Surprised by the turmoil at Twitter? Don’t be.

This is why experienced investors approach the latest hot, can’t lose, get-it-while-you-can growth stocks with rubber gloves and tongs.

Anyone who bought into Twitter’s TWTR, -0.69% IPO in 2013 and kept hold of their shares has now fared worse than they would have done in boring old stalwarts including Jack In The Box JACK, -2.92% , underwear company Hanesbrands HBI, -2.39% , Alaska Air Group ALK, -4.75% , Domino’s Pizza DPZ, -0.85% , Office Depot ODP, -2.72% , Goodyear Tire & Rubber GT, -4.19% , and even Barnes & Noble US:BKS — which I thought was a dead man walking.

All these stocks, along with hundreds of others, have outperformed Twitter since the social networking site went public in November 2013.

The stock, $26 in the IPO, was $36 last night when CEO Dick Costolo resigned. That’s a gain of 38%. Over the same period Barnes & Noble investors have made 76%, and even Macy’s M, -3.25% investors are up 53%. Jack In The Box and Hanesbrands have doubled your money.

Oh, and ordinary Joes and Joannas who had to wait until the day of the IPO to buy into the stock in the secondary market got hosed. The first trade on the day was at $45, and the stock peaked at $50 before settling back around $45 to the close. Most mutual funds proved better investments.

None of this means that “growth” stocks always fail or are always a bad idea, but it is yet another reminder that in fast-growing businesses many things can go wrong — and I don’t merely mean that your disastrous first quarter earnings results will be accidentally released by a third party early, using, embarrassingly enough, Twitter’s own service.

It means that growth companies are subject to a thousand and one uncertainties that can get in the way of a good story or a good idea. And don’t expect the Wall Street scribblers to be on top of the situation. Nine months ago, when Twitter stock was peaking north of $50, more than half the analysts on the Street covering it rated it a “buy.” Oops.

Despite all the talk at the moment, the central questions investors have to ask themselves is how much they think this company’s worth — and, not coincidentally, what it’s good for.

Co-founder and interim CEO Jack Dorsey was asked on Thursday’s conference call for his “elevator pitch” about the platform’s purpose, and after waxing geekily about its “amazing capabilities” he managed to say that it could “show the world live” and let you engage in “a live conversation” with other people.

The trouble with Twitter, of course, is that any attempt at a conversation is generally swamped with drivel. Everyone just lets go, often without any filters, or any regard for propriety or civility. Twitter is flatulence of the thumbs.

And yet currently, according to Thomson Reuters, the stock still trades at 100 times this year’s forecast earnings and 50 times those forecast for 2016.

Is this company worth $24 billion, its current market value? One thing we do know: based on the stock’s sharp price movement after-hours on Wednesday, Twitter is actually worth about $1 billion more without Dick Costolo as CEO than with him. Make of it what you will.