How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Williams-Sonoma (WSM Quick QuoteWSM - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to WSM for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Williams-Sonoma's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Williams-Sonoma's main business drivers.

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is a multi-channel specialty retailer of premium quality home products. Incorporated in 1973, the company has five brands and each of the brands is are operating segments.

Pottery Barn (accounting for 41.4% of fiscal 2023 total revenues) is the largest brand of the company and offers premium quality furniture, lighting, tabletop, outdoor and decorative accessories.

West Elm (23.9%) produces personalized products designed by the company’s team of artists and designers.

Williams-Sonoma (16.2%) offers cookware, tools, cutlery, electrics, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture and cookbooks.

Pottery Barn Kids and Teen (13.7%) deals with products used for putting up nurseries, bedrooms and play spaces. It also caters to the teenage population with furniture, bedding, lighting and decorative accents for teen bedrooms, dorm rooms, study spaces and lounges.

Other segment (4.8%) primarily consists of international franchise operations, Rejuvenation and Mark and Graham. Rejuvenation offers premium quality products that are inspired by history and manufactured in facilities in Portland, OR. Mark and Graham are known for personalized gift items. The brand manufactures women’s and men’s accessories, home décor as well as seasonal items.

(Note:  Zacks identifies fiscal years by the month in which the fiscal year ends, while WSM identifies their fiscal year by the calendar year in which it begins; so comparable figures for any given fiscal year, as published by WSM, will refer to this same fiscal year as being the year before the same year, as identified by Zacks).

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Williams-Sonoma a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in December 2014 would be worth $5,156.92, or a gain of 415.69%, as of December 5, 2024, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 193.76% and gold's return of 113.82% over the same time frame.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for WSM.

Williams-Sonoma’s third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings and net revenues topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.4% and 1.5%, respectively. The bottom line grew 7.1% year over year but the top line declined 2.7%. The quarterly performance reflects the continuation of demand softness for furniture purchases across three of its reportable segments and high SG&A expenses. That said, this impact was partially offset by strength in its emerging brands and children's home furnishings business. Also, the focus on e-commerce business, global expansion initiatives, supply-chain efficiencies, new product launches and an effective B2B business is encouraging. Owing to its operational efficiencies, the company expanded its operating margin guidance for fiscal 2024. Shares of Williams-Sonoma have outperformed the industry in the past six months.

Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 44.43%, and there have been 5 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.