart at the start of 2015 would be worth approximately $4,629.39 today — a 4.63x return ($3,629.39 profit) over 11.7 years.
Methodology & Sources
Price data: Historical prices are the closing price on the first trading day of each year, adjusted for splits and dividends (so returns assume dividends were reinvested), from Yahoo Finance and MacroTrends. Current prices come from Yahoo Finance and refresh hourly; if that source is unavailable, the last saved price is used.
Calculation: Assumes a single purchase at the start of 2015 (or the first trading day, for companies that listed that year), held until today. No transaction fees, taxes, or slippage are included.
Benchmarks: The S&P 500 comparison uses the S&P 500 Total Return index (dividends reinvested, like an index fund) at the start of2015 and today. Gold uses the price per troy ounce. Savings account assumes a 2% APY compounded annually.
Inflation adjustment: Uses U.S. CPI-U annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2026 CPI value is estimated.
Educational purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.
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$1,000 in Walmart, by year
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