In hindsight: Notice how a simple company like McCormick (the spice company - who doesn't have McCormick in their kitchen?) has quietly gone from $5 in late 1989 to near $50 in late 2011. That is a 10-fold return or 1000% return (excluding plenty of dividends along the way) in less than 22 years. That works out to an 11% compound rate of return. MKC also paid about a 2%-3% dividend each year. Sometimes the boring, slow-growth stocks do the best over the long term.