Timing the market is easily one of the most difficult parts of trading. In particular, calling the market bottom and knowing when to get in is usually something investors only know way after the fact. 24/7 Wall St. is looking back to when the S&P 500 bottomed back in March 2009 to see how some of the major blue chips have fared since then.

Back on March 6, 2009, the S&P 500 bottomed out at 666.79, and from there began perhaps the biggest bull market of the modern era. At the most recent close, the S&P 500 was at 2,779.60, more than quadrupling its bottom nearly nine years ago.

So how does this measure up against AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)?

On an adjusted close basis, AT&T closed March 6, 2009, at $13.82 a share, or at $22.58 on an unadjusted basis. AT&T most recently closed at $36.87 on an adjusted basis.

Looking at the numbers, we can see that AT&T’s growth over this nine-year period was outpaced by the S&P 500 and the broad markets in general. This is one of the few instances where the market beat a blue chip in this period. Specifically, the telecom giant saw its shares gain just over 165%.

If you had invested $1,000 in AT&T back then, you would have $2,667.87 as of Tuesday’s close.

Over the past 52 weeks, AT&T has underperformed the broad markets, with its shares down about 12%. In just 2018 alone, AT&T is down 5%.

Shares of AT&T were last seen trading near $37, with a consensus analyst price target of $40.65 and a 52-week range of $32.55 to $42.70.

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