Owner of Google and YouTube Alphabet(NASDAQ: GOOG) is one of my favorite stocks. Since I bought it for my portfolio in 2019, it has almost triple in price. My only regret is that I didn’t invest in S&P500 earlier. If I had done this 20 years ago when the company went public, I would be sitting on a fortune now.

Life-changing benefits

Yesterday (August 19) marked 20 years since Google’s initial public offering (IPO), during which time the stock price has skyrocketed.

When the US market opened yesterday, the shares – renamed Alphabet in 2015 – were up 7,667% since the IPO, according to CNBC. That means if I had invested £2,000 in the IPO two decades ago, I would now have about £220,000, after taking into account GBP/USD fluctuations (a tender pound would have boosted the already incredible gains by another 40% or more).

Key conclusions

For me, there are a few takeaways. For starters, it can pay to allocate some capital to individual growth/tech stocks. While investing in index funds and actively managed funds can be a great way to build long-term wealth, they will never provide the same spectacular returns.

It can also be wise to take a global approach to investing and look for opportunities internationally. While many UK shares have performed well over the past 20 years, few have delivered such an incredible return.

Finally, a long-term, buy-and-hold approach to investing can really pay off. This stock has had some wild swings over the years, but it has held up very well over the past two decades.

Is it worth buying today?

Are Alphabet shares still worth buying after these huge gains? I think they are worth considering as an investment, especially after the recent pullback to $160.

Today, the company continues to grow at a fit rate. For example, last year revenue increased by an impressive 16%.

And looking ahead, I see a ton of growth potential. This is a company that operates in a variety of high-growth industries, including digital advertising, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), digital healthcare, and autonomous vehicles.

It’s worth noting that there’s some uncertainty surrounding ChatGPT. It could potentially disrupt Google’s search business for years to come.

However, I was pleased to see that Google recently released its version of ChatGPT, Twinson its iPhone app. This was a great move by the company, in my opinion, and should assist Google stay relevant.

As for valuation, I think it is very reasonable. The current price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 21.5, falling to 19 with next year’s earnings forecast. At these multiples, I think the stock is capable of generating attractive earnings in the coming years.

Of course, I don’t expect the stock to gain another 7,667% over the next 20 years. Investors looking for such returns would probably be better off looking at smaller, promising technology companies.