Why Most Stocks Aren’t Worth Owning

Morningstar

Dan Lefkovitz

Research

8 Pages

Morningstar explores why the stock market’s long run success has historically depended on a surprisingly small group of winners. Drawing on Hendrik Bessembinder’s work, the article highlights that just 41.17% of US stocks outperformed Treasury bills, making broad diversification look less boring and more necessary.

Key Takeaways

Wealth Creation Cluster: From 1926 to 2025, 46 stocks produced half of the US$91trn in total US stock market wealth creation.
Market Return Illusion: The US stock market averaged 10% annually over 100 years, but less than half of roughly 30,000 individual stocks posted positive returns.
Winner Pool Narrowed: Bessembinder’s 2017 work found 89 stocks created half the wealth, compared with only 46 in the latest 1926 to 2025 study.
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