Around the time the war with Iraq broke out, I had a really strange investment idea. What if I invested in UDI and QSII, in honor of Saddam’s two sons, Udai and Qusai? Of course, I didn’t really do it. But today, just over two years later, I decided to check and see how I would have done.
On the day the war started, which I think was March 19, 2003 (I may be off by a day or two), UDI was trading at $22.11. Today it’s at $73.89, better than a triple in two years. QSII traded at $24 at the start of the war, and is now at $49.65 – but, the stock split 2-for-1 during that period, so each $24 share has turned into TWO shares at $49.65 each. That’s a quadruple in two years.
$10,000 invested in Sons of Saddam on 3/19/03 would have turned into $37,397.13, a 274% return in just over two years. To compare, $10,000 invested in an S&P 500 index fund on the same date would have turned into only $13,612.04, a return of 36%. Too bad there isn’t a stock with ticker symbol W – that would make for an interesting comparison to Sons of Saddam.