What if you invested in Delta Air Lines in 2020?
DAL · Industrial · Data through 2026-06-01
If you invested $1,000 in Delta Air Lines in 2020
The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $2,540(+154%)
The S&P 500 returned $2,540 on the same $1,000. S&P 500 outperformed by $791.
Try a different start date
Pick any month and year to see what Delta Air Lines would be worth.
Compare Delta Air Lines to another stock
See how Delta Air Lines stacks up since 2020, head to head.
What if Delta Air Lines keeps this up?
Project forward at Delta Air Lines's 8.9% historical growth rate. See 5-30 year scenarios.
Growth of $1,000
Delta Air Lines vs. S&P 500 vs. US Dollar, 2020 to present
Year-by-Year Returns
$1,000 invested in Delta Air Lines starting January 2020
| Year | Price | Value | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $53.57 | $1,000 | - |
| 2021 | $36.73 | $686 | -31.4% |
| 2022 | $38.41 | $717 | +4.6% |
| 2023 | $37.83 | $706 | -1.5% |
| 2024 | $38.06 | $711 | +0.6% |
| 2025 | $66.12 | $1,234 | +73.7% |
| 2026 | $65.54 | $1,224 | -0.9% |
What this return means
Delta Air Lines (DAL) turned $1,000 into $1,749 since 2020. The total return is +74.9% over 6.6 years, as of 2026-06-01.
That is about 8.9% a year compounded, broadly in line with long-run stock market averages. By comparison the S&P 500 returned about $2,540 on the same stake, edging out Delta Air Lines by close to $791. The index compounded at about 15.2% a year, a reminder that a single stock can lag a basket of them.
Getting here meant sitting through real volatility. The best single year was 2025 at +73.7%, and the worst was 2021 at -31.4%. At its lowest point the position was down about 31% from an earlier high. These figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, trading fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.
None of this is a recommendation. It is a record of what already happened, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
What if you invested $100 a month instead?
Most people do not drop a lump sum in on day one. They add a fixed amount every month. Putting $100 into Delta Air Lines at the close of every month from January 2020 through June 2026 means 78 buys and $7,800 contributed over about 6.5 years.
$100/month, dollar-cost averaged
$18,003
+130.8% on $7,800 in
Same $7,800, all in at the start
$13,637
+74.8% on $7,800 in
Spreading the buys out beat going all in at the start by $4,365. That happens when the price spent time below where it began, so averaging in caught the cheaper months. Averaging in also meant an average buy price of $40.58 per share across the whole stretch, so the monthly buyer never had to time a single low. Neither number counts dividends, taxes, or trading costs.
Illustrative fixed $100/month example, not a recommendation. Figures are computed from DAL split-adjusted monthly closes through June 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Delta Air Lines at different times
See how the start year changes the outcome
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Numbers worth sharing
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For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.