What if you bought Under Armour in 2008?
US Consumer · Apparel. The hindsight answer, year by year, against the only benchmark that matters.
Could you have picked it? Play0.3× · S&P 500 same money: $4,626
$1,000 in Under Armour at the start of 2008 would be worth about $350 today. A plain S&P 500 index fund over the same years would have made more — the boring option won.
The story
Under Armour was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player annoyed by sweat-soaked cotton T-shirts. Its moisture-wicking compression gear caught on with athletes, and after its 2005 IPO it was cast as the upstart that might challenge Nike. Signing basketball star Stephen Curry in 2013, just before he became a phenomenon, gave it a hit shoe line and a growth story the market adored.
The stock peaked in 2015 at a valuation that assumed years of rapid growth. Instead, growth slowed sharply as department stores, its key sales channel, struggled and athleisure competitors multiplied. A federal investigation into whether it had pulled sales forward to hit targets ended in a 2021 SEC settlement. Plank stepped down as chief executive in 2019, the company cut costs and closed operations, and then Plank returned to the role in 2024. The shares lost most of their value from the peak, and by 2026 traded below their 2008 level, a long way from the next Nike.
The lesson: Being called the next version of a dominant company is a narrative, not a moat; growth stocks priced for perfection fall hard when growth slows.
$1,000 invested at the start of each year
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | $20.00 | $350 | $4,626 | 0.3× |
| 2010 | $10.00 | $700 | $6,071 | 0.7× |
| 2012 | $18.00 | $389 | $5,312 | 0.4× |
| 2015 | $34.00 | $206 | $3,301 | 0.2× |
| 2018 | $14.00 | $500 | $2,519 | 0.5× |
| 2020 | $21.00 | $333 | $2,092 | 0.3× |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
Best entry point in our set: 2010, turning $1,000 into $700. The S&P 500 from that same year: $6,071.
Now try it without hindsight. The wheel decides the year and the asset class, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick, and we simulate to today. Under Armour is one of 258 positions on the wheel — including the ones that went to zero.
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