The shares have rocketed 1,373%, and sales suggest there’s more on tap Google is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a public company today. During that time, shares of the Mountain View, California-based company have easily outperformed the S&P 500 Index. But should you consider buying the stock now? The stock: Google Inc.’s GOOG, +0.32% Class A shares have returned 1,373% since they began trading at $85 on Aug. 19, 2004. Here’s a comparison of the stock’s performance against the S&P 500 SPX, +0.85% over the past 10 years: FactSet based the above chart on the closing price of $100.42 at the end of trading on Aug. 19, 2004. While this calculation leads to a lower 10-year return of 1,162%, it’s still remarkable compared with the return for the S&P 500 over the same period. The total return is adjusted for a two-for-one split on April 2, when the company’s Class A shareholders were each granted one Class C share. The reason for the split was to keep the founders of the Internet search company, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in firm control at the top. Over the years, as Google had issued more shares to fund acquisitions and for stock-based compensation to employees, the ownership stake and voting rights for the founders were diluted, just as they were for all other stockholders. That will no longer be the case, as the company plans for future stock issuances for compensation and expansion to consist exclusively of Class C shares, which have no voting rights. The two share classes initially traded at the same price, but the Class A shares, trading under the ticker GOOGL, closed at $583.71 on Friday, while Class C shares, trading under the familiar GOOG ticker, closed at $573.48.Here you can find more!