You Would Have Made An Insane Amount Of Money If You'd Invested In A Newspaper Company 6 Years Ago
That's the return on shares of media company Gannett since they bottomed at $2.14 on March 9, 2009, the same day the S&P 500 bottomed out at 676, through the end of last week, when Gannett closed at $32.88.
And on Monday, Gannett added another 4.4%, closing at $34.32.
This incredible run highlights one of the many ways that amid a huge rally in stocks since the bottom of the financial crisis, a number of individual stocks, which aren't necessarily the sexiest names, have had rallies that far outpace the 180% gain seen for the S&P 500.
To put Gannett's rally in some hard dollar terms, $100 invested in shares of Gannett in March 2009 would be worth more than $1,400 today.
Now, of course, no one buys exactly at the bottom or sells exactly at the top, and factoring in various fees that are incurred when actually buying and selling stocks, this is just a theoretical exercise.
But in 2009, common shares of Gannett were effectively left for dead: in the five years ahead of the stock's bottom, shares had lost more than 97% percent of their value.
The newspaper industry still has its problems, but Gannett has managed to diversify itself, with the company in the second quarter earning two-third of adjusted EBITDA from its broadcasting and digital segments.
Here's the incredible performance of Gannett through the end of last week. In chart form.
