You don't buy these companies to catch a temporary rising tide. Market timing is more often financial suicide, one of the worst mistakes amateur investors make.

You buy for the growth and long-term picture. If you believe in the growth potential, you buy in at an early opportunity.

ServiceNow's stock has gone up six fold in less than six years. Their revenue has climbed from $424m in 2013, to $1.93b in 2017. The last four quarters they've brought their burn rate down to meaningless while maintaining the growth, with immense gross profit margins that imply they'll likely become nicely profitable in the future.

That's a story not about rising tides, it's about the growth in the business and its future prospects.

Ask GE if rising tides lift all boats. Or AT&T, a functional, highly profitable business whose stock hasn't gone up in five years. Or Exxon, whose stock is down over five years. Or Procter & Gamble, which is still a thriving business, and whose stock also hasn't moved in five years. Those were all considered world-class blue chip stocks in the recent past.

ServiceNow doesn’t have a dividend, your other examples do. They are different types of investment, growth vs. value.

Let’s not forgot Apple’s rise, fall, and post 2000 rise again. If you were young in the 80s, bought Apple, and planned to save it for retirement you would be sitting on a nice chunk right about now.

In the 90s there was also a very good chance for ending up with 0.

Here is a pretty decent article about 90s companies [1]. Didn’t realize CompuServe was owned by H&R Block.

[1]https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/25/48...

You're cherry-picking.