There are some very interesting names on this list. So we have Submarines, Radios, Bombers, Themostats, and Paper packaging/Cardboard,. So essentially we could see them as 4 tech companies and a company that makes something everyone needs.
The defence companies made technologically advanced products like subs and bombers that had incredibly expensive purchase prices. Then government spending in the form of the defence department paid those prices in order to attain that technology. We then have a demand catalyst like WW2 and the Cold War that served to push them out the door in massive numbers.
It is hard to see a situation like this developing again so they might be perfect storm companies. They appreciated due to them making a very expensive good sought after by the government during a once in a lifetime period. It is hard to see something like them today.
However Zenith could have been the Apple of the 30s-50s since they made a device that everyone wanted. While Honeywell Regulator used technology to transform a mundane thing like keeping people warm into an accepted convention like central heating. Perhaps you could equate it to a company like First Solar or Sunpower that takes a mundane thing like sunlight and turns it into energy.
International Paper & Power made something that people didn't demand as badly as a radio but it was still something that people couldn't live without like paper and cardboard. This would have to be a left field company that made something everyone will need in 20 years but actually end up taking for granted. Perhaps RFID technology or maybe nanotechnology could fit the bill. If you did get a handle on this company perhaps you too might see your $1000 investment turn into $21 million in just 22 years.
1. Electric Boat: Unsinkable Submarine Maker
Cumulative Total Return 1932 to 1954: 55,000% (Rank in Top 50: 1)
Where is it now? A unit of General Dynamics Churning out hundreds of PT boats and submarines during WWII (as well as building the U.S.S. Nautilus, the world's first nuclear sub, during the Cold War) more than kept this stock afloat.
2. International Paper & Power: Paper, Not Plastic
Cumulative Total Return 1932 to 1954: 30,503% (Rank in Top 50: 4)
Where is it now? International Paper Long before plastic packaging (or the digital age, for that matter), paper was king when it came to correspondence and containers. Indeed, four of the 50 best stocks from 1932 to 1954 were in companies that made paper, paper bags and corrugated cardboard.
3. Zenith Radio: Tuned In
Cumulative Total Return 1932 to 1954: 24,146% (Rank in Top 50: 7)
Where is it now? Part of LG ElectronicsOnce upon a time radios were so big they weren't personal consumer electronic devices; they were furniture. Back then American, not Asian, manufacturers dominated the market for civilian and military use.
4. Douglas Aircraft: Bombs Away
Cumulative Total Return 1932 to 1954: 23,586% (Rank in Top 50: 8)
Where is it now? Bloodline leads to Boeing It's little wonder a military contractor that helped make the B-17 bomber (as well as iconic civilian planes such as the DC-3 and DC-9), would fare well during WWII and the Cold War. North American Aviation (P-51 fighter, B-25 bomber) also made the list.
5. Minneapolis Honeywell Regulator: Thermostats Were Hot
Cumulative Total Return 1932 to 1954: 21,608% (Rank in Top 50: 9)
Where is it now? Honeywell International Central heating is taken for granted these days, but only thanks to pioneering advances like the company's original Butz Thermo-Electric Regulator "damper flapper," which helped keep offices and factories at just the right temperature.
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