Chart of the day: Apple v. the S&P 500 — what a difference a decade makes

Shares of Apple Ticker:(AAPL) crossed the $500 mark today for the first time in the company's history. (Read the full story here.) Significant on many levels - Apple is coming off of its best quarter on record - but the 10-year growth of the firm may be more impressive than anything else. Since early 2009, the stock is up 500% and is outperforming scores of companies. But go back to February 2002, as the chart above shows, and shares of Apple have surged more than 7000% from its low point of roughly $7 per share. The S&P 500 Index, meanwhile, is up around 20% since February 2002. Those of you that managed to get your clients some exposure to the company back then - and managed to keep them in - might argue that buy-and-hold isn't quite dead yet.