How much can you earn on company shares in a month, a year, or 5 years?
If you have a couple of thousand dollars, you most likely keep them in a bank deposit and don't think about investing them.

But if you own a more substantial amount, you are faced with the question of where to invest your capital in order to obtain maximum profit.
Why not invest in company shares, as this option is so popular in the US and Europe, and many billionaires have made their fortunes in the stock market.
However, the question immediately arises: How much can you earn on stocks per month, per year, or over a longer period of time?.
Options for making money on stocks
There are two main ways to make money from securities: long-term investing and day trading. The choice depends on the amount of money you have at your disposal and your goals.
Long-term stock investments are investments made for a period of one year or more. Profits come from dividends and asset appreciation.
That is, by purchasing shares, you can earn money from dividends and from the growth in the value of the shares themselves, if such growth occurs.
Dividend size on US stocks by industry sector:
| Industry | Average yield | Maximum profitability | Examples of companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telecommunications | 6–8% | up to 8% | AT&T, Verizon |
| Energy (oil and gas) | 5–7% | up to 20% | ExxonMobil, Chevron |
| Financial sector | 4–6% | up to 10% | Blackstone, Goldman Sachs |
| Public utilities | 3–4% | up to 4.5% | AES Corp, Duke Energy |
| Real Estate (REITs) | 4–5% | up to 7% | Realty Income, Simon Property |
| Consumer goods | 2–3% | up to 4% | Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola |
| Healthcare | 2–4% | up to 8% | Pfizer, SIGA Technologies |
| Information Technology | 1–2% | up to 3% | IBM, Qualcomm |
As you can see, it's quite possible to find stocks that can earn up to 20% per annum in dividends. This is significantly higher than the interest rates offered on US dollar deposits.
Comparing the yield of dividend stocks and bank deposits.
In fairness, however, it should be said that you can get the maximum profit from dividend securities if you buy them at a low price.
For example, SIGA Technologies trading at $5.95 per share, and the company has announced a dividend payment of 0.60 per share, or 10.06%.
But a year ago, this company's shares cost $10, and if you bought them at that price, you would have earned only 6% dividends.

Therefore, dividend yield will directly depend on the price at which you buy shares. When buying, always analyze the price chart and buy securities whose prices are far from their recorded highs.
Earning on the growth of the stock price itself
Over the course of a few years, a security can grow in value by 10, 20, or more percent. Take SIGA Technologies, for example: just five years ago, this security was worth $4 per share, and now it's worth $6.
Examples of well-growing company stocks:
| Company | Sector | Growth over 5 years | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcom (AVGO) | Semiconductors | +480% | Growth through chips, cloud solutions, and AI infrastructure |
| Microsoft (MSFT) | Technologies | +280% | Successful expansion into cloud technologies and AI (Azure, OpenAI) |
| Monster Beverage (MNST) | Consumer goods | +1,100% | Global success of energy companies, stable growth in emerging markets |
| Apple (AAPL) | Technologies | +400% | Growth through the device ecosystem and increased service revenue |
| Costco (COST) | Retail | +300% | Strong growth through membership model and low costs |
As you can see, there are more interesting companies than SIGA Technologies, some of which have increased in price by more than 1000% in 5 years.
But it's not a given that you'll pick the most profitable companies when buying, so on average, your return from price growth and dividends received is unlikely to exceed 20% per annum or 1.6% per month.
That is, if you invest $10,000 in securities, you can expect a profit of $2,000 per year or $160 per month.
It's not a large enough sum to live on, so many investors prefer short-term stock trading on the MT5 trading platform.
Leverage allows you to increase the amount of your trades by 5-10 times, which also increases your potential profit.
Typically, day traders with a $10,000 deposit earn $1,000 per month.
You can open an account for stock trading with the following brokers.
In conclusion, I would like to note that investing in stocks is not a simple matter. For long-term investments, you should carefully select companies, and for short-term trading, you should be able to catch price movements.

