Hitting the Jackpot

How Align’s CEO pocketed an extra $27.6 million by sheer luck

Here’s a story that has never been told, but should be...

It’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the stock of Align Technology sink 23% in a single day on bad earnings news last week.

I’ve written about Align on and off since its public debut 22 years ago, often with a cautionary tone.

But I had stopped paying close attention...

After all, this was a stock that had a history of steamrolling critics, thanks to the popularity of its Invisalign tooth aligners. It had done so well that in 2017 Align was the S&P 500’s best performer, with a gain of 131%... to finish the year at $222.19.

Nothing came close to what happened in the second quarter of 2021...

It was like fireworks had gone off, with revenue leaping by an astounding 187%. That was roughly nine-times its pre-pandemic growth, which had been declining.

Shares Skyrocketed

At their peak, shares responded by roughly doubling from where they were a year earlier to more than $700 a share.

This was when seemingly everybody was getting their…